Jews and the Bi_national Vision

8/12/2019 Jews and the Bi_national Vision

1/12

Jews and the Bi-National Vision

byJudith Butler

I

t is an honor for me to be here today. We have gathered to talk about what is called a just

eace! and we have gathered for the most art as a community of academics and activists!

so there are already several "uestions before us! ones that are osed by the title of this

conference! ones that are already here laying in wait for us. #he one has to do with eace

or! what is not always the same! non-violence. $nother has to do with justice. $nd a third

surely has to do with what role academics may lay in articulating what a just eace might

be. I gather we are here because this is what we want% a just eace! and that this common

desire is already alive here! already at work here! already motivating us to come and to

seak and! erhas most imortantly! to listen. &f course! what we might want or e'ect

from a just eace will be different! and the "uestion will be for us to find a way to

negotiate that difference without effacing it. (o since I have! in a rather utoian vein!

soken of a )we!) a )we) who have gathered here! let me "ualify what I have to say.

(ince I am a *.(. citi+en! and a diasoric Jew! $shkena+i in origin! or at least as far as I

know! since like many Jews! I lost a good art of my family and my history in the Na+i

genocide! I am already in a "uandary. It would be a dishonor to all who live in Israel and

,alestine for a *.(. citi+en to arrive and say what is to be done. ou have surely all heardenough of that. What is to be done is best decided through radically democratic means by

all the inhabitants of these lands. $nd I am no such inhabitant! regardless of what my

investments in the outcome might be. ,recisely! though! because the *.(. continues to

e'ercise owerful influence on Israeli olicy towards the ,alestinians! it has become

necessary to organi+e in the *nited (tates in ways that try to influence what has been a

catastrohic suort for the e'loitation and continued dislacement and imoverishment

of the ,alestinian eoles and the illegal occuation of ,alestinian lands. #here is also

uon us as $merican Jews-but here I think uroean Jews are also imlicated-a demand to

rethink and rewrite the history of the founding of the Israeli state! the forcible

dislacement of /00!000 ,alestinians! the resent occuation of 1.2 million! and the

military aggression against ,alestinians that has been art of the founding and continuation

of the Israeli state. In my remarks today! I would like to try and say something about what

I take the resonsibility of a first world Jew to be during these times! both in terms of

national olicy and cultural interventions. I hoe toward the end of my remarks to suggest

what role a cooerative alliance of intellectuals might do to struggle against the brutality

of the occuation! and to seek an end to the occuation itself.

I will tell you from the outset that I am not a 3ionist! although I was brought u in a strong

3ionist community in the *nited (tates. I am trained as a hilosoher! and I confess that

4


2/12


3/12

main olicy goal of Jews in ,alestine should be to establish institutional structures for

$rab-Jewish cooeration. #his history is for the most art unknown to $merican Judaism!

since the story we are told! again and again! is that the necessity for the Israeli state

emerged as a direct conse"uence of the Na+i genocide of the Jews. #here was! of course!

even then! throughout the 49:0s! still an oen and debated "uestion% what form of

government might be needed in these lands! and what would be the most democratic

means of deciding the "uestion.

It would later turn out that ,rimo =evi! whose memoirs on $uschwit+ have achieved

enormous influence among *.(. intellectuals! would make clear his break with 3ionism in

49;2! after the assault on Beirut. It was on the eve of ,rimo =evi8s dearture to return to

$uschwit+ to commemorate the dead that he signed the etition! with other survivors! to

demand the recognition of the rights of all eoles of the region! ublished in =a

>eubblica. In his views! the Israeli bombers in 49;2 were not fighting for freedom! but

had become the new oressors! fighting to derive another minority of their freedoms. 7e

wrote! )verybody is somebody8s Jew. $nd today the ,alestinians are the Jews of the

Israelis.) claiming that the Israeli state had become morally unaccetable to anyone who

survived the Na+i genocide? after (abra and (hatilla! he ublicly asked (haron and Begin

to resign. $nd though he was told that he needed to remain silent! that in times of war! his

oen and ublic criticism could only hearten the enemies of Israel! he stood firm! and

deeened his ublic criticism in 49;:! three years before his death! calling uon Israel to

withdraw from the occuied territories.

