Milwaukee Common Council President and alderman of the first district Marvin E. Pratt came back this week from Israel a changed man — and, in his opinion, for the better.
“I have come back feeling resolved … to work harder in order to make a more diverse and unified community that is more understanding of one another,” he said during an interview with The Chronicle at his office in City Hall, the day after returning from his first trip to Israel.
Pratt, who has served as president of the council for over two years, has been involved in local politics for a total of 14. He visited Israel July 13-22 with a select group of 11 other American political leaders on an American Jewish Committee program called Project Interchange.
The program seeks to provide civic leaders with a better understanding of the Middle East through in-depth briefings on education, immigration, social welfare programs, trade and economics. Participants also visited Israel’s historical and strategic sites.
Pratt said he was impressed by the cohesiveness of Israeli society, especially considering its diversity.
“There was a woman we met in an absorption center, and she was an Ethiopian Jew [which I found] interesting,” said Pratt, who is African-American. “I asked her why she came here, and if it relates to color. She said, ‘I’m a Jew; I’ve always wanted to come here.’”
Pratt said he has made public statements in the past in support of Israel, for which he has been criticized by members of the local Arab community. He said he now has a better understanding of the grievances of the Palestinians based upon conversations he had with Israeli Arabs and Palestinians.
Still, said Pratt, “I know they argue they were there first, but the fact is, there is a state of Israel and it has a right to exist. My basic beliefs in that were reaffirmed.”
“Based on polls, about 70 percent of Israelis say they would be supportive of a Palestinian state, although it may not happen under the leadership of [Palestinian Authority President] Yasser Arafat,” he said.
Pratt said that he, like the majority of Israelis, also supports the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state.
For Pratt, who served four years on active duty in the military and 20 years in the reserves, the visit to the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967, was eye-opening.
“I could see the strategic influence. I said, ‘I wouldn’t give it up,’ because if you [do] you are asking for trouble,” he said.
Pratt also met with Israeli politicians, including Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert, members of Knesset from the Labor and Likud parties, as well as pundits and an ex-fighter pilot.
He said the reaction of Israelis to his presence and that of the group was “very positive. The speakers kept thanking us for coming. They said we were courageous, but I never felt courageous…. But courage implies going against the grain, and when you are a politician you have to be able to do that, to have some courage.”
Pratt clearly thought of Israelis as the truly courageous ones.
“One of the most moving experiences was visiting a Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem where many of the bombing victims are taken,” he said. “The present-day situation in the state of Israel, with many questions still unresolved and [having] to be decided upon in an unnatural setting of violent suicide bombers, attests to the strength of the people to not give up.”
In fact, Pratt said, he plans to act more like an Israeli politician. “The politicians there, they just say what they feel. They don’t sugar-coat anything. They are blunt. I think I’ll try to be more forthright now.”
Israel, its land and people, made such a good impression on Pratt that he intends to return, but on his own terms.
The trip’s organizers “kept us busy,” he said. “But I’ll go back one day with my wife, and hopefully we’ll have a more leisurely trip.”
Loading ...