SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Elie Wiesel's Wrong Move on Peace
May 13, 2010
Elie Wiesel, the noted Nobel Peace Laureate and Holocaust
survivor, has provoked a serious row with an open letter to President Barak
Obama published last month in The International Herald Tribune, The
Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. His opinion was strongly
rebuked by Yossi Sarid, a former member of Knesset, and by a group of notable
Jewish leaders and academicians who live in Jerusalem.
"There is no more moving prayer in Jewish history than
the one expressing our yearning to return to Jerusalem. To many theologians, it IS Jewish
history, to many poets, a source of inspiration. It belongs to the Jewish people
and is much more than a city, it is what binds one Jew to another in a way that
remains hard to explain, "said Mr. Wiesel in his letter.
Latter he added, "Today, for the first time in history,
Jews, Christians and Muslims all may freely worship at their shrines. And,
contrary to certain media reports, Jews, Christians and Muslims ARE allowed to
build their homes anywhere in the city. The anguish over Jerusalem is not about
real state but about memory."
In an open letter published in Haaretz, Yosse
Sarid stated, "Someone has deceived you, my dear friend. Not only may an Arab
not build "anywhere," but he may thank his god if he is not evicted from his
home and thrown out onto the street with his family and property. Perhaps you
have heard about Arab residents in Sheikh Jarrah, having lived there since 1948,
who are again being uprooted and made refugees because certain Jews are chafing
from Jerusalem's
space constraints."
"Those same jealous Jews insist on inserting themselves
like so many bones in the throats of Arab neighborhoods, purifying and Judaizing
them with the help of rich American benefactors, several of whom you may know
personally. Behind the scenes our prime minister and Jerusalem's mayor are
pulling the strings of this puppet show while in public deflecting
responsibility for this lawlessness and greed. That is the real reason for the
'new and old tensions surfacing at a disturbing pace' of which you warn in your
letter."
"'Jerusalem is above politics' you write. It is
unfortunate that a man of your standing must confuse fundamental issues and
confound the reader. Is it not politics that deals with mankind's weightiest
issues, with matters of war and peace, life and death? And is life itself not
holier than historical rights, than national and personal memory - holier even
than Jerusalem?
The living always take precedence over the dead, as must the present and future
over the past."
Writing in The New York Review of Books, a group
of 100 prominent Israelis write,
"...Your letter troubles us, not simply because it is
replete with factual errors and false representations, but because it upholds an
attachment to some otherworldly city that purports to supersede the interest of
those who live in the this-worldly one. For every Jew, you say, a visit to
Jerusalem is a
homecoming, yet it is our commitment that makes your homecoming possible. We
prefer the hardship of realizing citizenship in this city to the convenience of
merely yearning for it."
..."We invite you to our city to view with your own eyes
the catastrophic effects of the frenzy of construction. You will witness that,
contrary to some media reports, Arabs are not allowed to build their homes
anywhere in Jerusalem. You will see the gross inequality in
allocation of municipal resources and services between east and west. We will
take you to Sheikh Jarrah, where Palestinian families are being evicted from
their homes to make room for a new Jewish neighborhood, and to Silwan, where
dozens of houses face demolition because of the Jerusalem Municipality's refusal to issue building
permits to Palestinians."
"We, who live in Jerusalem, can no longer be sacrificed for the
fantasies of those who love our city from afar. The Jerusalem of this world
must be shared by the people of the two nations residing in it. Only a shared
city will live up to the prophet's vision: 'Zion shall be redeemed with justice.' As we
chant weekly in our vigils in Sheikh Jarrah: 'Nothing can be holy in an occupied
city!'"
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Cesar Chelala
Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant, co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award and two national journalism awards from Argentina.
Elie Wiesel, the noted Nobel Peace Laureate and Holocaust
survivor, has provoked a serious row with an open letter to President Barak
Obama published last month in The International Herald Tribune, The
Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. His opinion was strongly
rebuked by Yossi Sarid, a former member of Knesset, and by a group of notable
Jewish leaders and academicians who live in Jerusalem.
"There is no more moving prayer in Jewish history than
the one expressing our yearning to return to Jerusalem. To many theologians, it IS Jewish
history, to many poets, a source of inspiration. It belongs to the Jewish people
and is much more than a city, it is what binds one Jew to another in a way that
remains hard to explain, "said Mr. Wiesel in his letter.
Latter he added, "Today, for the first time in history,
Jews, Christians and Muslims all may freely worship at their shrines. And,
contrary to certain media reports, Jews, Christians and Muslims ARE allowed to
build their homes anywhere in the city. The anguish over Jerusalem is not about
real state but about memory."
In an open letter published in Haaretz, Yosse
Sarid stated, "Someone has deceived you, my dear friend. Not only may an Arab
not build "anywhere," but he may thank his god if he is not evicted from his
home and thrown out onto the street with his family and property. Perhaps you
have heard about Arab residents in Sheikh Jarrah, having lived there since 1948,
who are again being uprooted and made refugees because certain Jews are chafing
from Jerusalem's
space constraints."
"Those same jealous Jews insist on inserting themselves
like so many bones in the throats of Arab neighborhoods, purifying and Judaizing
them with the help of rich American benefactors, several of whom you may know
personally. Behind the scenes our prime minister and Jerusalem's mayor are
pulling the strings of this puppet show while in public deflecting
responsibility for this lawlessness and greed. That is the real reason for the
'new and old tensions surfacing at a disturbing pace' of which you warn in your
letter."