I cite the e'amle of =evi to you because it shows that recisely from within the moral

framework derived from the 7olocaust! an oosition to the Israeli state is not only

ossible! but necessary. #his thought is nearly unthinkable within $merican Judaism or!

indeed! from within the rogressive Jewish movements who call for the end of the

occuation. $nd until we can unlink the way in which the Na+i genocide continues to act

as a ermanent justification for this state and its olicies! there will be a silencing of

dissent! a muting of ublic criticism. =evi himself claimed that we must not let the

sufferings of the Jews under Na+ism )justify everything.) $nd the reorter who receivedthis statement resonded! )ou can reason very coldly.) But this was not coldness on his

art? it was feeling! it was horror in the face of atrocities committed by Israelis. It was

staying alive to the ossibility of knowing and oosing the suffering of others.

Interestingly! it was Buber who blamed the Na+i atrocities for ruining the left-wing 3ionist

lans for $rab-Jewish alliance. 7e understood that historical circumstances - the mass

e'termination of more than si' million Jews and the subse"uent needs for immediate

refuge for hundreds of thousands - as derailing the destiny of 3ionism itself. In his view!

3ionism was not the necessary outcome of the history of Jewish wandering and suffering?

in fact! historical circumstances! violent and arbitrary! defeated 3ionism. 7e oosed any

view of 3ionism that led to a Jewish state or a ermanent Jewish majority. &ver and

1


4/12

against this view! Ben 6urion could make use of the 7olocaust to forge the view that anti-

(emitism was everywhere! and that the only defense against it was the establishment of a

Jewish state that would ermit limitless immigration. 7e took ,alestinian acts of violence

against the settler colonialists to be nothing other than roof of the ersistence of global

anti-(emitism. $s a result! he called for a olitically sovereign Jewish state not only to

erect a ermanent bulwark against anti-(emitism but to secure a olitical instrument by

which to guarantee unlimited immigration. In 5ay of 49::! when the brutal facts of the

Na+i genocide were becoming ublicly known! Buber understood the demand for

accommodating as many Jews from uroe in ,alestine. In the journal Be8ayot! Buber

argued that Ben-6urion sei+ed uon this need for refuge to confound the moral imerative

to rescue as many Jews as ossible with the olitical goal! surious and dangerous! of

creating a Jewish majority in ,alestine in order to shore u the claims for Jewish

sovereignty on a land inhabited by hundreds of thousands of ,alestinians.

We can see the linkage here! in Ben-6urion8s refutation of Ichud and in his subse"uent

denunciation of the $nglo-$merican In"uiry @ommittee8s call for a bi-national state in

5ay of 49:A. Ben-6urion and ishuv not only won a olitical battle! but an ideological

one as well! since what became e'orted as the truth and canoni+ed in the $shkena+i

Jewish diasora! and then hammered into an ideological condition of life after the si'-day

war! was the abiding causal link between the aalling e'termination of the Jews in

uroe and the necessity of Israel as a sovereign Jewish state. #his necessity aeared!

and still aears to most 3ionists! as imerative! even though! with the assistance of the

suerowers! it forced the e'ulsion of hundreds of thousands of ,alestinians and the

aroriation of their homes and lands! and the near certainty of violent conflict for

decades to come.

#he revalent view that the genocide led to the necessity of the resent Israeli state! the

state as a Jewish state! is so deely entrenched! that any effort to "uestion the structure or

status of the current state is regarded by many diasoric 3ionists as a sign of a grave and

unforgivable insensitivity to the (hoah itself. Indeed! to raise "uestions about the Jewish

resumtion of this state is considered not only a sign that one has )forgotten) the7olocaust! but that one is leaving the Jews oen to assault and! in that sense! collaborating

with the assault itself. $nd yet! even as this view holds ideologically! there seems to be

little sense that the Israeli state in its current form is fostering anti-(emitism! confounding

what is official Israeli olicy with who Jews are or what they believe. #he difference is

otentially great! greater than the media might think! but the tactical "uestion is! how

might we make this difference more emhatic! fostering a voice of dissent and criticism

with the ower and ossibility to forge ties that will lead to non-violent solutions

