Jewish
Frontier

In the early hours of the morning of November 9, the army and police completed the rather unpleasant task of evacuating Havat Ma'on—an illegal outpost of one of the settlements in the West Bank, occupied by a small number ofstarry-eyed young settlers, claiming a monopoly on love of Eretz Yisrael and possession of an authentic Jewish heart.

Though the pictures of the event, broadcast all day by the two TV channels were emotionally difficult, the Israeli population at large remained calm. There were no demonstration, no public debates (except those held by the TV channels), no special excitement. This does not necessarily indicate that this calm atmosphere will continue. Perhaps more of the quiet before a storm—the storm that will undoubtedly break out once the parameters of the permanent settlement between Israel and the Palestinians have been worked out in about three months time, and the government will no longer be able to avoid admitting that not only illegal outposts of settlements must be dismantled (this was done in cooperation with the Yesha Council), but also quite a few settlements.

That a storm will break out, nobody doubts. Nevertheless, there seems to be a general consensus among observers that the Israeli public at large is ready for what waits ahead in the peace making sphere. The public appears to accept with equanimity the prospect that within the next year (if indeed Barak manages to stick to the rather tight time table he has set for himself) there will be a permanent settlement with the Palestinians, involving major Israeli territorial concessions, the establishment of a Palestinian state, and some sort of condominium in Jerusalem; that Israeli troops will be out of Lebanon, with or without a formal agreement with Lebanon and Syria; and that unless President Assad's health fails him completely, Israel will be well on its way to an agreement with Syria, involving Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights (to the international border—not to the 1949 armistice lines) and the establishment of formal relations between the two states. At least on two of these issues—the permanent settlement with the Palestinians and withdrawal from the Golan Heights—the public will be asked for its approval in referendums, and before the referendums there is sure to be some pretty emotional campaigning for and against. But as already pointed out, at the moment, all is quiet.

People look at Barak, and his various political moves, and most feel that the man knows exactly what he is about, and that everything is planned and deliberate. Even the unpleasant evacuation and dismantling of Havat Ma'on seemed to serve a purpose: to show the world that from an internal Israeli point of view removing settlements is not a simple matter, and should not be taken lightly. It might even be argued that the fanatic and at the same time rather naive settlers and their few hundred supporters, willy nilly served Barak's purposes perfectly. Perhaps it would not be an exaggeration to state that the Israeli public feels, to a very large extent, like an audience attending a spectacle, every detail of which has been planned, at the end of which it will be called upon to clap or boo.

Though the Israeli public at large does not seem in the mood to go out and demonstrate about anything, and especially not about the peace making process, it would not be accurate to say that it is not concerned with, or that it is completely apathetic towards numerous very serious problems connected with fundamental social issues, which one way or another involve government policy and national priorities. Perhaps a more accurate observation would be that it is overwhelmed. Within the space of a single article it would be impossible to deal with all of these issues, but mention can be made of a few especially important ones.

One such issue concerns the mounting violence in the Israeli society—especially violence within the family and among youths. This is not a new issue, but some especially brutal murders, that have taken place recently, have increased awareness of the problem, and demands to deal more effectively with it, by means of the education system, the law enforcement system and the activities of voluntary organizations. Nava Barak, the prime minister's wife, is active in the struggle against domestic violence.

The successful struggle of the cripples (those born crippled, or crippled as a result of disease or accidents), which recently led to a significant increase in the financial assistance they receive from the state, despite the initial resistance of the Finance Ministry, will without doubt lead to radical struggles by additional weak groups within the society. Quite clearly the Finance Ministry cannot afford to be generous with everyone immediately. Even without new claims and demands, the budget for the year 2000 is already in dire straits. However, there is no doubt that sooner or later the Government will have to deal seriously with a growing number of pockets of misery in Israeli society, as Barak promised to do in his election campaign. These pockets of misery did not appear overnight, but the general feeling is that as Israel moves towards peace with its neighbors, and the Israeli economy performs more satisfactorily, some far reaching changes in the country's way of dealing with major social problems , and in its allocation of resources to do so, will have to take place.

