Tel Aviv Diary - from April 17, 2003 Karen Alkalay-Gut

April 17

We came home from the seder last night just as the neighbor was opening the door for Eliyahu, chanting the prayer,"pour out thy wrath." Since we usually treat the seder as a semi-humorous ritual, we weren't prepared for the serious face at the door, and suddenly the prayer became real and frightening: "Pour out Your wrath upon the nations that do not acknowledge You, and upon the kingdoms that do not call upon Your Name. For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation.Pour out Your indignation upon them, and let the wrath of Your anger overtake them. Pursue them with anger, and destroy them from beneath the heavens of the L-rd." It was because we were standing on the outside, as if the objects of the curse, that we were so affected. We walked into the kitchen and had some more wine to calm ourselves.

It was the most important event of the evening for me - the chance to see myself from the other side, not as the group of celebrants, but as the other. Next year I hope to be able to include that moment, that sensation. I want my seder always to be able to perceive both.

Robert Rosenberg Arigahas an optimistic message for us:

Despite everything, here's a scenario that is not illogical and indeed quite reasonable, offering a modicum of hope. It might sound far-fetched, at least certainly to those with preconceived notions about some of the people involved, but it could be done, precisely because of the personalities, pressures, interests and economics involved.

I'll start with the bottom line -- Israel, Syria, the Palestinians and Lebanon could all have peace deals within a year. There are several reasons for this, but they all hinge on a combination of the American success in Iraq, Israel's failure to quell the Palestinian resistance to the occupation and the economic disaster the intifada has caused in Israel, Palestinian desires to live normal lives in which suicide bombers are not the equivalent of pop stars, Syrian isolation as a result of its support for the Ba'ath regime in Baghdad, traditional Lebanese pragmatism, and the global economy's need for a land route between Africa, Asia and Europe, which is only possible if there is peace between Israel and all its Arab neighbors.

To believe this is possible, one must believe the following assumptions: Ariel Sharon does not want to go down in history as a warmonger and more than anything is a survivor -- he's the last of the veterans of the War of Independence still running Israeli politics; George Bush, or more precisely, the neo-conservative ideologues who influence him, are actually the heirs of John F. Kennedy's inaugural address promise that America 'shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.'; Abu Mazen is a Palestinian patriot but also a pragmatist; and Bashar Assad is not a complete fool, which is hard to believe since apparently he spent much of his time during the last few weeks playing with his PlayStation.

It's a tall order to accept all those assumptions, but it is not unreasonable. Why not?

Because when all is said and done, given the choice between America, Russia and China, which vied for world hegemony in the post-Hiroshima/Auschwitz era, the vast majority of people on the planet would choose America to win, and it was obvious since the 1950s, given the technologies involved, that whoever won between those three would indeed be the imperial power of the 21st century (since prophecy was given to fools after the destruction of the second temple, I won't suggest anything beyond this century). And now, the Americans are more powerful than the Romans, Greeks, Babylonians and Chinese in their day; more powerful now in their world than Britain, France Spain, Russia and Japan and China – combined – were in their worlds.

So, here's the choice facing the Arabs and the Jews alike. What do they prefer, their religious ideologues and nationalist dreamers of past glories and future last stands, or to do business with the Americans (and therefore each other)?

In Israel, this means Sharon has to choose between President Bush and Zambush. Zambush is Sharon's point man in the settlements, who meets with the prime minister 'in four eyes,' the Hebrew expression for one-on-one sessions, almost weekly, with maps of 'Judea and Samaria,' also known as the West Bank.

Bush figures Israel would do best to cut a deal for a two-state solution, knows it means tearing up the mystic-nationalist dream of reviving the entire Biblical homeland (which despite Arab propaganda does not extend to the Euphrates and Tigris, but does cover the east bank of the Jordan) of Yesha, that strange acronym for Yehuda (Judea) Shomron (Samaria) and 'Aza (Gaza). Yesha is also the acronym in numerological Hebrew for Jesus, which means salvation/savior.

Trouble is Bush also says he's gone Biblical, that it helped him to stop drinking and taking drugs -- and Arik Sharon (meaning an heir to the Biblical legends) is the only Israeli Bush has ever had a four-eyed meeting with, including one fateful trip as Texas governor after Arik was ruled by an Israeli tribunal incompetent to be defense minister (for his Sabra and Shatilla imbroglio in Lebanon in the early 1980s) and before he'd begin to think that it was seriously possible he'd end up prime minister (despite what his sycophant, Uri Dan said, when Arik left the defense ministry. Dan said then, 'those who don't want Arik as defense minister will get him as prime minister,' one of the few bits of local prophecy passing as journalism in our time that has actually come true).