In the *.(.! most of the organi+ations who suort Israeli olicy and the current basis of

the Israeli state! argue that a Jewish state was established as a reali+ation of 3ionism! that

one can draw a continuous line from the first 3ionist World @ongress in the 4;90s to the

:


5/12

reali+ation of the Israeli state in Ben-6urion8s unilateral declaration in 49:;. Buber argued!

and in the name of 3ionism! that the state of Israel destroyed the ossibility of 3ionism!

and that 3ionism stood for a siritual reality radically undermined by nationalism and by

state sovereignty. Cor him! the bi-national state was a logical e'tension of 3ionism itself!

and olitical sovereignty was a )erversion of 3ionism.) #his thought is virtually

unthinkable within the current olitical ma! but we must ask! why and how has it become

unthinkable $nd how might it begin to be thought again

Buber and others reali+ed that the demand for limitless immigration of Jews to ,alestine

was intensified in the late 10s and in the 49:0s! as Jews escaing Na+i 6ermany were

turned away from Britain and! indeed! the *.(. Dwhich! of course! ket its secret "uotas

under CE>F. $nd it is imortant to remember that there were! in the 49:0s! and recisely

in the aftermath of the Na+i genocide! Jewish grous here in ,alestine and elsewhere who

concluded that 7itler8s racism only added further suort for the claim that no state can

legitimately make itself into the sovereign domain of a eole based on religious

affiliation or inheritance. Buber8s view was shared by Judah 5agnes! by the early Brith

(halom movement that worked toward a Jewish-$rab collaboration! focusing on

commonly occuied farmlands! by Ichud! which won a temorary victory in 49:A with its

call for a bi-national state. #hese views were oenly debated in the *.(. in @ommentary

maga+ine! before its turn to the >ight! in #he 5enorah Journal and in Ba8ayot! which

folded after the events of 49:;! and continued! in dwindling form in the journal! Ner!

which claimed only ;00 subscritions at the time of its closure in the mid-A0s. (o who are

the inheritors of this osition within Israel today We could robably find some members

of ,eace Now who would trace their intellectual and olitical inheritance to this early

movement toward a cooerative solution! but for the most art we find those inheritors in

the cultural movements of cooeration and collaboration% in #a-ayush! in the village of

Neve (halomGWahat al-(alam and in the imortant human rights work of B8tselem! and the

imortant debates hosted by #he Israel ,alestine @enter for >esearch and Information.

,erhas there are others that you can tell me about! and I can ass that on.

In the *.(.! rogressive Jews are in a radical minority! but they are organi+ing. #heyinclude 3ionists who call for ,alestinian self-determination! ost-3ionists who call for

,alestinian self-determination and statehood! and all those who would! regardless of the

one-state or two-state solution! call for the radical restructuring of Israeli citi+enshi to

overcome its racist hierarchies! demand the just reallocation of arable land! and a ractical

and just olicy toward the roblem of ,alestinian refugees! a roblem that! since 49:; at

least! has refused to go away! and which has not as yet found its just and ractical solution.

$nd though some of us may well be leased with the 6eneva $ccord! with the ste it takes

toward a collaboratively wrought eace! we would robably be unwise to stay content with

any eace roosal that takes off the agenda *.N. resolution 2:2! and the need to address

the right of return for ,alestinians in a way that can work.


