http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=96028&d=10&m=5&y=2007&pix=opinion.jpg&category=Opinion
Thursday, 10, May, 2007 (22, Rabi` al-Thani, 1428)
Exercise in Escapism
Uri Avnery, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I have been to many demonstrations in Tel-Aviv's Rabin Square, even when
it was still called "Kings of Israel Square."
I was at the legendary "Demonstration of the 400,000" after the Sabra and
Shatila massacre (actually, there were around 200,000, which is still an
impressive number). I was there when Yitzhak Rabin was shot. I was there when
masses of young people sat on the ground, weeping silently and lighting candles
for the murdered leader (It was said at the time that the young generation had
finally woken up. But the young generation dried its tears and went on its way
together with the cameras). I was there when 100,000 streamed to the square
quite spontaneously and erupted in an outburst of joy after Ehud Barak won the
elections and delivered Israel from the nightmare of Benjamin Netanyahu (even
if many of them regretted it later).
But the demonstration in which I took part the day before yesterday was
different from all its predecessors. There were people from the left and right,
religious and secularists, Orientals and Ashkenazim, settlers and peace
activists, young (many young) and elderly. At one point I passed member of the
Knesset Effi Eitam, whom I consider the No. 1 fascist in Israel, and who may
well consider me the No. 1 Destroyer of Israel. We ignored each other, but we
were both there.
It was an uprising of citizens who came together to shout: Enough
chutzpa! After the shameful fiasco in Lebanon, the leaders should have resigned
at once. The more so after the scathing report of the Winograd commission. As
the writer Meir Shalev, one of the speakers at the rally, declared: "Mr.
Olmert, you said that you work for us. You are fired!"
It was a show of force of Israeli democracy. 120,000 citizens assembled
in the square in order to express frustration and anger. Some of them had a
partisan interest in toppling the Olmert government, but most of those present
simply came to say that they were fed up.
The demonstration was aimed at three persons: The prime minister, the
minister of defense and the chief-of-staff at the time of the war.
Dan Halutz has already drawn the conclusion and resigned. True, in the
Book of Proverbs (24,17) the Bible commands us: "Rejoice not when thine enemy
falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth," but, frankly, I
permitted myself to rejoice and verily mine heart was gladdened.
The story started when Halutz was commander of the Air Force. In order to
kill the Hamas leader Salah Shehadeh, he ordered the dropping of a one-ton bomb
on his house, which also killed 15 civilians, including nine children.
We sent him and his colleagues' letters, warning them that we may sue
them for war crimes. When Halutz was asked how he feels when releasing such a
bomb, he answered that he feels a slight bump on his wing. He added that we
were traitors, and that we should be brought to trial. (Treason is the only
crime still punishable by death under Israeli law.)
When Halutz was appointed chief-of-staff, we protested in front of the
General Staff building. The protest was not only motivated by moral
considerations, profound as they were. We also warned against giving the
command of the army to a person whose boastful style testified to his being
reckless, irresponsible and devoid of judgment.
Now comes the Winograd Commission and repeats almost the same words. But
in the meantime 119 Israeli soldiers, forty Israeli civilians and about a
thousand Lebanese have been killed - because the pitiful political leadership
was mesmerized by this winged nincompoop.
The crowd in the square directed its anger at Olmert, and to a lesser
degree at the pathetic Amir Peretz. As is usual in the era of television, when
the cameras can only focus on faces and not ideas, everything is personal. The
entire protest was focused on individuals.
That was quite justified. This man Olmert has proved to be an arrogant
and foolhardy leader, who rushed into a war with minimal knowledge of the
situation in Lebanon, the capabilities of the army, the vulnerability of
Israel's civilian population to rockets. He did not consider any alternatives.
His only field of expertise is party manipulations, as he is proving again now.
What is Olmert accused of? That he decided to go to war rashly. That the
war had no clearly defined political and military goals. That he did not
mobilize the reserves in time and did not make sure that the forces were
properly trained and equipped. That he did not deploy the ground forces in
time. That he decided on a big ground attack at the last moment, after the UN
had already adopted the cease-fire resolution, and thus squandered the lives of
40 more soldiers.
All these accusations are accurate. But they also include a large measure
of escapism.
After the 1973 war, the people did not ask: Why did Golda Meir not
respond to Anwar Sadat's peace offer before the war? Why did we spend, after
the 1967 war, six long years on victory festivals, vainglorious speeches and
putting up settlements, instead of seizing a unique opportunity for making
peace? Why was the Ship of State run like a Ship of Fools?
Instead of posing these questions, the Israeli public focused its
frustrations, anger and protests on two questions: "Why were the reserves not
called up? Why were the instruments (meaning tanks and artillery) not moved
forward (on the eve of the war)?" Valid questions, but secondary ones. The real
question is not why Olmert started the war in haste, but why he started the war
at all.
Every right-thinking person understands that Hezbollah can be neutralized
only by making peace with Syria, a peace for which we must give back the Golan
Heights. What is more important for us - peace or the Golan? The Golan (and the
God-forsaken Shebaa Farms) or peace with Lebanon?
About that no serious debate is being held - not in the Knesset, nor in
the media, nor in public discussions. That was not the reason the masses
assembled in the square. That is too complicated. That is too controversial.
That needs cool thinking, drawing conclusions from what has happened. It is
easier to shout "Olmert Go Home!"
Yes, Olmert must indeed go home. We need a new leadership, one that
understands that Israel will know tranquility only if we make peace with the
Palestinians, even when the price is the dismantling of settlements. Is this
being discussed seriously? Would this demand draw hundreds of thousands to the
square? Of course not.
Because in the absence of a discussion of the issues that will determine
our fate, everything else turns into an exercise in escapism.
What do we need now? My answer to myself was something like this: Even if
it does not look like this on the surface, our people have already moved a long
way - from "there is no Palestinian people," "Greater Israel," "United
Jerusalem for all eternity" and "Our brothers the settlers," toward the
recognition of reality.
In time, the people will assemble in the same square and demand the end
of the occupation and peace with the Palestinians, the Syrians and the
Lebanese. Most of the crowd will applaud and, perhaps, even sing. Amen.
