Yesterday
I was informed of an interesting phenomenon: a peace-supporting
Jewish organization called Tikkun published an ad in favor
of us, the Israeli reservist refuseniks, and was immediately bombarded
with hate mails and phone calls from other American Jews. What's
more interesting is that even other Jews considering themselves
supporters of peace have denounced the Tikkun ad, to the
extent that some of the Tikkun Advisory Board members are
resigning in order to minimize the personal damage to themselves.
This has so saddened, alarmed and angered me, that I find myself
setting aside a half-day at the eve of Passover, and writing this
open letter to you all. As is my habit, it is quite long, so please
bear with me.
Most
of the "civilized" attacks, so I understand, were seemingly
aimed at this or that detail of the Tikkun ad. This is
nothing new to me. Over the past two months since we came out
with our own ad, I've heard and read so many specific arguments
about specific aspects of our act. They range from petty nit-picking
to plain ludicrous, and each and every one of them can be refuted
to dust in a matter of minutes. But the moment you refute them,
new specific arguments sprout up like mushrooms. It is clear that
there is something very general and non-specific behind all this
criticism. Therefore, if you allow me, I will start from the general
and only later turn to a couple of these specific issues.
The
general theme is the tribal theme. A very, very loud voice (and
in Israel nowadays, it is the only voice that is allowed to be
fully heard) keeps shouting that we are in the midst of a war
between two tribes: a tribe of human beings, of pure good – the
Israelis – and a tribe of sub-human beings, of pure evil – the
Palestinians. This voice is so loud, that it has found its way
even to the op-ed pages of the New York Times (William
Safire, March 25). To those who find this black-and-white
picture a bit hard to believe, the same voice shouts that this
is a war of life and death. Only one tribe will survive, and so
even if we are not purely good, we must lay morality and conscience
to sleep, shut up and fight to kill or else, the Palestinians
will throw us into the sea.
Does
Israel have the exclusive monopoly of labeling all its rivals
as Nazis, and everyone else has to shut up, even when reality
starts speaking for itself?
Does
this ring a bell to you? It does to me. As a little child growing
up in Israel under Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan, all I heard was
that the Arabs are inhuman monsters who want to throw us into
the sea, they understand only force, and since our wonderful IDF
has won the Six Day War they know not to mess with us anymore
or else. And of course, we must keep the Liberated Territories
to ourselves, because there's no one to talk with. Then came the
Yom Kippur war, and for a child of 7 it was the perfect proof
that indeed the Arabs want to throw us into the sea, and what
a great opportunity it was for our glorious IDF to teach them
a lesson. I prayed for the war to continue to its natural and
final end the complete surrender of all Arab armies. I
was too small to evaluate, then, how the war really ended; all
these cease-fires and talks were too complicated and boring, much
more boring than a war. And it seemed humiliating that we
should withdraw in these cease-fires; I remember that the re-opening
of the Suez Canal was portrayed in our mass media as a kind of
defeat.
A
few years passed and a funny thing happened: those throw-us-into-the-sea
Arabs came to talk with us, and in exchange for all of Sinai they
would sign a full peace. The IDF chief of staff (the late Motte
Gur, later a Labor Party minister) shouted that it is a hoax,
that we should not believe Sadat, but the politicians had to sign.
Already a teenager, I went and protested against the withdrawal
from Sinai. It seemed strange to me that most of the demonstrators
were orthodox Jews. After all, it was a purely logical issue:
the Arabs are not to be trusted, that's what we've learned from
day one. Well, lucky for the country, the government and the majority
of the people employed a different logic, and the peace with Egypt
was not missed.
But
the throw-us-into-the-sea paradigm immediately found new fields
for play. There was an inconvenient reality on the Northern border,
and even though the forces on the other side (Palestinians! Phew!)
had strictly adhered to a secret cease-fire for about a year,
they were Arabs and therefore could not be trusted. So we talked
ourselves into invading Lebanon and setting up a friendlier regime
there. The mastermind of the invasion was defense minister Ariel
Sharon, and Shimon Peres, then head of opposition, voted together
with his party in favor of the invasion. Only later, when it turned
sour, and after many refuseniks already sat in jail, would the
main opposition turn against the whole affair. For me at 16 it
was also a turning point. When I understood that the government
had lied to me in order to sell me this war, I turned from 'center-rightist'
to 'leftist'. Sadly enough, it has taken me almost 20 more years,
in a slow and painful process, to understand how deeply the lies
and self-delusion are rooted in our collective perception of reality.
