PAULA R STERN'S POLITICAL HORIZON

Civil Disobedience, not Civil War

It All Comes Down to the Buses

In Israel, the term “hasbara” is loosely translated as “propaganda.” In more general terms, hasbara is seen as the attempt by Jews and Israelis around the world to explain Israel’s position in a way that will help others understand why we do what we do, how we live where we live, and why. Hasbarais about taking the cause of Israel and explaining it so that people don’t automatically sympathize with what they perceive as the underdog. Instead, they see the broader picture, one of historical rights, of peace offerings made and violence returned, of a people who have built a nation out of sand and another people who have been robbed of billions of dollars in donations, incited to violence and continually deprived of a democratic voice by their own religious and political leaders. Hasbara means making it clear that there is no “cycle” of violence, but a long history of terrorist attacks and attempts to stop these attacks with various means.


Hasbara is about explaining what the Arabs have done to their own children and why we are not to blame. Hasbara is about explaining that Israel has a right to exist and Jews have a right to live in this land, and that there can be no peace agreement until these basic principles are accepted by the Palestinians. And finally, hasbara is about explaining that what Arab leaders SAY in English is not relevant when compared to what they SAY in Arabic, and what they do. Just about everyone agrees that in the war of information, Israel continues to lag hopelessly behind the Palestinians. They are so much better than we are at getting their side across to the media. They have no problem showing their wounds, they glory in them. They even glory in wounds that never existed, as when they cried “massacre” in Jenin and left the world believing that thousands had been murdered, when the real death toll was 52 (vast majority of which were armed gunmen). After a terrorist attack in which Israeli citizens are murdered, the Palestinians are quick to condemn violence on both sides, as if the death o f the terrorist is morally and socially equivalent to the deaths of those he murdered. Smooth-talking Palestinians such as Saeb Erekat and Hanan Ashrawi fill the airwaves with their double talk, exaggerations and outright lies, while incoherent Israeli representatives, vying for time in front of the lights, stumble through with the heavily accented English and embarrass us all. They focus on points and miss nuances and meanings. They confuse with details and buzzwords while Palestinians talk about real people and suffering. The impending visit of a radio journalist explains it all. Already, an impressive list of Palestinian leaders are lined up to meet her, show her the camps, the poverty, the disadvantaged Palestinians, the evil fence we are building, the unemployment. They will not show her the Palestinian textbooks filled with hatred and incitement, nor will they show her Palestinian television which broadcasts Holocaust denial, anti-Semitic slander and calls for violence. While the Israelis will offer her a press card giving her the right to travel all over, they are too busy to organize an impressive list of Israelis who can counter in a meaningful way what she will see and hear during her visits with Palestinians. It is therefore left to ordinary Israelis to speak for our side, to explain why Palestinian poverty is self-inflicted, why violence in textbooks yields a violent society.

If we are not careful, this becomes something of a race for each side to show its bloody wounds and she is left to judge which side has bled more. In sheer numbers, the Palestinians will win because buried in these figures are the suicide bombers, those who shot and lynched and attempted violent actions and were eventually stopped. We have our blood and the Palestinians have theirs. We have our land issues and they have theirs, our claims versus theirs, our history versus theirs. Worse, from the point of view of the impartial scales, our children are brought up in comparative wealth while the Palestinians retain their “underdog” image at all costs. I’ll take the journalist to meet settlers as she has requested, but my goal will be to show her that settlers are nothing more than people who have chosen to live on this block versus that one, in this house versus that one. And yet, there is a more important challenge facing Israelis who are put in the position of having to defend Israel. How can we quickly show the difference between the Palestinian side and the Israeli side? I began by thinking of what she would see from them and what we could show her. They would show her squalor and refugee camps, we could show her orderly homes and planted trees. They would show her a wall covered in angry graffiti, and we could show her statistics showing that terrorist attacks have dropped 90% since the security fence was built. They can show her families who have lost children and we can show her families decimated by terror. A pathetic parade of victims, she will quickly conclude. Slowly, an idea began to form in my head. I could ask someone from ZAKA to speak to her, that amazing organization of people tasked with the job of cleaning up the human remains after a terrorist attack. To the last drop of blood and human flesh that can be gathered, they fight for the dignity of the dead. Even better, I thought, is for her to see. A visual is needed beyond the words. And that’s when the picture formed in my mind. I could take her to see what is left of the buses after the terrorist attack, sanitized and cleaned, but horrific nonetheless. I could ask the ZAKA representative to meet us there, to walk with us and explain what happened on some of the buses. The child found alive under the remains, the victims, the blood, the horror that was inflicted on people who simply got on the wrong bus. The school children on the way to school, the doctor on his way to the hospital, the grandmother on her weekly run to the market. And therein lies the difference, the one thing that we have that the Palestinians do not, the one piece of the puzzle that is uniquely Israeli. The Palestinians have no buses to show. We have never targeted a bus filled with innocent Palestinians on their way to school and work. Our defense forces have never intentionally bombed civilians, shot babies in the head, indiscriminately opened fire on Arab cars. Even more so, our leaders have never threatened these actions as a means of forcing the other side to surrender. Beyond the poverty, self-inflicted or not, beyond the pain of wasted lives and incitement, it all comes down to the buses.
 

