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Inside Israel

Turn the tables on Sharon


By Stan Goodenough
August 16, 2005

I hope to be forgiven for the temerity of making suggestions regarding something that is, in many ways (though I believe not entirely), an internal Israeli affair. Those of us who love Israel want to do whatever we can to help.

Though the hour is late, I believe there is still a chance for those opposed to the ?disengagement? to turn the tables on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

If they cannot prevent the expulsions, they can place responsibility firmly on him for whatever happens tomorrow.

Sharon and State President Moshe Katsav have now both gone on television to address the nation of Israel, and particularly the threatened Jews of Gaza and northern Samaria. Both men said they hurt for what the uprooted families are going through: Katsav said his pain at the abandonment of Gaza ?is too powerful to bear?; Sharon said he felt deep ?pain? and ?a heavy heart.?

Still, both men insisted, the decision to destroy the 25 Jewish towns and transfer their residents was a democratic one: ?The voice of the majority is the same as the will of God. The voice of the Knesset is the same as the voice of the majority,? said Katsav. Sharon stressed that the government had made the decision and the Knesset had approved it.

Tuesday morning Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz gave the same justification for his decision to deal harshly with those opposed to the uprooting saying, ?We?re a democratic country that made a democratic decision.?

While these assertions can be challenged (see note below) it may be advantageous to appeal to democracy to the advantage of those being forced out of their homes.

Supported by Knesset members who oppose the ?disengagement,? the Yesha Council of Jewish Settlements in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, could ask the Israeli television networks for an equal opportunity to answer these national leaders in front of the nation, calling a press conference during prime time Tuesday night to make the following response.

Addressing the government with sincerity and respect, they could say something along these lines:

You have asked us to pay a price that is indeed dreadfully painful: to abandon forever parts of our ancient homeland; to leave our homes of nearly 40 years; to let go the profitable, world-renowned greenhouses we have poured our lives into; to watch as our synagogues are destroyed; to mourn anew as our loved ones, including those killed by the Palestinians, are dug up and moved to new graves. You have asked us to agree to a plan that will enable those who have killed and maimed our members and fought to drive us from these homes to come and parade victoriously through our towns, before they are turned to rubble and given to the Arabs to build a state for themselves.

No-one has the right to ask thousands of people to pay such a terrible price. But you are asking this of us. Outrageous as it is, we have chosen not to respond with violence or hatred ? because we do not hate those who are coming to take us from our homes. We do not even hate you.

We have one simple request. All we ask, is that you agree to do something far less difficult first, something that will not cost you anywhere near what you are asking us to pay.

Israel is a democratic country, and we will respect the democratically-expressed will of the majority.

So far you have fiercely resisted all calls for a national referendum. Now we appeal to you. Give the people the chance to vote. If you do, and if the nation votes in support of your plan, then painful as it is, we promise to respect the will of the people and pay the full price you are demanding of us.

If Sharon and his ministers reject your appeal for a democratic vote, they will be responsible for whatever happens in the coming hours and months.

Peace be upon Israel.

---------------------

NOTE: The vote to ?disengage? may have been legally carried out, but was it a democratic decision?

This Israeli government was not democratically elected.

Sharon and his Likud Part were elected, by an overwhelming majority of people who opposed unilateral withdrawal.

Once in power, the prime minister placed unelected men, like Shaul Mofaz and Ehud Olmert, in ministerial positions, making them beholden to him. There was nothing democratic about their appointments.

After declaring his intention to withdraw, he rode roughshod over those who wanted to employ democratic means to legally oppose him.

When his own Likud Party voted against disengagement, he ignored them ? spurning that democratic rejection of his plan.

When his Chief of Staff and Internal Intelligence Chief both rejected disengagement, he had them removed.

?No-one can tell me about security,? he repeatedly declared, making nonsense of any claim to be carrying out the will of the people. It is his plan. ?No-one? can tell him it is wrong.

When his government came close to toppling, as a majority in his coalition rejected his policy, he made an unholy alliance with Labor (after that party, whose platform was the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, had been handed its worst ever defeat at the polls), creating a situation in which left-wing leaders rejected in the nation?s democratic elections were placed in positions of power and able to pursue their own agenda.

By contrast, the anti-disengagement campaign has been the biggest exercise in on-the-ground democracy in Israel?s history, dwarfing anything ever put on by the left. But despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of people voted with their feet day after day and month after month, forming the longest human chain in history, swarming like ants to Kfar Maimon, Sderot, Ofakim, the Western Wall and Tel Aviv, making their way into the Gaza Strip despite efforts to prevent them ? despite all this, the Prime Minister accuses them of being undemocratic and demands that they obey his ?democratic? dictates.

The emperor is naked. How many Israelis will not allowed themselves to be fooled?

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