TEN YEARS AFTER OSLO:

REFLECTIONS ON ISRAEL'S INTERNAL BARRIERS TO PEACE

Steven David Masters

National Co-Chair for Advocacy and Public Policy

Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace

Beth Israel Center

Madison Wisconsin

September 13, 2003

Ten years ago today the whole world watched in amazement as Yitzhak Rabin, the decorated war hero who led his country's efforts to suppress the first Palestinian intifadah with force, might and beatings, shook hands with Yasser Arafat, the terrorist who more than any other man personified the modern day enemy of Israelis and in fact of the entire Jewish world. On that warm day in September on the White House lawn, Prime Minister Rabin uttered some of his most famous words:

Let me say to you, the Palestinians: We are destined to live together on the same soil, in the same land. We, the soldiers who have returned from battle stained with blood, we who have seen our relatives and friends killed before our eyes, we who have attended their funerals and cannot look into the eyes of their parents, we who have come from a land where parents bury their children, we who have fought against you, the Palestinians -

We say to you today in a loud and a clear voice: Enough of blood and tears. Enough. We have no desire for revenge. We harbor no hatred towards you. We, like you, are people who want to build a home, to plant a tree, to love, to live side by side with you in dignity, in empathy, as human beings, as free men. We are today giving peace a chance, and saying again to you: Enough. Let us pray that a day will come when we all will say: Farewell to the arms.

Rabin believed that the greatest threat to Israel's survival came from outside its borders, from its Arab neighbors. He failed to see the threat growing from inside Israeli society; to such an extent that he rejected precautions suggested by his security details to counter right wing Israeli threats on his life. For him this was a fatal error. Two years after that magnificent White House ceremony, Yitzhak Rabin was killed by a fellow Jew, following a frenzy of right wing hysteria which depicted Rabin as a Nazi storm trooper and which saw leading settler rabbis pronounce an ancient death curse upon him.

So this morning, during this month of Elul, I want to reflect with you upon those inner threats to Israel's survival, threats that I believe pose dangers to Israel as grave as those from outside its borders.

First, a little history.

Starting with the second wave of aliyah in the early 20th Century, a central preoccupation of the Zionist movement was to settle the land of Palestine to solidify a Jewish presence on the land. Pioneering Jews established kibbutzim and moshavot in far flung places, along the borders, throughout the fertile Galilee and even in the arid Negev. In Hebrew they referred to these early communities as "hitnachlaot", and in English "settlements". As the State of Israel grew and prospered, these communities were no longer called settlements, but rather cities, towns, kibbutzim and moshavot. Yet there can be no doubt that the establishment of settlements was synonymous with the creation of Israel. Without them, the Jewish State could not have come into being.

Jumping ahead to 1967, the right wing Greater Israel movement, which had always called for Israel to conquer and control the entire land of Israel as defined in the Torah, suddenly was presented with an opportunity to realize their dreams. Wrapping themselves in the mantle of the early Zionists, they began a massive movement to create settlements throughout the entire West Bank and Gaza Strip. Immediately after the 6 Day War, the Labor government in power had no clear cut policy on the future of these newly conquered Territories. Slowly at first, the Israeli Labor Party became convinced that encouraging settlement in the West Bank and Gaza was essential to Israel's long term security. The Likud Party, which took over the reins of government in 1977 went further, strongly embracing the religious argument that God had ordained Jewish control over all of Biblical Israel. The Likud led government began a massive program of financial subsidies and tax abatements to entice tens of thousands of average Israeli families to move to the Occupied Territories. Suddenly families with no particular ideological or religious connection to the Territories were moving into newly created settlements within a few minutes drive of Jerusalem or Tel Aviv.

From a handful of religious zealots who settled in Hevron in 1968, by the time the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993 there were 145 settlements with a population of 100,000. Ten years later, the number of "official" settlements remained at 145, but there are now over 220,000 settlers and approximately 100 illegal hilltop outposts created by second generation settler youth. Looking at a graph of settlement growth, you may be surprised to learn that the greatest period of growth occurred during the Oslo years, when Rabin, Peres and Barak led the government.

So this morning I want to reflect upon the impact of this massive settlement project on Israel. I recognize that this is a discussion which until now has rarely taken place in the American Jewish community. I believe that it is essential for all of us to grapple with the questions raised by Israel's policies favoring the settlements. This need for an honest and frank assessment of Israeli government policy is one of the prime reasons why I decided to join with Jews across the nation to found Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace.

Writing in the Israeli daily newspaper Ha'aretz last April, Israel's former Consul General to Philadelphia Gideon Samet made the startling claim that "the settlements are competing with Palestinian terror as the number one threat to the quality of life and the future of our country."