A Child’s Zoo in a Cursed Land

I went to the zoo recently, a zoo unlike any other, and quite possibly one of the loveliest I’d ever seen. At first glance, it appears much as other zoos do, with large fenced off areas and the requisite animals, meandering pathways offering shade and a moment to watch animals swim, climb and sleep. While I didn’t see any lions and tigers and bears, I did saw ostriches, goats, deer, assorted birds, monkeys and a camel named Shaul. Some of the more exotic animals such as elephants and porcupines were represented in colorful murals that adorned the walls and structures throughout the zoo. More important than the animal population was the human population and what it represented, who was there, and who was not. We strolled into the zoo, band the first thing that was quickly noticeable was the absence of adults and the abundance of children.

I was escorting a foreign radio journalist for whom I was acting as tour guide. Someone suggested we visit the zoo and thinking that it offered a different angle to her reporting, we agreed. She had her microphone ready to record the sounds that would add color to her documentary, while I played the role of “tourist,” snapping pictures right and left. This was a child’s world into which we had accidentally stumbled and the children were everywhere. They were running, talking, sitting, jumping and simply smiling and being happy on a sunny day. They were completely comfortable and competent with the animals. One boy walked past with a cockatiel on his shoulder, while in pairs of two, other children carried large plastic bins with hay and poured them over the fence for sheep, goats, deer and Shaul the camel. The night before, as on most nights for as long as these young children can likely remember, a mortar shell exploded nearby and gunfire was heard, but there was no tension evident on their faces or in their actions. More than 6000 mortars and rockets have been shot at their homes in the last five years and yet these children happily focused on the needs of the animals. This amazing zoo is located in Neve Dekalim, in the Gush Katif section of the Gaza Strip. It is an oasis of sanity in an insane world, a place of light and sunshine and peace. Just outside Neve Dekalim, across the road from the zoo, live Palestinians. They dwell in squalor and dirt, a sharp and disturbing contrast to the colors and glory of the zoo and the children who are experiencing an incredibly well planned educational program teaching them about animals and responsibility. The homes of the Palestinians are not neatly arranged in rows, rubbish is piled all over and drab, colorless clothes swing in the gentle, hot breeze.

Barely a tree is in sight on the Palestinian side, little or no vegetation other than inside rows of greenhouses in the distance. Palestinian children play in the streets, even at a time when they should be in school. And across the street, just a few dozen meters away, Israeli children play inside a security fence hidden behind tall bushes and trees. To further my task as tour guide, even in a place I had never been, I approached three men standing beside one of the animal cages, the only adults I was to see while in the zoo. Yes, the man in charge was willing to answer questions about his zoo, but preferred to speak in Hebrew. I was given the task of translating. As I was about to return to the journalist and tell her I had secured her next interview, one child fell. Within seconds, the men turned and went quickly to the boy to make sure he was uninjured. As a mother of three active boys, I could tell the “injury” was likely only a scraped palm or knee, requiring nothing more than a hug and a wash. The men spoke gently to the boy, made sure he was fine and returned to complete our discussion.