Anyway,
when Peres withdrew most of our forces from Lebanon in 1985, the
Arabs could still not be trusted. And so, to soothe our endless
paranoia and suspicion, we created that perpetual source of death
and crime ironically known as "the Security Zone." It
took many years, a lot of blood and Four Mothers – against almost
all politicians, generals, and columnists – to finally pull us
out of Lebanon. In the long and hard way, we learned that even
the Lebanese are human beings whose rights must be respected.
But
not the Palestinians. Because the Palestinians are too painfully
close, like a rival sibling (and – may I add – because they have
always been so weak), we have singled them out for a special treatment.
Having them under our rule, we've allowed ourselves to trample
them like dirt, like dogs. we've been doing it even to our own
Palestinian citizens (especially before 1966), but we have perfected
our treatment in this strange no man's land created in 1967, and
known as the Occupied Territories. There we have created an entirely
hallucinatory reality, in which the true humans, members of the
Nation of Masters, could move and settle freely and safely, while
the sub-humans, the Nation of Slaves, were shoved into the corners,
and kept invisible and controlled under our IDF boots.
I
know. I've been there. I was taught how to do this, back in the
mid-1980's. I did and witnessed as a matter of fact, deeds that
I'm ashamed to remember to this day. And fortunately for me, I
did not have to witness or do anything truly "pornographic",
as some friends of mine experienced.
Since
1987, this cruel, impossible, unnatural, insulting reality in
the Territories has been exploding in our face. But because of
our unshakeable belief that the Palestinians are monsters who
want to throw us into the sea, we reacted by trying to maintain
what we've created at all costs. This meant of course employing
more and more and more force, with the natural result of receiving
more and more and more force in return. When a fledgling and hesitating
peace process tried to work its way through this mess, one major
factor (perhaps THE factor) that undermined it and voided its
meaning was our establishment's endless fear and suspicion of
The Other. To resolve this fear and suspicion, we chose the insane
route of demanding full control of The Other throughout the process.
When this Other finally decided that we're cheating him out of
his freedom (and having too many mental disorders of his own to
accommodate ours as well), violence erupted, and all our ancient
instincts woke up. There they are, we said in relief, now we see
their true face again. The Arabs want to throw us into the sea.
There's no one to talk with ('no partner', in our beloved ex-PM's
words), and they understand only force. And so we responded as
we know and love, with more and more and more force. This time,
the effect was that of putting out a fire with a barrel of gasoline.
And that's the moment when I said to myself, NO, I'm not playing
this game anymore.
But
what about the existential threat, you may ask? Well I ask you,
have you not eyes? Don't you see our tanks strolling in Palestinian
streets every other day? Don't you see our helicopters hovering
over their neighborhoods choosing which window to shoot a missile
into? What type of existential need are we answering in trampling
the Palestinians?
Prevention
of terror, I hear you say. Let me use the wonderful words of my
friend Ishay Rosen-Zvi: "You are 'fighting against terror'?
What a joke. The Israeli government, in its policies of Occupation,
has turned the Territories into a greenhouse for growing terror!!!"
We
have sown the seeds, grown them, nurtured them – and then our
blood is spilled, and the centrist-right-wing politicians reap
the benefits. Indeed, terror is the right-wing politician's best
friend. You know what? When you treat millions of people like
sub-humans for so long, some of them will find inhuman strategies
to fight back. Isn't that what the Zionists, and other Jewish
revolutionaries, argued about a hundred years ago in order to
explain the questionable strategies of survival that Jews used
in Europe? Didn't our forefathers say, "Let us live like
human beings, and see how we'll act just like other human beings"?
So
here's the deal. I hope that the first part of this letter made
it clear that I don't buy the "they want to throw us into
the sea" crap. It's just a collective self-delusion of ours.
But more importantly, I don't see tribes. I see people, human
beings. I believe that the Palestinians are human beings like
us. What a concept, eh? And before everything else, before EVERYTHING
else, we must treat them like human beings without demanding anything
in return. And no (to all die-hard Barak fans), throwing them
a couple of crumbs in which they can set up pitiful, completely
controlled Bantustans in between our settlements and bypass roads,
and believing it to be a great act of 'generosity', does NOT come
close to answering this basic requirement. This requirement is
NOT negotiable; moreover, in a perfect demonstration of historical
justice, it is a vital requirement for the survival of our own
State.
After
that, and based on the lessons of modern history, especially that
of the Arab-Israeli conflict (as was briefly described above),
I do believe that the Palestinians will calm down, and that the
elusive 'Security' and peace will finally come upon us (as it
did, incidentally, for almost two whole years between Wye 1998
and Camp David 2000). I don't have any insurance policy for that
(well almost none, except the solemn promise of the entire
Arab world), but remember I have this funny notion that
they are human beings. In any case, we are seeing now all too
well what type of insurance policy the opposite paradigm is providing
us.