6/12

In the *.(.! as you know! the olitical lobby called $I,$@ maintains that it reresents the

views of $merican Jewry on the state of Israel! and every *.(. resident and congress has

honored this claim in the last decades. $I,$@ reresents a strong conservative trend

among *.(. Jews! focusing not only on the )defense) of Israel! but garnering olitical

suort for the Israeli military and the occuation. #he struggle to establish an alternative

to $I,$@ has been enormously difficult. In the last few years! the organi+ation Brit

#+edek has emerged as an alternative! in many ways mirroring the =abor ,arty in Israel!

with some members more closely allied with ,eace N&W. Whereas $I,$@ in its =ikud

and right-wing labor olitics boasts aro'imately A0!000 members! garnering suort

from the $merican Jewish @ongress and the $merican Jewish @ommittee! Brit #+edek has

achieved 4A!000 members in the last two years alone. Brit #+edek aims to rival $I,$@ as

the olitical reresentative of $merican Jewry! and it may well achieve its aim to show

that $merican Jewry is strongly divided on the "uestion of the occuation. Brit #+edek

clearly ooses the occuation! suorts the 6eneva $ccord! ooses the searation wall!

and has undertaken to raise money to induce illegal Israeli settlers to leave ,alestinian

lands. Brit #+edek! although claiming to be neutral with resect to 3ionism! leans heavily

in that direction! and it has not addressed the "uestion of ,alestinian refugees and

entitlements to land and roerty. Nor has it been known for seeking out collaborative

venues with ,alestinian and $rab organi+ations. #o the left of Brit #+edek is robably

#ikkun! an organi+ation run by >abbi 5ichael =erner! whose ersonal views establish the

official view of the organi+ation. It is not known as an internally democratic organi+ation!

although its maga+ine has hosted imortant commentary on the occuation! making it

ossible for $merican Jews to oenly oose the occuation without being accused of

anti-(emitism. Tikkun is oenly 3ionist! and has consistently refused to ublish ost-

3ionist in"uiries. It has! however! hosted imortant essays by @ornel West and Jessica

Benjamin on the "uest for eace in the 5iddle ast! and it has done an e'tremely

imortant service by establishing discussion grous on camuses throughout the *.(.

where Jewish oosition to Israeli state ractices can be articulated and discussed. It is

regularly dismissed by 7illel organi+ations and members of $I,$@ for lacking

Realpolitik! and always recurring to the views of its semi-charismatic leader.

5ost recently! it seems to me! an organi+ation called Jewish Voice for ,eace has become

imortant! vigorously oosing the occuation and the searation wall! e'loring the

ossibility of a binational state! and organi+ing an imortant boycott against @aterillar to

sto the e'ort of their bull do+ers to the Israeli government for use to crush homes and

lives in the occuied territories. Jewish Voice for ,eace maintains that )there is no magic

sell that will bring eace. It will take time and erseverance form all arties involved. But

that rocess cannot even begin until Israel ends its 1A-year old occuation. #here needs

then to be a rocess of reconciliation! rebuilding ,alestinian society and work toward just

resolutions of the outstanding issues! such as the ,alestinian refugees! ermanent and

recise borders! Jerusalem and conditions for $rab citi+ens of Israel. But until the

&ccuation ends! matters will continue to be comlicated by violence and the disarity of

A


7/12

ower between the two sides.)

#hese grous are small! but they have become a thorn in the side of the mainstream

3ionist organi+ations who can no longer so easily claim to reresent all Jews in the *.(.

#he strategic aim! as far as I am concerned! is to break aart that hegemony! and for there

to be a strong Jewish voice against the occuation! so that when oliticians run for offices!

they will not be able to assume that the so-called Jewish vote is monolithic! so that they

will not be able to assume that Jews favor (haron or the occuation! or the searation wall!

the continuing subjugation! and the radical devaluation of ,alestinian lives.

#oday we are here under the rubric of stoing the occuation. es! the occuation surely

has to be stoed! but that is not the end of the story. #he subjugation of the ,alestinians

did not begin in 49A/. It is not really ossible to fight for the 6eneva $ccord without

stoing and dismantling the searation wall! for that wall is redrawing the borders as we

seak! and its success will adversely affect the lives of 240!000 ,alestinians! and anne'

aro'imately 22H of the West Bank as Israeli territory! decimating the economic life of

that area! forcibly searating ,alestinian villages from wells and hositals! making it

e'ceedingly difficult for ,alestinians to work or to maintain contact with family and

community. 6iven that nearly 90H of ,alestinians in those territories make less than 2

dollars a day! this further decimation of the economic base of these territories will roduce

ermanent and demorali+ed overty. #his wall has no lace in the "uest for a just eace.

