 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
About the Author
Stephen Joel Trachtenberg served for 30 years as a university president. He is now president emeritus and university professor at the George Washington University, where he teaches courses on the university presidency in America. He is also an adviser to Korn/Ferry International, where he is helping to find the next generation of university leadership. In June 2008 Simon and Schuster will release his new book Big Man on Campus: A University President Speaks Out On Higher Education. B.A. Columbia, M.P.A. Harvard, J.D. Yale. Fifteen honorary degrees. A swell guy. But not much of a dancer.He will blog about issues torn from the headlines dealing with higher education. Contemporary topics of pressing, current concern. And some serious matters too.
About Brainstorm
Mark Bauerlein
Marc Bousquet
Laurie Fendrich
Dan Greenberg
John L. Jackson Jr.
Stan Katz
Michael Nelson, guest blogger
Stephen Joel Trachtenberg
Brainstorm Alumni
Marty Nemko, guest bloggerBob Zemsky
Recent Posts
Under Pressure | Comment [2]
Campus Polling Centers | Comment
Working by Degrees | Comment [12]
L'Shana Tova | Comment [2]
ROTC and Relativity | Comment [14]
Featured Articles By the Author
Israel at 60
A few weeks ago, my assistant came into my office and said that the White House was on the line. I picked up the phone anticipating that my friend Gerry Sigal was calling about lunch. But, to my astonishment, it was an inquiry asking if I’d be available to serve as a member of the official U.S. delegation to accompany President Bush on the then-upcoming trip to Israel to participate in celebrating the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the state. I couldn’t imagine how I had come to receive this invitation. Well, I confess, minority representation crossed my mind: I figured they wanted at least one Democrat. The last Republican I voted for was U.S. Senator Kenneth Keating.
I said “yes,” and so for the last few days I’ve been abroad. There were several notable parts to the splendid adventure: receptions hosted by Israel’s president, Shimon Peres, and by President Bush; and an opportunity to witness President Bush’s address to the Knesset (a speech that played one way to the Israeli audience and another to the American). There was also a particularly engaging, thoughtful and at times even scholarly, three-day conference sponsored by Shimon Peres, organized under the theme, “Facing Tomorrow,” which tried looking to the future. The discussions, panels, and plenary were given, as one might expect, titles such as “Presidents Discussing Tomorrow,” the observations of an assortment of former world leaders; “Facing Tomorrow”; “Tomorrow Through the Eyes of Nobel Laureates,” etc. Local and international media covered the event, and for further details you can check out the English version Web site.
I first traveled to Israel in 1961, was married at the Western Wall 37 years ago, and regularly visit family and friends. Over the years I’ve watched the transformation of Israel from a developing country to a mature nation, at the same time I’ve worried about the tough neighborhood in which it is located. I came away from this brief stay in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem feeling that it was the best of times and the worst of times. So much promise still unfulfilled. Reconciliation always just out of reach.
Tel Aviv is exciting: the architecture, restaurants and the buzz along the shore. And, conversation on all sides about new businesses and technological entrepreneurship and successful commercial affairs feels very cutting edge and 21st century. Jerusalem is Jerusalem: It is beautiful, tugs at the heart, and, even though it is increasingly contemporary, with new luxury residences and hotels going up everywhere, you never, even for a minute, forget its history. To stand at the Western Wall in the Old City, to view, even at a distance, the Mosque at the Temple Mount, is a moving and wonderful occasion for the pious and the agnostic alike. Look around and you know you are in a city precious to all three of the Abrahamic faiths.
With all these positive observations, why then did I come home feeling blue? Well, partly because hours after President Bush arrived a rocket fired from northern Gaza hit the roof of a shopping center in Ashkelon wounding about 15 people, some seriously. It was obviously a “welcome gift” for the President and prompted strong language about a response by Prime Minister Olmert. These clashes are often characterized as between good and evil. It is melancholy to contemplate a future status quo ante, especially so given the economic progress, educational, scientific and medical advances, and the flourishing of culture and the arts that has occurred in Israel during the past six decades. With all of this, Shalom is not in sight either within or outside of its borders.
