His committed scholarship offered Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews a way out of the morbid Hobbesian existence in which they found themselves. It challenged the Israeli objective of segregating American Jews and retarding their integration into American society; it also demonstrated that the distinction between Judaism and Zionism is a prerequisite for achieving true democracy in Israel. Only if Israel were to be de-Zionized would it be able to trade a genuine democracy for the present Herrenvolk democracy.

The Epitome of Scholarship

This lifetime endeavor by Dr. Berger should not be mistaken for an esoteric, intellectual, jurisprudential exercise. It was, in fact, the epitome of committed scholarship, which is rooted in the concepts of pluralist existence and common humanity. These concepts have the attributes of integration, equality for every human being, and democracy for everybody not only for a select body of citizens. Dr. Berger defended these concepts in countless speeches, debates, newsletters and treatises.

Rabbi Berger's scholarship also vindicates the democratic, secular, unitary solution proposed by the Palestinian national movement in 1968. He was not discouraged by those who abandoned that vision, condemning it as an impractical solution, utterly unsuitable for our imperfect world. He was not deterred by the emasculation of that vision and by its removal from the diplomatic agenda of the Middle East. For him, it was the only long-term alternative to the current system, which Dr. Israel Shahak described, and the Oslo process has effectively confirmed, as apartheid.

This system makes its Jewish citizens and potential citizens, who have never even lived in the state, more equal than those who have a recognized claim to Palestinian nationality. In that sense, Dr. Berger perceived Zionist legislation as more grotesque than apartheid in South Africa. In a speech to the African National Congress and the November 29th Committee on April 5, 1986, Rabbi Berger said:

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