Thoughts of an Israeli ex-soldier

Following the campaign in Gaza StripNew Year’s Eve, 2009

A good friend sent me one of those computer videos, accompanied by “A must see! Please watch and forward!” In the video, a little Israeli girl is counting from 1 to 15 before she uncovers her eyes in a hide-and-seek game. 15 seconds is the time that residents of Sederot and other towns in southern Israel have, in order to find shelter, before a Kassam rocket hits (hopefully) the ground.
A request followed that said “please sign the petition attached, so that people around the world would know how it feels to be a child in a town in Israel, well within the borderline of Israel proper”.
My reply was “sorry, but I can’t sign this, because children and other civilians in the Gaza strip don’t even have 1 second to hide”.
I am not saying this because I don’t feel compassion for the residents of the Negev (southern Israel). I am an Israeli, living in the Bay Area with my wife. My two sons are now in active duty in the Israeli military. On top of all, I grew up in Kiryat Sh’monah, a town on the northern tip of Israel, two miles from the Lebanese border. As a 7-year old, I still remember the first Katyusha rocket that hit my town, in 1968. Hundreds of similar rockets followed during my childhood and later on, when I was a soldier in the first Lebanon war.

The reason that I couldn’t sign this petition, was that it concentrated solely on the sorry fate of civilians in Israel, completely disregarding the full context of this conflict. By full context I mean – the Israeli occupation of Palestine. In particular, it disregarded the Palestinian side of the tragedy.
More than 300 people were killed in the first day of the Israeli campaign on Gaza. Many of them were police personnel, but many others were innocent civilians. “Who cares for those civilians, as long as people in Sederot and elsewhere can’t live in peace?” is a typical reaction among Israelis. Now, what kind of a society have we become, that we don’t care anymore for lives being lost? What kind of a country has to permanently be killing civilians to survive? Is this the country that the founders envisioned, when they strove to establish a normal country, where Jews would live in peace among their neighbors, like most other countries? Do we have to kill women and children to survive?
Some people would reply, “Well, you know, this is the Middle East. It’s a jungle out there. Those enemies of ours don’t understand talking. Violence is all they know.”
Those are tough arguments. But I think that there are good arguments to counter them.
The notion that all, or most, Arabs or Palestinians or Muslims, for that matter, are violent and cruel by nature, has a general term to classify it, and that is “Racism”. From all my experience in life, living in Israel and in the Bay Area, I developed a strong belief that we are all human beings. On average, under similar conditions, people from one ethnic group are not better nor worse than any others. It’s the particular situation that cause some people to behave differently.
The religion which used to be associated with so highly sophisticated and delicate culture, in the 350 years between the 10th and 14th century, namely the Islam, is now regarded as the most deadly and violent. It’s true, that many people living in Muslim countries today are living in poor, intolerant and violent conditions. But that has nothing to do with their religion – only with their political situation.
Check out the research of Dr. Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University and you will learn, that any group of people can be driven, under certain circumstances, to be cruel and evil.
And just as a side note, even if that was true, then what chance do we have, amongst hundreds of millions of “beasts”, to survive in the long run? The advantage of Israel over its neighbors has always been technological, and in my view, moral. But with moral values that are deteriorating, higher crime rates, and with an education system that is constantly going downhill, judging by its marks in international tests (I think that this is also related to the priorities set by the Israeli government) – do you really believe that we can maintain our edge forever?

Another common claim is this: we have pulled out of the Gaza Strip, haven’t we? What do they want now?
Well, I think they want what every normal nation wants – to manage their own lives. And we don’t let them, as long as the entire Gaza area is under siege. You can’t claim “the end of the occupation” when the people inside are not free.

But he Hamas is not willing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state! – one might say.
Yes, so? Did Israel ever recognize the right of a Palestinian state to exist? I mean with real actions, not just declarations. The fact is, that 250,000 Jewish settlers still live, in what all International bodies see as illegal settlements – in fact, the Israeli government itself declared a few dozens of them as illegal – but so far did practically nothing to evacuate them.