What is the purpose of the zoo? We asked David Amichai, the zookeeper who agreed to be interviewed. It’s an educational experience, he explained. I smiled at the obviousness of his answer, and wondered if it was possible for listeners of a radio broadcast to possibly imagine how educational this was, what a wonderful world David and the children of Neve Dekalim had created out of what was once empty, useless land that the neighboring Arabs called “cursed.” It was cursed, they explained to the first Jews who arrived in the 1970s, because for centuries they had tried and failed to grow anything on these sand dunes. What green houses they have now across the road are largely due to the technology and assistance of the Israeli farmers who came, learned how to grow crops in sand, and conquer the desert. But that is now. Before the Jews came, there was nothing. Since the time of Abraham, the patriarch of the Jewish and Moslem world, said the mayor of Khan Yunis to the first Jews who arrived, the land would not yield and so it was considered cursed. The mayor welcomed the Jews with bread and salt, a traditional Moslem ritual, because he believed that the Jews would make the land grow. I doubt even he could have imagined how prophetic would be his words. During our brief stay, we visited organic celery and pepper farms and heard about many of the other crops that grow there. Even more, we saw the green gardens around the homes and throughout the zoo. The second question we asked the zookeeper was trickier. “In light of the scheduled disengagement, have you made arrangements for the animals?” Every resident had already been asked and answered similar questions about plans for their own future. Each gave the same answer, that the government had not offered them any real alternatives and no one knew where Sharon’s expulsion plans would take their families. One man did not know where his son, a
decorated soldier who fell in the Lebanon war, would be reburied. A mother did not know where her young children would go to school. No one had thought of packing up homes built and furnished with years of attention and love. Packing up a zoo with hundreds of animals isn’t the same, David explained. If it comes to it, other zoos in Israel have already made it clear they would welcome the animals from Gush Katif and give them a home, David told us “if, God forbid, we have to leave.” How interesting that the animals of Gush Katif have at least that security, while the residents do not.

“What will you do? How do you feel about leaving the zoo?” he was asked. His answer was heartbreaking. “I built this zoo”, he explained. “I have maintained it, and now, maybe I’ll have to take it apart.” We thanked him for his time and, as we continued our tour of the zoo in quiet contemplation, I thought over the interviews that I’d heard during our brief visit. The mother, the farmer, the terrorist victim, the war veteran, the new immigrant, the bereaved father, the soldier, the children. From previous discussions, I knew that this journalist had been deeply affected by the poverty she was shown by the Palestinians as she prepared the groundwork for the documentaries she will produce. We spoke often of the squalor in which the Palestinians live, the hopelessness she perceives. Our comparative wealth was an obscenity next to their poverty, was the underlying message I received. Before I had even known about the existence of the zoo, I had warned her that she would see beautiful parks that we had created for our children. It wasn’t fair, I told her the first time I met her, to simply take our parks and compare them to where Palestinian children play. It is too easy a trap in which to fall. It is too simple to conclude that those who have are guilty simply by virtue of the fact that there exist those who do not have. I had tried to explain to this journalist from a far off land, that we are not to blame if we choose to spend our money on parks and zoos while the Palestinian leaders embezzle millions (if not billions) of dollars, because Palestinian terrorist groups buy mortars and not swings, Kassem rockets and not animal cages. The Karina A ship that was loaded with weapons purchased by the Palestinian Authority was worth millions of dollars. How many parks and zoos could the Palestinians have built with that money? Thinking about the sadness I heard in David Amichai’s voice as he talked about dismantling something he clearly loved so much, I again felt a sense of anger at the irrational choices our government is making, and I felt anger at the unjust comparison of Palestinian poverty with our perceived opulence.

