New voice in Mideast debate?
Members of local Jewish community speak out against Israeli policy

BY JESSIKA FRUCHTER
Colorado Daily Staff Writer

As tens of thousands of Israelis reportedly gathered Saturday in Tel Aviv to denounce the continued illegal occupation of Palestinian territories, members of Boulder's Jewish community met privately for the same reason.

While just in the planning stages, the newly formed "progressive organization for Jews" gathered for the first time in Boulder Saturday, attracting an estimated 40 people to its inaugural first meeting.

The group, yet to be named, aims to strengthen the public voice of those who want Middle East peace through political rather than military means, strengthen the voice of Jewish dissent and network with other peace coalitions and similar Jewish groups in other cities and at the national level.

"We haven't yet formulated an exact mission statement and we haven't named the group yet. We are just beginning," said Jill Breslau, an attendee of Saturday's meeting. "The only thing that is clear right now is that there is a substantial number of dissenting voices."

Breslau said local Jews opposing Israeli policy planned to make their voices heard in upcoming weeks with visible actions of various levels.

"Many of us feel the need to express our dissent publicly," she said. "We want to refute the media assertions that the (entire) American Jewish Community is uniting behind Sharon's policy."

Although members of the group disapprove of the illegal occupation, Breslau says such feelings do not infringe on loyalty to a Jewish state.

"Among those people that I know there is a tremendous concern for the well-being of the state of Israel," she said. "I would say that our questioning of those policies is evidence of us caring about the integrity of Israel and the deeper values involved."

The Israeli-Palestinian debate is nothing new to Boulder and the CU community.

In recent months supporters of both Israel and Palestine have both spewed and shouldered accusations on who is responsible for the current state of Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Locally, the issue has brought about heated dialogue, several lecture series, demonstrations, and at times vandalism and allegations of harassment.

While Breslau notes the issue is a sensitive one, she says that, too often, religion and politics are confused.

"It seems to me that it's essential they be separate," she said. "There's great confusion whether it's possible to support Israel and not support Sharon's policies," she said.

"It's easy to use 'anti-Semitic' as a large description (for the situation) when it may not be accurate," she added.

The next meeting of Jewish progressives will be held at the Boulder Jewish Community Center, Sunday May 19, 2002 at 6p.m.