The situation is sad all around, not to mention troubling. Before you read on, let me assure you that it will turn out okay. Yihyeh b’seder.

Haaretz’s editorial today is about the laxity with which the IDF is protecting some Palestinians from motivated settlers who wish to disrupt the disengagement by fomenting violence and (they seem to hope) a flare up. Haaretz is calling these attacks pogroms. Read it and decide whether you agree. Here’s a sample, but there’s more:

Last week, Palestinian laborers were attacked by settlers in what the Israel Defense Forces described as an “attempted lynching.” At various locations throughout the West Bank, Jewish hooligans have used guns, iron bars and hammers in an attempt to ignite the territories.

In one case, students of the Yeshuat Mordechai Yeshiva attacked five laborers who had come to work in the settlement of Nahliel with sticks and stones. In a second case, Nawaf Hanani of Nablus was beaten all over his body by armed settlers who forced him to get out of his truck. In a third case, Hebron settlers invaded an Arab house, attacked the residents and destroyed part of the ceiling with hammers. In all of these places, soldiers and policemen were in the vicinity. Granted, some of the assailants were arrested the same day, but they were later allowed to go home.

On the other hand, in a significant show of good faith, settlers in Gush Katif in Gaza have handed over a list of names to the IDF of people who have recently moved into the area and have apparently refused to join in planning for demonstrations against the pullout. The impression of the established settlers is that these men are extremists who intend to use violence to oppose the pullout.

At first, Gush Katif residents urged the newcomers to join in the controlled protests they are planning for the disengagement, which involve bringing the maximum number of sympathizers to Gush Katif to engage in nonviolent passive resistance. But when the newcomers refused, residents secretly approached the Israel Defense Forces and handed over the names of some of the extremists. The residents explained that this was done in part in the hopes of keeping the door open for more moderate supporters to come to Gush Katif.

Some of the newcomers belong to a new organization called Revava, which was founded by former members and supporters of the outlawed Kach and Kahane Chai groups. A recent article by David Ha’ivri, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Tapuah and a former Kahane Chai member who is one of Revava’s leaders, discussed the possibility of “civil war” during the evacuation, citing examples from Jewish history such as the civil war between the tribe of Benjamin and the other 11 tribes, the wars between the kingdoms of Judah and Israel and the battles between the Maccabees and the Jewish Hellenists.

The Sunday NY Times carried what can only be described as a heartbreaking article about the confusion and pain the Gazan Israelis are experiencing as it dawns on them that they will likely have to leave their homes and move elsewhere soon.

For Kobi Hadad, the prospect is a nightmare that stays with him all his waking hours, which are many more than before. Like other settlers here, he feels frozen, he says, paralyzed by a future that he detests and cannot believe will come, but which he does not know how to avert.

“I live day to day,” he said. “Every day has its problems, including not sleeping. I walk around a lot at night, and I smoke a lot – that’s on the rise,” he said, as he snuffed out another cigarette.

“If I think rationally,” he said, “I know I have to prepare myself to go, because it might happen. But the irrational side is causing me to freeze in my place and take no action. Something could happen, some outside event – who knows? My wife and I try to talk about it; she looks at me and she doesn’t have to ask.”

Mr. Hadad, 45, came to Gaza in 1986, after serving in the army, living for a few years in Jerusalem and missing the earth. “We were brought up that you have to settle the land,” he said. “I decided I wanted to live in a moshav,” a cooperative farm, “and I wanted to start something.” With 10 families, at first in mobile homes, the Hadads began an agricultural settlement in southern Gaza, Rafiah Yam, which now has 26 families. They practice high-tech farming, growing organic vegetables – peppers, lettuces and spices – in the sand dunes, under greenhouses of fabric. Nearly all of the produce is sold to Europe. Gaza is responsible for 15 percent of Israel’s agricultural exports.

“It was difficult to learn how to grow in the sand, but we succeeded,” he said proudly, then grew melancholy again. “Where shall we go? Where will we find our place?” Mr. Hadad says he cannot even begin to answer. Yet in his heart of hearts, where he does not want to reach, he knows that he and his family will have to go.

