48

ty that they voted for Bibi Ne-
tanyahu."
Mr. Lapid wad exaggerating for
effect. But the thrust of public
opinion seemed to be that while
Yassir Arafat incited the Pales-
tinians to an unforgivable display
of armed militancy, Mr. Ne-
tanyahu made a fatal, fateful mis-
judgment: He shouldn't have
opened the tunnel when Pales-
tinian anger over the peace
process was so close to the boil-
ing point, and he should have first
consulted military and intelli-
gence leaders much more than he
did. For Mr. Netanyahu, the Is-
raeli center was not holding.
"I'm certain he's lost support.
This is not how it's supposed to
be done," said author Haim Gun,
a founder of The Third Way who
left the movement when it decid-
ed to run for the Knesset.
President Ezer
Israeli soldiers try to
Weizman, a reliable
extinguish a burning tire
barometer of Israeli
rolled toward them by
Palestinian demonstrators. public opinion,
agreed that the Has-
monean Tunnel was
a historic, inspiring Jewish site.
"But we also have to know how to
live with the Arabs," he said.
Whatever the relative sizes of
the pro-Bibi and anti-Bibi camps,

the opposition had greater torque,
as fears of deeper escalation and
even war were prevalent. A peace
demonstration in Tel Aviv's Kikar
Medina attracted 30,000 people
Saturday night — without any
advertisement. The calendar of
protests was filling up quickly.
"I'm going to go to as many of
them as I can. My feeling is, it's
now or never," said a woman at
the rally.
The bitterness felt by the peace
camp was such that a few people
talked about refusing to serve in
the territories. "I have one son
still in the army reserve, and he
said if he is called to the territo-
ries, he won't go. He'll go to
Lebanon, but not to the territo-
ries," said the Bnei Brak pen-
sioner. "I fought in three Israeli
wars and I have four sons who
also went to war."
Public opinion could change,
however, if the conflict escalates
and more Israelis are killed. At
the Kikar Medina rally, former
Tel Aviv mayor Shlomo Lahat re-
ceived applause when he warned
Arafat, "If the Palestinian police
open fire once more on our sol-
diers, we, the seekers of peace,
will not be able to help you." ❑

Tunnel Vision

Theology and sovereignty are thrown
into the mix of the tunnel debate

ERIC SILVER ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT

JERUSALEM

w

hen Israel opened
the tunnel adjacent
to the Temple
Mount, Prime Min-
ister Binyamin Ne-
tanyahu gushed that a visit there
had "touched the very depths of
my soul."
Palestinian Authority Presi-
dent Yassir Arafat reciprocated
in kind. Opening the tunnel, he
fumed, was a crime against his
religion.
"The Palestinian nation," he
said, "will not stand by with its
hands tied while its holy places
are violated."
By the time Israelis and Pales-
tinians had buried their more
than 70 dead, the rhetoric had
given way to realpolitik. Mr.
Netanyahu was talking sover-
eignty, incitement and tourist

revenues. Mr. Arafat was resist-
ing the "Judaization" of
Jerusalem and moaning that the
prime minister humiliates him.
The sober focus on interests
and grievances offers a sliver of
hope, though the prospects are
still far from rosy. In the conflicts
of this thrice-holy land, theology
leads to jihad. By definition, re-
alpolitik is amenable to diploma-
cy.
The theology was spurious on
both sides, though it has been an
element in the tunnel saga ever
since excavations started in 1968.
It is no accident that the dig was
supervised by the Ministry of Re-
ligious Affairs, not the Antiqui-
ties Authority.
The wall is sacred because
Jews for centuries have prayed
in its shadow. It w2 nart n nt of

