WASHINGTON, May 4: An organization of American Jews has said Israeli policies are leading to “a frightening upsurge in anti-Semitism” and far from providing security for Israel, are creating new generations of terrorists and convincing the world that Israel has lost its moral compass.

In an article in the independent journal, The Nation, Michael Lerner, who heads the pro-Israel but peace advocacy group Tikun, argues that many Jews and non-Jews have been intimidated by the intense campaign being waged by the far-right, Zionist group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and by other Jewish organizations.

These groups label those critical of Israel as “self-hating” if they are Jewish or anti-Semitic if they are not and mobilize large amounts of money to defeat candidates deemed insufficiently pro-Israel. But, Mr Lerner says, non-Jews are doing no favour to the Jewish people when by their silence they help the most destructive elements of the Jewish world pursue immoral policies that almost certainly will generate more hatred of Jews.

Mr Lerner urges the United States to sponsor a multinational force to physically separate and protect Israel and Palestine from each other, and then to convene an international conference to impose a final settlement. This would include an end to the occupation, evacuation of the settlements, reparations for Palestinian refugees (and also for Jews who fled Arab lands), recognition of Israel by surrounding Arab states and cessation of all acts of terror and violence.

In support of his contention, Mr Lerner, who was briefly detained last month when leading a peace demonstration outside the State Department in Washington, points to a Los Angeles Times poll in 1988 that found that some 50 per cent of Jews polled identified “a commitment to social equality” as the characteristic most important to their Jewish identity and that only 17 per ent cited a commitment to Israel.

“Social justice Jews are not apologists for Palestinian violence. We are outraged by the immoral acts of Palestinian terrorists who blow up Israelis at Seder tables, or while they shop, or sit in cafes, or ride in buses. We know that these acts of murder cannot be excused. But many of us also understand that Israeli treatment of Palestinians has been immoral and outrageous.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled their homes in 1948, and recent research by Israeli historians has shown most fled not because they were responding to the appeal of Arab leaders but because they feared acts of violence by right-wing Israeli terrorists or were forced from their homes by the Israeli army.

Palestinian refugees and their families now number more than three million, and many live in horrifying conditions in refugee camps under Israeli military rule.”