Indeed! recisely because the searation wall seems to be drawing new and radically

unaccetable boundaries! it has inadvertently breathed life into the one-state solution.

&f course! the 6eneva $ccord is to be commended as a coalitional eace effort? it

reresents an imressive effort on the art of non-state actors from both the Israeli and the

,alestinian communities to try and make a eace indeendent of state governments. But

even the 6eneva $ccord cannot be imlemented if the wall is not first dismantled. $nd the

6eneva $ccord will not be sufficient to maintain the eace until the issue of ,alestinian

refugees is addressed. #he institution of a ,alestinian state will not by itself nullify the

claims to the land or the etition for restoration. Nor will it address the internal racism and

hierarchy that afflicts the institution of Israeli citi+enshi! where $rab Israelis! including

$rab Jews! @hristians! and 5uslims! suffer second class status! and where the income

levels between $shkena+i and 5i+rahim continue to be stark and unjust! and where the

founding narratives and the dominant culture are derived from the $liyah from uroe.

Indeed! if there are now 4.2 million ,alestinians living within Israel! they will be asked!

even within a two-state solution! to live within a state that not only defines its olity and

the rerogatives of citi+enshi as Jewish! but which insists on maintaining majority control

over all non-Jewish occuants. I don8t believe that the Israeli state in its current form

should be ratified! and worry that the 6eneva $ccord rovides cover recisely for such a

ratification. #his has imlications not only for how ,alestinians are treated! but for a series

/


8/12

of ethnic and racial divisions within the Israeli olity that must be fought and reversed.

&n the other hand! the resistance to the rosect of eace is heightened by those 3ionists

who believe that only through maintaining its military dominance and brutality will Israel

survive. #his is clearly circular reasoning! which does not see that the militari+ation of the

state can only and always lead to further militari+ation. Nonetheless! I am shocked when I

come across the military sentiment in its raw form as I was recently! when I received the

following email from a 3ionist list in the *.(. In a recent missive from an organi+ation

called Israel =ive! one of its organi+ers resonded to the "uestion of whether the

,residential candidate! 7oward Eean! was good for the Jews. (he wrote to her

constituency that they should not fear voting for Eean! since he was clearly in favor of

)e'tra-judicial killings.) I stared at the hrase. )'tra-judicial killings.) #his was an aeal

to the *.(. Jewish community to feel relieved! to celebrate! to resolve on a ositive vote

because this man is said to arove of the daily killings of ,alestinian eoles outside the

scoe of any recogni+able law. #hese are views that can never lead to eace! and yet! those

who hold them! understand themselves as righteous! as fighting anti-semitism! as

defending the Jewish eole! as acting in the name of survival. But are they doing any of

these things

#here are other messages I receive! however! and they are roblematic for other reasons. I

am art of a listserve! academics for justice! which is the strongest internet community of

academics I know of that ooses the Israeli occuation of ,alestinian lands. #his listserve

has done a very good job in mobili+ing an academic boycott against Israeli universities! inundermining suort for @amus Watch! a neo-5c@arthyite anti-$rab grou that has

sought to restrict how 5iddle ast olitics is taught in *.(. universities. #his grou has

also rightly come to the defense of various academics of $rab descent who have become

targets of censorshi or subject to immigration harassment. It has also! very effectively!

come to the defense of 7anan $shrawi to seak on *.(. college camuses against those

who would villify her for her e'traordinary work on ,alestinian human rights.

