It's No Zionist Idea

By GIL TROY

THE FATE OF ZIONISM
A Secular Future for Israel and Palestine
By Arthur Hertzberg
208 pages. HarperSanFransisco. $19.95.

“Every difficult problem that attaches itself only to the Jews is not a problem; a true problem is one in which Jews and all the rest of the world are equally affected.” Arthur Hertzberg, one of America’s most prominent Rabbis and Jewish historians, says that this Talmudic insight explains what terrifies him today—and has motivated his new book The Fate Of Zionism. Arguing that “the question … [is] no longer whether weapons of mass destruction will appear in the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis; it is only a question of when—how soon,” Hertzberg worries about the fate of Israel and the world.  The Middle East is not Northern Ireland; the conflict between Israel and Palestinians is not simply a regional disturbance. It cannot be contained, he warns.

Unfortunately, Hertzberg proves better at terrifying his readers than reassuring them. There is much to recommend in this short, packed volume. It offers a marvelous, smooth, compressed overview of the origins of Zionism, just what one would expect from a distinguished historian and analyst of Zionism. It provides a balanced, fair, insightful treatment of the Palestinian side as well, demonstrating just how two conflicting narratives, cultures, worldviews, and realities have clashed repeatedly between two peoples united by a deep, all too often deadly, love for the same land. This too is what one would expect from a leading Jewish liberal and peace activist. The book also offers yet another passionate, eloquent, insightful defense against the vicious critics of Zionism and the Jewish state festering on the left these days—from one whose willingness to criticize Israel and Zionism does not blind him to the venom and anti-Semitic malice of the gang-up-on-Israel club.

And yet, despite all these strengths, the book fails to deliver on its promises. Hertzberg seeks to break out of the pack with two bold arguments. First, he insists that Israelis and Palestinians will only find salvation through secularism. This sounds reasonable and will certainly play to the prejudices of Hertzberg’s likely readership, most of whom find it natural to blame religion for the world’s misery. But in addition to failing to offer any roadmap suggesting how to lead either community to his secular nirvana, the normally rigorous Hertzberg assumes his notion is true without proving it. This conclusion just hangs there, despite the fact that the PLO has long been a secular organization and Yasir Arafat exemplifies the poisonous potential of nationalism more than the evils of fundamentalism. Moreover, there are those such as Rabbi Michael Melchior, who during the “good old days” of Oslo, reported that he, and other rabbis, were received more warmly by various Imams, including some Hamas leaders, than secular Israeli doves like Yossi Beilin, whose lifestyle and values seemed inimical to many Palestinians.

Even more disturbing is the weakness of Hertzberg’s second argument, his plan for peace in the Middle East. Hertzberg observes that Israelis and Palestinians have repeatedly failed to make peace with each other for over a century. He shrewdly notes that he and his allies have to bury hopes of a full peace—at least for now—and instead hope for some stability and accommodation. But Hertzberg falters in calling on the United States—in a limited capacity, without mobilizing troops—to step in and solve the problem. In a riff that recently appeared as a New York Times op-ed, Hertzberg calls on the United States to penalize Israel dollar for dollar for money spent on settlements.  Similarly, he calls on the United States to pressure Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia to stop funding Palestinian terror. The United States has been trying to break the pro-terror financial network since September 11, 2001, with mixed success. Hertzberg’s solution, therefore, plays into the asymmetrical dynamics of the conflict once again. Not only does his approach implicitly accept the Palestinian equation of terror and settlements, but Israel, as a sovereign and responsible state, stands to lose American dollars quickly and immediately, while the Palestinian “punishment” is more attenuated and indirect.

Hertzberg finds this stance convenient because he wants Israel’s “creeping annexation” of the West Bank and Gaza stopped. Unfortunately, the Palestinians’ three-year War Against Oslo has weakened this unilateral stance. There is an Israeli “peace consensus” willing to withdraw from the territories—as long as Palestinians accept Israel’s right to exist and denounce terror.  Hertzberg’s vision of Israel’s withdrawal to the Green Line and Palestinian acceptance of Israel merely returns to Oslo, with no lessons learned. 

Ultimately, Hertzberg fails to detail how to avoid his worst-case-scenarios. Furthermore, for a book titled The Fate of Zionism, written by the great compiler of the classic anthology The Zionist Idea, there are few Zionist ideas in the book, and no Zionist vision. Zionists are yearning not only for a way out of the current morass, but for a “Tikvah,” a hope that transcends today’s headaches. Hertzberg should be commended for at least trying to think creatively and for covering so much ground so smoothly in under 200 pages. But ultimately, the fact that someone who in the past has been able to push so many of us toward such brighter, bolder, more creative visions fails this time, only highlights the distemper of today, and the terror of these times.