March 3rd, 2026
There is war again in the Middle East, which at this point in history feels almost normal. Israel is fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon as well as attacking targets in Iran. Iran is returning the favor by striking Israeli sites. The odd thing is that all this mayhem is shifting the focus away from the endless violence in Palestine. The conflict between Palestinians and Israelis is suddenly second page news. That’s too bad because the violence between Jews and Arabs is not going away. In fact, it just seems to get worse.
A friend of mine from our old synagogue lent me a book a few days ago. It is Haifa Republic, written by Omri Boehm. It was published in 2022, a year before the Attack in Israel by Hamas. The author argues for fundamental changes in the politics of Israel, actually in the very nature of Israel, in order to resolve the festering hatred in the Land between the River and the Sea. It’s a tall order.
Boehm argues that Israel cannot be both a Jewish state and a liberal democracy. Israel can’t have it both ways. There is a tension that will eventually tear the country apart. It is a country where some people are more equal than others. Boehm sees this situation as being unsustainable.
A central theme in this book is that both Jews and Arabs must “remember to forget”. That sounds like an oxymoron, but perhaps it isn’t. He argues that the memories of the Holocaust and the Nakba trap Jews and Arabs in the past. Trauma does that. Anybody who has experienced intense trauma in his or her life know how hard it is to move forward, to start life again. Remembering to forget is not about erasing the past and pretending that nothing happened. It is about accepting and learning from that past trauma and then using the lessons to build a better future. Memories can be a prison. Forgetting can be a release.
Boehm writes, “If the establishment of a Jewish state is part of the Holocaust’s history- this is a fact that no Israeli would deny- then the history of the Nakba is an inseparable from the Holocaust’s history.”
It’s a package deal.
So, what to do? Boehm suggests the founding of a Jewish/Arab federation in Palestine. It would be a place where all people are citizens with equal rights and responsibilities. Jews and Arabs would have autonomous communities within the framework of this federation. Boehm notes that the early Zionists proposed just such a federation. Also, Menachem Begin, of all people, drafted a plan for a similar federation in 1977 while negotiating a peace treaty with Egypt. It’s not a new idea.
Today, this plan seems almost absurd. Since October 7th, 2023, things have gotten much worse. Boehm’s book is in many ways outdated. However, what are the other options? More ethnic cleansing? More terrorism? More hate?
Peace always seems like a pipe dream. Until it happens.
Frank is Emptiness 