Nevertheless! on that same listserve! and in defense of the academic boycott! I read the

surious claim that there are no Israeli academics! e'cet erhas two! listed there! whohave oenly voiced oosition to the Israeli occuation. #his claim is clearly false! and yet

there it is! circulating! art of the rationale for the boycott. &ne has to bear the wrath of

some if one seaks out against the falsity of this claim! and yet it must be done. 7ow can it

be that there is! among these very imortant olitical organi+ers! no understanding of the

culture and olitics of dissent within Israel

#here is! in my mind! here work to be done to try and make clear what the Israeli

oosition is! as well as what the ,alestinian alliances are who seek a non-violent

resolution to the conflict. #o have strong media reresentation of both! and to establish

links between them! will constitute one of the most effective coalitional means I can

imagine for the uroses of ending the occuation and ursuing all the related "uestions of

;


9/12

social justice. I am hoing that this is one of the tasks that we can undertake here. It will

strengthen the *.(. oosition to current Israeli olicy! since so many *.(. rogressives

believe that it would ut them in a bind to oose Israel! not knowing that there is an

internal criticism! a host of dissenters! those whose views and whose activism are not! and

will not be! ade"uately reresented in the mainstream media. (imilarly! the brave and

imortant statement that ,alestinian intellectuals ublished last year oosing the suicide

bombings! this was treated with sketicism by #he New ork #imes! and not given the

kind of attention it clearly deserved. Why is it that time and again one must fight the

concetion that all ,alestinians suort violent measures It is an indignity to have to

defend ,alestinians! who suffer violence disroortionately! from this charge. $nd yet! it

must be done to counter the ublic ercetion! the media construction! that all ,alestinian

asirations are reducible to violence. But what can be heard! and what can be registered

Eoes the mainstream media foreground the articulate and fair and reflective voice of

7anan $shrawi! or circulate the imortant editorials of 5oustaha Barghouti! who

describes in detail the daily light of the ,alestinians #he cynical obituary of dward

(aid in #he New ork #imes was yet another e'amle of this effort to demean one of the

most imortant voices for social justice of our time.

@oalitions are not easy or hay laces. #hey are laces one stays when one has the

imulse to leave. #hey are forms of work that are! by definition! difficult! since one has to

have one8s osition and allow it to be decentered by what one hears. &ne must ersist in

what one knows to be right! and yet know also when to yield! when to do something for

the sake of continuing to work together! to reserve the relations at hand. I think that

Buber had a oint in believing that one had to work at living together! working together in

de-institutionali+ed ways! and that such alliances could rovide the foundation and the

model for collaborative associations seeking non-violent and just solutions to conflicts that

aear intractable. #his would mean living to the side of one8s nationalism! of one8s

identification! allowing for a decentering of a nationalist ethos. #he "uestion of

establishing and tending to relations will be more imortant than grounding oneself in an

identity. (omething other than nationalism has doubtless emerged already through these

associations and collaborations! something inadvertent! even beautiful.

What would it mean to begin the ractice of undoing nationalism! of countering its claims!

of beginning to think and feel outside of its reach &ddly! I think that we have to have a

debate about what it is that one can finally love in order to move outside the claims of

nationalism. I found two "uotations! "uite by accident! in the course of my teaching this

last semester! one from 7annah $rendt! the other from 5ahmoud Earwish. #hey seemed

to be in conversation with one another! and I offer them to you today as e'amles of a

ossible conversation. $rendt was! as you know! critici+ed by 6ershom (holem and others

after she ublished her ichmann in Jerusalem. =ike the reorter who accused ,rimo =evi

of )cold reasoning) for critici+ing Israel! (holem calls $rendt )heartless) for concentrating

on what she takes to be the inade"uate visions of Jewish olitics at the time. (holem wrote

9


10/12

to her in 49A1 from Jerusalem% )In the Jewish tradition there is a concet! hard to define

and yet concrete enough! which we know as $habath Israel% )=ove of the Jewish eole...)

