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The pope and the Nakba
By Shlomo Avineri
Tags: Nakba, Pope Israel 

At first glance there is nothing in common between Pope Benedict XVI's visit and the Palestinian Nakba. But one thing links the two: relations with the Jewish people. For generations the Catholic Church advanced the idea that Jesus' gospel had its roots in Jewish scripture, but that the New Testament annulled the original covenant between God and the Jewish people, which refused to recognize its messiah and thereby lost the legitimacy to exist.

This traditional theological approach underwent a revolutionary change in the Second Vatican Council in the early-to-mid 1960s. It not only absolved the Jewish people of collective guilt for crucifying Jesus, but recognized the continuing covenant between God and the Jews, paving the way for recognizing the legitimacy of their existence. This transformation, in turn, enabled the Vatican's recognition of the State of Israel. During his visit to Jerusalem, John Paul II demonstrated tremendous magnanimity when in the note he placed in the Western Wall he asked the Jewish people's forgiveness for the injustice brought on them by the church for generations. The fact that Benedict chose Mount Nebo to emphasize the deep link between Christianity and Judaism testifies to his awareness of the Jewish people's ties to the Land of Israel.

Such soul-searching is entirely absent from the way the Palestinians treat every May 15, marking the pain of what befell them in 1948. As Jews and Israelis we cannot be indifferent to this pain, as it is clear the Nakba is directly tied to the founding of the State of Israel. But maybe it could be expected that the Palestinians recognize that their behavior - their refusal to accept the UN partition plan and the decision to respond to it with force - is part of the reason for what happened to them. None of this appears in the Palestinian narrative, which contains only the injustice committed against them.
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It could all have been different. Had in 1948 the Palestinians accepted the partition plan as did the Jews (albeit grudgingly), two states would have been born and hundreds of thousands of people would not have been uprooted from their homes and become refugees. Arab and Palestinian literature and public relations completely lack this self-criticism. Even today, when the idea is raised of matching Israeli recognition of a Palestinian nation state with Palestinian recognition of Israel as the home of the Jewish people, the moderates in the Palestinian Authority respond with unqualified refusal. This is not a tactical rejection, it is deeply rooted in Palestinians' unwillingness to recognize that in 1948 they made an enormous, tragic mistake; even today they are unable to accept the principle of partition.

The Palestinians are willing to talk about two states, but not for two nations, since that would imply recognition of the Jews as a people. Maybe it is too much to ask the Palestinians to demonstrate awareness of the other side's rights. But while the finest Israeli writers - from S. Yizhar to Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua and David Grossman - confront the moral challenge of upholding the justice of the Zionist enterprise while understanding the Palestinians' pain and rights, we hear no comparable moral voice on the other side. To this day, no intellectual has arisen who is willing to recognize the Jewish people's struggle and link to the Land of Israel.

