[R-G] The Homeland [Israel] is in Danger - Aviad Kleinberg

[shniad at sfu.ca]

[Dr. Aviad Kleinberg is a professor of history at Tel-Aviv University and a
member of the academic board of The Morris E. Curiel Center for
International Studies at Tel-Aviv University. The article below was
published in Ha'ir ("The City") in Israel on May 2, 2002. Kleinberg outlines
two historical processes occurring  simultaneously in current Israeli
society. The first is a move away from the community of democratic nations
and their human rights standards. The second process involves the
deterioration of Israel's own democratic institutions. As Kleinberg points
out, the combination of these processes, coupled with an economic crisis, is
a keg of gunpowder waiting to explode, endangering the Republic of Israel as
we know it.]

The Homeland is in Danger 

     by Aviad Kleinberg 

I did not pick this title lightly. There comes a time when even an
historian, well versed in patient, hysteria-free observation of historical
processes, feels his hair stand on end as he realizes how bad, how really
really bad, things are getting. Since the second Camp David conference two
fateful processes have unfolded in Israel. 

The first process is the reversal of Israel integration into the block of
democratic nations and the adoption in its place the same pattern of violent
and ethnocentric policies we officially condemn. [Former Prime Minister]
Yitzhak Rabin understood that with the end of the cold war, Israel's
security necessitated putting an end to the colonial chapter in its history.
What was needed instead was a massive reallocation of resources to deal with
the serious social problems created over the long period of occupation and
settlement building. Rabin understood that if we do not affiliate ourselves
with the global democratic block and live up to its clear standards for
civil and human rights, it would be very difficult for us "to be a free
nation in our country" [a quote from the Israeli national anthem. Regressing
to a view of the conflict in terms of retribution and revenge (eyes for an
eye, teeth for a tooth); resurrecting the "Watchtower and Fence" settlement
policy [used by Jews in Palestine during the Ottoman empire]; the victorious
return of self-righteousness (we are right and they are wrong, we are good
and they are bad); the reappearance of the creeping annexation, the
intellectual standstill, one military operation rolling into another - all
these are typical of a society gambling away its own long term national
interests for short term instant gratification. Such changes in state policy
might have been chalked up to a reaction - temporary perhaps - to the
undermined sense of security in Israel. But the continuing deterioration in
Israel's democratic character indicates a change that runs deeper. That is
the second process. It started with (former Prime Minister] Ehud Barak who
was quick to break the rules of the democracy game whenever he saw fit, and
it continues to expand today. 

Israeli society at present is marked by a deep contempt for the legislative
branch, a sense of alienation from the judicial branch, and a paralysis of
the executive branch. Also rampant in Israeli society today are
self-censorship, constant waving of the "security interest" banner to
prevent any critical discussion, and a political vacuum that the army is
quick to fill. If one adds to this keg of gunpowder an economic crisis
(which is bound to worsen as Western states begin to turn their back on us),
and you should have no trouble recognizing the messy stew that's being
cooked up. Worst of all at a time like this is the lack of any opposition
capable of articulating an alternative and fighting for it. The Labor party
lost all self-respect while participating in Sharon's coalition, amplifying
in the process people's despair of politics, that is to say, of democracy. 

These are dark times for Israel. If no opposition movement is forged
immediately, one that would be capable of restoring Israelis' faith in
democracy and shaking them up from [Chief of Staff] Mofaz's and [Prime
Minister] Sharon's anachronistic nightmare, then we are witnessing the
beginning of the collapse of the Israeli republic as we know it. It's not
too late, but not much time is left.