Begin and Bi-Nationalism - A Comment by Meron Benvenesti

After the 1967 war the Israeli political Right played with the concept of bi-nationalism, in the shape that suited its ideology (the Autonomy Plan). Likud ideology rejected the” transitory” nature of Israeli occupation but its belief in “Greater Israel” clashed with the demographic reality, and liberal circles in Likud (led by Menachem Begin) struggled with the famous dilemma: a Jewish or democratic state? Begin’s answer was based on the (failed) system known to him in Eastern Europe after WW1—non- territorial, cultural and communal autonomy for ethnic minorities under the League of Nations minority treaties. Begin’s Autonomy Plan had been modified in the Camp David (1978) accords and territorial components were added. The Oslo model used many components (with major changes) of Begin’s Autonomy Plan, and the Oslo accords can be viewed as bi-national arrangements, because the territorial and legal powers of the Palestinian Authority are intentionally vague; the external envelope of the international boundaries , the economic system, even the registration of population, remained under Israeli control. Moreover, the complex agreements of Oslo necessitated close cooperation with Israel which, considering the huge power disparity between the PA and Israel, meant that the PA was merely a glorified municipal or provincial authority. So, in the absence of any political process, a de-facto bi-national structure, was willy-nilly, entrenched.

It is no longer arguable; the question is not if a binational entity be established but rather what kind of entity will it be. The historical process that began in the aftermath of the 1967 War brought about the gradual abrogation of the partition option, if it ever existed. Hence, bi-nationalism is not a political or ideological program so much as a de facto reality masquerading as a temporary state of affairs. It is a description of the current condition, not a prescription.

Source

Nahon Street Renewed

We Are Investigating This

A Rabbi Marc Gopin has claimed this in a Jerusalem Post interview:

What was it like growing up in the shadow of Rabbi Soloveitchik?

I miss that Orthodox piety so much, it's gone. My hassidic family attached itself to a holy man who was a mitnaged. Rabbi Soloveitchik was my life. My father gave me over to him; my father loved me intensely but wasn't a man of words. The Rav was uncomfortable with the idea of being a holy man. His ideal man was a learned teacher; he did not worship other people or want to be worshiped, but did worship our capacity to think. In the study of the sacred, the irony is that you get attached to people who liberate you and cause you to think for yourself.

We were Eastern European Jews in an isolated community in Boston. Most of the children were children of professors, doctors, lawyers. I came from a simple, pious family. There was tension between the spiritual ideal of study for study's sake versus ruthless competition to get into Harvard. What Rabbi Soloveitchik's ethical monotheism was teaching me was not being practiced.

What changed to pull you away from this world?

When Menachem Begin became prime minister, Rabbi Soloveitchik was shocked. He refused to go hear him when he came to speak 100 feet away at Yeshiva University. I asked why? He looked at me cautiously and said, "Why should I listen to a person who blew up people in a hotel?" referring to Menachem Begin's blowing up the King David Hotel [in 1946].

We had similar values and it was a turning point for me when he said that. It also made me a little crazy. I felt like the word from this inner sanctum was that everything outside was a problem. He and I understood that sometimes war was necessary to defend life. But I also understood at that moment that a man building on the philosophies of Hermann Cohen could not support Lehi.

In 1982, when I heard about Sabra and Shatilla in Lebanon, it was also a turning point. It was right before Yom Kippur. Rabbi Soloveitchik called Menachem Begin and insisted on an investigation. I was still taking care of him. I wrote a poem at the time to this effect: "I looked around everywhere and in the halls of the kollel and saw bullet holes and all were oozing blood." I couldn't get it out of my mind. I could always feel [the pain of tragedies] even if I wasn't physically present. The Holocaust is inside of me all the time. But this is different - [allowed to happen] by a Jewish army. It was a secret place of pain that left me and Rabbi Soloveitchik feeling betrayed.

I also read about Deir Yassin. It started to alienate me that Jews debate these things among themselves as if they are being rational, but it is not rational to talk only with people who were not there. I realized I was hearing only half the story. People think they are scientific because they read newspapers but have never met a survivor. I made a decision to understand the reality of Israel's wars from more than one perspective. Doing this, I started to lose my community, but all I was doing was fulfilling my obligations to my community by engaging in honest investigation.

Rabbi Soloveitchik said if you are afraid of knowledge, the problem is with you, not with the knowledge. I applied these words to my study of conflict, after deciding there was a black hole in the study of Jewish conflicts with Arabs. From the 1980s until today, I have been on a journey to discover my enemies.

We are investigating this as it would seem to contradict the relationship the Rav had with Begin stemmining back to Brisk and his suggesting the Rav for the Chief Rabbinate position in the 1950s and his later conferring with hims on the issue of moving the Holocaust Day to Tisha B'Av.

Begin on "Palestine"

From

Statement in the Knesset by Prime Minister Begin on the Cairo conference, 28 November 1977

We want the peace to be between ourselves and all our neighbours. And again: let these things be heard in Damascus and in Amman, in Beirut and in Baghdad, and in all the Arab capitals from the Atlantic Ocean to the Persian Gulf…And we want peace with King Hussein so that we may be able to build our lives together, and to think how to open a new era for this country… We propose to all of them that they should send delegations...

(Interjection: The Palestinian people as well?)

Mr. Wilner, listen to me now, please. I am talking to you as one Jew to another. Listen and don't interrupt. I speak Hebrew. That word you used is not Hebrew, it is jargon. When the first British High Commissioner was here and it was necessary to decide what name for the country could be stamped on the coins - those with a hole in them -then in English, of course, they engraved "Palestine" - there was no doubt: in English the name of the country was Palestine, and in Arabic, "Filastin" - there is no doubt about it, that is the name of the country in Arabic. But it had to be decided how it should be in Hebrew, and they said: Of course, "Eretz Yisrael."

That has always been the name of the country, since days of old, in all generations. But there were protests: How can we say "Eretz Yisrael" so expressly? And then, that British High Commissioner found a compromise. He would write "Palestina", which is not Hebrew at all, but he would add in parentheses, "Aleph Yud" - so the Jews read it "Eretz Yisrael" - and those who did not understand so well read "Palestina (Ai)". And now do you know the origin of this word? And I speak Hebrew, my dear sir, not Sovietish.

(Interjection: Is there a Palestinian people or not?)

There is an Arab people.

(Interjection: A Palestinian people?)

I have already told you: I speak Hebrew, not Sovietish. When you are in Moscow you can speak in your own language.

Mr. Speaker,
We have set foot on the road to the establishment of peace. I ask the House to give its blessing for this road on which we are going to go. And I have an appeal to all the members of the Knesset, without distinction between most of the parties. Dear friends, honoured rivals, ladies and gentlemen, members of the Knesset:..There is no need to compete in "concessionism." We are not in exile, but in our homeland, not in the ghetto, but in our sovereign state. It is not fitting that there should be competition as to who is a more peace-loving Jew and who is a less peace-loving Jew.

The truth is that we all want peace with all our hearts and all our souls. We want peace, we pray for it and long for it, and we also hope to bring it about. True we have straightened our backs in the Land of Israel. We shall not grow arrogant, but we shall not bow our heads either. We shall insist on our people's rights, on its security and peace, and with God's help we shall succeed in bringing true peace to our people and our neighbours, because peace is necessary to us and also to them.

Jerusalem A Century Ago - Near and Around the Site of the Begin Center

Emeq Refain and Derech Bet Lehem spread out to the left and the train station can be seen in the center. The Begin Center location can be seen as bare, just right & low of center.

No. 5 is the train station and No. 7 is the Sham'ah neighborhood where the Cinematheque is today. Between the two, from top to bottom, can be seen what is today Nahon Street.

A view from approximately the Mt. Zion Hotel is today looking north-east to the Sultan's Pool area. The Begin Center is now at the left-center.

A view from the opposite direction, from near Jaffa Gate looking south at the Sultan's Pool and the area where the Begin Center now is located.

Same view from an earlier period before World War I.

and a map and detail of the area of the Begin Center in 1924:-

From Haiti Back to Menachem Begin

Haiti recalls Menachem Begin and the Vietnamese boat-people episode here:-

Amos Radian, Israel's ambassador to the Dominican Republic, who also represents the country in Haiti, suggested to the foreign ministry that Israel adopt about 50 children treated in the hospital who appear to have been orphaned. The foreign ministry said it would examine the legal aspects of the proposal. In the meanwhile, according to Israeli TV, the ministry is preparing to erect a youth village for hundreds of orphaned children in Haiti and plans to staff it with volunteers, counselors and mostly female soldiers from the army's education corps.

A Vietnamese refugee who found a new life in Israel spoke with Israel Radio this morning about finding safe haven and the difficulty of growing up looking different from those around him. Huong was 9 years old in 1977 when then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin granted entry to the boat of refugees on which he was a passenger. "I feel for these children," he said of the young Haitians. "There's nothing like a child waiting for a hug, a kind word or just someone by his side after all he's been through."

From the Avi Diskin Art Exhibition at the Center