Perhaps we can hope that the pope's visit will lead to Palestinian soul-searching similar to the church's. While these are entirely different planes, if the church is able to recognize its mistakes, it's possible the Palestinians, too, will begin opening up to the voice of the other - the Jew, the Israeli. Without such a willingness, it's difficult to hope that the principle of partition - two states for two peoples - will ever be realized.
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  1.   BY THE HANDS OF MEN 14:05  |  indrajaya 10/05/09
  2.   Astute Observation 14:09  |  Yakov 10/05/09
  3.   Self-criticism 15:04  |  Hezi 10/05/09
  4.   Until the Palestinians confront their history 15:22  |  Nero 10/05/09
  5.   Filling In The Details 15:24  |  Yosemite 10/05/09
  6.   it is either us or the palestinians 15:30  |  samuel the seer 10/05/09
  7.   the palestinians have not made a mistake 15:35  |  samuel the seer 10/05/09
  8.   HOW COULD HE? 15:38  |  indrajaya 10/05/09
  9.   Indrajaya Can`t even understand the point of the article 15:59  |  Eve 10/05/09
  10.   #1 Indy 17:17  |  D 10/05/09
  11.   VERY GOOD! 18:02  |  AA 10/05/09
  12.   Preface for "Ten Myths About Islam" 18:04  |  Ted of Canada 10/05/09
  13.   The Palestinian Goal Is the Same - Only Tactics Changed 18:36  |  massaraksh 10/05/09
  14.   #12 Ted of Canada: The Problem is Unwillingness to Know 19:21  |  massaraksh 10/05/09
  15.   This article is founded on a glaring falsehood: 19:41  |  Kol ha-Nevi`im 10/05/09
  16.   The moral lessons of "the finest Israeli writers". 19:44  |  Hank N Tennessee 10/05/09
  17.   All true, but Palestinian flaws should not be Israels sin 20:02  |  David G 10/05/09
  18.   the pope 20:50  |  ed 10/05/09
  19.   This author forgets to mention one interesting note 20:57  |  ELIAS KHOURY 10/05/09
  20.   1948 two-state solution not a solution 21:17  |  AT 10/05/09
  21.   GOOD POINT 21:27  |  Victor 10/05/09
  22.   rejectionism good 21:47  |  hodge 10/05/09
  23.   This article is founded on a twisted, self-justifying narrative, 21:48  |  Kol ha-Nevi`im 10/05/09
  24.   #16 ELIAS KHOURY: Good case minus the classical antisemitism 22:03  |  Hanna 10/05/09
  25.   This is a send up, right? 22:07  |  H50 10/05/09
  26.   Wonderful writing towards oneness. @ indrajaya 22:21  |  Jew- and Bookburner 10/05/09
  27.   False Assumption 22:27  |  jonathan kuttab 10/05/09
  28.   Avineri should read new Historians 22:29  |  Don 10/05/09
  29.   #7 `that`s ok` 23:08  |  ok 10/05/09
  30.   Hanna, I`m an atheist, but the books say what they say... 23:12  |  BBSNews 10/05/09
  31.   To ELIAS KHOURY: More excuses 23:35  |  AA 10/05/09
  32.   jonathan kuttab 00:02  |  samuel the seer 11/05/09
  33.   Hanna, what was anti-semetic? 00:05  |  ELIAS KHOURY 11/05/09
  34.   #20- AT your wrong 00:07  |  David G 11/05/09
  35.   jonathan kuttab very well said 00:11  |  mohammed ayoubi 11/05/09
  36.   Silly Silly Silly 00:21  |  Joe 11/05/09
  37.   #15 is right: where is the evidence that Nakba could be prevented 00:30  |  Tarik 11/05/09
  38.   Palestinian Mistakes 00:53  |  Ed 11/05/09
  39.   Jonathan Kuttab: false assumptions? 01:02  |  Otto Rand 11/05/09
  40.   May He bring light to the Jews and Muslims 01:24  |  Joe 11/05/09
  41.   Shlomo has failed to red Simha Flaapan 01:28  |  Ibrahim 11/05/09
  42.   Arab refugees are kept as pawns 01:37  |  VICTIMSofARAB TERROR 11/05/09
  43.   AT Confused.Expulsion ?2,000,000 Israeli Arab? 02:31  |  PETER SM 11/05/09
  44.   H50Arab war of annihition,refusal to accept a state,is no send up 03:53  |  PETER SM 11/05/09
  45.   Proportionality 04:12  |  ALEX 11/05/09
  46.   H50"Hilarious"? Arabs murdering Jews for the last 200 years 04:44  |  PETER SM 11/05/09
  47.   For Yosemite, # 6, who piles all imams and rabbis in one lump. 04:59  |  Fortuna Benmayor 11/05/09
  48.   For E.T. (-I mean-) AT # 20 05:04  |  Fortuna Benmayor 11/05/09
  49.   Jerusalem Ultimate Status 05:11  |  Shimon Cleopas 11/05/09
  50.   stinian rejection to partition is understandable 06:36  |  Esther 11/05/09
  51.   Fortuna Benmayor 06:39  |  Yosemite 11/05/09
  52.   BBS.Israeli Arabs have all rights under the law 06:57  |  PETER SM 11/05/09
  53.   RE Ted of Canada 08:02  |  Shlomog 11/05/09
  54.   Re ELIAS KHOURY 08:15  |  Shlomog 11/05/09
  55.   ALEX Calculations included aerable land etc Arabs came out on top 08:36  |  PETER SM 11/05/09
  56.   KOL Haneveim.Israel accepted Arabs did not. 09:07  |  PETER SM 11/05/09
  57.   To Kol ha-Nevi`im 09:39  |  Jania 11/05/09
  58.   Kuttab, Ayoubi et al 09:45  |  Joe W 11/05/09
  59.   Well said onathan kuttab 13:50  |  GaileeHero 11/05/09
  60.   No people would have accepted sharing their land with immigrants 14:05  |  jens 11/05/09
  61.   Jen and others,There were always Jews in Israel and alot of new 20:54  |  ks 11/05/09
  62.   Jens frm. denmark 00:33  |  The Teacher/Instruct 12/05/09
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