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30
FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 1991
Peace
Continued from preceding page
omic boon — or a great test
of the socialist essence of
Israel.
Trade would flower with
Israel's natural trading
partners, although Prof.
Stein suspected that "some
Arab countries fear being
flooded with Israeli goods."
Free from the incessant
demands of staying on the
absolute cutting edge of
military technology, Israeli
industrial creativity could
turn to the frontiers of medi-
cine, famine relief, oil ex-
ploration and water
desalination — all of which
could benefit the entire Mid-
dle East. Israel's famed
agricultural system could
also benefit its neighbors.
With less government
funds devoted to defense,
improvements could be
made in the areas of social
welfare and, especially, edu-
cation. Many Israeli schools
have recently introduced
double-shifts for students
because of a teacher shor-
tage.
But economically, said
Prof. Arthur Hertzberg of
Dartmouth College, there
would be no return to the
back-to-the-land idealism of
an earlier Israel.
"Israel has gone too far,"
he said. "Even many kibbut-
zim have factories now.
Israel will make its future as
a Route 128, high-tech
place."
And Rabbi Hier of the
Wiesenthal Center warned
that an armistice might
even endanger some fun-
damental principles of
Israel's economy.
"Peace will test whether
socialism is good for Israel,"
he said, while also predic-
ting that a peaceful Mideast
might make Israel "the
Hong Kong of the Middle
East."
"When Israel is now asked
why it is not the economic
equal of Japan or South
Korea," he said, "we say it's
because of the recurring
wars. Peace would prove the
viability of Israel's so-
cialism."
Peace might also alter the
jittery, nervous, highly
animated, sometimes rude
and generally assertive
Israeli temperament.
Israelis have been weaned
on war; almost every Israeli
family has suffered at least
one casualty from their
nation's conflicts. Radios in
public places, such as buses,
are never turned off for fear
of missing an announcement
about a new war or the latest
terrorist attack.
All this might change,
although to what extent and
in what direction is un-
predictable. Deborah
Lipstadt even suggested that
lessened tensions would im-
prove Israelis' notoriously
reckless driving habits. And
Ken Stein said, "A peace
will affect the definition of
what it means to be an
Israeli. The focus will
change from how to live, and
not if one will live."
The opening of Israel's
borders with its neighbors
will also contribute to this
shift in national tempera-
ment. Not only would
Israelis vacation in the land
of their former enemies —
"They'll visit (the archae-
ological site of third century,
B.C.E.) Petra in Jordan,"
said one expert, "then drive
up the spine of Syria to
Damascus" — but the
claustrophobia of being con-
"A real peace is
still a wish and, I'm
afraid, an illusion."
Shoshana Cardin
fined to a nation roughly the
size of New Jersey would be
relieved.
Perhaps the greatest
strain on the national mood
would stem from the
energies formerly devoted to
the Arab threat now being
diverted — in full-force — to
some of Israel's internal con-
flicts: Disputes between
some elements of the Or-
thodox and the secular, bet-
ween the Ashkenazi and the
Sephardim, between in-
coming Soviet or Ethiopian
Jews and those native
Israelis who want the same
favored treatment given the
newcomers.
The arrival of greater
numbers of essentially
secular Soviet Jews might
exacerbate the battle bet-
ween those contending
Israel should be a religious
state and those preferring
pluralism.
And Ken- Stein of the
Carter Center suggested
that a combination of elec-
toral reform and a "loss of
-fervor for new settlements
on the West Bank" would
m Israel's religious par-
dres.
ties.
Number One?
Finally, with the external
danger to Israel abated,
American Jews, many of
whom have almost turned
Israel into a surrogate re-
ligion, might redefine their
relationship to this land that
extends from the Galilee to
the Red Sea. Conversely,
with Israel possibly needing
less political and financial
aid from American Jews, it