What harm does this zoo do to the Palestinian children? Did it cause them to live in squalor? Will dismantling this zoo make their lives better? Because we gave our children a place such as this, does that make us wrong? If they stopped the terror, they could come here, I explained. We could help them build a zoo, as we have helped give them work, health care, and so much more. There are so many options, once the violence stops. Years ago, they chose hatred and mortars and incitement over building zoos and parks just as they chose to reject the state they were offered by the United Nations in favor of waging war to push us into the sea. They did not succeed then, but they kept trying, focusing their resources on war and not on peace, on weapons and not on parks. It is not fair to look at what the Israeli child has and find us guilty because Palestinian children do not
have these things. Per capita, Palestinian refugees have received more aid than anyone else. More than the victims of the droughts in Sudan and Ethiopia, more than the tsunami survivors, more than those suffering in Darfur. When our nation was born, we were just as poor and we had refugees that had come from all over the world. We housed them, we nurtured them, and half a century later, we are a nation without refugees, a nation with beautiful parks and zoos. Where has the more than 10 billion dollars in funding from the European Union gone? The answer clearly is not to those who needed it. Not to the children, not to the schools. Not to the hospitals. Not to the parks. Why is this zoo to blame if Palestinian money was given to buy Suha Arafat a luxurious villa? If Palestinian leaders are driving around in fancy cars and live in fancy homes, why do you blame us for building beautiful parks for our children? To all of this, the journalist had no answer. The squalor, the poverty, the have nots. These are the images in her head that she took out of Gaza and what she will broadcast over the airwaves. Long before she ever arrived and long after she is gone, the images of Palestinian poverty will continue to frame her perspectives and therefore her journalism. It is quite clear that there was squalor before the Israelis captured the Gaza Strip in 1967. Jewish residents told us that Palestinian poverty before they arrived was so bad, the Israelis were welcomed after the harsh rule of
the Egyptians. The only difference is that now, with Israelis there, world media cares enough to report on the squalor, while pre-1967 it simply was not newsworthy.

We witnessed Palestinians building and working within the Jewish settlements. Clearly, they benefit from this relationship with jobs, a secure source of water and electricity, improved health care, better living conditions and more. One Palestinian told us all he wanted was peace. He did not mention a Palestinian homeland and he certainly did not say he wanted the land on which he stood. Sand it once was, cursed land that yielded nothing. Cursed sand it will be again, if Sharon’s expulsion plan is implemented.

 

Brotherhood among Victims

 

 When planes hit the World Trade Center, my first thought, to my everlasting shame, was about America finally understanding, perhaps only a little, what we in Israel were experiencing almost daily. When the second plane hit and the Pentagon was set afire, I silently begged Americans to forgive me. I never wanted them to learn the lesson like that.

 

This time, unlike 9/11, I didn't have even a second to think that now, perhaps, England would be more sympathetic to Israel. The world is indeed a different place today than it was on September 10, 2001. The pictures are horrific, and even worse is the knowledge that what is to come in the next few hours is worse than what we yet know. The numbers will climb through and the impact of today will be felt by those who were injured for weeks, months, years and perhaps the rest of their lives. This I know from what we have experienced here, and yet this is not something that England is ready to hear.  The numbers are agonizingly slow and yet already much higher numbers are being released on Israeli television. This too is something that I know. Our media is ever cautious in publicizing the numbers because each number represents a life, a family, a town in mourning. Often the foreign media, which has no qualms about the pain such numbers cause, will be quick to announce a high death count, while all Israeli stations slowly approach the same number. For this one time, Israel media is free to release numbers, knowing that it is very unlikely than anyone in England is listening to the broadcasts.

 

It is almost as if the media was trying to gradually break the bad news to its listeners, prepare them slowly for the worst and beyond. This is what is happening in London now and what happens here after each attack. No one can believe that only two people were killed in four combined attacks on three train stations and a bus, and yet, English television remained with this number for hours, only moving gradually up into the tens, twenties and thirties as the day wore on. The lesson, as we well know it, is that in a moment of utter horror...lives change and we'll never have a satisfactory answer as to why, what could possibly be gained by destroying the lives of innocent people on commuter trains and buses. This is the reality we have lived with, the truth the Americans and Europeans have learned. Soon will come the coincidences, a friend that was visiting London yesterday, someone just missing the bus, another deciding to spend the day at home, or whatever. There will be the accusations of who did this, why they did it and more. Sky television is talking about the terrorist attacks. BBC has reported, "London rocked by terror attacks." And inside of me, as I listen to the news and watch the pictures, I am filled with emotions. To the left of the anguish I feel for the families, a tad to the right of the anger I feel at what I am sure will prove, once again, to have been the act of Islamic extremists, is this tiny seed of anger at the Europeans themselves, or at least at the European media. Confirming what I already knew, when buses blow up in London, they are terrorist attacks, which, one would assume, were perpetrated by terrorists. By definition, if it is a terrorist attack that means terrorists attacked, no? And yet, when a bus goes off in Jerusalem, these are attacks by militants. Terrorists kill Americans and Europeans, militants kill Israelis, it seems. BBC refuses to call them terrorists if they attack in Jerusalem, but terror it is and terrorists they are if their victims are Britons in London.

