Justice Precedes Peace

On three things the world stands: on truth, on justice, and on peace.

So says Pirkei Avot.

But justice precedes peace - both chronologically as well as in importance. Without at least a modicum of justice, peace is simply not possible. And it is universally recognized that injustice is grounds for resistance, and sufficient injustice grounds for violent resistance.

In two very insightful postings, my favourite blogger - The Magnes Zionist - make this point vis a vis the Israel/Palestine conflict, and criticizes the Israeli left for focusing almost exclusively on peace, to the detriment of justice.

I am not really doing justice (pun fully intended) to his arguments. Read them for yourself:

Observing Passover When Still Enslaved -- A Response to Rabbi Arnold J. Wolf's
"Liberation and Obligation"

and

The Dove of Peace? Or Rather the Hammer of Justice and the Bell of Freedom? On
the Thirtieth Anniversary of Peace Now