Remarks at the Israel Independence Day Festival on April 28th
May 8, 2004

A number of subscribers have requested a copy of my remarks at the Israeli Independence Day Festival at UC Santa Barbara on April 28th, so here they are:

I am so proud to be here with so many of you today, with people like you, who care so much for peace, and work so tirelessly for it. As pro-Israel activists, we have always faced an unsettling paradox. The harder we work for a cause we know to be just, the more some praise our efforts. But others, viewing these very same accomplishments, are angered by them, and they want us to stop. Such is the nature of our political battles. In my three years of Israel activism here, we have seen ups and downs, but have never been deterred. We have met setback with redoubled effort, and we have done so with passion, with grace, and with a belief in open and dignified debate.

On a Friday not long ago, I had breakfast with Tony, a good friend of mine, and a Palestinian-American. Just as I am pro-Israel, he is pro-Palestinian, and this is natural. We sit down to discuss these issues, because they must be discussed, and because if they cannot be discussed here, they can be discussed nowhere. Our positions can be fierce without being hateful, and compromising without being cowardly. You can believe in Israel without believing in occupation, and you can believe in Palestine without believing in terrorism. But joining the other side at a table needs to be done, because only in this way can we discover what is common between us.

And what is common between us? What Tony and I share, without illusion of its great difficulty, is a modest vision of quiet and calm, of families unburdened with grief, untroubled by pain and unbloodied by violence. This I believe is a more enduring and powerful dream than continued violence, mistrust and recrimination, for they can achieve certain things, but never peace. Those, like Hamas, whose inextinguishable hatred compels them to do everything in their power to derail this dream must be removed from the equation in order to prevent its collapse. This will mean more fighting, more sadness and more misunderstanding, at least for some time.

But sustaining us is the belief that people do not have to fight, that living is preferable to struggling without end, or purpose. I imagine it has something to do with the way hope – ha’tikvah – even when burdened by weakness and failing, can outlast glory, strength and fear. We should never forget that true victory for either the Israelis or the Palestinians can only come when bestowed upon one by the other – when there are two independent states, side by side, mutually recognized. When the time is right, and may that time be soon, leaders and activists alike will realize that forgiveness is more valuable than triumph. It is an honor and a privilege to be here with you today, with people who care so much. We will never give up working for peace in the Middle East, because we can do no less. And we will never stop believing in a state that is less a state, than a miracle.

Thank you very much.