 

To BBC’s way of thinking, calling them terrorists is making a judgment, something they as journalists do not want to do…unless the victims are their own people, apparently. One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter is their mantra when the victims are Jews and Israelis and yet, today, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that terrorists attacked London.

 

I try to tell myself that I have no right to this anger that I feel when people are suffering there, and yet, it is a slow burning pain, deep down aimed at the media, who serves the interests of the terrorists by dismissing what they do as legitimate acts of desperation or “war.” I was recently told by a former BBC correspondent, that she is able to maintain an air of separation when a bus full of Israelis blows up. She didn't mean it to sound quite that way, but that was the underlying message. As a trained journalist, she cannot feel solidarity with one side, refuses to understand the pain of the Israelis in a conflict to which she assigns more blame to those who are blown up in buses, than those who inflict this horror. As I look at the pictures and I hear the panic in London and I feel so much pain and sorrow. I do not think the England police are handling it well and I know that I am not being fair. Israel has become too good at handling it. I've said that for a long time. Within minutes after an attack, emergency numbers are posted. Four hours into the tragedy, England still had not released these numbers.

 

Within hours, the streets in Israel are cleared and the traffic flowing. The bus is moved and cleaned elsewhere, out of sight, move on with your lives. Hours later, London is still paralyzed, still in shock, openly wounded and vulnerable. This is as it should be. When terrorists rip your heart out, when they attack at the height of rush hour, intending to murder and maim, it is wrong to clean up so fast, to move on too quickly.  Most important, I can imagine the terror and the pain of the people there so clearly. I see their shocked faces and I don’t believe their religion or nationality makes a difference because there is a brotherhood among victims, an understanding that this can happen anywhere, anytime, to anyone.  And...I think there is an answer in there somewhere, in that brotherhood, in that understanding and in that sad acceptance. When the whole world rocks with agony, when we all cry because a bus blew up somewhere...and when it doesn't matter where or who was on board - we might find a way to stop this. We are closer today, in the post 9/11 world we live in, but we aren't there yet. I offer my deepest, most heartfelt condolences to the people of England, to the families of those who lost loved ones (and worse...don't even know it yet), to those who were injured and their families...and to all of us because we live in a world where someone can climb on a bus or board a train and do such horror.

 

Clueless in Jerusalem

 

Rarely have I seen a government so successfully bungle something that should be so simple. The government, read here Ariel Sharon, believed Israel must disengage from the Palestinians unilaterally because, after years of violence, it was clear to one and all that there was no partner on the other side with whom we can negotiate. Up to this point, Sharon’s assessment was logical, well intentioned and might well have had the support of the nation.

 

If you can’t live with them… and after more than 50 years of warfare, it is becoming more evident that they aren’t willing to live with us, disengagement might well be the only way to end this conflict. So the conclusion Sharon reached might have been logical, that we must separate Jew and Arab, that the experiment has failed and there can be no resolution given the severity of the outstanding issues. Years ago, Rabbi Meir Kahane was assailed as a racist for suggesting this very theory and yet today, it is widely accepted – Jews must separate from Palestinians. Message received and accepted.  What becomes more and more clear each day, however, is that Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan is neither a disengagement nor a plan. Sharon will not disengage the populations. His only plan involves destroying the lives and livelihoods of 9000 Jews. Beyond this, he has no real goal for separating from the Palestinians. No new hospitals will be built in the Gaza Strip to enable Palestinians to have all their medical needs met there. They will continue to come to Israel, even if they do occasionally try to come to our hospitals to blow them up, as 21-year-old Wafa al-Biri planned to do just last month. We will still supply Gaza with electricity, water and phone service and they will continue to send in workers, even though this arrangement is often used to try to mask planned terror attacks.

 

It isn’t much of a plan either. Where are the dunams of land required to enable the farmers of Gush Katif to continue to plant and grow, as they have been doing for 30 years? Where will we rebury those who are buried in Gaza now? Where will the children go to school? How will you move 9000 people from their homes to waiting stations several kilometers away, when you can’t even protect them from the Kassem rockets and mortars the Palestinians launch at them daily? What message are you sending to the Palestinians when no matter how much they attack, we still plow forward to reward them with land and riches?

