American-Born Jew Sees Dramatic Reform As Israel’s Best Path
Courant.com
American-Born Jew Sees Dramatic Reform As Israel’s Best Path
As Israel Turns 60, American-Born Jew Hopes For Peace
By RINKER BUCK
Courant Staff Writer
May 11, 2008
For millions of Americans - Jews and non-Jews alike - the fate of a narrow sliver of desert along the eastern Mediterranean has been the subject of searing passions and dinner table arguments for more than a half-century.
But few Americans have intermingled their lives with Israeli history more intimately than Yehezkel Landau.
An American-born Jew, now a faculty member at Hartford Seminary, Landau lived in Israel for 24 years, witnessing firsthand both the dream and the disappointment of the Jewish state. During that time, he served in the Israeli army, worked for reconciliation with Palestinians and endured the trauma of terrorist attacks in his neighborhood.
But over the next week, as festivities in Israel and the United States continue in celebration of the 60th anniversary of David Ben-Gurion declaring a Jewish state, Landau finds himself in an anomalous position. As an American who has done more than his share of nation-building in Israel, his advocacy of equality for Palestinians, dramatic social reform and a shared capital in Jerusalem places him in conflict with many American Jews and others who take a harder line on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
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American-Born Jew Sees Dramatic Reform As Israel’s Best Path
As Israel Turns 60, American-Born Jew Hopes For Peace
By RINKER BUCK
Courant Staff Writer
May 11, 2008
For millions of Americans - Jews and non-Jews alike - the fate of a narrow sliver of desert along the eastern Mediterranean has been the subject of searing passions and dinner table arguments for more than a half-century.
But few Americans have intermingled their lives with Israeli history more intimately than Yehezkel Landau.
An American-born Jew, now a faculty member at Hartford Seminary, Landau lived in Israel for 24 years, witnessing firsthand both the dream and the disappointment of the Jewish state. During that time, he served in the Israeli army, worked for reconciliation with Palestinians and endured the trauma of terrorist attacks in his neighborhood.
But over the next week, as festivities in Israel and the United States continue in celebration of the 60th anniversary of David Ben-Gurion declaring a Jewish state, Landau finds himself in an anomalous position. As an American who has done more than his share of nation-building in Israel, his advocacy of equality for Palestinians, dramatic social reform and a shared capital in Jerusalem places him in conflict with many American Jews and others who take a harder line on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
--MORE--