Peace in the Middle East Depends on Women

When I think about a plan for peace, I find myself feeling stuck as to how to find time or a spare army that might be out there, or such practical issues. So clearly that is not the way. Anyway, armies have never worked, they just pit one side against another. What we need then is the changing of the underlying reality for people, changing the way people perceive what is happening, and changing their idea that strong government will resolve the problems for them, and keep them safe. This idea has to go, because right now in the world, governments are maintaining the conflict-based status quo while the vast majority of the people are very ready to let go of conflict and live together peacefully.

Government is self-perpetuated by its hold over people’s fears. It likes to stir up fear, because other than the likelihood of terroristic acts by another people, there is little to live in fear of today. Therefore it is to the advantage of a particular government to emphasize the harm that can be done by a neighbor, and to encourage its people to overlook the possibility that their own policies have caused such a situation where one people wants to harm another.

Netanyahu has governed on this basis for way too long, and has steered Israel into a prolongation of conflict with the Palestinians by portraying every incident as being due to Hamas or some Palestinian action, apparently based on irrational hatred rather than on some real issue. Therefore he has allowed Israel to be lulled into more and more devastation poured on to the Palestinians because they have not wanted peace and justice enough to examine his underlying stance.

This is not Natanyahu’s fault alone at this point, though, it also becomes the responsibility of the Israeli people who have not sought to examine their own beliefs and have not thought to look at themselves as people who are allowing continual harm to be visited on another so that they can be left alone to pursue their own goals. Yes, safety is a valid goal, but every society has to ask how it wants to live within the world as it is, and every society has to choose whether to take risks towards peace, or whether to maintain the status quo. Israeli people must ask themselves the question, are we now partly to blame for allowing the continuation of the suffering which the Palestinians currently endure?  Could we do better? Are our goals commensurate with our identity as God’s Chosen People? And the religious people can think deeply about their own identity as a people, about the unfolding of God’s providence throughout history, and about exactly what kind of society that is going to bring about. 

Most of all, they can think in the light of the very different role of women today, the role of an empowered woman within Judaism. Already there are women rabbis in  Reformed and Conservative Judaism. Jewish people generally do not have much to say against the inclusion of women in power, usually an objection to this is reserved for the Orthodox. So given the vast range of differences within Judaism, including the secular Jews, there has already been much change and development.

Therefore at this point, such concerns must be raised in order to look at what sort of society Israel must become if the current situation is allowed to fester unresolved for much longer. It cannot be a Jewish state, at least not one that has much connection to providence as it has been seen over thousands of years.

To provoke this, Netanyahyu’s actions must be seen in context of power-seeking at the expense of  the manifestation of the true Judaic longing, the longing for the realization of a just and righteous nation that fulfills the hope of God.

This is a feminine way to proceed, to seek the underlying change and to change the underlying perception, to allow for the realization of one’s own imperfections and for the realization that one’s own inaction has led to an unjust and imperfect result, without self-judgment or recrimination, but with a resolution to be different. And in this case, there must be self-reflection of women, already apparent in many ways in Israel, in the presence of young women in Herzog’s team, even in leadership, in the actions over time of the older women who seek to oversee the treatment of Palestinians at the checkpoints, and in the establishment of joint Arab-Jewish schools, etc.

This self-reflection must be brought to a national level very quickly, and Netanyahu’s arrogant overstepping of his role in the world by choosing confrontation with the Obama administration offers an opportunity. Today there are many Israelis who already doubt his choices. Israel is not made more secure by Netanyahu's seeking of a relationship with the US Congress behind the back of the President.

Beyond Israel’s problems of conflict with the Palestinians there is also the whole issue of economic and social reality. The average Israeli is becoming poorer in real terms, just like the average American actually, and the reason should be shown up for what it is, the stirring up of conflicts in order to maintain governments in power, and the consequent diverting or resources towards military purposes. Herzog maybe should have emphasized this in his speeches, and pointed out how much danger militarization over the last few years has engendered in the Middle East. The danger is clearly linked with fear-mongering policies of Netanyahu’s government, and the people who are allowing this development, people within the government, must be shown to be supporting it for their own purposes of power and control over others.

But underlying all of this, the real issue is that of women not playing a true role in their societies. America can lead on this, because American women are facing real threats to their own freedom and equality here at home. Every time a Texas state leader gets to his feet to make a speech, another bomb is thrown into the ring to challenge women’s rights, and to turn back the clock on their progress. It would be very good if women can organize here in the US just as they did in the sixties, and get out there on the streets in huge numbers. It would create a great momentum throughout the world, and empower women in countries where their problems are much greater, like India for example. Facebook, Twitter, social media, can actually make this happen if there is enough resolve on the part of a few women.

Even deeper than this, it is time to seriously challenge the worldview of the monotheistic religions on the basis of science itself, and to come to a worldview that can recognize that God is both feminine and masculine. To express the heart of Mother God, and to come up with an explanation of why Mother God has been unable to intervene in the fate of women in history, would be a very productive avenue to explore.

I think we need a serious reexamination of the reality of messianic thinking in light of the yearning of Mother God, even in such obviously male-dominated religions as are expressed in ISIS and in excessively Orthodox Judaism – not that I mean to equate these, in general Judaism has been a non-violent arena, with all violence confined to that done to the original nature of women, starting with Hagar and most likely Abraham's sister/wife, Sarah.

The legal rights of women is probably the path for change in countries such as India, Afghanistan, etc, and this involves the general uprising of women in those countries, with the support of the UN women’s movement, and such international organizations. Once there has been a statement that change is necessary and desirable, such as will happen in the Israeli election, and has happened in the Arab Spring, even happened here in America when the people had the audacity to elect a black person to the presidency, then there will be a much greater empowerment of the path to change worldwide. Israel has always seen itself as central because of its central role in the "providence of God" over so many millennia.

Maybe the biggest danger to the future today is that of planetary destruction of the environment, and this is an issue where women are making real inroads into government today, such as in the Green Party in England and other European countries. Governments must be shown up for their shallow short term profit focus that is destroying hope for the future. This must be emphasized because it deals with the next generation, an issue which has hardly been mentioned by governments who focus solely on their own power. We must stop journalists and TV reported from reporting how decisions are made on the basis of the likely influence on reelection as though it were a valid concern. It must be reported as a shameful concern.

There are so many issues on which women could make progress and be shown to be trustworthy guardians of the safety of a society, especially over the long term. As the perennial flashpoint for so many of the world's disturbances today, let's hope Israel can see its way to testing out the path of peace, rather than continually opting for the reelection of the leader who speaks loudest of the necessity for permanent fear.