It is not difficult to accuse the Palestinians, including those who are citizens of Israel, of scuttling all chances for peace by insisting on extreme demands.
Jews also are not angels in this process.
This week the Knesset passed, by a vote of 64 to 16, the first reading of a bill to forbid the leasing or sale of Jewish National Fund land to non-Jews. Read that Arabs, but perhaps as well the estimated 300,000 non-Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union and elsewhere granted the possibility of citizenship under the Law of Return because they are related to a Jew. And what about all those Americans and others with Jewish fathers but not Jewish mothers? Reform rabbis recognize them as Jews, but not the Orthodox who manage the Israeli Rabbinate. Can they buy an apartment on Jewish National Fund land if someone whispers to the JNF that they are not really Jewish?
The bill is intended to skirt around a Supreme Court ruling that ruled against JNF policy. The bill must pass through two more votes in the Knesset, and there will be a fair amount of public controversy before then. Nonetheless, the lopsided vote, with an absolute majority of the Knesset on the side of supporters, suggests that the chances are good for a public embarrassment.
Those in favor of the legislation note that the Jewish National Fund began collecting money from Jews around the world early in the 20th century for the express purpose of buying land in Palestine for Jewish settlement. Formally it is a non-governmental organization, but it is also integrated into the government establishment. The Israel Land Authority administers for the JNF its substantial land holdings. The Land Authority has twisted and turned when an Arab wants to buy a home on JNF land. It has traded its own state land for JNF land in order to accommodate the Arab. On occasion this has occurred only after a court order. The new law may complicate this process further, if it is enacted and if it manages to avoid the snares of the Supreme Court.
And what will it do to all those people who think of themselves as Jews, but do not pass muster with the Orthodox Rabbinate? That will depend on how much trouble one or another zealot wishes to make.
We are talking about legislating against Israeli citizens. Arabs comprise 20 percent of Israel's population. They do not threaten to flood Jewish neighborhoods with undesirables any more than ultra-Orthodox Jews, who also make life miserable for those who are allergic to them.
Restricing property transfers to non-citizens is conventional, and provides all that is necessary to protect Israel from the uncounted millions in the region who might want to overewhelm us with their presence.
It is no surprise that the principal sponsor of the bill is a member of the National Religious Party, and a leading figure in the movement of settlers. This suggests a combination of religious and nationalist motivations. But what about the secular members of Knesset who gave the bill its majority?
An optimist may be tempted to say that they are teaching the Palestinians a lesson: Jews, too, can put outlandish demands on the table; if Palestinians cease the demands that would end the chance of agreement, Jews will make it possible for Israeli minorities to live like minorities in other western democracies.
A pessimist would fear that the secular MK's who voted for this bill really believe that JNF land should be forbidden to non-Jews. If this is true, they are aligning themselves with all those who support restrictive covenants, and insist that rights of private property allow one to discriminate against Jews, Catholics, Asians, African-Americans and others who can afford the price, but fall outside the realm of the desirable.
Israel prides itself on morality. Often it deserves the self-praise. Not this time.