Mr. Hadad continues and laments the fact that Sharon had turned away from them. That instead of approaching in a friendly and loving manner, merely turned against them. He makes the valid point (and I am probably guilty of this as well):

“people now look at us like we’re lawbreakers, when everything we did here was legal, and as obstacles to peace, instead of praising us for what we’ve built and defended here as pioneers of modern farming.”

Read the article, it really puts some things into a clear perspective.

On another front, Haaretz also points out that those people who are claiming the Palestinians view the disengagement as a military victory against the Israelis, are apparently right. The article posits that this means more war and violence in the future.

An explanation can be found in an answer to a question presented in a public opinion poll conducted jointly by Hebrew University’s Truman Institute and a Palestinian research institute. Conducted under the watchful eyes of Dr. Yaakov Shamir and Dr. Khalil Shikaki, the study’s results can be seen to be reliable. The question was: How do you view Sharon’s plans to evacuate the Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip? Some 75 percent of the Palestinians answered that the move was testimony to a victory of the Palestinian armed struggle, with just 23 percent having a different view of the matter.

The interesting thing was that among Israeli respondents, some 44 percent also saw it as a Palestinian victory (as opposed to some 50 percent who believed otherwise).

David Horovitz, editor of Jerusalem Post, provides us with a glance at the encroaching construction between two Palestinian villages in Judea that are subtly creeping upon each other. The catch is that by doing so, they are beginning to cut off Ma’aleh Edumim from Jerusalem. Ehud Barak is publicly beseeching Sharon to proceed with a construction plan devised by Rabin over a decade ago but there is definitely cause for concern because Sharon is either not moving or doing it very slowly. The mayor of Ma’aleh Edumim is a bit more optimistic, noting that he’s on the “right” side of the security barrier.

And finally, Amos Atza-El at J Post writes a fine column about Israel and planning. Are you laughing? 😆
Read his fine article.

About the author

themiddle

30 Comments

  • People,
    take anything you read from Haaretz with a grain of salt. They lie. (sorry I didn’t keep the link about their problems).
    I don’t need to say anything about the NY Times, a newspaper that is still living off the reputuation it used to have, not what it actually puts out today.
    As for the Horovitz story,
    in the news yesterday was an item about 3500 new units being planned between Maaleh Adumim and J’m already passing most government ministry approvals and coming to reality.

  • Josh, you’re not a stupid person so why make these silly comments?

    No problem though, I’ll only post articles from real news sources like Arutz Sheva and Debka from now on. What would you recommend I use instead of the New York Times? Should I use Frontpage or WorldNetDaily? How about Little Green Footballs?

  • So I was right – Jewlicious IS trying to dodge the abysmal failure of the “pro-expulsion” rally on Saturday night. The thread containing my previous summary has been removed, and instead we get this gobbleydegook from the *editorial* page of a newspaper known for its left-leaning slant.

    The “conventional wisdom” often repeated (in places like Haaretz, the NY Times, and other mainstream media) is that “a majority of Israelis” support the withdrawal – the Times in particular has cast this story as a handful of fundamentalists challenging “sane, middle of the road” Israelis. This is the line taken by Jewlicious posters, largely influenced by the media.

    That perception suffered a dramatic blow on Saturday night, when a pro-expulsion rally garnered less than 10,000 protesters (for those who think the NY Times is the end-all of journalistic integrity, they inflated it to “10 to 15 thousand” in their reports).

    This rally was held in Tel-Aviv on a Saturday night – and earlier in the week Tel-Avivis were shocked when young “settlers” blocked a major highway during rush hour. Yet despite these reasons to participate, the turnout was an embarrassment.

    Pro-settler, anti-expulsion rallies have regularly drawn 200,000 to 1/4 million protesters to the same location in Tel Aviv – on weekdays. (The Times reports these massive rallies – almost unheard of in such a small country – as “tens of thousands” in an attempt to blur the enormous failure of this weekend’s effort. Anyone still trust the Times’ integrity on Israel?)