Now let’s leave the moral considerations aside for a moment, and just ask ourselves, on a practical level: what does Israel hope to achieve in this campaign?
The release of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas for more than two years – was not even declared as a goal. At least that we have learnt from the previous, “Second Lebanon War”. That war started after three soldiers were kidnapped by Hezbolla, and the campaign failed in bringing them back alive.
The official goal is, obviously, to stop the shooting of Kassam, Grad, and other, longer range rockets. This will not happen, everybody knows that. Ehud Barak, the Secretary of Defense, knows that. He has already been the military Commander in Chief and Prime Minister. He tried to calm down all those who demanded “an iron fist”, saying that most of them never saw how real war looked like. This week, he was forced to start the air strikes, after the number of rocket attacks has reached a breaking point (and eventually, a man was killed in Netivot). If Barak believes that there is a way to stop the shooting, even temporarily, then why did he wait so long? I am afraid that it was because at some point, the pressure on Barak caused him more political damage than the result of a military operation would do. Election day is coming up in February, and Mr. Barak, the head of the Labor party, is a candidate for Prime Minister.
How is the operation doing, you ask? Well, so far so good. Approval rate for Barak has risen 50%.
The sad reality, for both Palestinians and Israelis, is that none of them has any option to inflict violence on the other, without hurting their own cause. The Israeli military can kill many more people, but this would only cause more anguish, more hatred, and there will always be enough material and means for the rest of the population, to make more Kassam rockets. An oppressed population is like a dragon with multiple heads: unless you kill it in its entirety, it will have enough power and motivation to fight back, especially when they have nothing to lose but their misery.
The Palestinians, too, are hurting their own cause when they support the Hamas, which declares the annihilation of Israel as its goal. But this is where the symmetry breaks down: how can we judge somebody, who is so desperate as to support the only organization which puts some food on their table? Every side feels its own suffering, but fails to recognize that the other side suffers too. But in the case of Israel, being the more powerful side by far, the notion of being the victim is quite ridiculous, even considering the pain and fear that Israelis feel.
The Hamas has never been so popular before the Palestinian Authority was crashed by Israel. In many polls and programs, such as the Geneva Initiative (http://www.geneva-accord.org/) or the National Census (http://www.mifkad.org.il/), hundreds of thousands of people from both sides expressed their willingness to accept each other’s right for independence. This means that essentially, most Palestinians (who are not zealously religious), would not vote for Hamas if they had a decent alternative.
Unfortunately, they don’t. And Israelis don’t either. These two peoples, which possess so much talent in all areas of life, lack the one thing which could bring them hope for peaceful co-existence: brave and smart leadership. We need our own De-Gaulle, or our own Churchill, or our own Obama, for that matter. So that Jewish and Arab kids could play hide-and-seek, and won't have to worry about finding shelter in 15 seconds. Our own Obama is hiding somewhere in the academy, or in the high-tech industry, but he (or she) is definitely not in today’s political system.

"Count 15 Seconds..."

I received this from my friend Yossi ("Bob") Reznichki:

Quote of the Month

http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/1048099.html

הצדיק יוסי שריד (פובליציסט הרבה יותר טוב מפוליטיקאי) מצליח לתפוס את הדילמה המרכזית של רבים מאיתנו (שלי לפחות) במשפט אחד

האם הגניוס היהודי מתנוון בתנאים של ריבונות ורברבנות

לדעתי, כל הויכוחים וההתלבטויות האינסופיים: "בארץ", "באמריקה", "היה יהודי בביתך ואדם בצאתך", היכן צריך יהודי וישראלי לחיות חיים משמעותיים - מתמצים במשפט הזה

כמו שאמר עמוס עוז, ארץ ישראל היא ארץ משגעת; היא גורמת למי שגר בה להשתגע

מכתב לאזרחית ליברלית

O-Bama!!

