Tuesday, August 23, 2005

The End of the Beginning

It's over. The disengagement has been successfully carried out, with little violence, and without the civil war predicted by some, endorsed by others. The precedent has been set.

The question is: Now what? Where do we go from here? Will we follow Condoleesa Rice and the Europeans and make a bee-line for the green line? Will we try to hold on to something? Is there even the slightest chance that this will lead to a quiet modus vivendi (forget peace)? Perhaps more importantly, where are we going as a nation, if we can be called that? Will the post-Zionist train derail, or drive us off the cliff at full speed?

My Obiter Dicta has pointed out that the most pressing issue at the moment is the care for the thousands who have been evicted. It will take time to absorb them and help them fit in. But no-one has the right any longer to duck the pressing issues at hand. We are a badly divided society, with several forces, most on the far-left, and some on the right, trying to pull us into the abyss. The fundamental issues we took for granted - Jewish identity, our right to self-determination, have been called into question.

Moreover, we can no longer delude ourselves that we can hold the entire West Bank indefinitely. We can no longer indulge in fantasies that "it won't happen" or "millions of Jews will come" or "Jordan is Palestine". We must now cut our losses and save what we can. Most importantly, we must reconnect to Israeli society. The tendency to segregate ourselves in "religious only communities", both within and beyond the Green Line must stop. Now.

I am sure that many will disagree, even vehemently, with what I have stated here. But if the disengagement has proven anything, they can no longer afford to ignore it.

Yehi Ratzon She'Yichleh Charon Apo VeNizkeh Le'Geulah Bimhera Beyamenu. AIWAC

No comments: