#LBfotos

[ordophilosophicus]

YLEUNH LBFOTO OVALTI IYIDUS KRTYOK UEUCYN  clue: Birthday 

[I’m just trying out some basic code systems, and my partner in crime is @arvontage, but feel free to participate and try to decode it.]

[lichka]

Oh the Weather Outside is Weather

Back in July, after a brief week-long visit with my family in Detroit, I advised my future self to never again go visiting a place I use to call home in the summertime; simply because the pleasantness, ease, and general warmth of this sunny season in a familiar place is just too dangerous and can be misleading. Maybe perhaps even luring my future successful self into thinking about moving back to this one-time home.

I come from a family of immigrants and travelers. My father went grey in an airplane or at the Frankfurt Main AM airport about 7 years ago or so (I swear, one day he came back form a business trip and was just grey all of a sudden), and my mother always has every possible remedy for every conceivable, albeit irrational, event – sweaters, hand-sanitizer, fruit, organic chocolate, an extra pair of socks if anyone’s feet get wet, water, moisturizer, you get the picture. I attribute their nomadic, but not transient, ways to the “Wandering Jew” phenomenon: Soviet Jews being only one example of people who had to flee a country they once called home for the great unknown, the American frontier, where life was simply better. These roots have in turn made me into a bid of a wanderer myself but of the more ephemeral variety. Needless to say, traveling 12 hours by plane with a layover here and there just to see family for a week or less is not that big of a deal for me, although I’m not as fascinated with the magical in-between of time and space at higher altitudes as I was when I was a kid. Now, romantic comedies take up the lost or gained hours, Vanity Fair too – if I can find the U.S. or British editions at the airport.

Anyways, I stand corrected after this past Thanksgivvukah trip to Detroit and a few days in New York. My new motto is now:  ”Never go visiting a place you use to call home, future self, during Christmastime; it’s just too warm and fuzzy.”

Living abroad, you begin to appreciate and strangely miss all those good ol’ American habits you never previously thought twice about. There is just something romantic about being an American outside of the U.S. – All of a sudden, you become really proud of where you came from. The city of Detroit going bankrupt… yeah, that gives me some kind of street cred that is entirely different from the struggles of Israelis or Palestinians. This is all a part of my story, my past, my history – the biblical stuff is yours, the conflict you can keep, this bit of breaking news is mine.

Back to the holidays: Hanukkah was always one of my more favorite times of the year because as a kid, my mother always made it special with 8 Crazy “appropriated (from the Christian tradition)” Nights of gifts, candles, dreidels, latkes, and fabulous, glorious, golden chocolate coins we American Jews called gelt. Instead of a beautifully scented pine tree, we had a lovely menorah that we placed near our fire place (which we regretfully never used) and under my 8×10 high school yearbook photo were 8 presents and under my brother’s on the other side of the menorah/fireplace were his 8 gloriously wrapped (in blue and silver) miracles.We got sweaters and more practical items from Hanukkah Harry that our baby Jesus loving friends at school; the theme, I now realize, were generally presents that rooted us down a little bit more, made us a bit more American, more capitalistic – our wandering ancestors and affliction to be prepared for any possible trigger to get up and run (a trait particularly reserved for Jewish women, especially mothers) are just another story this time of year and we instead focus on planting ourselves more firmly to where we currently live. Our gifts were for our bedrooms and homes – candles, jewelry boxes, notebooks for school, scarves to keep us warm, sweaters for the coming Winter months. All these items were not meant to fit into a bag if we ever – God forbid – needed to run. The items were American, they would need to be left behind, they were things we didn’t necessarily need but were grateful to have because they made our lives, in Detroit, a little warmer, more convenient, more colorful. It wasn’t about survival during Hanukkah and the holidays in general, it was about being grateful for what we can now accumulate because we have remained still – in a very good way – for the past year, at least.

           I don’t believe in rushing out on Black Friday to find the best sales because really I have too many things already and I appreciate a consumer culture a lot less now, as an adult that tends to change coordinates (drastically) every year or so. I give things away every time I move, yet the burden of “my stuff” gets heavier and heavier as time marches on. I own a storage unit in New York City that costs me $100/month – I don’t even remember what’s in it anymore. I like having everything I own neatly in one suitcase, but when you live in different climates in different parts of the world, the seasons change to quickly to contain all my nostalgia for days gone by. Besides, everywhere you go, every country you visit, you always “need” to buy at least one item that serves as a memento of your trip because the memory disappears faster and faster these days. I give many thanks, to all that is holy, for Instagram this holiday season.

To make a long story short, Detroit was brisk and cold but extremely warm and fuzzy during Thanksgivvukah and wrapping Hanukkah presents for the next generation of Wandering Jews in the Brayman clan, who will hopefully roam a bit less than me, made me happy. The food was good, central heating was comforting and yoga classes encouraged sweating, something unheard of here in Tel Aviv. Also, Detroit now has a Whole Foods; I remember once saying that i could move back there if that ever happened, but that was a lifetime ago (at least three different sets of coordinates in the big game of Battleship).

Detroit, as well all know, American or not, is also bankrupt. So Somerset Mall couldn’t really afford the holiday decoration I was expecting from my childhood. There were less colors, less sparkly trees, angels, snowflakes. DTW airport however had a lovely pedestrian walkway that played Christmas music while orchestrated flashing lights dramatically changed colors – a very nice welcome to the States. Also, JFK now has customs kiosks for U.S. citizens, meaning you can swipe your own passport, smile for the camera, get a little print out to hand to the official standing at the end of the hall and you’re well on your way without waiting in line. The future is here, kids! And did I mention you can keep your mobile devices turned on while in the air? Yay for updated TSA regulations! Although we all took photos of the clouds between here and there anyways, now we expose our ear buds to the flight attendants without shame or guilt and we don’t have to #latergram the snapped mementos of the in-between.

The radiators still timelessly sizzle with overwhelming heat in Manhattan apartments, the older ones at least. No matter how cold it is outside, the apartment is cozy even though you’re barefoot, eating ice cream and sleeping in a tank top. Christmastime on 5th Avenue near Central Park is magical no matter what is going on with the U.S. economy, Obamacare, and whether or not the government is shut down that week. Tourists galore snap photos of Bergdorf Goodman’s legendary holiday windows, bellhops look dapper in their uniforms, I see Kevin McCallister from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York on just about every corner and wonder what Macauley Culkin is up to these days, you know since he’s not with Mila Kunis anymore. Warm scarves and gloves are not an option, but Winter coats, the beautiful honest and cruel Winter air – it’s all tolerable because of the comforting sizzle of the radiator at home, no matter the view outside your window or fire escape.

          Living in the Middle East, I use to think, was an escape from my American reality back home. But returning to Tel Aviv and regrettably missing the first big NYC snowstorm of the season, allowed me to arrive just in time for the apocalyptic Alexa storm that shut down Jerusalem, most cities in the West Bank, Cairo, Homs, snowmen were built by Syrian refugees in Lebanon, floods wreaked havoc in Gaza, some dusting in Istanbul, painful and violent hail in Tel Aviv, etc. The good news for me, who’s a sucker for the holidays, and people who actually believe in Santa Claus and glory to the newborn King, holiday cheer now has a true Christmas scenery in Bethlehem (at least for a few days). Returning back to the Middle East, I realize the reality is now here and the there is the escape, the sugarplum fairy dreamland I all of a sudden long for.

         A seven hour time difference really confuses the soul and living in a snow globe, no matter how frightful the weather is outside, is getting harder and harder to shake up (meaning all the snow in the world still doesn’t succeed in rooting me down in one place for long enough to actually plant some roots). Space heaters and radiators, snow and rain, Christmas and Hanukkah, there and here, now and then, is all an “escape from the accountability,” and goes along with the delicious pink sunrises of waking up earlier than everyone else (of being a tourist, DeLillo would say). Getting old on airplanes, drinking hot chocolate or mulled wine, Skypeing during the office holiday party, Secret Santa and the Hollywood box office projections – I’m a big fan of it all – the in-between and the there, but only when I’m here.

[cultureconflictandcommunity-blog]

I like this idea

I think this is a really great forum to stay connected and share photos and other observations as we trek on this journey of self and community development.

In response to something Valeria said during one of our roundtable (roundfloor) talks, I wanted to share a quote from one of my favorite writers, Italo Calvino. Valeria was talking about why she sometimes hesitates to speak up because she wants to experience what is going on before changing the energy of the situation by saying something.

“Memory's images, once they are fixed in words, are erased," Polo said. "Perhaps I am afraid of losing Venice all at once, if I speak of it, or perhaps, speaking of other cities, I have already lost it, little by little.”

― Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

Hope everyone has a great Passover break! See you all soon! :-)

btw, this is Lolita. :-)

[lichka]

undefined

DTW, sometime in the future. Home for the holidays.

[lichka]

Happy is the new black. On Black Friday. Detroit Michigan is in the eastern time zone.

[lichka]

Night and day. Twilight and dawn, Tel Aviv skyporn.

[lichka]

Inversion, Roxy Paine; Space that Sees, James Turrell

Billy Rose Art Garden at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

Read: http://www.haaretz.com/travel-in-israel/tourist-tip-of-the-day/.premium-1.558673

[lichka]

Before you speak, let your words pass through three gates: At the first gate, ask yourself, 'Is it true?' At the second ask, 'Is it necessary?' At the third gate, ask 'Is it kind?'" -- Sufi saying

[lichka]

Passing Junctions, Crossing Frontiers in the Hashemite Kingdom

"That's a rare thing to hear." "What?" I asked. "That you have a Jordanian friend living in Amman. You just don't hear that often here."

This comment irritated me, a bit, even thought I'm very much aware that it is indeed something you don't hear often in these here parts. Israel and Jordan have a peace treaty between them, they share many things, least of all a border. They also share "the Palestinian problem" with Israel, but for Jordan it's their brothers that are at stake making it much more complicated by wreaking havoc on their social and financial economy in a more severe and debilitating way.

In Amman, my Jordanian friend explained, Palestinians make up more than a chunky minority of the political and social web of the country. Officially and in terms of the monarchy, of course Jordanians run their own government. But unofficially, socially, not so discreetly, and legitimately, Palestinian refugees play a major role in the shape of the country - literally. The argument that Palestinians and Jordanians are one cultural nationality has been expressed and argued to an exhausting amount. About 2.6 million of the Palestinian diaspora population live in Jordan, where they make up approximately half the population of the entire country. HALF the population of Jordan are Palestinian - this is more than a problem, this is the reality that created a civil war for Jordan in September of 1970. Black September was a conflict between two major components of the Jordanian population, the Palestinians represented by the Palestine Liberation Organization under the leadership of Yasser Arafat and the Trans-Jordanians represented by the Jordanian Armed Forces under the leadership of King Hussein. At its core, the civil war sought to determine if Jordan would be ruled by the PLO or the Hashemite Monarchy (Wikipedia, Black September). 

We drove through a Palestinian refugee camp in Amman; it looked more like slums than a camp, however. "It's just a poor area of Amman," FuFu (we all developed nicknames on this trip, mine is now LiLou) explained over our morning coffee as I perused the international news headlines explaining why the U.S. government was shut down.  

          It's a cold peace, it's true, but it's peace written on paper and signed. Maybe not in blood but the t's were crossed and the i's dotted by Israeli PM Itzhak Rabin and Jordan's King Hussein, despite the major water issues that remain. Jordan regrets not demanding a clause that would secure their access to the same fresh water sources Israel has. More than water, the issues of the Palestinians, as discussed, the Western nature of the Arab country and it's friendship with the U.S., the extremely expensive price of gasoline, the politics and possibility of an Arab Spring all loom in the heavy, traffic-ridden air of Amman with horns honking and music blaring. "Not going to happen," I was told regarding the Arab Spring possibility. "Jordanians are too tired to start a revolution." Historically, in the Arab world, monarchies hold up well and provide for a less antagonistic public, or so it seems from this Western angle (Morocco too doesn't seem to be enraged but they are arguably not an Arab country). The HaShemite Kingdom of Jordan shares another thing with Israel - a name "HaShem" meaning "the name" in Hebrew, a way to refer to God.

                    Anyways, Amman is effn' rad and the Jordan Valley even cooler on my second visit to this country. We got our hair and nails did, we ate knafe, we went fishing on a farm about two hours north of Amman and dangerously close to the northern border with Israel, and sang catchy Arab songs that allowed us to repeatedly exclaim "Mash'Allah" - a way to show appreciation or thankfulness. You can't really say no in Jordan - not to food, not to gifts, not to friendship, not to shooting guns (a rare sight), and not to feeling like you're outside looking in while simultaneously being within and without (an explanation) for why a shared border has to be so cold on a hot Autumn afternoon.

In a place where intersections are called junctions, and borders, frontiers; a license plate from Damascus in front of us, Kuwait's to the left, you are most welcome, indeed.

[lichka]

Yoga Without Conflict, Peace Without Partners

Not so concerned with secrets that the breeze at dawn holds these days. Instead Rumi's messengers of pain are occupying my stiff and in-transition body and mind in the later-morning hours. Autumn has definitely arrived, which is always confusing for me but more so in a tropical climate surrounded by palm trees. It's like a regular East Coast or Midwest summer - unpredictably hot with a chance of rain or hail. The breeze provides a refreshing break from the stale and unbearable dehydrated state of mind, but my allergies are signalling all sorts of irritants floating in the air and tickling all my delicate senses, especially my overly-responsive nose which just got a whiff of the garbage truck passing by causing a oratory and olfactory ruckus on this very Jewish holiday of Simhat Torah, the last of the celebratory season in Israel.

Truth be told, my senses are a bit dulled after my trip to North Africa. Travel is stimulating, exciting, and inspiring most of all, but coming back "home" is always slightly depressing. The change in seasons, the harvest, and the moon phases also all have their esoteric effects. The Mediterranean waves were huge yesterday, surfers catching their rad thrills; they look like a shiver of sharks from the perspective of my twilight run at Independence Park near the Hilton Hotel. A few short meters above offers a different view, like some low-budget horror flick from 1981. The water is all of a sudden too cold for me to swim in now, ironically the jellyfish no longer pose a threat like they did in July and August. 

   So we try to get back into yoga again - get a routine going. My body's mountain air aches and pains are gone now. The effects of altitude sickness still linger, however, in the form of digestive imbalances. 

A description of my physical and mental well being is in order before getting to the point, which is a yoga workshop I attended a few days ago aimed at tackling the issue of coexistence and peace in the Middle East between Arab-Israeli and Jewish-Israeli women.

The connection between the human body and human relationships with other people has always been an interest of mine, and the revelation that through one's own senses and limbs a person is able to relate to themselves thus connecting to others through social interactions. The sense of community is also a related theme that accompanies my solo yoga practice, every time I am on my mat. Merleau-Ponty's "Phenomenon of Perception" being the nucleus of this faceted interest in ballet, yoga, movement, the release of endorphins in general and how they make me perceive the world with each and every stimulant being an experience that shapes who I am. With every down-dog is a whole new set of emotions, with every shoulder stand and sun salutation, I experience and relate to the person next to me in a different way. Through the knots and joints and pulled muscles, I tap into a psychologically deeper place, which causes my outside world to also be affected - mainly by I and Thou relationship(s). 

            So it's obvious why a yoga workshop dedicated to the coexistence of Jewish-Israelis and Arab-Israelis in Israel - during a time of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, the possibility of a war with Assad's Syrian regime, post-coup revolutionary processes in the now, non-Muslim state of Egypt, and of course, the impending and apocalyptic doom of Iran's nuclear program - is of interest to me. The aim of the workshop was to get the two religiously, culturally different groups of women to do yoga together and discuss the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East with each other, specifically the way Arab-Israelis and Jewish-Israelis interact on a daily basis in Israel proper. I have been trying to find an intriguing way to integrate yoga with conflict/community situations for some time now, because I think it can be a useful tool in empowering individuals - first on a personal, individual level, and then in the wider context of social relationships, community development, and finally the interactions in conflict-ridden zones of the world (intractable conflicts being the most socially fascinating because of the distinct and polarized narratives each side paints). So attending this workshop was essential but the first day of the four day experiment left me with a bitter, disappointed, and even-more cynical taste in my mouth for the promising combination of yoga and it's effects on peace in the Middle East.

It's not just because the Arab-Israelis that signed up for the workshop didn't show, although I think that made a huge difference. But more so, it was because immediately after our first day's work concluded, there was an Instagram post (a lovely photo of all 10 Jewish-Israeli female participants in a yoga pose) with a caption that read "Day 1 of 'The Workshop' was a great success." I cringed when I saw my name and my body representing the "great success" because since we didn't have Arab-Israeli participants, wasn't the entire project a failure? 

Of course we discussed what could have been done to make the workshop more accessible to the absent group of women, for next time. The fact that it was in the middle of the day, in the middle of the urban, affluent, and non-Arab part of town in Tel Aviv were all valid points. So we discussed how to better bring "them" in next time. I suggested perhaps we focus on the yoga practice instead of the conflict in the beginning - just getting a bunch of women together from varying backgrounds to work on themselves, take some time for their personal bodies and minds together in a community of people that have a few very foundational things in common - being female and all calling these specific Middle East coordinates "home." Let's give the occupation and the conflict a rest and just focus on coexisting for a minute; maybe then we could get them to be more inclined to join "us" in a dialogue. This idea was shot down pretty quickly by one of the facilitators of the workshop: "Not discussing the conflict would be perpetuating the status-quo and encouraging the occupation," she said. I didn't take it personally but was exhausted by the superficial and disingenuous conversation that ensued. After all, how can you argue with big words like that? 

