A Golden Opportunity: Turning Bitter Fruit into Gold

Paul with Israeli General Benzy Gruber at his home in the occupied West Bank

I have great admiration for the Israeli people and for the Jewish people as a whole. Their accomplishments are many, their talents abundant, their past suffering truly horrible beyond description.

And yet the policies of the Israeli government toward the Palestinian people are terrible, cruel, and uncivilized, and, as such, unacceptable. They are abhorrent and must be changed.

Facing such injustices, we Citizens of the United States have an obligation not just to lament and wring our hands, but to insist, indeed to demand, that the Israelis change these destructive policies and that our own government assume its responsibilities to make them do so.

The overall situation in the Middle East between Israel, the Palestinians, and much of the Arab and Muslim worlds is reaching what leading experts believe to be a point of no return. Too many organizations and individuals are spending their days complaining about how bad things are, lamenting what could have been, and even declaring the “Two-State Solution” dead.

But that’s not what I think. And that’s not what I’m doing. I happen to be an action guy –– and as an American Citizen I require a certain level of performance from our government.

I think this dangerous and dire situation has gone on for far too long, and I think it is a situation crying out for bold new leadership and new ideas. Therefore, I am focusing on crafting a better future.

The United States should be providing principled and courageous leadership at this crucial time, not facilitating more war, hatred, and destruction. I’ve studied and written about this issue since 1962 and from the vantage point of 60 different counties in which I’ve worked. And now my recent trip made it clear what must be done.

Dome of the Rock: Jerusalem, Israel

Paul with Israeli soldier outside the King David Hotel in Jerusalem

More than anything else, my meetings with Israelis and Palestinians — some rabbis and generals, some ministers and elected legislators, some UN personnel and NGO specialists, men and women, students and teachers — convinced me that we owe it to them, as well as ourselves, to face the challenge head-on. It’s time the United States stops being the enabler for outrageous Israeli policies — that so clearly would be unacceptable anywhere else in our world.

We all know that many leading Israelis themselves have proclaimed their abhorrence about what their Government does.

Yet America continues to facilitate and enable this behavior with $3 billion every year plus armaments of every kind — making us more deeply involved and responsible as each day goes by.

So we need first of all to start being honest and courageous in facing today’s situation in which we are so intimately entangled. What has happened and what will happen in this small area greatly affects our country and our world.

Being politically correct and socially acceptable has overridden the greater responsibility to speak truthfully and to act forcefully. This kind of avoidance approach is what my recent visit to Israel, Occupied Palestine, and three other countries in the region has impelled me to speak up and champion what is right and just. This is not dreamy innocence or naive idealism.

This is facing up to one of the the great and perilous issues of our time. This is getting back to basics!

While the Israelis and our own government keep uttering the platitudinous words about “Palestinian Statehood” the realities on the ground are completely otherwise.

Paul with Mohammed Faraje outside the Lutheran Hotel and Boys School in Jerusalem.

Indeed more than ever in recent years, the Israelis have been rushing forward trying to make any kind of acceptable and dignified “Two- State settlement” impossible — and they have come a long way in that direction though they have not yet fully succeeded.

In this report, I offer a clear and succinct outline of specific Israeli policies that must change, what should be expected of the Palestinians, and the Arab States, and what I expect of my own country. It’s time to act and provide justice where there is none.