Marcia Freedman spoke to a full room at the Hillel Foundation at 611 Langdon St. about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Freedman, who is president of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom — Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace — and a former member of the Israeli legislative body, directed the majority of her lecture toward the difficulties now facing both the Jewish and Palestinian communities in the country of Israel. Her speech, “A View From a Dove,” pushed for peace but stood up for the Jewish perspective.
Matt Canter, program associate at Hillel, noted before the lecture that he was eager to host Freedman.
“We are excited to have her speak … because she has a very unique look at [relations in the Middle East],” he said.
Freedman said there was a need for a Jewish state but that the Israeli people are currently in a “very, very difficult” situation, essentially due, in her opinion, to civilian bombings in populated areas.
“Terrorism terrorizes people,” Freedman said and explained that this fear makes otherwise meaningless decisions like going to the grocery store “fraught with meaning.” She continued, saying that this worry spilled over into public’s political decisions, allowing extremist right-wing politicians to get elected.
Freedman also criticized some aspects of Israel’s handling of troublesome settlements and of the Israeli army’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Coupled with the global economic slowdown, the occupation has taken its toll on the economies of both Palestine and Israel, and Freedman believes there is a clear connection between the two. She recognized that the Israeli currency deflated 20 percent from four or five years ago and that the majority of Palestinians are living under the poverty level, which is “$2 a day.”
“[Living there] today is nothing any of us want to do or be,” Freedman said.
She also pointed to the turmoil in the Middle East, as more than half a million Israeli Jews are living in the United States, and added that both the Palestinians and Jews that remain in Israel are coping with hard conditions.
“These are two peoples … living in situations that are unbearable,” Freedman said.
She then added that extremists on both sides of the situation are responsible for the state of affairs — many of the policymakers accepting the existence of the other.
She did not spend her whole time in Madison criticizing the governing bodies of the two groups but advocated change and international involvement even though she called the U.S.-backed plan for peace, called the “Roadmap,” “road kill.”
Freedman thought the major failure in the Roadmap to peace was a lack of implementation of international monitors on the ground to inspect progress in the peacemaking process, but she looks with a hopeful eye toward a new peace plan called the Geneva Accord.
“As American citizens it is our duty, obligation and responsibility … to push legislators for peace,” Freedman said, implying that the youth of this country should also appeal to lawmakers for changes in policy in the Middle East.
Following her lecture, Freedman fielded questions from the audience that ranged from praise of her attempts to achieve peace to cynical criticism of her views.