7 Days to Go – Is There a Solution?

By Sherwin Pomerantz

Now there is one week to September 20th when the Palestinian Arab leadership will submit its request to the UN to approve their desire for statehood. The clock is ticking.

As for what will happen in New York next week, finally the American Jewish community seems to be planning some demonstrations across from the UN, although in my opinion the number of people expected is still too low. For example, I received the following from a friend here:

"A crowd of 15,000 people is expected outside the United Nations September 21, when a coalition of Jewish and non-Jewish supporters of Israel is scheduled to hold a rally on behalf of the Jewish state. While the main focus is the Palestinian Authority's bid for General Assembly recognition as a sovereign state, the demonstration will serve as a platform to voice opposition to the "Durban III" Conference against Racism, which illustrates the UN's bias against Israel."

"Chairman Calev Myers of the Jerusalem Center for Justice, one of the movers behind the rally, said, Sunday, that people cannot be silent in face of the world's hypocrisy and that this summer has shown that demonstrations accomplish things, adding that the September 21st rally will be something that cannot be ignored."

Well, if 15,000 materialize that will be good but just a tenth of what is needed. Rumor has it that some other groups are working on demonstrations as well but, as I have found over the last few weeks when inquiring about the subject, no one wants to provide details. So it is difficult for me to understand how a good crowd will show up if no one wants to speak about it publicly, even at this late date. Time will tell whether there will be enough people there to make the point. I certainly hope so although I have met absolutely no one in my 8 days here in New York who is planning on being there, so my concern about the size of any demonstration is real.

There is now, of course, a great deal of material coming out on possible solutions to the challenges that will face Israel after the UN vote, however it goes, although the presumption is that a US veto in the security council will further isolate both Israel and the US. But the fallout will be dramatically different for both countries. The US, in spite of the current economic challenges it faces, remains a world power with a huge economy, 307 million people and still generally held in high regard worldwide. But Israel is a small country, just 7 million people, seen (incorrectly) in many places in the world as the source of all of the globe’s problems. While at the moment the Israeli economy is thriving, eventually continued isolation will have its economic effect as well and there is no telling where that will lead.

So Israel’s challenge right now is to begin to strategize how it will cope in a world that will be significantly different after September than it is today. Further political isolation, the threat of civil unrest in both the Israeli and Palestinian sectors, a potentially declining economy, all combined could have significant long term negative results for the country. As a born optimist, I believe we have both the intellectual capacity and the moral fibre to meet the challenge and come out whole, but it will not be an easy path to tread and our leadership will need to be incredibly creative as it deals with these issues.

This morning’s papers indicate that Prime Minister Netanyahu has decided to travel to New York and address the General Assembly on behalf of the people of Israel. In principle that is a good thing and he should be the one to present our case to the world, not someone else in the government as was previously planned. But he needs to be careful not to lecture the world on behalf of the Jewish people. He should, of course, underscore the need for face-to-face negotiations here in order to move forward with any end of the conflict discussions. In addition, the thrust of his comments should indicate that we recognize that the political map in the region will change after the UN session ends later this fall and that Israel has a plan to deal with that and continue in its quest to be a responsible member of the world community. I certainly hope he is up to the task as failure in this effort is simply not an option.