"'Jerusalem is above politics' you write. It is
unfortunate that a man of your standing must confuse fundamental issues and
confound the reader. Is it not politics that deals with mankind's weightiest
issues, with matters of war and peace, life and death? And is life itself not
holier than historical rights, than national and personal memory - holier even
than Jerusalem?
The living always take precedence over the dead, as must the present and future
over the past."
Writing in The New York Review of Books, a group
of 100 prominent Israelis write,
"...Your letter troubles us, not simply because it is
replete with factual errors and false representations, but because it upholds an
attachment to some otherworldly city that purports to supersede the interest of
those who live in the this-worldly one. For every Jew, you say, a visit to
Jerusalem is a
homecoming, yet it is our commitment that makes your homecoming possible. We
prefer the hardship of realizing citizenship in this city to the convenience of
merely yearning for it."
..."We invite you to our city to view with your own eyes
the catastrophic effects of the frenzy of construction. You will witness that,
contrary to some media reports, Arabs are not allowed to build their homes
anywhere in Jerusalem. You will see the gross inequality in
allocation of municipal resources and services between east and west. We will
take you to Sheikh Jarrah, where Palestinian families are being evicted from
their homes to make room for a new Jewish neighborhood, and to Silwan, where
dozens of houses face demolition because of the Jerusalem Municipality's refusal to issue building
permits to Palestinians."
"We, who live in Jerusalem, can no longer be sacrificed for the
fantasies of those who love our city from afar. The Jerusalem of this world
must be shared by the people of the two nations residing in it. Only a shared
city will live up to the prophet's vision: 'Zion shall be redeemed with justice.' As we
chant weekly in our vigils in Sheikh Jarrah: 'Nothing can be holy in an occupied
city!'"
Cesar Chelala
Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant, co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award and two national journalism awards from Argentina.
Elie Wiesel, the noted Nobel Peace Laureate and Holocaust
survivor, has provoked a serious row with an open letter to President Barak
Obama published last month in The International Herald Tribune, The
Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. His opinion was strongly
rebuked by Yossi Sarid, a former member of Knesset, and by a group of notable
Jewish leaders and academicians who live in Jerusalem.
"There is no more moving prayer in Jewish history than
the one expressing our yearning to return to Jerusalem. To many theologians, it IS Jewish
history, to many poets, a source of inspiration. It belongs to the Jewish people
and is much more than a city, it is what binds one Jew to another in a way that
remains hard to explain, "said Mr. Wiesel in his letter.
Latter he added, "Today, for the first time in history,
Jews, Christians and Muslims all may freely worship at their shrines. And,
contrary to certain media reports, Jews, Christians and Muslims ARE allowed to
build their homes anywhere in the city. The anguish over Jerusalem is not about
real state but about memory."
In an open letter published in Haaretz, Yosse
Sarid stated, "Someone has deceived you, my dear friend. Not only may an Arab
not build "anywhere," but he may thank his god if he is not evicted from his
home and thrown out onto the street with his family and property. Perhaps you
have heard about Arab residents in Sheikh Jarrah, having lived there since 1948,
who are again being uprooted and made refugees because certain Jews are chafing
from Jerusalem's
space constraints."
"Those same jealous Jews insist on inserting themselves
like so many bones in the throats of Arab neighborhoods, purifying and Judaizing
them with the help of rich American benefactors, several of whom you may know
personally. Behind the scenes our prime minister and Jerusalem's mayor are
pulling the strings of this puppet show while in public deflecting
responsibility for this lawlessness and greed. That is the real reason for the
'new and old tensions surfacing at a disturbing pace' of which you warn in your
letter."
"'Jerusalem is above politics' you write. It is
unfortunate that a man of your standing must confuse fundamental issues and
confound the reader. Is it not politics that deals with mankind's weightiest
issues, with matters of war and peace, life and death? And is life itself not
holier than historical rights, than national and personal memory - holier even
than Jerusalem?
The living always take precedence over the dead, as must the present and future
over the past."
Writing in The New York Review of Books, a group
of 100 prominent Israelis write,
"...Your letter troubles us, not simply because it is
replete with factual errors and false representations, but because it upholds an
attachment to some otherworldly city that purports to supersede the interest of
those who live in the this-worldly one. For every Jew, you say, a visit to
Jerusalem is a
homecoming, yet it is our commitment that makes your homecoming possible. We
prefer the hardship of realizing citizenship in this city to the convenience of
merely yearning for it."
..."We invite you to our city to view with your own eyes
the catastrophic effects of the frenzy of construction. You will witness that,
contrary to some media reports, Arabs are not allowed to build their homes
anywhere in Jerusalem. You will see the gross inequality in
allocation of municipal resources and services between east and west. We will
take you to Sheikh Jarrah, where Palestinian families are being evicted from
their homes to make room for a new Jewish neighborhood, and to Silwan, where
dozens of houses face demolition because of the Jerusalem Municipality's refusal to issue building
permits to Palestinians."
"We, who live in Jerusalem, can no longer be sacrificed for the
fantasies of those who love our city from afar. The Jerusalem of this world
must be shared by the people of the two nations residing in it. Only a shared
city will live up to the prophet's vision: 'Zion shall be redeemed with justice.' As we
chant weekly in our vigils in Sheikh Jarrah: 'Nothing can be holy in an occupied
city!'"
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.