Israel’s growing pains
If one is able to detach from the emotion for just one instant, regardless of which side of the divide you sit, what is happening within Israel today is a fascinating study in the development of a body politic. Israel is reaching adolescence stage as it matures as a State. It was conceived in a fiery flame of religious, historical and territorial conviction. The collective mind of Israel was as one. The debate, friction and violence we see in today’s Israel is a normal part of its maturation process. Whether you love it or hate it, Israel is growing up and at the moment is at an awkward adolescent stage oscillating between surety of belief and self-doubt. Like a teenager it is torn. Part of it is proud of its increasing physical strength and prowess. Part of it is fearful that the others around it may challenge the flimsy self-confidence that it projects. Part of it is pure conviction, part self-doubt. Part of it is undertaking cognitive exploration, testing the boundaries of its ideology. Part of it runs back to the pure tenets of its inception. The debate between the moderates and the “settlers”, the hawks and the doves, and today, between the Foreign Ministry and Defense are examples. This will not happen once in the history of Israel. it will happen many times. The defining question is what will Israel become? It has many options – isolationist, oppressor, partner or leader. Israel stands at a crossroads in its history and the world wants to know which path it will take.
It is a troubled history. Israel, as a nation and as an ideal has been much abused. It has has to fight for its very existence. Today, maybe it needs to reexamine its role in the region. We are seeing a division in Israel – the ” settlers’ serving as a good example Their desire to claim contested ground is problematical for a broader political solution. The use of violence by the “settlers’ against their own people, let alone the Palestinians, is creating a cancer in the body politic. The world is loosing patience with Israel in relation to the Gaza blockade, the walls, the encroachment and the military domination of the Palestinians. The world is equally as impatient with the warring Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah. A Palestine so divided cannot be deemed to be negotiating as a single state.
In Israel what is fascinating, and what is the biggest divide of all is between two powerful ministries – Defense and Foreign Policy. One represents a nation looking inwards to protect its domains, and one looking outwards to a broader world role. Today’s Jerusalem Post has the story of the day. It reports, “The Foreign Press Association in Israel filed a Supreme Court petition on Monday seeking to overturn a government ban on journalists entering the Gaza Strip, as the Defense and Foreign ministries spar over the issue. The court petition was filed after a letter, signed by the heads of the world’s biggest news organizations and sent to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, failed to bring about a reversal of the ban. Since Kassam rockets began falling again on the western Negev in early November, crossings have been closed except for urgent medical cases and a handful of humanitarian aid workers . The court petition sought an urgent hearing over the case.
A number of discussions on the matter have been held recently between Defense and Foreign ministry officials. The former have argued that opening the crossings to journalists would endanger the personnel who man them. The latter have argued that the story being reported abroad was less about Kassam rockets and more about banned journalists – something that has damaged Israel’s case. The Defense Ministry has deflected arguments that an exception should be made for journalists, saying that diplomats would then demand that the crossings be opened for them as well. The same would be true of various organizations. “We understand that [the journalists] are upset,” a senior defense official said, “but we will not risk the lives of soldiers by stationing them at crossings where they are targeted by Palestinian terrorists.”
On Monday, the IDF facilitated the transfer of over 30 truckloads of food, basic supplies and medicine into the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom crossing. It was the largest supply convoy allowed to enter in some three weeks. In addition, the IDF transferred diesel fuel for Gaza’s main power plant via the Nahal Oz crossing. Defense officials said that the decision to temporarily reopen the crossings was made after a 24-hour period in which not a single Kassam rocket or mortar was fired into Israel.”If the quiet continues, we will reopen the crossings completely, including for journalists,” the official said.”
There it is, in a court case, the difficult maturation process that is Israel. The Ministry of Defense (the hawks if you prefer) turns to isolationism and force of arms. The Foreign Ministry, ever the diplomat by pitching the story as the journalistic access distracting from the core message, knows that sooner or later, compromise will be required. This division will play out in the Israeli elections. One side will appeal to the traditionalists, claiming strength is the answer and playing up fears of another Arab uprising. One side, will talk to a message of compromise, negotiation and accommodation. The mirrors of the recent US election campaign with a McCain/Palin ticket against an Obama/Biden one are too obvious to ignore. The US wasn’t ready 8 or 4 years ago to hear the Obama message. It took a combination of a failed economy, a immorality of governance, an executive ineptitude and extreme foreign policy debacles for the US electorate to make that leap of faith. One can only hope that the Israeli electorate will not need so much of a cue to chart its new path.
