ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

At times of uncertainty it is imperative to ask ourselves the right questions if we want to find the right answers to the problems that might lie ahead. For instance, if prompted to choose between stability and instability, most people would opt for stability, but that is simply not the right question to ask in the face of the changes, unrest and revolts that are currently underway in North Africa and parts of the Middle East. The region's stability has been broken; it is something of the past period. As Natan Sharansky eloquently said, no dictatorship can last forever, not even the more benign ones. Thus, the question to ask now should be: what do we want from this social and political earthquake, and can we do something to help in order to obtain the results we want and avoid those that are undesirable or detrimental to our own interests?
Secondly, asking –as many are doing– whether all of this could have happened if an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement had already been in force is clearly misleading. The revolts arise from the frustration of the Arab people with the conditions they have to live in, not out of any concern about the lack of a Palestinian State. Furthermore, linking the changes underway in the whole region with the peace process will make the potential for real change hostage to the progress being made in bilateral negotiations that have nothing to do with the legitimate aspirations of a whole series of peoples, from Morocco to Pakistan. Even worse, placing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process at centre stage now will make any agreement much more difficult to reach. Israel's security requirements will depend on the outcome of these processes, while the Palestinian State's requirements will also be conditioned by the resulting political landscape once the dust has settled.
Finally, now that the Pope has publicly declared that the Jews were not responsible for the death of Christ and that Prime Minister Netanyahu has accepted their exoneration as a historic leap forward by the Roman Catholic Church, we should stop asking ourselves what else needs to be said to close a gap that is no longer reasonable or sustainable. Judaism and Christianity are facing the same challenges and enemies, and the time has come to forge a new strategic relation in order to defend our common values before those who would like to see them destroyed. As religious minorities in a sea of radical secularism, as tolerant people challenged by intolerant fundamentalism, our future will depend on our ability to act together with a clear and shared vision. The right question to ask is how we are to achieve this.