Published February, 2004

My wife, Carol and I traveled to Israel and Palestine for 15 days last January to witness the tragic conflict there and meet with human rights activists who are waging efforts for peace. We were part of an independent seven member delegation of secular Jewish New York civil rights and anti-war activists. We were invited by Israeli and Palestinian leaders who some of our delegation had met last year. What we learned was that in Israel there is a much more discussion about the morality and ethics of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza than in our country.

Consider Rabbi Arik Ascherman, 44, and the father of two children, who has lived in Israel since 1981. His wife is the first female rabbi ordained in Israel. He is Executive Director of Rabbis for Human Rights. RHR is composed of over 100 rabbis and rabbinical students from Orthodox, Conservative and Reform denominations.

He said that "RHR's founder, Rabbi Abraham Heschel, challenged rabbis to do more than perform traditional religious acts; he said that Judaism requires Jews to struggle for universal human values and social justice for all people." He said that "there is a great hypocrisy among many religious Israelis who don't share this view. RHR tries to get humanistic values into the Israeli dialogue." Because of his high public profile he has received death threats.

Rabbi Ascherman has spoken in hundreds of synagogues in the United States and Canada, including several in New York City and Brooklyn. He said that individual Jews and mainstream synagogues in North America support RHR, which has seven full-time staffers. He added that polls show that 32% of Israelis support RHR's work: "I don't feel like we are a persecuted minority here because we have good relations with large sections of the Jewish community, including the Knesset and the media...and we are members of the Jewish community by right and not just by grace."

He said that "RHR opposes terrorism and does not regard all Palestinians as saints. It supports a humanistic, moral Zionism out of love for Israel. It also supports the United States law that prohibits aid for Israeli settlements in the West Bank or Gaza. We also support a lawsuit in the International Criminal Court against Israel's human rights violations in those areas."

When Rabbi Ascherman joined a non-violent protest last year against the demolition of a Palestinian's family's house in East Jerusalem, he asked Israeli soldiers for 10 minutes to help the family remove their belongings. When they refused he said, "then I will not move from your bulldozers and you will have to carry me away." He was arrested and charged with disobeying governmental orders. His trial on January14, 2004 was adjourned. Before the trial, over 400 rabbis signed a joint letter urging Israeli authorities to dismiss the charges against him on humanitarian grounds.

He urged our delegation to meet American rabbis when we return and to ask them to work with us on issues of mutual concern. He reminded us that polls show that most Jews in both Israel and the US support a two state peace plan based on Israel's 1967 borders. They also oppose Israel's destruction of Palestinian homes and land, construction of the "Security Wall" and the West Bank and Gazan settlements (many occupied by Orthodox Jews from Brooklyn).

As we said goodbye he told us that later that week he was taking Hillel students from the United Sates to see Palestinian homes demolished in Hebron and East Jerusalem and to dedicate a medical clinic in an Israeli Bedouin village.

--Charles Horwitz

Part Two: An Interview with Ghassan Andoni
Part Three: Hebron
Part Four: With Physicians for Human Rights to a Refugee Camp

***NOTE***

About 40 persons attended Carol and Charles Horwitz's "Eyewitness report from Israel and Palestine" Platform on Sunday, February 15, and about 30 participated in a photo presentation and discussion afterward. BSEC Members have decided to organize a study group and additional activities concerning the Mid-East crisis. Life and Ethics classes on Saturdays, April 24, May 1, and May 8 will also address this issue.

This is the first of several articles on human rights leaders in Israel and Palestine that will appear in the BSEC newsletter and on the website.