I’ve always been slightly offput by American Jews and others living in the safety and comfort of the United States or Europe who are quick to give advice to the Israelis about how they ought to conduct their affairs. But it is a long plane ride home in a confined space and reflecting on what you’ve seen is irresistible. So here is a modest thought:
Israel has two groups of Palestinians with whom they have to make peace, or at least come to terms. There are the Palestinians residing in Gaza and the West Bank — external forces, each with its own form of leadership, who represent a complex set of challenges, a subject I leave to my betters.
The second are Palestinians who reside within Israel — a demographically growing internal force — men, women and families that are Israeli citizens. They have always struck me as a tragically missed opportunity, representing a domestic agenda in search of a generous resolution. The Israeli Arabs are among the poorest citizens of the state (along with the Druze, the Ethiopians, and the ultra-Orthodox Jews) and the issues surrounding the socio-economic hierarchy are palpable and increasingly disconcerting.
I believe that the welfare of the Israeli Arabs ought to be an even more direct focus of Israeli public policy, not only for domestic reasons but for international ones, as well. A well-educated, prosperous Arab Israeli community within its borders would be an important statement about the Tikkun Olam values that Israel holds dear. This presents a chance for Israel to do good while doing well. The uplifting of Israel’s Arabs would be inspirational, and serve as a statement about the possible to the world in general and more particularly to non-Israeli Palestinians living next door. While sounding simplistic, its ripple effect, nevertheless, could be significant.
When one travels in the Middle East, one meets Palestinians who are physicians, lawyers, professors, engineers, and civil servants, a well-credentialed and professional class of people residing and working within most Arab countries. Providing additional educational and economic opportunities for the Palestinians in Israel, dare I say it — with affirmative action, and encouraging them through deeds and actions to fully engage as part of the Israeli fabric — could offer a human as well as political resource for the nation whose passports they carry.
Israel has the capacity to unilaterally sweeten the lives of its own citizenry, to reduce internal tensions and mistrust by making socio-economic class less consequential across its census, and to illustrate its capacity to see beyond ethnicity. Greater integration needs to be at the top of the political A list. Support of Arab municipalities from the government should be rationalized. Resource allocation should be more transparently appropriate. For example, currently there are many economic benefits for veterans that Arabs who do not serve in the military do not receive. Finding a way to address this disparity would also mitigate the appearance of second-class citizenship and encourage social equity.
I don’t have an illusion that this idea is novel. I know that some efforts to enhance coexistence, cooperation, and mutual respect have already been made. There are advocacy groups urging greater evenhandedness for the Palestinians and other minorities in Israel. But I can’t resist underscoring my own sentiments partly because it seems to me they represent the just thing to do but also, to be candid about it, the politically wise thing to do. I believe it will lead to a stronger, more equal nation and greater economic development with enhanced standing for Israel in its negotiations with external third parties. It is a matter of self-interest.
Of course, the moment I stepped off the plane in Newark, I had similar thoughts about my own country. Enduring disparity in wealth, education, health, and other social markers lead to questions about our democratic values at best, and civil unrest at worst. The city of Washington, D.C. is only now recovering from the riots of 1968, 40 years later. Blighted neighborhoods are being rebuilt after years of neglect. Under-served communities in Israel and America could both benefit from more affectionate attention.
Posted at 11:32:42 PM on May 19, 2008 | All postings by Stephen Joel TrachtenbergComments
Commenting is closed for this article.
Woe betide, I am certain, whoever jumps in first on this one. So I’ll tread relatively lightly with a few specifics.
Why is it necessary for us to know that Mr. Trachtenberg has a friend at the White House who calls him up for lunch dates? (This academic version of the Wayne-Newton-is-a-very-close-personal-friend-of-mine disease seems to be incurable among three of “Brainstorm’s bloggers.)
