Some Israelis say, good, so be it, the
Jews belong among themselves.
There is a tribal quality to the new
life of Jerusalem that politicians like
Ariel Sharon are eager to exploit.
(Recently, he took over the Likud
organization in Jerusalem, and brief-
ly entertained the idea of running for
mayor.)
But the greatness of Jerusalem
since the Six Day War was not only
that it was the most intensely Jewish
place on earth. It was also the most
intensely Jewish place on earth from
which you could flee to the Other. The
Other was Jerusalem's special gift.
The Other was the great correction of
the excesses and the abuses of your
identity as a Jew: in the middle of the
Jewish epiphany, there was a dif-
ference you had to recognize, to
respect.
Jerusalem since the Six Day War
was the very opposite of an insulated,
tribal city. It was a congeries of na-
tional prides. In a happy irony of
history, the very collision of Israelis
and Palestinians seemed to take the
edge off the worst tendencies in both
communities.
But now _there is the uprising,
simmering when it is not in full

flame. It took only a few weeks to un-
do the post-'67 mentality of the Jews
of Jerusalem.
Was the unification of Jerusalem,
then, an illusion? Did the Israelis of
West Jerusalem deceive themselves
during the two decades that they
believed themselves to co-exist in
honor and in peace with the Palesti-
nians of East Jerusalem?
Teddy Kollek admitted, during
the riots in East Jerusalem in
December, that he was "heart-
broken?' It was reliably reported to
me that this good man has been in a
state of despair for months.
Jerusalem, after all, was supposed to
have been different. Jerusalem was
supposed to have transcended the
hatreds and the frictions by which the
rest of the lands that were taken in
1967 are tormented.
The mayor's despair is right, and
it is wrong. It is right, because the
Palestinians have proved that co-
existence in Jerusalem depends not
only upon the goodwill of the con-
querors, but upon the goodwill of the
conquered, too. It turns out that the
Jerusalem miracle was always
premised upon Palestinian ac-
quiescence in Israeli power; and that

acquiescence was itself a kind of of the uprising.
The bad joke that history has
miracle, given the volatile, increasing-
ly inflamed character of Palestinian played upon this enlightened mayor
politics. Brusquely the Palestinians is that it was precisely the progress
have made the Israelis understand he brought to the Palestinians that
that for them, for the Palestinians, made them want more.
In Jerusalem, as in the more
the unification of a city was the an-
middle-class areas of the West Bank,
nexation of a city, and little more.
Of course, it is impossible to im- we have been witnessing what might
agine that Israel will ever return be called an intifada of rising expec-
Jerusalem, nor should it: the Jewish tations. The improved social and
right to the city is as good as the Arab economic condition of the Palesti-
right to it, and if the Arabs cared so nians has had the consequence of
terribly much not to lose the holy ci- making them feel even more acutely
ty, they should not have risked it in the lack of improvement in their
political condition. Too many humane,
the 1967 war.
Still, Israelis must never again well-intentioned Israelis have forgot-
read their own satisfaction into ten that social progress is not a
Palestinians. Winners and losers ex- substitute for political progress. In-
perience the same history differently. deed, it only makes the absence of
And yet, as I say, Kollek's despair political progress hurt more.
The Jews did not leave Warsaw or
is also wrong. He did create co-
existence in his city. He did treat the Berlin or Paris for Palestine, or fight
Palestinians with more dignity and the British in Palestine, because they
with more magnanimity then they wanted a high quality of life. A high
have ever been treated by an Israeli. quality of life was exactly what they
He did raise their standard of living had, except politically. In the words of
remarkably, extending services, a writer of the 1940s, "good govern-
building institutions, broadening ment is no substitute for self-
markets. The Palestinians, in short, government!' You cannot create a
really were integrated into Jeru- middle class, as Israel has done
salem. And that is precisely the point throughout the occupied territories,

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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