 

Clueless politicians are what we elected. The government might have had the cooperation of the people if they were receiving something in return for the tremendous sacrifices. We will not get security. We will not get peace. We will not get disengagement and we don’t even have a plan. Clueless politicians are what we have. The government is on the run, unable to cope with the determination and dedication of those who feel its “plan” is morally and ethically wrong. Sharon has manipulated his cabinet to get a majority, betrayed the only referendum he initiated and refused a true referendum because he fears hearing the true opinion of the majority of Israelis. To implement his expulsion plan, he has twisted and warped laws and concepts for his personal interest.

 

Few in Israel doubt that Sharon is using the disengagement plan to deflect attention from his lack of leadership, his inability to deliver his campaign promises of peace and security and, even worse, to manage his delinquent and corrupt family relations and actions.  Clueless politicians. Our appeasement could well put Neville Chamberlain to shame. One minute the government is closing Gush Katif, and then they are rescinding the order. We will pull out in July; no make it in August; no do it now. Family members can enter; no they can’t. The rally is permitted; no it is not. We are going into Gaza to stop the Kassem rockets that have killed and wounded yet again; well, maybe in 24 hours. We won’t retreat under fire; we will retreat no matter what. We won’t negotiate with terrorists; we’ll be meeting next week with Abu Mazen and anyone else willing to meet with us. Terror attacks will not be tolerated; the Netanya attack will not stop the implementation of the plan. The army orders vast numbers of soldiers to take leave, then orders them back to their units.  We will destroy the homes; no we won’t. We will destroy the homes, but not remove the rubble. We’ll destroy the homes and remove the rubble if we can’t find someone else to foot the bill.

 

Inevitably, the one consistency here is Sharon’s inability to grasp the very basics of the situation. He still does not understand the importance of a referendum. Had he agreed, and had a national referendum shown that a majority of Israelis wanted to pull out of Gaza, the residents would have listened to the voice of the people. They are, above all else, Israelis. Had Israel been allowed to speak, these Israelis would have abandoned what they built there and obeyed the will of the people. Sharon fails to understand that the Palestinians are not ready for peace. For generations, they have been raised with hatred and a promise that terror will succeed. And, apparently, they are correct. Although the Palestinians have been incited to violence and betrayed and cheated by their leaders, Israelis will pay the price thanks to the short sightedness of Ariel Sharon.  Handled correctly, Sharon might have been able to work with Abu Mazen to bring peace. But, having rammed the disengagement plan down the throats of his own people, Sharon has convinced the Arabs that they will achieve victory simply by sitting on the side and watching us make fools of ourselves. If they have no desire to sit quietly, continued shelling, shooting, and bombing is optional, but truly not needed to bring Israel to its knees. Ariel Sharon has succeeded in doing this where 50 years of Arab warfare has failed. Sharon’s plan may succeed in expelling 9000 people from their homes, but those same politicians who cannot successfully plan this disengagement also fail in understanding the cost of such actions. For decades to come, we will be paying for Sharon’s disengagement plan in the disillusionment of our youth, the shame of how our government betrayed the Jewish residents of Gaza, and the weak and clueless policies we have shown to the Arabs.

 

When Lions are Led by Asses

"An army of asses led by a lion is vastly superior to an army of lions led by an ass." George Washington.

 

I was there for the beginning and the end of the anti-disengagement rally last week. At Netivot, I walked away with anger and sadness and at Kfar Meimon, I drove away with pride and determination. The Israel that came out of Kfar Meimon is very different than the one that went into Netivot. Today, we are stronger, more dedicated, more sure of the path we have chosen, and more determined than ever that we must and will succeed.

 

At Netivot, we listened in growing shame to what our government was doing to quiet the voice of the people. Our own government, army and police were desecrating and twisting laws in order to be able to claim smaller opposition. In the end, their deeds were broadcast across the country. This is a government that will stop at nothing to suppress the legitimate and peaceful voice of opposition.

 

They will illegally reroute or cancel buses, threaten bus drivers, harass and delay drivers and perhaps their greatest sin of all is that they would even let an elderly man, the great Rav Avraham Shapira, walk in the heat of the day. Despite their attempts, tens of thousands arrived at Netivot.

 

At Kfar Meimon, what developed was a most amazing event within the moshav, almost separate from what was happening outside. If you want a glimpse of the country Israel will one day become, take a look at our youth, how they behaved, and what they did during the siege of Kfar Meimon.