    The settlers are willing to bet their homes on a public referendum.
    And the holier-than-thou, who roll their eyes and claim that “the majority agrees with us”? They lost the last election on just this platform, and now are doing all they can to prevent “the majority” from clarifying its opinion. After Saturday’s piss-rally, we can understand why they so fear a referendum.

    Ben-David

  • Yes Ben David, it’s a massive conspiracy we have here on Jewlicious. While ck pretends to support Orthodox Jews and Laya pretends to be outraged whenever the word Haredi comes up or somebody espouses views left of Center, his real name is Mahmud and hers is Layla. I’m really Hanan Ashrawi.

    In reality we are all Palestinians paid by the PA and Haaretz to constantly post their ideology on this site and undermine the Israeli Right, the Israeli settlers, Haredi Jews, and the existence of Israel as a Jewish state.

    How are you impressed so far?

  • Actually it might be a good idea to read the NYT and LFG against each other. Same with Ha’aretz and Arutz Sheva. There have been cases of settler demonizing without sufficient factual basis…

  • Funny thing is, I read them all. The other funny thing is that I find Arutz Sheva and LGF to be doctrinaire on the Right to the point of laughability. You can sometimes find decent content but at least at the NY Times, I get decent reporting with op-eds by people on the Right. At Haaretz I can read Moshe Arens or Israel Harel but I never see Yossi Sarid at Arutz Sheva.

  • Ben-David: Well in all fairness, Haaretz definitely has a bit of a left wing bias. The best anti-haredi articles and editorials are there too. And truth be told, I am totally sympathetic to the trauma faced by the settlers and do not wish in any way shape or form to demonize them. But seriously Ben-David, if you tell me that that the anti-disengagement supporters would fully respect the results of a referendum then I might, for the sake of shlom habayit, support a referendum. But I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary to hobble a government with referendums every time a contentious issue is considered.

    Now you talk about Jewlicious like we’re some bad ass organization with a staff and an editorial policy or something. Dude, we seriously don’t know what we’re doing 95% of the time. Of course should anyone wish to give us loads of cash, well that might change. But, as with all grass roots enterprises, we have to scratch and claw our way, with no budget and achieve results and readerships that no typical community Web sites get. In any case, if the rallies you speak of were indicative of popular support, with a 20-1 bias against the pullout, well then, I’d definitely not support disengagement. But that’s not really the case, is it?

  • Ben-David, so you know, the writers of this blog are in three different countries. We don’t get together for meetings about what stories we will and will not talk about. we simply each blog what moves us when we have the time completely independently of each other. We don’t even always agree with what the other bloggers are writing. or maybe we’re all really Mormons, or Muslims, and you’re onto us.

  • Oh don’t get your Chanel suit all in a bunch Hanan. Seriously, you’re such a bitch sometimes! Love your shoes though – I see one can now get Manolo Blahnik knock offs in Ramallah.

    Ma’asalam
    Ahmed

  • Wait a minute – which one has the Chanel suit?

    I am sorry if I came across too strongly, but even with the multiple timezones – someone managed to read and digest the weekend Ha’aretz AND the Sunday NYT which is only available Sunday from 3AM (10AM Israel time). Among other topics posted.

    The rally happened/was reported on Saturday night in Israel, folks. This IS a blog – you know, speed of the electron, etc.

    And whatever happened to that lady who likes the story of Ruth?

    But I do promise to dress better before posting.

    Ben-David

  • The Manolo? He is old news. The speaking of the third person, it has been done to the death. The addition of the bitchy foreign accent? Hello? Donatella Versace on the Saturday Nights Alive is on the phone! The Donatella, she is wants her sketch back.

    The ck he thinks that it is coincidences that Hanan, it rhymes with “a man” because that is what you look like. The ck he say Hello! Your lipsticks and awkwardly applies makeups, it does not fool the ck. And that jauntily tied scarf? It must die. Die! Die! Die! Even this looks would be an improvements.

    Do it for the Palestines Hanan.

