Thursday, June 05, 2014

Jumping on JUMP

There's a new unabashed pro-Israel campus group that has appeared, JUMP.

On the issue of "Settlements", we read:

JUMP focuses on the creation of peace through the development of human rights in the Middle East. We recognize that settlements can cause many difficulties for Israelis and Palestinians alike. In order to achieve a two-state solution, JUMP believes that focus must be shifted from the settlements to the other issues aforementioned in the JUMP philosophy. Such issues are more paramount because JUMP supports the idea that once two states for two people is adequately enacted and carried out, the issue of the settlements will become null and void.

JUMP also believes that the zone of the Golan that prior to 1967 was within the legal borders of Syria should remain within the borders of Israel under the contingency that the residents of the Golan wish to remain as such.

My comments:

1.  This "can cause many difficulties for Israelis and Palestinians alike" should have been written also so:
as well as they can, and have, brought about advantages for Israelis and Palestinians alike in terms of reaching out for coexistence and peace-briding efforts...
2.  A point could be made that the pronouncements that the are "illegal" could have been countered in even a minimalistic fashion if only by pointing out that a demand that no Jews can live in the areas where they had been living for centuries, like Hebron, Gaza, Shchem, etc. or in locations established during the Mandate period.  And at least we can do without "occupied" a la Australia.

3.  The term should be "Jewish communities" or "Jewish towns and villages".

4.  And how can
once two states for two people is adequately enacted and carried out, the issue of the settlements will become null and void.
come about?  Can Jews live in an Arab "Palestine"?  And if not, should Arabs be able to live in Israel?

5.  If 
JUMP focuses on the creation of peace through the development of human rights in the Middle East
how does JUMP define the human rights of Jews in the areas of the Jewish national home where building and residency rights are restricted?

And on the issue of Jerusalem, one question.  This
Final borders and sovereignty of the city must be decided through negotiations. Whomever has final sovereignty over any part of Jerusalem must allow religious freedom for all faiths.
If Israel today does not permit religious freedom for Jews on the Temple Mount nor even protect adequately the site's history and archaeological artifacts, what then?

But good luck to you in any case, students!

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