All my life I've been living under regimes which I didn't elect or didn't support, except for a short period from 1992 (second Rabin's election), and until they shot and killed the hope (1995, 13 years ago today, is when Rabin was assassinated).
Tonight the hope is alive again.
Although I voted for Rabin in 1992 (and not being a Citizen, I couldn't vote for Obama), tonight there's a totally different feeling. With all due respect, Obama is much greater than the late Rabin. He may not end up being the greatest president, but he gives hope. Never in my life, not even in 1992, did I stay up through all the speeches and reports. (Including the one by McCain, to whom I salute as a great man). Although Obama is a politician, there is a sense of authenticity and honesty in his words, that I have never heard from any other great speaker - be it Clinton, Begin, whoever.

Even if he ends up being just an OK president, he already made history. God bless him and this country.

Terror and Non-Violence

Some people have been constantly accusing me of justifying Terror.

Well, in the best case, they just don’t understand my arguments, even though I keep repeating them over and over again, in the clearest way possible. In the worst case, they do understand, but pretend not to; I suspect that they either are out of good arguments, in which case the easiest way is to turn to Demagogy. “You are justifying Terror!” usually works, at least on some listeners, because it uses emotions rather that rational arguments. Emotions sell. Or, they are capable of using good, rational claims, but they think that their listeners can’t understand them. This say something about the credit they give to the audience.

So, let’s state it one more time, loud and clear. I don't justify Terror. “Terror” in its simplest meaning, namely killing innocent people to achieve a political goal, is a terrible crime, regardless of how just and right the goal is.
But in order to be consistent, I can't justify terror from any side, be it the Hamas, or the IDF. The Israeli “Defense” Forces have killed more civilians than all the Arab terrorists combined; I see the killings by the IDF as terror too.
All I said about the Arabic terror was that it worked, from their viewpoint. That's the tragedy! Because of our stubbornness, the most horrible means is also the most effective one: the vast majority of the Jewish public in Israel came to agree to a Palestinian state (which was unspeakable 20 years ago), not because we are so merciful, but because of the Palestinian Terror.

Let’s review the case of "Mahatma" Ghandy. I agree, that the right thing to do by the Palestinians is to carry out a non-violent struggle. This is our worst nightmare: Thousands of Arabs marching into the military outposts and checkpoints. What would the military do? If they don't open fire, then they will prevail and essentially wipe us out. If they do open fire, then hundreds will be willed. Now let’s put aside the question, whether the dead would be innocent or not. Just the international impact of this, will force is to end the occupation.
So, from my stand point, that would be an ideal solution.
The problem is that for this to happened, the Palestinians will have to make a sacrifice of a few hundreds, maybe thousands. I don't think that we can demand from them to do that.

I see the solution in a totally different way than most Israelis. I understand that they think that I'm fantasizing, and I respect that. But, I honestly think that they are the ones who are fantasizing, if they think that we can keep on with this occupation forever. Let's assume the most optimistic scenario, that there will be no Terror attack on us from now on (I wish that this would be true); If we don't agree to give back the occupied Territories, then the Palestinians will eventually dismiss the Palestinian Authority (PA), and demand from Israel to annex all the Territories, and to establish one state with 6 million Jews and more than 6 millions Arabs. Is that what we want?
Personally, I don't care; but I know that for most Jews in Israel, this would be a nightmare.

Ping-Pong of Ideas, vol. 2

- 'The Way" is virtually empty.
אני לא מכחיש שמספר הפעילים הפלסטינים שמוכנים להתפשר קטן בהרבה ממספר היהודים. זהו מצב צפוי במסגרת של סכסוך לא סימטרי, שבו צד אחד הוא המדכא והשבע וצד אחר הוא המדוכא. בצד השבע באופן טבעי יימצאו יותר אנשים שיש להם מה להפסיד, ומכיוון שהגיעו להכרה שהדיכוי לא יוכל להמשך לנצח - הם מנסים לעשות משהו כדי להפסיקו