  • The ck, he is thinking that the Ben-David he is a cutie! The politics it makes wrinkles on the face of the ck but the Ben-David he makes good points.

    In all seriousness, like I said, I am not opposed to a referendum but it creates a precedent that would unduly hobble the government. Also, I simply do not see opponents presenting any kind of workable alternative other than the maintenance of the status quo – which is clearly untenable. So now what?

    The ck he wants alternatives to disengagement.

  • Ahmed, that is a photo of me on one of my better days. It is a good thing I have a tongue of gold, a gift of gab, and a repertoire of misinformation at my fingertips.

    Love,
    Hanan

  • “but I never see Yossi Sarid at Arutz Sheva.”

    How would you know?

    You’ve definitely noticed that A7 and it’s site/newspaper/radio is dwarfed by Haaretz in both languages. Haaretz has to include some right-wing opinion to give it the semblance of the newspaper for ‘thining people’. I don’t think that A7 really claims to be balanced, more likely fills a void that the left-wing media has ignored.

    In any case,
    their radio still has a daily news show that interviews all sides of the spectrum even Sarid, Vilany, Lapid, Poraz, and Pritzky too among others. I remember a survey that came out of the balance in the media when A7 was still on the air and they actually got high marks for the amount of ‘lefties’ given airtime.

  • Everyday.

    I also use walla/haaretz and it’s incredible how far away each is from each other.

  • Yes, Josh, they are far away, but at least I can read Moshe Arens and others on the Right at Haaretz. You know, just because Amira Hass writes for them it doesn’t mean that they are an inferior publication. It sounds ridiculous when you say that, just as it sounds ridiculous if one goes to LGF and starts reading about how there’s this consiparacy with the so called mainstream media.

    Now, seriously, we as a nation and as a people, are not permitted to have our army or police do very little while a bunch of young men go to town on some Palestinian workers. That does meet the definition of pogrom. It is shameful that Israel isn’t going aggressively after these men. I am ashamed. And please don’t make this into a Right/Left issue, it’s about our morality as a people.

    Oh, and one more thing. Of the articles I quote above, 4 are favorable to a Right wing viewpoint. For example, I list articles that show the sadness and tragedy of the Gazan settlers who will have to leave and your response is to criticize the newspaper that carried the story.

  • Unbe-frickkin’-lievable.

    Ha’artez (Ha-artez!) admits what Josh and I have been saying all aong: that the “disengagement” in Gaza is being seen by the palestinians as a victory for terrorism, and whle warning darkly that this bodes ill for the future (no, sh*t, Sherlock), says, essentially, since we know that we’re going to be forced back to the ’67 lines anyway, let’s go ahead and do it now rather than later.

    That is, let’s pretend that we’re doing it on our own instead of being forced to do it instead of actually being forced to do it later. Of course, this won’t fool anybody.

    I mean, for the love of G-d, they admit that Israel is being forced out by terrorism, they say openly that this will lead to war in the future, and yet they say let’s do the rest of it now rather than later.

    Can someone explain this suicide wish to me? If they believed that the withdrawal would lead to peace, that’s one thing. But they readily admit that they believe it will lead to war precisely because the palestinains recognize it for what it is: Israeli capitulation in the face of terrorism. And yet they advocate going ahead with it!

    When did the sages of Chelm take over?

  • Well plans have already been made for the reconquest of Gaza should the terrorism and Qassam rockets not stop. In such an eventuality, no one would be able to blame Israel for defending itself after having made such a bold overture for peace. Israel will then have demonstrated that it needs its buffers and it needs to be able to defend itself against a foe that refuses to live in peace. That would serve as the absolute end to any notion of a return to pre-1967 borders. This is Ariel Sharon we’re talking about after all. If you think disengagement is like this lovey dovey peacenick thing… heh, you don’t know arik.

    Civis Pacem, Parra Bellum.

    Look it up.

  • That was exactly why 1967 happened in the first place. Why go through this charade again?

    However, realizing that this will just mean more war, but that maybe Israel will have a better excuse to go back in the next time, indicates that you have some sense. That is better than pretending this is going to lead to peace. It isn’t.

