EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

Fences And Bridges

T

terribly difficult it might be for Barak's
his is how the Jerusalem
government
to carry out a plan he says
Report described the inci-
he
is
considering
to "separate" Israel
dent: "Just one hour after
from the Palestinians. It is not just
the start of Shabbat, Pales-
that the lands are tangled together, but
tinian gunmen in neighboring Beit
so
are the infrastructures of water,
Jala opened fire on the Jerusalem
power
and roads and the economies. It
neighborhood of Gilo, lightly wound-
may
be
immediately satisfying emo-
ing a resident and damaging four
tionally and politically to
apartment buildings. It was
talk
about fencing out the
the third such attack against
irrationally
belligerent
the southern Jerusalem neigh-
Palestinians, but the facts
borhood in as many days, and
suggest it is both unrealistic
came just hours after Prime
and unwise.
Minister Ehud Barak paid a
Barak did not seek this
visit to the area."
choice;
[Palestinian Authority
In today's suddenly more
Chairman]
Yasser Arafat
violent Mideast, it was no big
wants
to
force
a decision by
thing. The Palestinian guns
creating
his
"state"
in the
went silent after an Israeli
JON A THAN
context of 33 years ago, with
tank lobbed a single shell into
FRIE NDLY
Israel a fortress democracy in
a vacant Beit Jala lot; no one
Nation al Editor
the sea of hostile Arab
was killed or seriously
monarchies and dictator-
wounded, as they were in
ships.
But
it
is not clear he can succeed.
scores of other incidents throughout
Significantly
at the Arab summit in
the West Bank and Gaza.
Cairo,
Egypt
and
Jordan made it plain
But the incident dramatized how
that they are not about to heed the call
to sever economic and diplomatic rela-
Jonathan Friendly, national editor of
tions with Israel.
Jewish Renaissance Media, parent com-
Arafat may not survive if he
pany of the Jewish News, can be
plunges his economy into further
reached via e-mail at
despair. The 120,0000 Palestinians
griendl@thejewishnews.corn
who normally work in Israel account

for a fifth of the Palestinian GNP. The
border closings precipitated by the
"independence intifada" are already
prompting complaints by many Pales-
tinians that martyrdom puts no food
on the table.

Consequential Act

Separation would not be as disastrous
for Israel, but it would have major con-
sequences. The Palestinian workforce is
a natural complement to its strong econ-
omy's needs for people in factories and
lower-level service industries. Shutting
them out, even as part of a gradual
process would force manufacturing out
of the country or invite a new set of
problems with "guest" labor.
Equally difficult are the 200,000
settlers in the West Bank and Gaza.
However Israel draws lines of annexa-
tion, many of them would have to
move to within a rational and defensi-
ble border. Some of that movement is
overdue; many settlements were creat-
ed or expanded illegally. But the inter-
nal protest over the dislocations will
vex governments for decades.
Quite possibly, the worst aspect of
"separation" is that it would aban-
don the three decades of effort to
forge a long-term interdependence
and hence peaceful coexistence with

the Palestinians.
The calculated violence of the last
month is said to show that they have
never given up their hatred of Israel
and never will. But it may also be a
temporary spasm that the Palestinian
leader has permitted to continue as a
way of winning on the streets some-
thing he could not get at the bargain-
ing table, and it may burn itself out.
The Cairo meeting was, thankfully,
plain about the fact that the Arab
states do not now intend to raise
armies to confront the vastly more
powerful Zionist state.
If so, it will be better if Israel has
not made the future more difficult by
opting for the old-style division of the
type that even North and South Korea
are now trying to overcome. Israel,
with a fifth of its citizens Arab, needs
to continue to try to build bridges
rather than walls.
Barak frequently recites the wisdom
of American poet Robert Frost, saying
"high fences make good neighbors."
Never mind that Frost wrote "good
fences," not high ones. His larger
point was that before building fences
one should know "what I was walling
in or walling out." Unilateral separa-
tion would be a costly and ultimately
futile effort to wall out the future. ❑

SPECIAL COMMENTARY

In Search Of Healing Rains

right now, but for political rather
S hemini Atzeret is known as a
than religious reasons. In the glare
Yom Kippur Katan — a
of
the Sukkot festival, they have
miniature Yom Kippur.
been forced to reconsider
It is a time to
and
re-think. It is a painful
readjust our promises a little,
process.
Could the violence
renew our commitments,
have been prevented? Can
dust off our resolve a bit and
they safely move forward
get ready for the long winter
with
the peace process now
ahead. We look once again
that
it
has occurred? Can
within ourselves to make
the
Palestinian
Authority as
sure that we are ready for the
it
is
now
constituted
ever
gates of righteousness to
be
a
reliable
partner
in
close along with our storm
windows. We winterize our
RABBI PAUL M. peace?
I believe that [Palestinian
souls, and put away the lawn
YEDWAB
Authority
Chairman] Yasser
furniture of our complacen-
Special to
Arafat considers himself a
cy.
the Jewish News
master of brinksmanship —
Unfortunately, our
that by inciting this violence
Israeli brothers and sisters
he
hoped
to
gain some political
are undergoing a similar process
advantage. But he is wrong. He mis-
understands what is happening here.
He was so close to transforming him-
Rabbi Paul M. Yedwab is a member
self in the world's eyes from a terrorist
of the clergy at Temple Israel in West
to a statesman, the founder of the
Bloomfield.

Palestinian state.
His partner in peace, [Israeli Prime
Minister] Ehud Barak, had gone out
on a very shaky political limb and
made unprecedented and courageous
concessions. In deciding to let the sit-
uation, at that crucial and precious
moment, devolve into chaos and vio-
lence, Arafat, I am afraid, has put
himself back 20 years.

Tragic Mistake

Arafat is no statesman. And it will
be very difficult for any Israeli, no
matter how dovish, to view him that
way for a very long time. It was a
mistake for him. It was a tragedy for
us. For no Israeli wants to have
hegemony over the Palestinian peo-
ple. We needed him to be more than
he is. AS a result I am not opti-
mistic, but I am nonetheless hope-
ful. After all, miracles have been
known to happen before in that very
part of the world.

Each year, we say that "on Rosh
Hashanah it is written, and on Yom
Kippur it is sealed, who shall live and
who shall die." We take those words
allegorically, but for Ehud Barak and
the government and people of Israel,
for the Palestinian people as well, they
are very, very real.
On this Shemini Atzeret (Tishrei
22, 5761), as the gates of righteous-
ness are about to close, we pray for
the people of Israel and its leaders,
we pray for the Palestinian
and their leaders as well. May they
be blessed with wisdom and with
courage, with moral resolve and
political vision, and may this winter
bring to them and to all of the peo-
ples of the Middle East the healing
rains of righteousness, of justice and
of peace.

❑

These comments are excerpted from
Rabbi Paul M. _Yedwab :s. sermon last
Shabbat.

,43

10/27
2000