How could this be? How could a project so steeped in traditional Zionist methods and goals pose such danger? Let's break this question down into four areas. First, I want to look at how the settlements were transformed from a security asset to a security liability for Israel. Second, I want to assess the impact of the settlements on Israel's critical need to maintain both its Jewish majority and democratic character. Third, I want to look at the impact of the settlement drive on Israel's economic vitality. And lastly, I want to examine how this drive to remain in the Occupied Territories has affected Israel's moral standing in the eyes of the world.

Lets look at each of these in more detail.

The Impact on Israel's Military Security

Amram Mitzna, a highly decorated reserve general in the Israel Defense Forces and Labor candidate for Prime Minister in the last election recently wrote that "over the past three years, the security of Israel's citizens has deteriorated to a level that is without parallel in the country's history."

Each government of Israel has assured us that the settlements were vital to maintaining security. Now that we have more settlers than at any other time in Israeli history, how could Israel find itself in such a crisis?

The reality is that the settlements have never enhanced Israel's security and have in fact always been a tremendous military liability for the Jewish State. During the Yom Kippur War, thousands of settlers on the Golan Heights were evacuated on the first day of the War. Why? Because the Syrians knew that the only land without any mines was the land belonging to the settlements. Each settlement was easily overrun by Syrian troops as they advanced. So much for being a security buffer to invading armies!

During this Intifadah, settlers have suffered the most casualties amongst civilians and are uniquely vulnerable to attack because of their close proximity to Palestinian towns and villages. Instead of providing Israel with security, the settlements themselves have required massive amounts of military protection, which divert Israeli soldiers from their critical missions in combating terrorism. To take but one example, an entire battalion of 300 Givati Brigade soldiers is stationed around the settlement of Netzarim in the Gaza Strip. Netzarim is home for some 60 families, which means that there is approximately one soldier assigned to protect every resident.

Another example. Recently a group of 10 reserve soldiers were ordered to protect a hilltop outpost with one resident. The group of soldiers got together and came up with a plan. They would pool their money and pay for this settler to live in a hotel for a month - the duration of their reserve duty. The settler balked at the idea, so these ten soldiers spent their entire reserve duty defending this one man.

Hundreds of soldiers have been killed while guarding these settlements. Their deaths have taken a tremendous toll on the entire Israeli society, seriously eroding the morale and effectiveness of Israel's armed forces. Suicides amongst conscripts are at an all time high and resistance to reserve duty in the Occupied Territories has increased during what many in Israel call the "War of the Settlements."

So to recap, settlements that were meant to protect Israel and make it more secure have done just the reverse. They have left the settlers themselves vulnerable to attack, drained vital military resources, led to alarmingly high numbers of military and civilian casualties and eroded the morale and effectiveness of the Israel Defense Forces.

The Impact on Israel's Critical Need to Maintain its Jewish Majority and Democratic Character

Labor Knesset Member Avram Burg, the former chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, has just issued an urgent call to action in the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot. Burg's call is noteworthy and I would even say astounding because of its tone of desperation and because its author is one of the leading figures of Zionism today. Burg writes "There is a real chance that ours will be the last Zionist generation. There may yet be a Jewish state here, but it will be a different sort, strange and ugly."

Burg's prediction of a "strange and ugly" Jewish state is a marked departure from the more familiar scenario which has been raised in opposition to maintaining the settlements - the demographic argument. Here's that argument in brief: In a few short years, Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and inside Israel will outnumber the Jews. Therefore, in order to preserve a Jewish majority in Israel, Israel must withdraw from the Occupied Territories and the Palestinians must be allowed to establish a state of their own. To counter the demographic argument, supporters of maintaining the settlements came up with several ideas which were either based upon pure fantasy (such as predicting massive aliyah of Jews from the United States) or were so morally repugnant (such as the forced transfer of Palestinians) so as to never attract serious support from the Israeli population.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has developed a far more sophisticated plan, one that could allow Israel to maintain permanent control over the West Bank and Gaza while insuring that Israel could maintain its Jewish majority. It has been called the 42% solution and involves the creation of a Palestinian "State" on 42% of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This area corresponds to what was classified as areas A and B under the Oslo Accords - the areas where Palestinians reside. Under this plan, all of the settlements would remain and Israel would be free to expand them or even build more on the remaining 58%.

What's wrong with this plan? First, it fails to address the basic principle laid out by President Bush in his famous policy speech of June 4, 2002 - that a Palestinian State must be contiguous and viable. In place of contiguity, the 42% plan calls for a series of non-contiguous cantons, enclosed by walls and fences, separated from each other by Israeli army checkpoints and Jewish only bypass roads. Indeed, Secretary of State Colin Powell has called it "a form of Bantustan."

