Rabbi Nava Hefetz
18
You spoke of a sense of guilt among European audiences as a result of the historical circumstances that led to the founding of the State of Israel. How does your background influence your view on the matter of Palestinian refugees?
The Palestinian refugees won't be able to return. That's irreversible. In ‘48 my grandmother and her entire family became refugees. She had a clinic in Cairo, a house in Cairo and one in Alexandria and she can't go back. She is no longer alive but we can't go back there. The same is true for 1.2 million Jews who left Arab countries.1 You can't turn back the clock. I think today Europeans are trapped in their desire to return the Palestinian refugees to Palestine. When a Palestinian says, "This is the key to my house in Ramle, can I go home?" I say, "No! This is the key to my house in Cairo and I can't go back." There's nothing you can do. This is the reality and we have to decide whether what we want is to fight for another hundred years or if we want to put an end to this. You can't go back in time. Today, there is consensus in Israeli society [regarding the right of return]. In the same way I can't return to Cairo, they can't return to Jaffa. On Israel's part, I think there should be recognition on the national level that there was an expulsion and there was a war here. I'm willing to waive the compensation fees for both my grandmother's houses and her clinic for the benefit of rehabilitating Palestinians. I'm sure that all those of North African origin would agree to do the same if the State of Israel committed to rehabilitating the refugees in Judea and Samaria. The refugees will not return and I think they know it. The refugees won't be coming back and I think they know that. That's why I think their leadership is irresponsible. I also think the settlers' leadership isn't acting responsibly because they aren't preparing the settlers for the day after the settlers are evacuated. And they will be evacuated. It will take a year, five years, but the settlers will be evacuated and they aren't being prepared for it. Yochanan Ben Zakkai,2 a true leader, said, "We lost Jerusalem, let us go to Yavne. Let's continue to develop the Jewish culture. We'll create a strong foundation that will allow people to overcome this trauma, this crisis." We don't see a Yochanan Ben Zakkai, either on the Israeli side or on the Palestinian side, who says, "Gentlemen, you will not return to Jaffa. You will not return to Ramle. Let's build a state here that will be an example to all the nations." As we know, no conflict has ever been resolved by force. I studied history carefully and conflicts are ultimately decided through negotiations, including population exchanges and territorial exchanges. Nothing is dictated from the heavens. After World War II, two million German citizens who lived in Poland and had become Polish were returned to Germany.3 There was an exchange. And that can happen when you don't sanctify stones but you sanctify human lives, because that, in the end, is what should be sanctified.- 1Between 1948 and 1976, over 850,000 Jews living in Arab countries were expelled or left due to discrimination and other pressures. See Aharoni, Ada. "The Forced Migration of Jews from Arab Countries and Peace." August 2002. The Neaman Institute, Israel Institute of Technology-Technion. 29 July 2011. http://www.hsje.org/forcedmigration.htm.
- 2Yochanan Ben Zakkai (30-90 CE) was a pacifist Jewish rabbi who was responsible for the continuation of Jewish scholarship after Rome took over Jerusalem in 70 CE. He created a small school outside of Jerusalem in a city called Yavne. The school became a center for Jewish religious learning. See "Yochanan ben Zakkai." Jewish Virtual Library. 28 July 2011. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/ben_zakkai.html.
- 3Following World War II, Poland expelled a large number of people categorized as ‘Germans', and some were used as forced labor by the Soviet army. For more information, see Kamusella, Tomasz. "The Expulsion of the Population Categorized as ‘Germans' from the Post-1945 Poland." The Expulsion of the ‘German' Communities from Easter Europe at the End of the Second World War. Eds. Steffen Prausner and Arfron Rees. Florence, Italy: European University Institute. Working Paper, 2004, http://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/2599/HEC04-01.pdf;jsessionid=63BB2B2EE0110597FE3E43BD75CFAD24?sequence=1.