In you! dear 7annah! as in so many intellectuals who came from the 6erman =eft! I find

little trace of this. $rendt relies! disuting first that she comes from the 6erman =eft

Dand! indeed! she was no 5ar'istF! but then says something "uite interesting when accused

of failing to love the Jewish eole well enough. (he writes! )ou are "uite right - I am

not moved by 8love8 of this sort! and for two reasons% I have never in my life 8loved8 any

eole or collective - neither the 6erman eole! nor the Crench! nor the $merican! nor

the working class or anything of that sort. I indeed love 8only8 my friends and the only kind

of love I know of and believe in is the love of ersons. (econdly! this 8love of the Jews8

would aear to me! since I am myself Jewish! as something rather susect. I cannot love

myself or anything which I know is art and arcel of my own erson. #o clarify this! let

me tell you of a conversation I had in Israel with a rominent olitical ersonality who

was defending the - in my oinion disastrous - non-searation of religion and state in

Israel. What he said -I am not sure of the e'act words any more - ran something like this%

8ou will understand that! as a (ocialist! I! of course! do not believe in 6od? I believe in

the Jewish eole.8 I found this a shocking statement and! being too shocked! I did not

rely at the time. But I could have answered% the greatness of this eole was once that it

believed in 6od! and believed in 7im in such a way that its trust and love towards 7im

was greater than its fear. $nd now this eole believes only in itself What good can come

out of that -Well! in this sense I do not 8love8 the Jews! nor do I 8believe8 in them? I merely

belong to them as a matter of course! beyond disute or argument.) DJew as ,ariah! 2:/F

In Earwish8sMemory for Forgetfulness! his literary account of the bombings of Beirut in

49;2! he describes a scene with his Jewish lover. #hey have been making love! and he

becomes sleey. 7e is aware that he has to reort to the Israeli olice in order to avoid

being jailed or ermanently e'elled. 7is is the first-erson voice in the "uotation that

follows%

7e asks! )Eo the olice know the address of this house)

(he answered! )I don8t think so! but the military olice do. Eo you hate Jews)

I said! )I love you now.)(he said! )#hat8s not a clear answer.)

I said! )$nd the "uestion itself wasn8t clear. $s if I were to ask you! 8Eo you love $rabs)

(he said! )#hat8s not a "uestion.)

I asked! )$nd why is your "uestion a "uestion)

(he said! )Because we have a comle'. We have more need of answers than you do.)

40


11/12

I said! )$re you cra+y)

(he said! )$ little. But you haven8t told me if you love Jews or hate them.)

I said! )I don8t know! and I don8t want to know. But I do know I like the lays of uriides

and (hakeseare. I like fried fish! boiled otatoes! the music of 5o+art! and the city of

7aifa. I like graes! intelligent conversation! autumn! ,icasso8s blue eriod. $nd I like

wine! and the ambiguity of mature oetry. $s for Jews! they8re not a "uestion of love or

hate.)

(he said! )$re you cra+y)

I said! )a little.)

(he asked! )do you like coffee8

I said! )I love coffee and the aroma of coffee.)

(he rose! naked! even of me! and I felt the ain of those from whom a limb has been

severed.

=ater! he changes tone! only to change it again% she asks! )and you! what do you dream

about) $nd he relies! )#hat I sto loving you.) (he asks! )Eo you love me) 7e relies!

)No. I don8t love you. Eid you know that your mother! (arah! drove my mother! 7agar!

into the desert) (he asks! )$m I to blame then Is it for that that you do not love me)

$nd he relies!

)No! ou8re not to blame? and because of that I don8t love you. &r! I love you.)

#his last line carries with it a arado'. I don8t love you. &r! I love you. #his is both

ro'imity and aversion? it is unsettled? it is not of one mind. It might be said to be the

affect! the emotional tenor of coalition itself! the effort to stay in even as one wishes to go!the desire to stay in the midst of what is unresolved! in the dis"uiet of ambivalence! in

order to continue to stay near and to work together until something new emerges.

This article was initially given as a talk at The 2nd International Conference on An End to

ccupation! A "ust #eace in Israel$#alestine% Towards an Active International &etwork in

East "erusalem "anuary 'th$(th! 2))'*

Judith Butleris #rofessor of Comparative +iterature and Rhetoric at the ,niversity of

California! -erkeley! and is well known as a theorist of power! gender! se.uality*

44


12/12

Jews and the Bi_national Vision

Documents

Transcript of Jews and the Bi_national Vision