 

In a world where too many teens are involved in drugs and drink, our youth spent their time learning, talking, singing and dancing. There were organized events for children, older men learning with boys, mothers watching their children play in beautiful parks. Everywhere, there were cultivated lawns and gardens and almost all houses and yards were full at night with tents and sleeping bags. We went to sleep and woke to a sea of sleeping bags pressed at all sides.

 

It was a wonder to watch our children. We raise them and then wonder how they will behave when we aren’t around to hand out the discipline, and now I know. They behaved with decorum, with propriety. It was silly, but I was so impressed with the little things. They brush their teeth at night and in the morning. The boys yielded to the girls, making sure they had privacy and separate areas were set up voluntarily. Though many of their parents weren’t there, they made them proud.

 

Compare the behavior of those within Kfar Meimon to those who were outside. Compare the message delivered by the leaders. Within the fence, the Yesha Council controlled the crowds and constantly reminded them that this was a non-violent demonstration. We will achieve our goals, they told us again and again, without violence, without destruction.

 

And, at the same time on the edges of Kfar Meimon, ever present with nothing to do, were 20,000 police and army forces. As we were hearing messages of determination and non-violence, Negev Police Commander Brigadier-General Nisso Shaham was telling others, “Let them burn. Use the cannons and batons. Hit them on their lower body and work the way you know how.”

 

At one point, I approached a group of soldiers, hoping to take a picture of them talking to a few girls. I was amused, at first, thinking that young people will be young people, regardless of whether the clothes they wore were green uniforms or orange (representing the color of anti-disengagement). It would have been a picture of seven young people, technically on opposite sides of the fence, who still found common ground.

 

But that plan evaporated as I got closer and saw that two of the girls were crying as they tried to talk to the soldiers. The soldiers looked bored and simply ignored the girls. Worse, it was clear that they were on the opposite side of a physical fence that had become an emotional divide as well. 

 

This is what Sharon has done. He has taken an army that is supposed to protect the people of Israel, and used it to besiege an Israeli city. He has put “them” on one side and “us” on the other. It won’t be civil war because we won’t allow it, but it is a divide that may take generations to heal.

 

Since the beginning of the anti-disengagement movement, I have steadfastly rejected using Holocaust imagery because I believe the Holocaust holds a unique place in our history. While I can say nothing about the Holocaust survivor making analogies because they have more direct knowledge than I do, I have urged friends who are my age or younger to refrain from any comparisons.

 

For the first time, this became impossible for me as I watched soldiers unrolling barbed wire around Kfar Maimon. Tens of thousands of Jews were surrounded by barbed wire and armed forces. In this case, those who were besieging us were not Nazi soldiers, but our own Jewish army sworn to protect us.

 

Since the founding of Israel, barbed wire has been used to protect Jewish communities, now it was used to keep us locked in. How can the image of that happening bring back any memory other than those related to the Holocaust? Add in the words of Nisso Shaham and you have a sense of the anger and hatred that Sharon’s government has generated and directing our way. How can a Jew, even the Prime Minister of the Jewish State, use barbed wire this way?

 

Sharon has much to answer for and ultimately he will. What came out of Kfar Meimon is a determined, united front that was disciplined, well-behaved and non-violent. What besieged the tiny moshav were 20,000 army and police forces who were bored, abused, misdirected and unnecessarily redundant. The protesters promised non-violence and delivered it. The government was elected democratically, and delivered authoritarianism and treachery.

 

Finally, what must come out of Kfar Meimon is a call to the people and army of Israel. Do not let this man, this government, pervert all that we have created in 57 years. Yesterday, Shimon Peres called for the division of Jerusalem. Now we know what the Labor party wants. Anyone who votes for Labor in the next election will now know this is what their plan includes. But Sharon never had the decency to be honest and tell his supporters of the betrayal he had planned. Only lies. Peace and security were his watchwords, not capitulation and surrender.

 

It’s time for elections now. Let Sharon run on a platform of disengagement without peace or security. Let Peres run on a platform to divide Jerusalem and forsake Hebron. And in the end, I predict that Israel will kick out this old generation of tired and failed men and vote in a new, younger government. Let the old ones retire before they succeed in dividing the army and the people and surrendering all. Israel needs courageous leaders with power and strength. Israel needs the integrity that we saw within Kfar Meimon, the determination, the love of Israel. The unity, the kindness that was there in the people. This is Israel, and this is what should be leading us to real peace and security.