I think the whole point of yoga was sorely missed in this workshop and the ancient practice of meditation and flow was used instead to promote an agenda that was admirable only on the surface. We were all given logo stickers, and t-shirts to wear during the yoga practice, which is fine, there is nothing wrong with good advertising and marketing; but, please, don't cheapen the already worn-out, torn-up Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Don't make it about holding hands and singing songs together without the other group even being present. Don't deny the fact that yoga is a personal and community practice first, and don't make acknowledging this fact a perception of "maintaining the occupation." 

The potential of movement and the human body to work out emotional and spiritual connections was not discussed - the mind-body connection was not really addressed in general. Using the body as a way to connect to other bodies and as a healing and empowerment tool through movement and through the joints was passed off as unimportant and irrelevant. The exquisite physical, emotional sensations varying poses can have on a woman was completely ignored. 

Yoga has become - let's face it -  an expensive, privileged, white girl sport despite it's humble, historic, and ancient beginnings, which all stem from a spiritual tradition within Hinduism, Buddhism and in India. And it's true, I personally am guilty of utilizing the appropriated Western notion of this mental, physical and spiritual practice; but if yoga has taught me anything, it's that as a human being I will always be learning and there is no better way to learn the world than to realize, on a daily basis through our trials and tribulations, how you shape it's existence and how it shapes yours simultaneously. 

I appreciate the effort and I am grateful for meeting people from the Israeli society that are both interested in yoga and in learning more about the conflict. Also, the actual yoga practice was creative and I enjoyed the energy of different and new teachers. At the end of the day dialogue is always a first step - so the workshop wasn't a total failure. I'll pay $25 for the conversation, the personal story that one Arab-Israeli facilitator shared with us, and a t-shirt, which we were obligated to buy in order to participate. Maybe in the future if they go together to a more culturally neutral area and make the workshop activities more in tune with their ambitious goals, I might give it another chance and join; however, the workshop left me a bit more cynical about the situation in general. The whole thing was like a deceptive ploy to promote specific teachers to make them seem more connected with human nature thus making them more marketable - using yoga and a decades-old conflict between real live human beings as a marketing tool.

I dunno, at the end of the day, yoga is yoga and war sucks, but the question "can't we all just get along?" accompanied by a laugh track and uttered for the sheer sake of seemingly deceptive sincerity rubs me the wrong way. But it does reinforce the notion that ambitious goals are often just that. I prefer to get back to basics and just do yoga with people and create an accepting community without forcing any particular dialogue or agenda down anyone's throat.

[lichka]

"I am a slow walker, but I never walk back." -- Abraham Lincoln

[lichka]

"It's impossible to fall off mountains you fool!" -- Kerouac, Dharma Bums

Kerouac was talking about climbing Matterhorn Peak in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range (northern boundary of Yosemite National Park in California), which has an elevation of 12,279 feet (3,743 meters). This is Jbel Toubkal in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco - the highest peak in North Africa (4,167 meters). I did not make it to the top on my 30th but I did make it up to, roughly, 3,750 meters. The milky way looks good - no unbelievable - from that height; the Berber people are kind and generous with their sweet mint tea; but the fresh, biting mountain air is cruel one.

There will be other mountains. 

[lichka]

Good advice from Kasbah du Toubkal, Imlil, Morocco.

9/6/2013

[lichka]

Can’t start a fire without a spark. African fuel.

[lichka]

The Kasbah, Tangier. Mugwumps, everywhere!

[lichka]

A Tree Grows in Stalemate: I Like the Way you Unilaterally Move

If a tree falls in a forest but no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Albert Einstein is reported to have asked his fellow physicist and friend Niels Bohr, one of the founding fathers of quantum mechanics, whether he realistically believed that ‘the moon does not exist if nobody is looking at it.’ To this Bohr replied that the riddle is an infallible conjecture, one that cannot be either proved or disproved because no matter what you perceive, neither man would be able to prove that the moon does indeed exist.

