However, this brings us back to the point that the Palestinians resent the Jewish presence in Jerusalem. If that makes their rage “understandable” I again ask if the Zionist aim to have mass aliyah to Eretz Israel, and, as a consequence have the Arab population become a minority is legitimate?

By the same token, we need to ask ourselves: what is the motivation of those who would evict families from their homes simply because they are not Jewish?

Unless we face these painful realities honestly, I can’t see that we will ever find our way out of the essential tragedy of this conflict.

How can I be on the same “side” as people who would have those thoughts???

Therefore I am on no side. This isn’t a road, it’s a heart, and what’s wrong, is wrong. Taking these homes is wrong. But so is violence, so is murder, so is making a people feel so scared, so beaten, so ill, that all they can do is fight and make others feel this way, too.

All I can do is pray. And teach my children about right and wrong and see the power of good deeds.

Thank you for posting this.

I believe the only way Zionism can be “legitimate” is if it finds a way to coexist with basic tenets of human rights, civil rights, democracy and equality without regard to religion or ethnicity. (Values that I assume many of us purport to hold dear.)

This Judification of Yerushalayim is making me want to sing Hatikvah and listen to a recording of Shuli Natan singing Yerushalayim Shel Zahav. Heck, I might contribute to the JNF or buy some State of Israel Bonds.

I invite all of your readers to join in on
this Ruach. Ashrei Yoshvay Veitecha.

Further, I do indeed consider it to be a moral issue that Tel Aviv University is built on the top of Arab village. I disagree with your analysis that the residents of al-Shaykh Muwannis simply “fled” in 1948. According to Israeli historian Benny Morris the depopulation of this village was prompted when the Irgun kidnapped five village leaders at the end of March 1948. “Coerced fleeing” by any other name would be called “expulsion,” and I think we should be at least able to own it for what it was.

I’m intrigued by your term “Arabization.” Lod and Akko were both originally Arab majority cities that were depopulated in 1948. It is well documented that in Lod Arab residents were forcibly expelled by Israeli forces (you can read Rabin’s autobiography or “The Lemon Tree” for the specifics.) In the case of Akko, the Haganah besieged the city and its inhabitants fled (yes, fled) in every direction, including into the sea. Nazareth Illit was created largely out of expropriated land from the Arab city of Nazareth.

What do we make of this history? It’s certainly not a simple answer. But I do believe that recognizing it, owning it, and talking about it would be a good first step. And if we are troubled by this history, I think a good second step would be to protest when we see it repeated in our own time, in Sheikh Jarrah and elsewhere.

On the other hand, is it “Arabization” when Arabs move into Jewish areas in Lod, Akko, or Nazeret Ilit, or when they take illegally over state lands in the Negev as happens every day?