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Titolo: Israel set on tragic path, says chief rabbi...

August 27, 2002
The Guardian
Israel set on tragic path, says chief rabbi Guardian interview will shock
Jewish community
Jonathan Freedland
Britain's chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, today delivers an unprecedentedly
strong warning to Israel, arguing that the country is adopting a stance
"incompatible" with the deepest ideals of Judaism, and that the current
conflict with the Palestinians is "corrupting" Israeli culture.
In a move that will send shockwaves through Israel and the world Jewish
community, Professor Sacks departs from his usual policy of offering only
public endorsement of Israel, and broad support for moves toward peace, by
giving an explicit verdict on the effect that 35 years of military
occupation and decades of conflict are having on Israel and the Jewish
people.
"I regard the current situation as nothing less than tragic," he tells the
Guardian in an exclusive interview. "It is forcing Israel into postures that
are incompatible in the long run with our deepest ideals."
He goes on to speak of being "profoundly shocked" at the recent reports of
smiling Israeli servicemen posing for a photograph with the corpse of a
slain Palestinian. "There is no question that this kind of prolonged
conflict, together with the absence of hope, generates hatreds and
insensitivities that in the long run are corrupting to a culture."
He also admits that in 1967 he was "convinced that Israel had to give back
all the [newly-gained] land for the sake of peace" - and he does not
renounce that view now.
Prof Sacks is at pains to underline his continuing, avowed support for the
Jewish state - citing repeated efforts by Israel to make peace, and the
Palestinians' failure to take the same "cognitive leap" towards compromise.
Nevertheless, and despite the careful phrasing of his remarks, referring
twice to dangers "in the long run", many in rightwing Jewish and Israeli
circles will be angered by his comments.
"The nature of these comments are quite unlike anything he has ever said
before," one senior Jewish community figure said yesterday. "The right will
be surprised and angry." Liberal and dovish Jews are bound to welcome his
statements.
Since becoming chief rabbi in 1991 of Britain's Orthodox Jews, and the de
facto leader of the country's 280,000-strong Jewish community, Prof Sacks
has successfully avoided any overtly political pronouncements on Israel.
He has preferred to be a public defender of the country and to offer broad
support for the pursuit of peace as a divinely-sanctioned endeavour. At the
time of the Oslo peace process, he was in regular correspondence with the
Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin.
But he has steered clear of opining on the moral status of Israel's
occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, in sharp contrast with his
predecessor, Immanuel Jakobovits, who sparked outrage more than a decade ago
when he condemned Israel for "lording it over" the Palestinians.
Community insiders predicted that Prof Sacks' latest comments could prompt a
similar wave of fury. Much of Anglo-Jewish opinion has followed the Israeli
shift to the right since the outbreak of the current intifada two years ago.
The chief rabbi is bound to cause further controversy by calling for
dialogue with the most extremist representatives of radical Islam.
In today's interview, timed for the publication of his new book, The Dignity
of Difference, which is serialised in the Guardian this week, Prof Sacks
says he would even sit down with Sheikh Abu Hamza - the fundamentalist north
London cleric who admits to sharing the views of Osama bin Laden and who
describes himself as a Taliban sympathiser. Yesterday the sheikh was quoted
saying it was "OK" to kill non-Muslims, and equating Jews with Satan.
Nevertheless, Prof Sacks says a meeting between the two is "a thought worth
pursuing. I absolutely don't rule it out."
The chief rabbi, 54, also reveals that he has already met one of Iran's
highest-ranking clerics, Ayatollah Abdullah Javadi-Amoli. At a meeting
brokered by the Foreign Office and never disclosed until now, the two met
for secret talks during a UN conference of religious leaders in New York in
2000.
"We established within minutes a common language", says Prof Sacks, the
"particular language believers share."
The chief rabbi's new book is subtitled "How to avoid the clash of
civilisations", and aims to offer the world a roadmap away from disaster. He
calls on orthodox faiths in particular to realise that difference is not a
problem to be managed, but an "essential" part of creation itself.
Guardian Unlimited Š Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002

 ha scritto nel messaggio news:U38b9.115151
Alfredo hai scelto un nick del cazzo.
Avrebbe avuto senso se il sosia del capo si fosse chiamato ViM Diesel.
Ciao.
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qualche indirizzo?

 qualche indirizzo?
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