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Detroit, Michigan 48221 • Phone: (313) 341-7480 SPECIAL COMMENTARY Blaming Ourselves Philadelphia But Arafat's new war has placed these srael's political left wing is down people on the front lines of Israel's latest but not out. The most fervent war of survival. The men, women and adherents of the peace process children of the settlements are now the have been reeling since Palestinian No. 1 targets of Arafat's legion of gun- Authority leader — and would-be toting Tanzim and other armed Pales- "peace partner" — Yasser Arafat spiked tinian groups, who hope to turn a siege Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's of these Israeli towns and villages into incredibly generous offer at Camp the next great triumph of Palestinian David this past July. Arafat nationalism. compounded the Israelis' dis- That point has been made comfort by launching a war of clearly in the last few weeks attrition in September. with a series of bloody terror- The hurt and humiliation ist attacks on the Jews of the felt by longtime Israeli peace- settlements. A mother of five now advocates at this turn of was shot down in cold blood events is palpable. Leading in a terrorist ambush while politicians, activists and writ- driving to her home in ers have all played the Samaria from Jerusalem. Two spurned lover as Arafat Israelis were killed and nine JON ATHAN S. steadfastly continues to others, including five children, TOBIN refuse to reciprocate their were wounded in a bomb Special to desire for a new Middle East. attack against a school bus the J ewish News But rather than focus its carrying children, parents and anger on the bloody policies teachers to an elementary of Arafat, or on the consensus within school in a settlement in Gaya. Three of Palestinian society that coexistence with the wounded Jewish youngsters (all sib- Israel is impossible, the Jewish left has lings) had their arms or legs partially returned to a favorite target: Jewish set- amputated. tlers. Ironically, the Palestinian decision Though the original founders of to turn their guns on the settlers has the Land of Israel movement in the also made them the No. 1 political aftermath of the Six-Day War were targets for Israel's left. The new tactic just as likely to be kibbutzniks as adopted by the pro-Oslo forces in right-wingers, this has changed. The Israeli politics is to change the topic face of the settlement movement is from Arafat's betrayal of Israel's hopes now virtually interchangeable with for peace to a discussion of the theory that of the right wing, nationalistic, that uprooting the settlers would Orthodox, knitted-kippah wearers. revive the negotiations. In the 1970s and '80s, the settlers Their hope is to create enough were much admired in Israeli society; political momentum for this idea to they were seen as evoking the pioneer keep Barak from giving up on his spirit and selfless courage of the early plans to evacuate the settlements, a Zionists who built Israel. But in the plan of action that has been rendered years since Oslo, the settlers have virtually moot by Arafat's decision for become more and more a target of war instead of peace. resentment. Their stubborn refusal to This theme was sounded in a New give up their belief that the land York Times article by Deborah Sontag belongs to the Jewish people was seen called "Should Israel Sacrifice Its as an obstacle to peace. Hopes for Peace for Settlers?" (Oct. 15). That article set a new record for Out Of Sync bias in a headline, but it was echoed Their numbers have grown to more by a similar piece heard the same week than 200,000 Jews, living in communi- on National Public Radio, whose ties large and small, throughout Judea reporters' antipathy for settlers outdid and Samaria. Though most of their even that of the Times. homes are in strategic blocs adjacent to pre-1967 Israel, the settlers are now an A Strange Twist unpopular minority. Considered out of Yet rather than Israel sacrificing its step with the consumerist spirit of Israeli hopes for the settlers, what is happen- culture, they are seen as relics of a con- ing now is that it is the settlers them- flict that was soon to be officially over. selves who are being sacrificed. In fact, sources in Israel have told Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor me that many of these towns are being of the Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia. left without the defensive equipment He can be reached via e-mail at — such as night-vision goggles and jtobin@jewishexponent.com flak vests — that their reservist inhabi- I