EVERYWHERE you go in Israel today
you see orange and blue ribbons streaming from car
antennas and clothing, purse straps and backpacks.
Orange is for the large minority
opposed to "the disengagement," the withdrawal of
8,000 Jewish settlers from Gaza Strip and West
Bank. Blue is for the slight majority who favor
it.
The passions involved, the harsh rhetoric, the
demonstrations, all make our recent red state/blue
state divisions seem tame. Those on Israel's
political right, the ones opposed to the
withdrawal, have been staging mass demonstrations
for months.
A radical few have vandalized cars that display
blue ribbons, blocked roads with their bodies,
nails, or oil, and threatened violence. A group of
right-wing rabbis even invoked a Kabbalistic curse
on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
These emotions are aroused by the prospect of
Jews being kicked out of their homes. Jews have
reason to be especially sensitive about being
evicted from their homes. Millions were displaced
in Europe before and during World War II.
After the formation of Israel in 1948, 800,000
Jews were expelled from Arab countries. The most
common bumper sticker of those opposed to the
withdrawal says Yehudi lo m'garash Yehudi, "a Jew
does not expel a Jew."
Coupled with the expulsion revulsion is a
strong spiritual attachment to all of the land of
Israel. Many settlers believe that giving up Gaza
isn't only a bad idea - they believe it's a sin.
I recently had the opportunity to sit in the
living room of a Jewish settler in Gaza Strip.
Just the term "Jewish settler" conjures up an
image of an Uzi-toting zealot with prayer fringes
and a scruffy beard being dragged off a barren
hilltop by Israeli police. The reality is very
different.
Chagit is a 20-year resident of Gaza, a
40-something mother living in a lovely middle
class home with a green yard. She's religious but
not radical, concerned about her family, concerned
about where they're going to live, concerned about
how they'll earn a living when they leave Gaza,
even concerned about where she's going to store
all her stuff if she's forced from a
2,000-square-foot home into a 900-square-foot
trailer.
Chagit, like most of the settlers, is not some
wild-eyed crazy person, intent on evicting every
Palestinian west of the Jordan River. But she does
not believe sacrificing her home will lead to
peace.
In addition to their emotional and religious
attachments to the land, many settlers believe
that their presence in Gaza enhances Israel's
security.
Many settlers point to the war in 1948, when
Jewish settlements in Gaza helped slow down the
advance of Egyptian troops toward Tel Aviv. They
claim that withdrawing from the settlements in
Gaza will put Israeli cities closer to Palestinian
rocket and mortar attacks.
So in the face of all this opposition, why is
the Israeli government so intent on this
withdrawal, and why does over half the population
favor it?
Most Israelis, even in the left-wing peace
camp, are pessimistic about the prospects that
withdrawal will lead to peace. They know that
Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen's control
over his own police forces, let alone over
terrorist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, is
tenuous at best.
Many terrorists see the withdrawal as a victory
for terror - and a reason to continue their
attacks.
Israel is withdrawing from Gaza not because
that will immediately lead to peace with the
Palestinians but because the two-state solution is
clearly in Israel's best interests. Israel's
near-term goal, as retired Major General Uzi Dayan
described it to me, is to have a Jewish democratic
state with defensible borders.
By a "Jewish" state, most Israelis mean that in
the way that America is a "Christian" country.
(One-fifth of Israel's population is Muslim, with
a small percentage of Christians, Druze, and other
faiths). As in the United States, people of all
creeds can worship as they choose without fear of
persecution. They can vote, serve in the
government, and enjoy equal civil rights.
The civil law code is not based on religious
law. (Much of it, in fact, is based on British
law.) But Israel does have a Jewish character:
many stores are closed on the Jewish Sabbath,
Saturday, and most national holidays are the
religious holidays of the Jewish majority (just as
Christmas is a federal holiday in the United
States, and many states, including Ohio, have
"blue laws" to protect the sanctity of the
Christian Sabbath, Sunday.
Israel does not want to annex all of the West
Bank and Gaza, because that would mean making
another 3.5 million Muslims citizens, and that
would mean the end of the Jewish character of the
state.
The status quo, with Israel as an occupying
power and the Palestinian people in a state-less
limbo, is clearly untenable militarily, morally,
and financially.
To have the scattered settlements of 8,000 Jews
making Swiss cheese out of the map of Gaza, with
its 1.4 million Arab residents, makes no sense
militarily. It takes thousands of soldiers to
protect the lives of those 8,000 Jews. It's much
better for Israel to remove those citizens from
harm's way and create a border with Gaza that can
be more easily defended, as a step toward that
two-state solution.
It's a real pity that Chagit and the other
settlers can't stay in Gaza as residents of the
Palestinian Authority. I spoke to some settlers
who said they'd be happy to do so, but no one in
either government has proposed that. The
Palestinian Authority is unwilling to take
responsibility for protecting Jews who remain
behind, and lacks the practical ability to do so.
Someday, God willing, there will be real peace
in the Middle East.
Jews from Jerusalem will gamble at the casino
in Jericho, Palestine and won't need armed guards
to pray at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
Muslims from Gaza City will hang out in the malls
in Tel Aviv and travel unimpeded to worship at the
Dome of the Rock.
While we wait for that day, Israel is doing the
only thing it can do unilaterally: establish
defensible borders. It's a very difficult and
painful move for Israel, but one that is
necessary.
Barry Leff is rabbi at Congregation B'nai
Israel in Toledo.
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