Efrat's Uncertain Future

American-born Israelis in the West Bank
wonder whether their community will come
under Palestinian control.

INA FRIEDMAN

ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT

E

fiat is a West Bank town
just south of Bethlehem.
The cornerstone was laid
for the Norbert Blechner
College of Jewish Studies
(which will offer a combination
of Jewish and secular studies,
with an emphasis on social
work), and Housing Minister
Benyamin (Fuad) Ben-Eliezer
came for the occasion.
It's rare that Mr. Fuad comes
to the territories these days. As
the chief architect of the hous-
ing freeze declared last year, he
is the chief target of the anger
shared by many of the Israelis
who live over the Green Line.
Indeed, as he drove into
Efrat, he was met by a cluster
of demonstrators, who followed
him to the ceremony and heck-
led his remarks.
Their gripes were not about
the government's treatment of
Efrat. On the contrary, the
housing minister's presence at
the ceremony signaled contin-
ued support for the eight set-
tlements of the Etzion Bloc
area, situated halfway between
Jerusalem and Hebron.
Nevertheless, some of the cel-
ebrants backed the behavior of
the protesters, while others ap-
plauded the call for tolerance
and respect.
That division of opinion is
typical of the mood in Efrat, a
town of some 4,000 people that
was established 10 years ago —
largely by immigrants from the
United States — and has
thrived ever since. A 20-minute
drive from Jerusalem (when
traffic is tolerable on the two-
lane road that passes through
Bethlehem), Efrat is one of the
many "bedroom communities"
that have sprouted up through-
out the West Bank and has
proved to be a magnet for ob-
servant Jews from the English-
speaking world (who make up

more than 30 percent of its
population). With its good
schools, aesthetic archi-
tecture and collection of
professionals and Ph.D's,
it's a success story by any
standard.
t
But today, in the wake s.
of the agreement signed
with the PLO, anxiety ,:;Z;
permeates Efrat like a
chilly winter fog. Some
of its residents are
pleased by the autono-
my agreement; others
are against it. Some Efrat as view
ed from the road approaching it,
oppose it for ideologi-
cal reasons, others criticize it on
alyp-
pragmatic grounds.
tic feeling in Efrat."
But everyone seems wary of
Efrat
That may be so. But at least
what lies ahead.
and the territories in general.
one of Mr. Geldman's neighbor's
"The main anxiety has to do
"Efrat is here to stay," Rabbi
expressed something pretty
with a sense of being left un-
Riskin declared confidently,
close to it. "The institution of a
protected — of the whole state
dismissing that subject as one
Palestinian police force will only
being left unprotected," ex-
of many uncertainties of the
make things worse, since they
plained Rabbi Shlomo Riskin,
new situation. Yet some anxi-
won't seek out the terrorists
a former New Yorker, leading
eties exist even on that score.
who
take
refuge
in
Arab
vil-
founder of Efrat .
"When we settled here in
lages," predicted 32-year-old
"Everyone knows that Efrat
1983, the understanding that
Eve Harow,
is going to be in the heart of the
Israel would
formerly of Los
Autonomy,' " echoed 39-year-
retain control
Angeles.
old Chane Deitcher, another
of the Etzion
Stressing
former New Yorker — who
Bloc was part
the lack of
spoke of the agreement as be-
of what Is-
trust between
ing an "emotional, moving ex-
raelis call the
Israelis and
perience" — "but no one knows
Consensus,"
Palestinians,
exactly what that will mean in
explained
Ms.
Harow
terms of our personal security."
Efraim Zuroff,
called the
No one knows — but many
another ex-
agreement "a
are predicting a considerable
New
Yorker
sham" and
escalation in terrorism in the
who is now Is-
warns that "it's
months to come. Seven Efratis
rael director of
just the first
have already had a taste of it.
the Simon
step of the
Last week, 41-year-old Ardie
Wiesenthal
PLO plan to
— Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
Geldman, formerly of Chicago,
Center. After
destroy Israel
had four bullets pumped into
the
recognition
in stages."
his station wagon as he headed
of the PLO,
She even foresees the entire
home over a back road.
however, and the demise of that
affair ending in a war "in which
"Our 5-year-old was grazed
"sacred cow," Mr. Zuroff— who
we'll have to fight for the state
by shrapnel, and fortunately
characterized the agreement as
all over again."
that was the worst of it," he re-
having "great potential that
Such
dire
predictions
are
one
lated quietly, without any sense
cannot be ignored or mini-
expression of a less prominent
of rancor. "It was a close call,
mized" — has begun to wonder
but nonetheless gnawing fear
but we're calm. There's no apoc-
whether the consensus on the
about the political future of

"The main anxiety
has to do with a
sense of being left
unprotected — of
the whole state
being left
unprotected."

Et-
zion Bloc might not change,
as well.
"The settlers in the territo-
ries never managed to convince
the rest of Israel that what they
are doing is for the common
good," he reflected. "Being la-
beled as 'enemies of peace' is
painful to many people here."
There are various responses
to that concern. One is to vent
anger over what many settlers
regard as the government's "be-
trayal." "I can't understand
how an arch-terrorist has been
turned into a candidate for a
prize while we're being called
`obstacles to peace,' " said Ms.
Harow.
Another has been to create
Chug Tchelet (literally: the
Light-Blue Circle), a kind of
think tank designed to "get a
better deal from the govern-
ment" by proposing ideas for en-
hancing both the security of the
settlers and the political future
of whole chunks of territory, like
the Etzion Bloc.
So far the main thrust of this
thinking, as explained by Ben

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