But why does Avram Burg say that Israel would become a "strange and ugly" state if Sharon can achieve his 42% solution? Because what makes Israel a Jewish State has always been more than the fact that Jews are in the majority. Chaim Weitzman, Israel's first President, told the delegates at the 14th Zionist Congress in 1925: "Palestine must be built without violating one iota the legitimate rights of the Arabs." The founders of Israel enshrined in their Declaration of Independence "the precepts of liberty, justice and peace taught by the Hebrew Prophets" and the "full social and political equality of all its citizens."

Isn't that why have always been so proud of Israel, why it has had such a special place in our hearts. These Jewish values, which we hold so precious, can not survive in a State which continues to insist on blocking another peoples' road to independence by settling its own citizens on another's land.

The Impact on Israel's Economic Well being

Israel was once a nation where poverty and hunger were almost non-existent. A nation that could maintain a strong social welfare infrastructure at the same time while at the same time it built one of the world's most powerful armies.

This economic strength is no more. The cost of sustaining and protecting the settlements is draining Israel's resources; limiting Israel's ability to provide vital social services, build a stable economy, and ensure peaceful coexistence between the Jews and Palestinian Arabs of Israel. Large portions of Israel's infrastructure remains in need of repair while new bypass roads constructed in the West Bank receive the priority funding. A national strike was almost called earlier this year because of unprecedented budget cuts to the social services sector.

The unending conflict with the Palestinians, impossible to resolve while the settlements remain, has contributed to a severe economic downturn, a rising rate of unemployment (over 10%), a dramatic decrease in foreign investment, and an increase in the number of Israelis (now 20%) living below the poverty line, including 27% of all children.

A recent study commissioned by Shalom Achshav (Peace Now) found that Israel spends the equivalent of $440 million a year in surplus expenditures on the settlements, funds which could be better directed to alleviate poverty and provide vital services inside Israel proper. By way of comparison, Israel receives an annual allotment of $838 million in economic assistance from the United States so the amount spent on the settlements is over half of what Israel receives in direct U.S. aid.

Israel's policy of maintaining the settlements at any cost has finally become too costly to bear.

The Impact on Israel's Moral Legitimacy

The creation of Israel by a United Nations shocked at the atrocities of the Holocaust has always conveyed a moral legitimacy upon Israel which no other nation possesses. David Ben-Gurion placed enormous importance on Israel's moral standing, stating "If we lost our moral existential justice, in the eyes of the Jewish people and the world at large, Israel would not survive."

While there is still an international consensus behind the moral legitimacy of Israel as a nation state, there is no international support for Israel's claims for maintaining control over the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The danger this poses to Israel can be seen in the way the international community has blurred these two claims. Suddenly the justice of Israel's very existence has been linked to the justice of its continuing occupation of Palestinian land.

This blurring is not simply the product of forces hostile to the Jewish State. In fact, Prime Minister Sharon has lately contributed to this himself when he declared last year that "Netzarim is no different from Negba, Yad Mordecai, or Tel Aviv."

Remember that Netzarim is a settlement of 60 families nestled amongst over a million Palestinians on the Gaza Strip. By the way, the Gaza Strip is not even part of the Biblical Greater Land of Israel!

The attempt to derive moral legitimacy for the settlements by invoking the moral legitimacy of Israel inside its pre-'67 borders cannot succeed. Even worse, it threatens to undermine the precious support of the international community for Israel's right to exist as a Jewish State in peace and security with its neighbors. We risk losing the support for Israel not only from the International community, but from world Jewry and even Israelis themselves.

Let me quote Avram Burg again:

A state lacking justice cannot survive. More and more Israelis are coming to understand this as they ask their children where they expect to live in 25 years. Children who are honest admit, to their parents' shock, that they do not know. The countdown to the end of Israeli society has begun.

I want to leave this morning with a message of hope and not despair.

I've been thinking about the census God orders the Israelites to take in parashat bamidbar, the opening chapter of the Book of Numbers. This census is different from the others mentioned in Tanach - this one requires everyone to be counted individually, not by tribe, not even by family unit.

The commentators notice this distinction, but aren't sure why it's there. To me, as a political organizer, the answer is obvious. We are told that each of us counts in the formation of our community, that each of our voices are unique and special. It is a democratic message from a time when democracy and dissent were rarely practiced without fatal consequences.

Brit Tzedek v'Shalom has issued a Call to Bring the Settlers Home to Israel. The Call focuses on those settlers who wish to leave right now, voluntarily, but who lack the money to resettle into Israel proper. You'll recall that Israel provides lavish financial subsidies to induce settlers to remain in the Territories, but no money at all to leave. We are calling upon Israel to reverse its financial assistance and give aid to those settlers who want to take their families to safer quarters. We also call upon the US and other nations to provide funding as well. The Call has been signed by over 7,500 American Jews who want to stand up and have their voice counted for this important peace initiative.

There are members of Brit Tzedek here this morning with copies of the Call that you can read and take home after services. I hope you will consider adding your name to the thousands of other Jews who want to clearly say that for Israel's sake, the settlers must come home.