The murder of five Israeli civilians at Kibbutz Metzer (a kibbutz famous for its cooperation with Palestinians and its support for peace) by a group affiliated with the military arm of Fatah (Yassir Arafat's branch of the Palestinian national liberation movement), underscores afresh the position that we at Tikkun and the Tikkun Community have taken from the start: First, we mourn and cry for the victims, and pray for consolation and healing of the Israeli people who have been subjected to this kind of terror for decades. Second, we loudly proclaim that Palestinian acts of terror against Israeli civilians are immoral, outrageous, and cannot be excused away by reference to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. These acts are totally destructive to the Palestinian cause.

I am sick with pain, anger, rage at those Palestinians who did it and at the failure of others to stand up publicly and condemn these deeds. And I am filled with grief and sorrow at the terrible suffering of the Israeli people.

There are people who say, "Yes, but there is greater violence being done to the Palestinian people by the Occupation -- and Palestinian children killed in their beds by Israeli bombs from the sky are no less victims than Israeli children killed by terror." But this is a crazy and sick way to think. I hate it when a similar argument is made by Jews ("the killing of those Palestinian civilians by Israeli planes and bombs is not morally equivalent to the acts of Palestinian terror"). THERE IS NEVER ANY MORAL EQUIVALENCE BETWEEN ONE ACT OF MURDER AND ANOTHER -- BECAUSE EACH ONE IS A UNIQUE TRAGEDY IN ITSELF, AND NOT TO BE EXPLAINED AWAY. HUMAN BEINGS ARE CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD, THEIR LIVES ARE SACRED, AND IT IS IMMORAL TO TAKE SOMEONE ELSE'S LIFE TO ACHIEVE YOUR POLITICAL ENDS. Period. So don't tell me about the pain of the Occupation, because I've been spending my full time energies trying to build a political movement to try to end it, at great personal cost, facing abuse and denunciation from others in the Jewish community, losing financial support for Tikkun, enduring threats of violence almost daily, and finding my ideas misrepresented and distorted in disgusting ways. I don't have to be told that the Occupation itself is disgusting, immoral, and outrageous. But that fact is no justification for killing innocent Israelis. The mother at Kibbutz Metzar who threw her body over her two children, only to have the thugs who claim to represent the Palestinian people come closer to her so that the bullets would pass through her body and kill her two children, is the martyr -- not the "al Aska Martyrs Brigade" who are simply disgusting criminals.

Those who excuse this behavior away are doing no service to the Palestinian people. When Israelis and others hear these excuses, they conclude that the entire Palestinian people have lost their moral compass. That is not true. As Amira Hass explains below, many Palestinians abhor what is being done in their name, but feel scared to speak out. Well, those of us who support an immediate and unconditional end to the Occupation and who don't live under the tyranny of Arafat's uncontrolled thugs do have the freedom to speak out -- and we must. So I say it as clearly as possible: these acts of murder, and all acts of murder by Palestinians against Israeli civilians (whether inside or outside the Green Line) are immoral, crazy, evil, and we demand that they be stopped by the Palestinian people!!! None of us are doing the Palestinian people any favor by keeping silent on this point. On the contrary, it is critical to reassure the Israeli people that should they agree to end the Occupation they will NOT be empowering a people who are ready to excuse away this kind of immorality and violence.

It is particularly we who support peace who must be loud and clear in our condemnation of these hateful and immoral acts. Just as we have been clear in our condemnation of Israeli violence and the hidden but very real violence that is a daily reality of the Occupation, so we unequivocally condemn Palestinian vioilence as well.

-- Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor, Tikkun Magazine, rabbilerner@tikkun.org

P.S. Please read the article by Amira Hass in today's Ha'aretz (the most respected Israeli newspaper) and the editorial from today's Ha'aretz. They help to clarify why every humanity-loving person, and particularly those who support the rights of Palestinians to be free of the Occupation, should be joining us in mourning the victims and in condemning not only the perpetrators of this act but those who remain silent among the supporters of Palestinian liberation.

P.P.S. And as Ha'aretz points out in its editorial, there is still a sign of hope. Even at the most difficult times, Metzer members received their friends from the neighboring Arab villages of Kafin and Meisar (whose children attend joint activities with the kibbutz children) and did not alter their opinion that it is possible to have peaceful neighborly relations based on dialogue and agreement. This modest friendship between Metzer and its Arab neighbors in Israel and in the Palestinian areas -- which now stand under a terrible strain -- is a solitary reminder of what the real aim should be. One can only hope that the voice heard in Metzer and Kafin will eventually drown out the cycle of bloodshed. (full editorial from Ha'aretz is linked below).

From Ha'aretz:
Back Home: Fatah's Failure by Amira Hass
A glimmer of hope from Kibbutz Metzer (editorial)