    You assume, of course, that the EU, etc. will view continued violence from the palestinians ans a good reason for Israel going back in. Don’t bet on that. It is much more likely they will just assume the violence is continuing not because the palestinians are a bunch of Nazi terrorists but because Israel hasn’t given up enough.

    And the next time Israel goes into Gaza, they had better drive out all of the Arabs or they’ll be doing this again in 30 years.

  • Thanks a lot for leaving the Grand Muffti out. He has the most plausible claim to conspiracy (or at least, to a name that matches).

  • Ephraim, buddy – if Peace actually happens, no one will be happier than me. If the Palestinians stupidly do not step up and meet the challenge then, well … it’ll be their most grievous loss yet I suspect. Either way, crafty Sharon has his (substantial) ass covered. And the thing is, you know that. So why all the drama?

  • No, I am not sure I know it at all. I hope you’re right about the secret plan and all, but I don’t see any guarantee of that. I really doubt people will say “Oh, the palestinains are lobbing more missiles into Israel. I guess it’s OK for the Jews to go back in and kill a bunch more of them”. As I said, I think the exact opposite will happen.

    BTW, I don’t give a rat’s ass about whether Sharon has his ass covered. I’m worried about Israel, not Sharon.

    Of course, I also would be very happy if the palestinians, against all indications manage to get themselves a clue and decide to stop shooting. I am just not hopeful, that’s all.

  • Ephraim wrote:

    Of course, I also would be very happy if the palestinians, against all indications manage to get themselves a clue and decide to stop shooting.

    And you call yourself a right wing nutbar?? Oh wait that wasn’t you. Nevermind.

    Please contact me Ephraim – ck [at] jewlicious dot com

  • Ephraim wrote:
    And the next time Israel goes into Gaza, they had better drive out all of the Arabs or they’ll be doing this again in 30 years.
    -and-
    I really doubt people will say “Oh, the palestinains are lobbing more missiles into Israel. I guess it’s OK for the Jews to go back in and kill a bunch more of them”. As I said, I think the exact opposite will happen.
    —————————————————-
    Yup, yup.
    About the Israelis “finishing the job” next time: It’s a question of will. If the Israelis do not have the will to defend themselves now – they will have even less resolve later on.

    You’re correct, E – Israel’s leftie elite is no longer arguing about what is best for the country – they no longer can justify Israel’s very existence to themselves, and are pushing nihilistic, externally motivated actions. “Will you like us now that we are obliterating ourselves” – a classic diaspora meme.

    (It’s also not coincidental that the religious and political fault lines correspond so closely – religious Jews have no trouble justifying their people’s existence, secular Israelis raised on the notion of Israel as a “nation like all others” have more trouble explaining why we’re here.)

    It’s like the old joke about the Israeli who doesn’t defend himself until the other guy slaps him. Do Israelis have to be pushed against the wall before they wake up?

    As an American Jew who moved here – I find this lack of self-respect among Israelis to be a major disappointment.

    Ben-David

  • it’s about our morality as a people.

    And that morality demands that a ‘respected’ national/major media outlet like Haaretz gets the entire story and not just one side published as the entire truth.

    The editorial you posted from them is full of half-truths:
    -granted that it’s not a news article, the attacks are still portrayed as unprovoked pogroms, we do not know what happened there,
    -the ‘lenient’ attitude of the army and police? Usually, the army and police have to restrain themselves from ‘harrassing’ ‘Jewish hooligans’, but here they are allowed to go home – why? maybe the ‘crimes’ weren’t as serious as reported by haaretz/jpost (which eseentially published the same article with no further investigating),
    -Haaretz still refuses to name the main ‘perpetrator’ of the outpost and continues the lies that Sasson tried to publicize – that the ‘settlers’ are responsible for the outposts and heaven forbid not the government ministers who approved most of them at every step, and who are none other than Sharon, Mofaz, and Eliezer – tiny facts innocently left out,

    Haaretz is not to be depended on to report the ‘current state of afairs’.