In
the meanwhile, I refuse to be a terrorist in my tribe's name.
Because that's what it is: not a "war against terror",
as our propaganda machine tries to sell. This is a war OF terror,
a war in which, in return for Palestinian guerrilla and terror,
we employ the IDF in two types of terror. The more visible ones
are the violent acts of killing and destruction, those which some
people still try to explain away as "surgical acts of defense."
The worse type of terror is the silent one, which has continued
unabated since 1967 and through the entire Oslo process. It is
the terror of Occupation, of humiliation on a personal and collective
basis, of deprivation and legalized robbery, of alternating exploitation
and starvation. This is the mass of the iceberg, the terror that
is itself a long-term greenhouse for counter-terror. And I simply
refuse to be a terrorist and criminal, even if the entire tribe
denounces me.
That
leads me to the first specific subject: are we, the refuseniks,
being persecuted and denounced, or are we enjoying the wonderful
Israeli tolerance and democracy and exploiting it to make trouble?
Well, I must admit that this is not yet the USSR or Pinochet's
Chile, and at least the Jews here enjoy a relative democracy (describing
it as vibrant or tolerant would be a gross error, but that is
a different subject altogether; maybe in another letter). I first
must point out that the government and IDF also enjoy the image
of "letting us speak", and it serves them well. Secondly,
in a rather sophisticated manner the establishment (with the generous
and voluntary help of the mass media) is effectively shutting
us up.
The
media has decided for us that there is no opposition. Thus, a
demonstration of 20,000 is reported in 5 seconds at the late-night
edition, and a demonstration of 500 outside a military prison
is completely ignored. The fact that right now there are over
a dozen refuseniks in jail – the largest number in twenty years
– is hidden from the Israeli public. The story of Captain (res.)
Itai Haviv and Sergeant (res.) Yair Yeffeth, who demanded a full
military trial in which they could prove that refusal is innocence
and that the order to serve in the Territories is illegal, was
not told anywhere except for a brief mention in the back pages
of Ha'aretz. So the public, of course, didn't learn that
the IDF evaded answering these demands, and that Itai Haviv will
spend the Seder night in prison following a "disciplinary
hearing." I hope the readers are intelligent enough to know
that if the media wanted, these stories would make the headlines.
Still, you keep hearing about us. That's the key word: ABOUT us.
But you don't hear us. You just hear people explaining, analyzing,
mostly (in a ratio of 99 to 1) attacking us. We have become the
perfect "hate hour" figures, to reunite the tribe against
(have you read 1984?) Petty "volunteer" groups who organized
against us, a mayor who called upon local governments not to hire
us, and a group of industrialists who called employers to fire
us, have all won their moment in the spotlight. No one cared to
mention that these are blatantly illegal calls (no, "the
law" is remembered only when we "break" it). No
one has tried to set limits to this discussion.
Moreover, the prime minister in one of his rare public addresses
blamed us for the wave of terror (us, not his catastrophic policies).
The IDF chief of staff can't stop talking about us; he sees us
as a bunch of inciters with a hidden agenda. So, ironically, the
only thing protecting us from long-term "gulag" imprisonment
and from losing our jobs is public opinion – the rather large
pockets of support and sympathy among key sectors in the Israeli
public, and yes, support ads such as the one published by Tikkun.
The moment the government or IDF will think the lights are out,
and no one sees or cares – they will find or invent the "legal"
clause (Israeli politicians are experts in this) and throw those
they believe to be our "leaders" to jail for long terms.
Remember, even poor Abie Nathan was thrown in for two years, just
because he dared speak with PLO personnel about peace.
But
that's nothing, because the moment our government will sense a
"lights out" situation a huge terror attack,
an American attack on Iraq there will be a horrible bloodbath
in the Territories, compared to which the last year and a half
will be remembered as a happy picnic. And that brings me to the
second specific issue, that of the Nazi allusion. Some readers
thought that the way the Tikkun ad said "obeying orders"
was an allusion to Nazi murderers' claim that they were "just
obeying orders." Rabbi Lerner has rightly pointed out to
these readers, that automatic execution of orders is a characteristic
of all dictatorship, not just the Nazi one, while refusal on moral
grounds is a sign of democracy. I agree, but let me be less polite
and politically correct. After all, it's just my country that's
going up in smoke as I write. What is this? Does Israel have the
exclusive monopoly of labeling all its rivals as Nazis, and everyone
else has to shut up, even when reality starts speaking for itself?
In
order to prepare for potential battles in dense urban neighborhoods,
the IDF must learn, if necessary, how the German army operated
in the Warsaw Ghetto.
