The only thing worse than injustice is an attempt to disguise it.
This was among my first reactions to a piece of news published on Zenit.com, “Rabbi Visits Benedict XVI,”[1] which describes the meeting between the Pope and Rabbi Shlomo Riskin (chief rabbi of the illegal Efrat settlement in the West Bank), ostensibly to inform His Holiness about the work of the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation (CJCUC). Among this centre’s objectives are to connect Christians and Jews, both religious leaders and members of these religious communities, in “dialogue,” as well as to find ways to alleviate Christian poverty in the Holy Land.
At first glance, this encounter smacks simply of normalisation: an initiative that tries to gather Israelis and Palestinians and/or foreigners without expressly exposing the occupation and oppression to which Palestinians are subjected, especially one that (to quote the definition put forth by the first Palestinian BDS conference of 2007) “impl[ies] equity between Israelis and the Palestinians in the responsibility for the conflict, or claim that peace is achieved through dialogue and understanding…without achieving justice.”
But with even a little further prodding, the appeal made by Rabbi Riskin before the Holy Father becomes more shocking and offensive.
First and foremost, Rabbi Riskin is not only the chief rabbi of the Efrat settlement, but one of its co-founders (together with Moshe Moskovics, Chairman of the tellingly named Judean Hills Development Company and Efrat’s first mayor). These settlements – constructed on land stolen from Palestinians, enforcing discrimination and completely disparate access to resources and basic liberties between Israelis and Palestinians, and perpetuating a situation in which rampant acts of violence committed by settlers go without investigation or trial — constitute one of Israel’s gravest violations of international law, as well as one of the greatest obstacles to a just and lasting peace in the region.
In short, settlements are not only morally reprehensible but also utterly defiant of international standards of justice: they are illegal; they are crimes. Settlers themselves are perpetrators of these crimes. Founders of settlements are leaders of these crimes. Rabbi Riskin is one such leader.
It is a serious mistake, then, for His Holiness to meet with Rabbi Riskin, who not only lives in an illegal settlement but has also helped its illegality into existence and continuation. Moreover, Rabbi Riskin’s stated belief in the powers of dialogue and understanding do nothing to hide a violently rightist stance with respect to Palestinians, as we can see in this excerpt from an interview with the Makor Rishon newspaper:
“My turning point came between the first and second Oslo Agreement… When the first Oslo Agreement was signed, I was for it. But after reading the text of the agreement and the accompanied acts of terrorism which ensued, I arrived at two conclusions: First of all, we do not know how to negotiate. Everything was handed over to the Palestinians from the very start leaving only Jerusalem and the Temple Mount open for negotiations. The second conclusion was that we gave concessions of land for peace and in return we got terrorism.”[2]
The mentality of anyone who actually believes that “everything was handed over to the Palestinians,” and that the Oslo Accords constituted “concessions of land for peace” that were met only with terrorism, is characterised by the delusions and aggressions produced by fervent pro-Israeli nationalism. Indeed, Rabbi Riskin’s portrayal of the Oslo Accords is ludicrous in itself: if anything, the Accords effectively legitimized and certainly normalized the occupation. Moreover, they did not cause Israel to decrease its settlement activity; in fact, settlement construction increased after the signing. Rabbi Riskin’s position is quite clear; equally clear, then, is the fact that he lacks even a shred of ethical or political credibility to appeal before His Holiness in the name of “cooperation.”
What makes matters worse is one of the CJCUC objectives I mentioned at the beginning, an objective Rabbi Riskin discussed with the Holy Father during their meeting: to help “alleviate Christians’ poverty.” He refers to Christians’ poverty (which also means Palestinians’ poverty, although he never says so) in the Holy Land as if it were an accident, a merely unfortunate circumstance that charitable acts can resolve. It is not. Our poverty is a product of our occupation: the result of the Separation Wall and the way it economically chokes us off from centres of work, education, and health; of the movement restrictions imposed by the Israeli government and military; and of the settlements so valued by Rabbi Riskin.
In other words, Rabbi Riskin is a direct contributor to the circumstances that have created and aggravated our poverty. It is thus his responsibility to be part of the solution, rather than masking the problem as anything other than what it is.
Moreover, I am insulted that Rabbi Riskin considers himself able to speak on behalf of Palestinian Christians to begin with. We are quite capable of speaking for ourselves, and what we will continue to speak about is the fact that the occupation of our land and lives – which, as a settler, he supports – is the primary cause of our misery.
It would mean a great deal to know from the Vatican whether they believe that this meeting with Rabbi Rivkin and Pope Benedict XVI was conducted in error. As such, it would be equally important to know if the Vatican has somehow changed their political position on Israeli settlements. As Palestinians, as Christians, as brothers and sisters, we request a clear response on this matter; I urge them to restate their perspective.
Dialogue is not enough, and understanding is impossible, when words serve only to paint over injustice. It is my sincerest hope that the Vatican will share this conviction.
By Rifat Odeh Kassis
January 2011