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The Jewish Voice and Opinion
Dershowitz
May 2011
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wouldn’t include so-called consensus areas in Judea and Samaria, such as Ma’ale Adumim. Then Israel would agree not to engage in any further building in those areas that will become the Palestinian state and the Palestinians would agree that Israel could build in all areas they will keep,” he said. Reminded that the Palestinians have repeatedly turned down this plan, Mr. Dershowitz said Israel should still make the effort. Reasonable When some members of his audience expressed skepticism (one woman recalled Albert Einstein’s definition of “insanity”: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results), Mr. Dershowitz said that, as a longtime critic of Israel’s settlement policies, he is used to taking “flak from my family and rabbis” on this issue.
“Reasonable people can disagree,” he said, admitting that until now the Palestinians, who have insisted on their maximalist demands, have not been reasonable. “This is the first time in history that the victors have sued for peace while the losers want unconditional surrender,” he said. Lessons While he hesitated to offer predictions, he said there were three lessons that can be learned from the current geopolitical realities in the Middle East. First, he said, it is now more obvious than ever that the US can rely on only one country in the Middle East as its true ally. “No one knows in which direction Egypt, Syria, Turkey, or Saudi Arabia will go, but, in Israel, it does not matter if Labor, Likud, or another party wins an election. Whatever gov-
ernment emerges in Israel, it will be democratically elected, pro-Western, and always proAmerica,” he said. Not the Reverse However, the fact that the US can rely on Israel, does not mean the reverse is true. In fact, said Mr. Dershowitz, recent events show that Israel cannot rely on the support of the United States either militarily or diplomatically at the UN. “We can hope the US will be there for Israel, and we can do our best to make that happen, but, in the end, Israel can depend only on its own capability to defend itself. Whether on the issue of Iran or on how to deal with Hamas, Israel’s concern for its own citizens must come first for the Jewish state,” he said. Finally, he said, recent events in the Arab world prove that, contrary to popular wisdom, most of the Middle East’s problems have nothing to do
with Israel or the Jewish state’s either willingness or indisposition to appease its enemies. “The Arab states just don’t care about the Palestinians. Arab leaders merely use the Palestinian issue as a circus to distract their citizens from their very real problems,” he said. Saving Arab Lives Mr. Dershowitz pointed out that, in its 63 years, Israel, with its advances in medical science and technology, “has saved more Arab lives than all the Arab countries combined.” He noted, for example, that Israeli physicians are on the cutting edge of using genetic and molecular treatment for cancer patients and Israeli scientists are currently working on a vaccine to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. “I think the BDS movements should start by refusing to use the Alzheimer’s vaccine,” quipped Mr. Dershowitz. S.L.R.