Rabbis For Human Rights

The most difficult moral dilemmas are not those in which there is a choice whether or not to violate a human right. The challenge is when we must choose between one right and another, in deciding which harm to cause. Recent events demonstrate how Israel has shot itself in the foot by creating an unnecessary conflict between two essential rights.

From the first of October many Palestinian families have been under great pressure to conclude the olive harvest before Ramadan begins at the end of the month. To the credit of Israel's security forces it should be said that without us applying the pressure which we needed to apply last year, they established contact with Palestinians in order to plan how they would protect harvesters. However, I also must point out that they have tried to prevent Palestinians from harvesting in the areas close to settlements or roads until after the Jewish holidays. (The date given ranging form 20.10-25.10) Here we see that, even leaving aside the fact that the 4th Geneva Convention bars an occupying power from transferring it population into an occupied area, the placement of many settlements in the middle of Palestinian olive groves has created a conflict between the Israeli right to security and the Palestinian rights of both security and access to their land.

We are after another terrible terror attack in Haifa just before Yom Kippur and there continue to be a very large number of hot warnings regarding additional planned attempts. As a result of this the orders went out the day after Yom Kippur to enforce a closure at least for an additional 10 days. As a result, the gates in the Separation Barrier have continued to be closed (Every year there is a closure for Yom Kippur which this year began two days previous.) It is entirely obvious that Israel has the right and responsibility to defend her citizens. For me this is also personal. I, as well as my family, children and friends are at daily risk. However, while we all focus on the question of whether or not the Separation Barrier will run East of Ariel, the fact is that the current route runs from meters to 6 kilometers inside Palestinian land. Even when we are talking about a few meters, the Barrier cuts the economic lifeline of the many families whose lands fall within those few meters.

On October 8th I waited with the Palestinian farmers of Jayous to see if Israeli security forces would open the Barrier gate. Here the Barrier runs 6 kilometers East of the Green Line. Not only were families waiting to harvest their olives, but there were owners of greenhouses who knew that their produce was dying for lack of water. When it became clear that the IDF had no intention of opening the gate, the tension grew between farmers fearful for their lands and livelihood and soldiers fearful because of the security warnings. At a certain point farmers broke through the gate. An agreement between Palestinians and the Israeli security forces was reached allowing the gate to be closed in return for the farmers already on their land to be able to return safely at the end of the day. However, with the army in hot pursuit that afternoon of a terrorist seeking to cross the Green Line, a visibly tense and angry commander showed up at the gate in the afternoon and declared that he would not honor the agreement and intended to arrest everybody upon their return. Arrests were made and teargas fired, although in the end cooler heads prevailed and everybody was released.

It is beyond RHR's mandate to get into the question of whether or not Israel should build the Barrier. This is for the politicians and defense experts to decide. However, the ROUTE of the Barrier makes it a human rights issue because of the land confiscated to build the Barrier and the restricted access to the lands between the Barrier and the Green Line. Were the Barrier to be located on the Green Line or on the Israeli side, Israel could close the gates in the Barrier in order to protect my family and fellow Israelis without endangering the livelihood of the farmers of Jayous.

The Midrash teaches us that each of the "Four Species" of the Lulav we shake throughout Sukkot (Palm branch, etrog, myrtle, willow) represent a different part of the populace. We shake all four together to symbolize that each one of these groups is important. The question is, who is "the populace" for us. To the extent that we believe in the intrinsic worth of every single human being, each created in God's image, there is no justification for creating an unnecessary conflict between the Israeli right to self defense and the Palestinian right to work their land and support themselves with dignity.