The “Combatants for peace” is by Arab Israelis. Big deal. Let's see them do it on the other side of the fence.
לא נכון. אם היית קורא את העדויות היית רואה שמדובר בפלסטינים מהשטחים שהיו בעבר "מחבלים", כלומר לוחמים לעצמאות פלסטין, שבחלק מהזמן פגעו כנראה גם באזרחים, בדומה לחיילי צה"ל

- The 'Arab peace initiative' still speaks on the refugees, which was a deal breaker in Camp David. Plus I don't recall Hamas or Fatah supporting it.
נוח לישראלים שרוצים להמשיך את הכיבוש להיתלות בנושא הפליטים, שלדעתי הוא שולי וניתן לפתרון. קרא את יוזמת ז'נבה שנתמכת ע"י ציבור פלסטיני ויהודי רחב מאד

Again, can you point me to ANY evidence of a Peace Movement within the Palestinians? And lets avoid those instances where 'peace' is used to describe the ultimate goal where Israel ceases to exist and is replaced by a bi-national, secular, "democratic" state. Yeah right…
הפלסטינים היו שמחים אם היינו נעלמים מכאן, וכל אדם בעל רגישות יכול להבין זאת. אנחנו האחראים העיקריים לאסון שלהם. אבל - כבני אדם פרגמטיים רובם מבינים שזה לא יקרה, ולכן הם מוכנים לפשרה. בדיוק כמו רוב הישראלים, שהיו שמחים אם הפלסטינים היו נעלמים. במובן הזה, ורק במובן הזה, הפלסטינים היו רוצים שישראל תיעלם. אבל לא במובן שהמטרה שלהם באשר ליוזמות השלום השונות (ז'נבה, היוזמה הסעודית, מיתווה קלינטון) היא להשמיד את ישראל. זוהי מאנטרה שאנחנו משננים לעצמנו כדי להתחמק מהתמודדות עם הבעיות האמיתיות - ההתנחלויות והכיבוש

I believe the Arabs. Period. They are very consistent and very open about their mission. It is you who refuses to believe them.
אתה לא באמת "מאמין לערבים, נקודה." זוהי סתם רטוריקה ריקה. להאמין לערבים, נקודה פירושו להאמין לכל מה שהם אומרים. רבים מאד מהם אומרים שהם רוצים לחיות בשלום לצד ישראל. אבל לזה אתה לא מאמין


Show me the number of Palestinians that were PURPOSELY targeted by Israelis. Not those who were killed during riots. I am referring to who sat to eat dinner at a restaurant and were blown into pieces.
זה לה משנה בכלל. הנסיון להמנע מפגיעה באזרחים הוא פריבילגיה של החזק. לחלש יש פחות כלים להיאבק, ולמרות שאני לחלוטין נגד טרור, אני חייב להודות שהוא יותר אפקטיבי מאשר מאבק לא אלים. עובדה, ללא טרור הם לא היו משיגים כלום
גם "מחבל" מהחמאס יכול לטעון שהוא לא רוצה להרוג אזרחים, אבל שום דרך אחרת לא עובדת. מבחינה לוגית, זוהי טענה שקולה לטענה של טייס או לוחם עברי כחול עיניים, שמצטדק שהוא לא מתכוון להרוג אזרחים אבל אין לו ברירה. לדעתי שתי הטענות לא נכונות

And about the massive immigration to "Palestine"... Have you checked the demographics in the mid1800's? The evidence suggests that the land was sparsely populated. It is more likely that Arab immigration to Palestine was instigated by the economic prosperity created by the Jews.
זוהי הטענה הכי חלשה של הימין (אני חושב שיש לימין גם טענות חזקות). מה זה משנה? אם היו כאן פלסטינים יום אחד לפני העליה הראשונה, אין לנו שום זכות לגרש אותם

Why don't you spend some of your energy encouraging the Palestinians to pursue peace? I think that will be more cost effective...
מבחינת עלות לתועלת, המאמצים שלי מתבזבזים באותה מידה. כשם שאין לי יכולת לשכנע אף לא ישראלי אחד, כך אני מעריך שאין מה לנסות לשכנע אותם