So the question I will begin to dissect here, is whether peace can be created without a peace agreement, without a negotiating partner – Can an intractable conflict between two peoples be solved by one party acting without the other? Does it really take two to tango? To be more specific, does Israel need a Palestinian organization as a negotiating partner to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

            Unilateralism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

I first began to understand the concept of unilateralism in April of 2013, at the INSS (Institute for National Security Studies) 6th Annual International Conference on Security Challenges of the 21st Century – Creative Ideas for Israel’s Changing Strategic Environment. One of my professors, Gilead Sher, presented his recommendations on the preferred course of action regarding “the Palestinian issue”, from the perspective of an extremely experienced Israeli attorney, who served as Chief of Staff and Policy Coordinator to Israel’s former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak. In that capacity he acted as Israel’s co-chief peace negotiator in 1999-2001, at the Camp David Summit in 2000 and the Taba Summit in 2001, as well as in extensive rounds of covert negotiations with the Palestinians. As head of the INSS team and co-chairman of Blue White Future (a non-partisan political movement whose aim is to keep Israel Jewish and Democratic), Gilead Sher opened the panel up with a simple outline of what he and his team call unilateral steps to delineate West Bank borders with the cooperation of the Palestinian Authority; however, the plan also encourages Israel to disengage with or without an agreement, with U.S. support, gradually, and preferably (note, not necessarily) coordinated with the Palestinians.

As a lawyer, I was a bit surprised that my teacher was recommending the state of Israel to make peace-related moves concerning the Palestinians without a legally drawn up writing or agreement. The first thing that came my mind was Ariel Sharon’s Disengagement Plan of the Gaza Strip from 2005 and its unexpected results, which created a power vacuum only to be filled by a militant, faction of the Islamic Brotherhood – Hamas. The peace-intended incentive for withdrawing Israeli forces ultimately led to more violence. What bothered me most about Sher’s proposal was that it seemed arrogant, on the Israeli, occupier side, which can be perceived in the international community as blatant cruelty. How can a state actor create peace with a non-state actor by making moves outside the legal confines of negotiations, an agreement, and assurances on both sides that peace will be upheld?

            Two months later, I think unilateral Israeli moves are the only “rational” option out there, “rational” being a very legal term indeed.

The Israeli public, from what I can see, does not really care about starting negotiations with Palestinians any time soon. Life is more or less good, the economy is not doing so well and there are many protests about Yair Lapid’s budget cuts but no one I talk to seems to care about the HOW of solving the conflict. Even my more politically active, left-leaning colleagues, who continuously challenge the Israeli government for their discrimination and unfair treatment of the Palestinians both outside of Israel (as an occupying force) and the Israeli-Arabs living inside of the fuzzy 1967 green line, don’t discuss logical, rational steps for ending the conflict, but they sure do throw around the word “occupation” a whole lot and deeply care about the future of this country and how human rights are being upheld. They are not happy with the status-quo and are extremely vocal about it, but they also don’t offer options of how to make a realistic change. The public sentiment seems to be either that of frustration and anger towards the malaise of the state of affairs, or complete ignorance/indifference of it, choosing to instead complain about the humidity or traffic. 

In this atmosphere of negative criticism and ambivalence, the concept of unilateralism is refreshing because it’s an actual plan, not just activism for protest’s sake. A proposal for Israel to make steps towards ending the conflict while staying true to the Zionist and democratic character of the Jewish state, created by people who were on the field, in the negotiating room until 5AM with then U.S. President Clinton, Bush’s Roadmap, Begin, Rabin, Barak, Olmert, and Sharon; lawyers, government officials, extremely knowledgeable people on both sides of the divide, who probably felt an inch away from peace before it all collapsed. They probably felt the frustrations more than anyone else; they backed a leader with information, research, educated responses, and for what? An Interim Period that lasts 20 years? Status quo that solidifies Israel as an occupying state power backed the Western, Democratic world? But instead of complaining about the Palestinian insistence on reiterating their Nakba narrative, about the Holocaust, about Israel’s security issues and their fear of terrorism, they came up with a plan. A challenging one that is not accepted by the public at large, but it’s a decisive step, which always sounds radical, but UNILATERAL moves actually make sense if you break it down.

In a 2012 op-ed for the New York Times, Ami Ayalon, Orni Petrushka and Gilead Sher urge that just because a return to the negotiating table seems unlikely any time soon – because of a lack of trust on both Israeli and Palestinian sides –that does not mean the status quo must be frozen in place.

