I am sure by now you all have watched or at 
least heard about the “Secret Romney tape” in which he described the 47% of Americans who will never vote for him. There was another part of that tape that caught my attention as well. Governor Mitt Romney defined his “kick the ball down the field” doctrine on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. To be more specific, the Republican presidential candidate said:
“So what you do is, you say, you move things along the best way you can. You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that this is going to remain an unsolved problem….and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it.”
Those of us who have toiled in the fields of peacemaking for many years know that this is an uber-complicated situation and that of late, progress has been frustratingly slow. We also know that, as the saying goes, “hope is not a strategy.” Waiting for something to happen could easily result in a new outbreak of violence on both the West Bank and from Gaza. With facts being created on the ground and attitudes hardening on both sides of the green line, a lack of progress can actually spell the end of a democratic Jewish state.
This is why, this Rosh Hashanah, Ameinu wrote a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu asking him to focus his attention on the two state solution. Yes, the threat from Iran is critical and we appreciate that he has a budget to prepare for next year, but the status quo is unsustainable…there is no “kicking the ball down the field” and hoping for the best.