Sharon is human. The Right in Israel has correctly identified his weariness with age and say he has lost his taste for war. That they attack him for that has less to do with his weakness that they decry and more to do with their delusions about God being on their side and therefore victory for their position (the Palestinians are an enemy that must be routed out of the Land of Israel that the Bible says belongs exclusively to the Israelites) is inevitable, even if it takes an eternity.

But while they complain that Sharon has turned weak, since he has been consistent in his declarations about readiness for a Palestinian state and 'painful concessions,' in fact, Sharon has never been so politically powerful as he is now. He knows that when Abu Mazen presents the Palestinian government, the road map will begin and the extremists in his cabinet -- the National Union, the National Religious party, and most importantly, Binyamin Netanyahu and some other Likud ministers -- will leave. That's all right as far as Sharon is concerned. Labor will step into the breach if Sharon moves ahead on the road map parallel to the Palestinians. Indeed, if he does so, even the Arabs in the Knesset will vote for his government.

Arik is human, and he is a survivor -- he knows that choosing Zambush means conflict with the U.S., which means no peace with the Arabs, no economic prosperity for Israel when so much prosperity is there for the offer. A land route to Europe would be Israel's greatest security, since it would mean peace with all its neighbors, guaranteed by the Americans, making business for all -- imagine Iraqi oil flowing to the Mediterranean through Jordan, then Palestine, then Israel, or to Palestine and Israel, all three taking less in taxes calibrated to pipeline meters than stupid ships that pollute the seas. Why, it's practically Shimon Peres' new Middle East -- especially if the money earned from the oil, in Iraq through two (and Syria too, for three Arab countries, if they make peace) as well as Israel, is earmarked for education in each of those countries.

Arik's problem, however, is that Zambush believes he is an heir to more than the founding fathers of Zionism, who have been spinning in their graves from the day Moshe Levinger went to Hebron and claimed, in the name of the Jewish people, the entire town. No, Zambush, whose real name is Ze'ev (wolf) Hever, meaning Ze'ev Friend, originally Friedman, also believes he is heir to the tradition of the zealots who challenged the Hellenists, the Jews who believed that it would be possible to worship their God and still remain loyal to the Greek empire; Zambush (inspired by Levinger) believes he and his movement, which Arik supported for so long, are the heirs to the Kana'im and Tzudkim (Sadducees) who followed the strictest lines of all, until they led the people of Israel to civil war, and then had the gall to turn it into a war against Rome (in which Jesus was the preacher of a particularly passive form of civil disobedience), thus guaranteeing the destruction of the second Israelite commonwealth and temple.

But Arik is human, somewhat of a glutton, and like most farmers, he is greedy. So, he has a choice. He can go with Zambush, turning his back on America, because Zambush is working as Sharon' proxy to grab as much land in the areas that are supposed to become the Palestinian state, or he can go for a much larger prize -- peace with Syria and Lebanon, Iraq and the entire Arab, indeed Muslim world, including Libya and possibly Iran.

All he has to do is say, okay, we’ll give back the Golan, including the 100 meters on the Kinneret's edge that Barak was afraid to give back, in exchange for a full peace with Syria, the dismantling of the Hezbollah's military apparatus in Lebanon (which would quickly follow Syria to peace), and open roads from Egypt, through Israel (and Palestine) to Lebanon and Syria and Europe.

We'll take in 100,000 refugees over the next decade, but only if their property is still in the hands of the guardian of abandoned property and if they have first degree relatives in Israel (and at the same time, by relinquishing East Jerusalem to the Palestinians, no longer be responsible for some 250,000 Palestinians in the Holy City) -- but that's it on the right of return. All other citizenless Palestinians in their Diaspora can go to the new state of Palestine. All the territories taken in 1967 are given back -- any changes negotiated, for example, keeping Ariel an Israeli-annexed town, are traded 1:1 for territory around Gaza. A high-speed train is built from Africa's Egypt to Asia's Baghdad and beyond, through Gaza and Hebron, across the Negev.

