A liberal Jewish group is opting out of 40th anniversary protests against Israel’s occupation of disputed territory because it fears its partners deny Israel’s existence. Rabbi Michael Lerner, who heads Tikkun, said he could not join the mass Washington rally on June 10 planned by Jewish Voice for Peace, the U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation and United for Peace and Justice, a group that has helped plan major anti-Iraq war rallies, because they advocate “the dissolution of the State of Israel.” A “one-state solution” is a wink “to many who thought the Jewish people never deserved a state at all,” Lerner wrote. Jewish Voice for Peace and the U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation each issued replies to Lerner saying they did not advocate a one-state solution. The rally marks 40 years since the end of the Six-Day War, when Israel gained control of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula. It has since given up the Sinai and unilaterally withdrawn from Gaza.
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