Why did Mr. Trachtenberg say yes to the trip? Patriotic duty? (I doubt it.) Research or public appearance? (I doubt the former, and Mr. Trachtenberg’s name isn’t on the program of that scholarly conference.) A chance to give the President some contrarian opinion? (I doubt that; Mr. Trachtenberg himself says that he was merely a window-dressing Democrat in the party.) A freebie or nostalgia are better possibilities.
With the itinerary described by Mr. Trachtenberg (no Gaza, no West Bank, no refugee camps, only the glitzier and majesty-of-history sides of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem), it is a wonder he came home feeling blue.
Americans—Jews or not—living in safety and comfort while telling people in other countries how to conduct their affairs is a kind of national industry. Sometimes we do more than proffer advice. A country whose short name ends in “Q” comes to mind.
On the other hand, American Jews send an awful lot of money to Israel, and it’s perhaps understandable that they’d want to opine on how it’s spent.
Israel can’t give its Arab citizens a much better deal because to do so would—a bunch of dominoes falling—result in the weakening of Israel’s being a “Jewish state.” It’d have to become a plain ol’ democracy that just happened to be 80 percent Jewish, which is a very different thing from what Israel is now.
“Under-served communities in Israel and America could both benefit from more affectionate attention”—who could object to that? The guy who said, “You’re doin’ a heckuva job, Brownie,” most likely.
— LuckyJim · May 20, 10:02 AM · #
“This academic version of the Wayne-Newton-is-a-very-close-personal-friend-of-mine disease seems to be incurable among three of Brainstorm’s bloggers.”
You know, I made that same observation to the Archbishop of Canterbury just last week when he called to ask if I would help negotiate with the Burmese government. “Will,” I said — his friends call him Will — “why do academic people, who ought to be focused on substance, seem to be such inveterate name-droppers?” “It is a puzzle,” he said. “Let’s ask The Queen next week at lunch, shall we? I know she can’t wait to hear the advice you gave to Nelson Mandela about dealing with the crisis in Darfur.”
— Mr. Reader, PhD, MBE, NN · May 20, 12:38 PM · #
If one is doubful of one’s own importance, it is a genuine help if one can get phone calls from famous places, actually on the TV a lot, and then write about how one got phones calls from such a famous place, and, even took trips with famous people from famous places. If your own life has been of little apparent worth to yourself, all this is a great help—time well spent, indirect self praise well spent, helping unfortunate others realize how actually central and important one is.
Or maybe it is just some sort of slow growing brain tumor.
— Richard Tabor Greene · May 21, 07:43 AM · #
Richard, your last line/paragraph is in poor taste.
— Bill S. · May 21, 08:19 AM · #
Responders to this thoughtful contribution come across as a bunch of insecure nitwits who prefer to pounce on a purportedly self-serving reference (it didn’t bother me) instead of grappling in a thoughtful way with the many ideas about Israel’s options that Stephen Trachtenberg puts forth. I wish readers could help foster more enlightened dialogue.
— molly · May 21, 12:12 PM · #
molly:
Try paragraphs 5, 6, 7 and 8 of my comment (#1). Brief, but dialogue-starters all, I think.
And why didn’t you pitch in with some “enlightened dialogue” instead of just carping about us carping about Mr. Trachtenberg’s self-importance?
— LuckyJim · May 21, 12:44 PM · #
You’re right, Lucky Jim, but unfortunately I couldn’t get past the tone of your first three paragraphs, though clearly the contributions of “Mr Reader” and Richard Tabor Greene are the real provocations of my response. Carp Diem.
— molly · May 21, 03:48 PM · #
Well, molly, you see the problem: I couldn’t get past the tone of Mr. Trachtenberg’s first two and a half paragraphs. Anyway, what do you think about the issues about Israel raised in the rest of Mr. Trachtenberg’s post?
— LuckyJim · May 22, 06:24 AM · #