That's Bush's vision. And the new American empire might be able to deliver that deal, if they apply the proper use of carrot and stick -- not so much on the political leaders but on the people, on all sides, who choose the future, and not the past, if they can persuade the Jews and Arabs both that democracy means stability, even if it looks like chaos. Remember -- those same Iraqis shouting this week on street corners they still don’t have electricity or medicine, will have it within a few weeks. A month ago, if they had stood on the corner screaming at the authorities they didn’t have electricity or medicine, they would have been shot. Democracy is as simple as that.

April 18, 2003

Last I heard there were 3 terrorist attacks foiled for the holidays. I'm not keeping up with the news as much as usual - even went to see the Keren Kayemet exhibit at the Electric Company. It had a lot of people planting trees through history - and a lot of desert - and a lot of Russian looking people in the 20s and 30s smiling while they sort oranges, wash dishes, shell peas, cuddle donkeys, fish in the kinneret etc. etc.

I wasnt all that impressed. we have the same pictures in our photo album. But when we came home, and discovered that our front yard was the scene of a cat orgy again, that's when the fun began. What can I say - i love animals in their natural environment. So the grey-striped female of our yard (who gets fed by all the neighbors and makes each one believe they are the only one) had 3 black and white very small males after her. And after the castrated Thomas had a turn - maybe showing them approximately what to do - they all tried to get to her at once. She was getting bitten on the neck by two at a time, with the third biting her thigh from excitement. Until finally they realized they had to take turns. It was great fun and we have it all on film. But can I post the series?

No. This is not that kind of diary. You'll have to use your imagination.

What kind of diary is it? Hmm. If my life is not threatened every day, do I really have any justification for this?

About a dozen years ago an article appeared in the local paper based on a bunch of anonymous letters from the twenties that someone found out the sidewalk. They were teenage girls writing about their boyfriends and their clothes and the usual frivolous teenage problems - but living in Tel Aviv in 1923. My mother-in-law looked at the pictures and said - Oh! That's Ella! (That's Tel Aviv for you - nothing is anonymous) Sara was devastated. Apparently she spent the month after that burning letters and papers. Now we are beginning to go through her things and there is nothing personal at all.

But there is great value in the personal - not because it exposes but because it shares, it humanizes. Bat Shalom, for example, has a project of putting Palestinian women in contact with Israeli women, as women, as individuals. This is part of their latest report: Women’s Emergency Network: A project to have Palestinian Women's voices heard during this period when the world is focused on the war with Iraq.

UPDATE #3- April 15, 2003

In addition to reporting on the experiences of our Palestinian contacts during the past two weeks, we are including some thoughts on the upcoming Pesach holiday, a festival marking a time of freedom and liberation in Jewish history. Additionally, Pesach is an opportunity to reflect on a time in which both our Jewish and Arab foremothers found ways to support one another.

Our Israeli callers continue to report on their conversations with Palestinian women throughout the Occupied Territories over the past 10 days. Despite differences in locations and specific details of their experiences, the response from the women is an overwhelming chorus of exhaustion, depression, despair and frustration. On one hand the situation day to day remains the same, however the daily interactions with soldiers at the checkpoints and the military presence in their neighborhoods create snapshots of oppression and humiliation that have become “normal,” regardless of how awful these conditions really are for the women and their families. Overall, conditions are bad, consistently so.

Images from Iraq, as seen on the television, have been mentioned throughout the conversations with their Israeli contacts. One woman worries about her family in Baghdad, as she has had no contact with them and is unable to reach them. Another woman in Bir Zeit watches the news from Iraq and thinks that “the Iraqi people who are rejoicing at their ‘liberation’ simply don’t know what is in their future; occupation is the worst thing that can happen to a people.” She also says the images of the Coalition (U.S. and British soldiers) army at checkpoints in Iraq is similar to the environment in Palestine.

The checkpoints are often a source of danger and true representation of the brutality of the occupation. One of our contacts in Bir Zeit has a much longer walk between the two checkpoints and witnessed soldiers beating up a taxi driver because he took advantage of their temporary absence and tried to pass through undetected. This woman approached the soldiers, reminding them that the taxi driver is a human being. They responded by putting a gun in her face.

Military presence was reported in Bir Zeit, Tulkarem and Ramallah, and as of April 4, the closure on Tulkarem had been lifted. Concern for their families who live beyond their neighborhood or in a different city is exasperated by the fact that often they cannot visit one another. Women struggle to find alternatives for their children to occupy them indoors after school, mainly because it is unsafe to be outside. A woman in Ramallah echoes what has been said by many of the women, “we live in a big prison.”