In the sphere of education some interesting issues have come up for public debate, due, to a large extent, to initiatives inspired by Minister of Education Yossi Sarid from Meretz, but also by the approaching reality of peace. One of these concerns how the history of Zionism and the State of Israel are taught. Some new school books have introduced a more critical approach to the teaching of these subjects. Such issues as the problem of Palestinian refugees, or the relative power of Israel and its Arab enemies back in 1948/49, are no longer dealt with in simple, black and white terms. If we recall that back in 1979 the censor deleted several paragraphs from Yitzhak Rabin's memoirs, in which he wrote about the deliberate expulsion of the Arabs ofLod and Ramie in the course of the War of Independence (in which he personally was involved), it becomes apparent how radical the change is. This does not indicate the acceptance by the Ministry of Education of the approach propagated by the "New Historians" or the "Post-Zionists". It does indicate a willingness to give up certain national myths that have persisted since the birth of the state, and even before, and to let Israel's youngsters take a more honest look at their own heritage.

Another issue that has recently come up for serious debate in the education system concerns how the Bible is taught in the non-religious schools, with the goal of changing the negative attitude of many secular youths to the Book of Books, and contending with the fact that serious doubts have recently been raised by the community of archeologists in Israel regarding its historical accuracy. The question is whether the Bible can once again be turned into everyone's book—a source not only of religious belief, which is not shared by everyone, but also of wisdom and moral principles.

A totally different issue concerns the Nimrodi/Pridan affair, and the current investigations being carried out against former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara. Initially the Nimrodi/Pridan affair concerned illegal phone taps ordered by "Ma'ariv" publisher Ofer Nimrodi against leading figures in the editorial board of its competitor "Yediot Aharonot", and leading journalists in his own paper. The phone taps were carried out by private investigator Rafi Pridan and his partner, Ya'acov Tsur, who turned state witness. The outcome of this affair, which first became public in April 1994, was that Nimrodi was sentenced to eight months imprisonment, of which he served four before being released, and Pridan recently started serving a four year sentence. What has now happened is that Pridan started talking after more or less keeping quiet for five years, and among the allegations he has made (apparently backed by substantial evidence) is that Nimrodi had planned to have Tsur murdered in South-East Asia, and that he was involved in other efforts (including bribery) to disrupt the investigation against him. Pridan has also disclosed to the police the names of additional public personalities—some 100 in number—for whom he and his parter carried out illegal phone taps.

The Netanyahu investigation involves suspicions that the former Prime Minister and his wife received substantial personal benefits from a furniture mover, who also supplied them with other personal services, for which they did not pay and allegedly did not plan to pay from their own pockets. The bill for all these services, amounting to over NIS 400,000 (about $100,000), was finally sent to the Prime Minister's Office, which turned it down. The furniture mover has turned state witness.

What does all this have to do with the general public? What the two affairs reflect, irrespective of the outcome in both cases, is that some pretty crooked norms have taken root in the highest level of Israeli society. It is not just some of the leaders of Shas who have taken liberty with public funds and the law for their personal benefit, but others as well. It is not just Nimrodi who ordered extensive phone taps and was apparently willing to go to great lengths to clear himself. There are at least 100 public figures, including several former government ministers and some of the leaders of the "Old" Histadrut, who allegedly ordered phone taps and are thus liable to receive prison sentences of up to five years each, if brought to trial. In addition, in all these cases serious allegations have been brought against the conduct of some of the police officers involved in the investigations. In the case of Nimrodi, he apparently received information from the inside regarding the investigations being carried out against him. In the case of Netanyahu the allegations concern deliberate leaks of information to the media.

The public is currently being overwhelmed by all this information, but has not yet absorbed its full implication. Quite a few parties—and especially the new Central Party—spoke during their campaigns towards the last elections, about the need to "clean the stables" and to "change public norms". Will all this lead to some real changes? Will Barak's government do what needs to be done? Will Israel after the millennium be a better Israel? Hopefully yes.