“Israel can and must take constructive steps to advance the reality of two states based on the 1967 borders, with land swaps – regardless of whether Palestinian leaders have agreed to accept it. Through a series of unilateral actions, gradual but tangible changes could begin to transform the situation on the ground.”

The writers stress that of course an agreement with Palestinians is preferable, but emphasize that their leadership is not strong enough and the appropriate state infrastructure (including public sentiment) in the West Bank is not ready for a final status agreement. Therefore, Israel should take small, unilateral steps, with the cooperation of the Palestinian Authority, until the other side has a partner strong enough to uphold their end of a final agreement. This might sound condescending, like Israel is the big bully calling all the shots and pushing the Palestinians around yet again, but the truth of the matter is the Palestinian Authority (the State of Palestine – following their own unilateral move at the United Nations General Assembly in 2012), needs help to build up a self-reliable government, and Abbas is not currently equipped to lead his people into a permanent status of peace or something tangible on the ground.

Old and New Unilateralism

Sher’s team has been pushing the concept of Israeli unilateral moves for over a decade now, since the end of the Second Intifada and the realization that the Oslo Accords were not a success (see 2002 Policy Paper) and at least three years before PM Ariel Sharon disengaged from Gaza in 2005. In 2012, Sher admits that mistakes were made with Israel’s unilateral disengagement from Gaza and Southern Lebanon (2000), but he is still a firm believer that unilateral moves are the only way to move forward, out of stalemate, and into a possible coexistence with Palestinians. The new unilateralism stresses cooperation with Palestinian authorities, not agreement.

“The decision to withdraw from both territories was correct (Lebanon in 2000 and Gaza 2005). In the first case, unilateral action legitimized Israel's border in the north; in the second case, it mitigated Gaza's growing demographic threat and the challenge that the Israel Defense Force's presence posed to Israeli legitimacy. What was flawed about these past moves was how they were carried out” (Yadlin & Sher, March 18, 2013, “Unilateral Peace” Foreign Policy)

The government of Israel made four main errors during the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, resulting in the current situation of Gaza becoming a launching pad for rockets and missiles targeting Israel (Yadlin & Sher, 2013, Foreign Policy):

Not preceding the move with a generous peace offer to the Palestinians;

Leaving a corridor open to weapons smuggling into Gaza;

Completing the total evacuation of the territory without leaving bargaining chips for future negotiations; and

Failing to secure recognition of its significant and constructive concessions by not coordinating the move with the international community or the Palestinians.

Udi Dekel, head of the negotiations team with the Palestinians in the Annapolis Process under the Olmert government, says that when Hamas began taking power in Gaza, Fatah came to Israel and said it was time to do something about the increasing threat of Hamas but at the same time stressed that Fatah was not ready to take on responsibility in Gaza because they were not strong enough nor did they want to take Gaza, from their brothers, by the IDF rifle. To add more fuel to the fire, they didn’t want to continue negotiating with Israel about a permanent status agreement while their brothers were being killed in Gaza (lecture to Conflict Resolution course at TAU on May, 23, 2013). In this multi-faceted culture of peace, what options did Israel have but to disengage?

Dekel also added, when speaking about the Annapolis Process of 2007, that a bottom-up and top-down approach must be implemented at the same time, meaning negotiations, final status agreements, and implementation must be going on simultaneously. The Palestinians need to vent about the injustices their people have suffered; their narrative is extremely important to them. Dekel stressed that their rights have to be anchored first but the forward-moving process must also being going on at the same time. The formula before Annapolis was that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed – a huge mistake.

Annapolis did not lead to an agreement, as we all know; however, it is another example of why unilateral moves, before or during negotiations, is necessary. Hopefully, in the current deadpan state of affairs, unilateral moves will be the impetus for negotiations to start up again?

New Radical Unilateral Approach – Steps

Blue White Future’s Current Unilateral Plan:  Israel should first and foremost declare a willingness to return to negotiations anytime and renounce all claims of sovereignty on areas east of the existing security barrier. Second, end all settlement construction east of the security barrier and in the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem. And third, create a plan to help 100,000 settlers who live east of the barrier to relocate within Israel’s recognized borders. All these moves, particularly those related to security, should be coordinated with the U.S., the international community, and the PA, thereby lending legitimacy to the process.

The assistance of a third-party security force (instead of a mediator) should be an international force, preferably not the United Nations, but perhaps NATO.