Every Pesach, Jewish families around the world sit around tables replete with traditional and symbolic foods and retell the story of the Exodus. We learn that we were liberated from living as slaves in Egypt. God liberated us, as it says in the Bible, “with a strong hand and an outstretched arm.” And we are told that the strong hand was God’s hand, as he brought the 10 plagues down upon the Egyptian people. And we are to understand that God’s outstretched arm opened the Red Sea to allow the Israelites to pass through to the holy land, and then closed it, to drown the entire Egyptian army. But, if we go back to the beginning of the story, to the birth of our liberation story-what do you think we find? What we find is all of these extraordinary women, who act together, Arab and Jew, against oppression and hate and exemplify a different kind of strength with arms wide enough to stretch and embrace the other. Their images resonate throughout the story. We find the strong hands of the midwives, Shifra and Puah, who catch the Hebrew babies when they are born, who tend to the Israelite mothers instead of throwing the newborn babies into the Nile River as the Pharaoh has decreed. We find the strong hands of Moses’ mother, who broke and softened the reeds to weave a basket to put baby Moses into the river to try and save her son. We find the outstretched arm of Pharaoh’s daughter that reached out over the vast differences of nationality, religion and class to rescue this innocent child.

April 19, 2003

Two Jews - three opinions - It certainly seems that way now. Alicia notes all the atrocities in Iraq, Oren chuckles over the fact that Arik Sharon has pretty much obligated himself to Bush's peace program, Liz thinks the u.S. is becoming worse than Israel, Gad says the fact that we've been able to stop some pretty major terrorist attacks yesterday and today is cause for optimism while Ornit weeps over the fact that Abu Mazen hasn't been able to discourage terrorism. Amir says Bashar Assad is being dictated to by Hizbullah - specifically Nasralah - and Ada says buy an apartment because everything is going to go up in the next few months. Everyone is living in different worlds.

April 20, 2003

Apparently we're trying to get in as much 'activity' in the west bank as possible before the peace thing begins - we were in rafiah last night - and palestinian life for us seems cheap. i don't know how to evaluate it, but it is certainly wrong. We are settling old accounts, blowing up houses of terrorists from '94, arresting suspects, etc. i understand why, but it doesn't justify it at all.

In the mean time we wander more freely about tel aviv, a bit more comfortable that terrorist attacks will be contained. we sit in cafes (no room in Nona) and shop in malls....

Suicide. 3 flower growers have killed themselves in the past few months because of the economic situation. the sudden decline into enormous debt, caused sometimes by something as simple as the lack of Palestinian workers, forces an awareness of the end of a dream - the end of a way of life to which these people had been singly dedicated. So suicide is happening a lot around here - despair is common. The difference of course is that the Israelis kill only themselves.

As soon as it was announced that electricity had been restored to Baghdad I looked up Saalam Pax again. He's not back - hope its only a question of internet access and a day or two and we'll be able to hear what is going on in Baghdad.

Why am I not as hungry for news about Rafiah as i am about Baghdad? I am. I know there were 4 Palestinians killed there today and 1 Israeli army photographer. I know there is a program of Bat Shalom to put Israeli women in phone contact with Palestinian women. Why don't I do it? I can't. It's unbearable for me now. I know I could not take it. Simple. Maybe next week.

April 21, 2003

My inability to extend my sympathy to anyone else seems to be a national malaise. Ezi always said that our presence in the West Bank and Gaza necessitated an unnatural hardening of our hearts, and every time there is news of brutality on the part of Israeli soldiers, he shakes his head and links it to the brutal traffic here, the lack of charity, the insensitivity in conversation. I cancelled my subscription to the papers, and find myself watching less news...

(one hour later)I lied. I am just as addicted as i ever was - didn't cancel ha'aretz in hebrew - and watch the newly reinstated BBC as much as ever. (It was cancelled 2 weeks ago, but got brought back - i think - because of pressure by israelis to get all sides). i'll show you how addicted i am. CNN brought back World Sports today. It's been off the air since the weeks before the war.

So why am I not writing about the female terrorists who got caught the other day, or the peace activist who lies in a coma in Beersheva after getting shot in the head by Israeli soldiers, or all the people killed yesterday in Rafiah? I'd rather try a little denial until my blood pressure goes down.

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