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December 20, 2002/Tevet 15 5763, Vol. 55, No. 17
Reform rabbis urge U.S. mediation
JOE BERKOFSKY
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NEW YORK - Reform rabbis are calling on the Bush administration to intervene more aggressively in mediating an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement.
The Central Conference of American Rabbis' Board of Trustees issued the call to action last week in a platform on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is more detailed than any previous statement to date.
Before the board met, the rabbis also tried, but failed, to reach agreement on a statement about the looming conflict with Iraq, said the CCAR's president, Rabbi Martin Weiner of Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco.
"There was too much diversity of opinion" to reach any agreement, he said.
Despite speculation that the rabbinical group would issue a position paper re-flecting a shift to the center from its traditionally liberal stand, the platform largely reaffirmed the Reform movement's left-of-center positions on Israel and the Palestinians.
The CCAR board, which comprises some four dozen rabbis from across North America, voted overwhelm-ingly for the platform, which urges the creation, through negotiations, of a Palestinian state that is "committed to peaceful coexistence with the State of Israel."
Calling a return to pre-1967 borders "unrealistic," the rabbis said any Israeli-Palestinian peace pact "may require territorial adjust-ments akin to those offered at Camp David."
The platform also restates other longtime Reform positions, such as the protection of Arab and Palestinian civil rights, as well as Israeli Jewish rights, and urges a halt to Jewish settlement building in the West Bank and Gaza.
Yet on some other key planks, the document reflects new thinking in the community generally about the 1993 Oslo peace accords and responds specifically to new facts on the ground, said Rabbi Donald Rossoff, of Temple B'nai Or in Morristown, N.J., who wrote a draft for the final statement approved by the board.
For example, while the platform calls for a Palestinian state, the rabbis explicitly "reject a demand for a right of physical return to the State of Israel," which would allow a Palestinian demographic majority in Israel.
Though the platform urges no new Jewish settlements, and says most would likely need to be dismantled in any peace pact with the Palestinians, it also says that Israel may have to hold onto some settlements as well.
The rabbis also agree with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in seeking to marginalize Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.
Arafat is "clearly unable or unprepared" to reach a peace agreement with Israel, the document states, so Israel should seek out a "younger generation of Palestinian leaders" who would participate in "constructive" talks.
At the same time, the rabbis are urging the White House to more "vigorously" nudge those peace talks along with a "imaginative, bold and sustained efforts."
The Jewish community has largely been split on the need for more U.S. involvement.
Those who envision a two-state solution as a way to resolve the conflict tend to welcome stepped up involvement, while those wary that any solution is possible worry that more U.S. involvement will lead to greater pressure on Israel.
Rabbi Joshua Davidson of Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester, N.Y., said U.S. involvement "is going to be critical in order for the two sides to reach peace."
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