Specifically, this plan is different from Gaza because the IDF will remain in West Bank until the conflict is officially resolved with a final-status agreement, and Israel will not force settlers to leave until said agreement is reached. But the point of the approach is that preparations should begin as soon as possible in order to get the public on board with peace, conflict resolution, and an end to this muddled definition of Zionism that Israelis (with no moderate left party to lend a rational voice) are happy to accept due to frustration, lack of trust, and a general meh attitude about the entire situation.

Unilateral moves will facilitate an eventual negotiated agreement:

“…to establish facts on the ground by beginning to create a two-state reality in the absence of an accord. Imperfect as it is, this plan would reduce tensions and build hope among both Israelis and Palestinians, so that they in turn would press their leaders to obtain a two-state solution.” (Ayalon, Petruschka, Sher, 2012, Peace without Partners, New York Times Opinion)

Palestinian Unilateral Moves – the UN Statehood Bid

On November 29, 2012, immediately following Operation Pillar of Defense, the PLO under the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, unilaterally requested a United Nations vote on international recognition of Palestine as a “non-member state” (“permanent observer”) of the United Nations, resuming a statehood initiative that began in 2011 (Sher & Yadlin, Mahmoud Abbas’ UN Gambit will not Bring Peace, INSS Insight No. 388, November 27, 2012). Palestine, was acting alone, without cooperation of Israel and Israel in turn voted nay.

There is much international and local criticism on the Palestinian UN bid, and in general unilateral moves, as being in plain legal contradiction to the Oslo Interim Agreement. Also, the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, created by the Oslo Accords in 1995, could result from the UN bid thus leading to yet another power vacuum on both sides of the divide. In addition, if Palestine becomes a state there might be a cancellation of the UNRWA mandate, which could worsen the situation for Palestinian refugees living in UNRWA refugee camps. The severe refugee situation would be placed into the hands of a Palestinian Authority state government that is ill-equipped to take on such a complicated issue without agreed terms with Israel about the right-of-return. Moreover, what about the Palestinian Diaspora? A State of Palestine would not be able to provide or represent Palestinians living outside of the state, thus leaving many displaces people outside its borders out in the cold of Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon.

Sher argues that the PA should have given Israel a heads up about the bid, discussed it with them and then, he claims, Israel would have voted “yes”. Without the coordination, the unilateral move will do more harm than good and not lead to a resolution of the conflict. It’s in Israel’s interest to support a Palestinian state, but cooperation from both sides is needed. Similarly, Sher criticizes the 2005 Gaza Disengagement as a unilateral move without partner cooperation, thus creating more obstacles to a final resolution to peace.

Israel’s Forefathers’ and Zionism

Blue White Future is devoted to keeping Israel democratic and Jewish and Sher claims that Unilateralism is, above all, a plan to keep Zionism alive - the Zionism that the state’s founders based Israel on, not Netanyahu’s Zionism or what it has come to mean today.

Naftali Bennett and Gilead Sher have been speaking for two years now about their differing opinions on the peace process, after Bennett approached Sher and told him that his proposals were dangerous. After many disagreements and conversations, at the end of the day (according to Sher) they both realized that they have more in common than they originally thought. The common denominator between them is that they want to keep Israel Jewish and democratic and Zionism as the ideology behind it. Where they differ is how to implement Zionism.

Currently, Israel rules over another group of people and not as equal citizens. Palestinians are an occupied people and Israel is the occupying force, no one can disagree with this. This status quo situation has been going on for decades and these are not in line with the ideals of Zionism’s forefathers and stands in contradiction to Jewish, democratic principles.

Ariel Sharon’s Disengagement Plan was undemocratic because he did not speak with the settlers in Gaza, whom he was uprooting. The unilateral disengagement of the West Bank that Sher is proposing will involve and prepare the settlers, and more importantly, will not pull out until the public is more comfortable with the idea, or at least feel like they had some kind of say.

At the end of the day unilateralism is a scary option because it is an uncertain one, but it is better than the alternatives of war or continuous stalemate and more frustrations getting to the boiling point. “Unilateralism can only be a default option not the leading strategic tactic. However, “unilateralism” is not a dirty word” (Sher, lecture May 30, 2013).

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Footnote:  Two days later, breaking news: 

Idea of a two-state solution has reached 'dead end,' Bennett says

Economy minister says Israel must stop trying to solve the problem and 'live with it;' Netanyahu: My view is clear - I will seek a negotiated settlement with demilitarized Palestinian state; Chief Palestinian negotiator Erekat: Israel officially declared death of two-state solution.