Pursuit of Peace Requires New Coalition

[Classical_Liberal]

And in this country, they have allies. I intend here not just the praiseworthy people who get involved in Americans for Peace Now and the New Israel Fund and such. I mean hundreds of thousands of us who are simply tired of swallowing, tired of whispering our doubts to one another, tired of finding ourselves forced to justify policies we know to be folly.

But those hundreds of thousands and their natural partners in Israel are barely aware of one another. In Israel, it is Bush and the evangelicals who command attention; in America, it is Ariel Sharon and the settlers. They deserve each other, but Israel deserves better. It deserves a coalition of the eager — of those eager to restore Israel’s moral distinction, its pride, its self-respect.

Those in Israel who know that peace takes more than prayer deserve to know they have allies here; those of us who know what Israel has been and can yet be deserve to know that we are not rebels against the Zionist dream, but its ardent defenders and that we are in step with masses of Israelis

For if we persist in our current listless way, we will inherit an Israel much admired by Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and such as he, yet scorned by the people who are nearest us. DeLay’s "friendship" toward Israel is, after all, an embarrassment, not an asset.....

http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=12374