This Week

Cover Story

A Dream Ilas Died

After a bombing, Efrat surrenders its hopes for
peaceful co-existence with its Arab neighbors.

YEHOSHUA HALEVI
Jewish Renaissance Media

E at, West Bank
hen a bomb exploded in
a supermarket in Efrat
two weeks ago, it shat-
tered nearly two decades
of trust and the belief that good
neighborliness can solidify peace
between Arabs and Jews.
Following the attack, in which a
Palestinian terrorist attempted to blow
himself up just outside the supermar-
ket after he had detonated a bomb
inside to draw a crowd, Efrat officials
banned Arabs from entering the city.
The terrorist, who had worked in
Efrat and was given security clearance,
was shot dead by a resident before he
could detonate the large bomb
strapped to his waist.

But while residents of Efrat danced
in the streets to celebrate what they
were calling a huge miracle, many
were also grappling with the sobering
realization that no measure of generos-
ity to their Arab neighbors would pro-
tect them from a war whose frontlines
had now advanced inside their com-
munity.
For Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Efrat's
chief rabbi and the community's chief
proponent of co-existence, it was
indeed a bitter pill to swallow.
"I always believed in co-existence,
but to my sorrow, I have now reached
the conclusion that at this point, there
is no room for co-existence, as long as
there is incitement on the other side,"
Rabbi Riskin said. "We are at war, and
we have to show them that they can-
not beat us. Only then can there be
peace, and only then we will be able to

Sharon Pinched

Terrorism, politics are squeezing
Ariel Sharons credibility.

DAVID LANDAU
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jerusalem

A

surge in violence this week
cost two dozen Israelis their
lives — and put Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon's politi-
cal life increasingly at peril.
A year after Sharon took office with
a pledge to restore security, Israelis
were besieged with terror that seemed
to come from every direction and with
almost every weapon — suicide
bombings, sniper shots, Kassam mis-
siles and stabbings.
Sharon's response? Hit the Palestinians
again, and harder.
On Monday, Sharon said the
Palestinians must be dealt a blow so
severe that they will finally understand
that terror damages their cause. Only
then, he said, may the Palestinians be

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2002

16

convinced to abandon violence and
return to the negotiating table.
Israelis, however, increasingly are dubi-
ous that Sharon can lead them out of
the present impasse.
Public opinion polls show Sharon's
approval ratings plummeting from the
highs he enjoyed for most of his first
year in office, with a majority of respon-
dents now saying they do not have con-
fidence in his leadership.
In addition, a Saudi Arabian peace ini-
tiative threatens to expose the gap
between Sharon's goals and the Bush
administration's vision of Mideast peace,
setting up a potential confrontation
between Jerusalem and Washington.
Never formally presented but gather-
ing steam nonetheless, the Saudi initia-
tive calls for the Arab world to make
peace with Israel in exchange for a com-
plete Israeli withdrawal from all land
captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.

rehabilitate the relations between us
and the Palestinians."
As one of the founders of Efrat
almost 20 years ago, Rabbi Riskin has
worked hard to forge meaningful rela-
tionships with local Palestinian vil-
lages. He oversees a special humanitar-
ian fund, which he distributes to
needy local Arab families. Now, Rabbi
Riskin said, he will have to re-evaluate
that support, which in the past has
provided paved
roads, an early child-
hood education cen-
ter and a community
center for one of
Efrat's closest neigh-
bors. Rabbi Riskin
also helped local vil-
lages form soccer
teams and paid for
their uniforms.
Rabbi Riskin
Perhaps most sig-
nificantly, Efrat's secu-
rity personnel have received warnings of
possible attacks. "Many real friendships
have developed," Rabbi Riskin said.
And despite enormous pressure from
the Palestinian Authority, "those friend-
ships still exist."
But five years ago, when Rabbi
Riskin offered funding for a medical

facility, the donation was refused.
"They were afraid that they would be
suspected of collaborating with
Israelis," said Ora Yanai, a volunteer
who has worked on several coexistence
projects.
So instead, doctors in Efrat treat
Palestinians without charging for their
services. "There is one doctor in Efrat
who has treated half the people in one
of the villages," Yanai said. "But now,
it has all come to a
standstill."

20 Year Effort

-

Efrat is situated in the
Judean mountains,
nine miles south of
Jerusalem, across the
"green line" in the
block of settlements
known as Gush
Etzion. Building in
Efrat began in the early 1980s and has
expanded to include five of the city's
seven main hills.
Slightly more than half of Efrat's
10,000 residents are native Israeli while
the remainder are English speakers from
the U.S., Canada, England, Australia
and South Africa, plus a small number

Washington has welcomed the initia-
— not yet, or at least not publicly —
tive and is exploring it, while Sharon said but he warned that "the moment of
this week that a return to those borders
decision is approaching."
— which leaves Israel just nine miles
Shalom spoke during a day of terror
wide at its most populated point —
attacks that spanned the length of Israel,
would endanger the country's security.
including missiles that landed in a
With - the death toll rising precipitous-
Negev city, a shooting attack in a Tel
ly this week, an opinion poll by the
Aviv restaurant, a sniper attack on a
influential Tami Steinmetz Center at Tel
main road just outside Jerusalem and a
Aviv University showed a steep drop —
suicide bombing in the Galilee city of
from more than 40 percent to just 26
Afula.
percent — in the number of
Shalom's remarks came immedi-
Israelis who agree with Sharon
ately after a Security Cabinet
that "Israel can change the situa-
meeting where differences among
tion by the use of more military
the country's top policy-makers
force." At the same time, only
became starkly evident.
27 percent believe that diploma-
Sharon reiterated his determina-
cy can resolve the conflict, as
tion to strike hard at the
Labor Party Foreign Minister
Palestinians, but he had to shelve
Shimon Peres proposes.
Ariel Sharon a proposal to send Israeli tanks
If those messages seem contradic-
back to besiege Arafat's office in
tory; it's no accident.
Rarnallah in the face pf strong opposi-
After nearly 18 months, the increas-
tion from Defense Minister and Labor
ingly bloody Palestinian intifada (upris-
Party leader Benjamin Ben-Eliezer.
ing) shows no signs of abating, and
The quarrels around the cabinet table
more people on both sides are describing are compounding the worry and despair
the deteriorating conflict as outright war.
that is permeating the Israeli public.
The second-ranking Likud Party min-
Political commentators predict that the
ister demanded Tuesday that Israel oust
longevity of the unity government is in
Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat doubt as the violence spirals.
from the Palestinian territories. Finance
On top of the unrelenting security cri-
Minister Silvan Shalom admitted that
sis that stalks the streets of every Israeli
his position was not shared by Sharon
city, citizens this week had to contemplate