--Senior Israeli Army Officer
Parties
that support the essentially Nazi idea of deporting all Palestinians
from the country, have been part of our Knesset and our "legitimate"
political map since 1984. Recent opinion polls show that 35%
of the Jewish public now supports this "solution",
as it is sometimes called. Leaders, Rabbis, and just plain folk
feel free to call openly in the mass media to eradicate Palestinian
cities with or without their tenants. Last weekend, Gen. (res.)
Effi Eitam, fresh out of the military and all ready to take
the leadership of the religious public and become a deputy or
alternative to Netanyahu, received a flattering cover story
on a Ha'aretz supplement. He unfolded his chilling ideology,
calling to expel those Palestinians who don't want to remain
in the Galilee and West Bank as serfs, to Jordan, and from Gaza
to Sinai. And he said this: why should us, the country poorest
in land resources, bear the burden of solving the Palestinian
problem? Well I don't know about you, but I remember some of
the Nazi rhetoric in that dark period between the Kristallnacht
of 1938 and the beginning of the war, when Jews were expelled
from Germany but could find no safe haven anywhere else. When
I see a retired IDF general and rising political star use the
exact same Nazi rhetoric on Israel's most "liberal"
newspaper, without any criticism by his interviewer or the editors
– my hair just stands on my head in horror.
Let's
move from the political scene back to the ground. My friend, Captain
(res.) Dan Tamir, decided to refuse to serve in the Territories
about a year ago, after he realized what he'd done as a reserve
regiment's intelligence officer a few weeks before that. He realized
he had laid out the plans to convert a large Palestinian town
into a closed ghetto. You can find his full statement on our website,
www.seruv.org.il. The vast
majority of Palestinians in the Territories now starve in such
ghettos; in those days of mercy when they are allowed to leave
them by foot and perhaps catch a taxi, these taxis are forbidden
from using most of the paved roads in the region.
But
why listen to a "leftist"? Leftists hear it from senior
IDF officers. One of the top commanders in the Territories was
quoted in Ha'aretz (Jan. 25) as saying that in order to
prepare for potential battles in dense urban neighborhoods, the
IDF must learn, if necessary, how the German army "operated"
in the Warsaw Ghetto. A week later, the reporter confirmed this
quote and the fact that this is a widespread opinion in the IDF,
and went further to morally defend it. A small number of people,
including myself, tried to raise a scandal over this. One letter
to the editor was published in Ha'aretz. A much tougher
letter, which I wrote, was never published, nor was my plea for
a phone discussion with an editor ever answered. The issue just
died down. No one in Israel or in the Jewish public abroad was
interested. Where were all these holy souls, who now scold Tikkun
because they indirectly allude to the Nazi horror, where were
they all when a senior IDF officer proudly called, "in order
to beat the Palestinians, let's be Judeo-Nazis"?
In
my letter to Ha'aretz I went further. Knowing the IDF mentality
and putting two and two together, I concluded that the IDF is
operationally prepared to invade refugee camps – an utter, indefensible
war crime and through this leak to the press it is starting
to pressure the government and prepare the public opinion for
the invasion. The letter was not published. It was sent on February
2. A few weeks later we all saw the horrors of the refugee camp
invasions and the bloody revenge attacks that followed culminating
on Passover eve. And you know what? Army generals and colonels
morally and professionally pat themselves on the back, because
these invasions "prevented terror", and killed only
dozens and not thousands. (Note: in fact, the major reason limiting
the bloodshed was the "terrorists" responsible decision
not to turn the camps into all-out battlegrounds. But this may
change in the next round.)
In
truth, I have little hope that the Israeli public will wake up.
The Israeli public, in its fear and confusion, has made a decision
(aided by the politicians and mass media) to go to sleep and wake
up only "after it is all over". But it won't be over,
because while our mind sleeps our muscles tighten the death grip,
instead of doing the only sensible thing (which requires an open
mind) – which is to let go. Will you guys join the hypocrite mobs
who sing lullabies to Israel and pounce upon the refuseniks, upon
Tikkun, to shut us up? Or will you finally take responsibility
and be the true friends that Israel needs now – even if it means
not being "nice" to Israel for a while? As you sit tonight
at the Seder table, please remember the dozen or so refuseniks
that spend this Seder in a military jail. More importantly, please
remember the thousand or so people, three quarters Palestinians
and one quarter Israelis, who were here with us a year ago and
have been murdered. Most of them could have been here with us,
if you and we had acted sooner. We have now acted, done what little
we can do. Please think of the many thousands that may be doomed
soon, if you continue sitting on the fence.
May
you have a happy Holiday of Freedom,
Please
help us struggle free from fear, racism, hatred and the deaths
they produce.
|