There is a concept called division. This concept belongs to Israel. No other country in the world, except Czechoslovakia before WWII, would surrender half its land, including its defensive lines. But Israel is a divided country. Despite the Jewsih majority, nearly three million arabs live in Israel. And these aren't the only divisions. Israel is divided across international borders. It's people are divided by opinions and loyalties. It's people are divided by culture and appearence. And they are divided by religion--although they're all Jewish. Israel is a divided country, more so than any other. Yet Israel is also united, much more than others.
I'm convinced that Israel has survived, only because so many have tried to destroy it. And the Jews have only remained a nation because all the nations where against them. It is because Israel is always under attack that the children of Israel find a reason to come together, and it is because Israel is so fiercely attacked that the people of Israel so firmly cling together. But it shouldn't be like this. Israel achieves nothing this way, except a limited form of survival, although Israel wasn't meant to survive for nothing. Israel must grow beyond its foolishness and live for a Reason; then they will have a Reason to be united in their Land, and no invador will be able to drive them out.
For another reason why it is the wrong approach to security, it is worth repeating a story I wrote, which appeared in an article entitled, DETERRENCE OR DHIMMIZATION (THE MACCABEAN, January 1995): Back in 1965, in a small meeting room in Tel Aviv, former Defense Minister Moshe Dayan gave a pep talk to a group of RAFI (Reshimat Poalei Israel) volunteers, myself included. At that time, RAFI, a breakaway faction of the Mapai Party, included such notables as former Prime Minister David Ben Gurion and former Defense Minister Shimon Peres. Peres and Dayan had been considered the "hawks" of Mapai and it was no accident that in the 1965 election they supported a strong defense and security policy.
Dayan was always interesting to listen to, but this talk was something special and we paid attention to every word. "The essence of Israel's security in this region (middle east) is deterrence," he said. "When we formed the State in 1948-9, we were very weak. The arab States had planes, tanks, heavy artillery, and many more soldiers than us. We had very little heavy military equipment. In the period 1949-55, we absorbed almost a million immigrants. Tent cities sprung up all over the country. We were totally disorganized. Had the arabs mounted another major invasion, we could have lost. We devised a solution to this problem. It was deterrence. Think about being lost in a forest and surrounded by hostile animals. If you light a torch, boldly approach them showing no fear--they will retreat. But, if you show fear--they will attack and you are lost. We used this principle to save Israel during those early years. Every time we were attacked, we retaliated ten fold. We showed daring and penetrated deep within their borders to attack our targets. We were fearless, brave, and even a bit bloodthirsty. You know the result. The arabs were afraid and never attacked. Deterrence worked. By 1956 when we invaded Sinai, the Israel Defense Force was not just strong, it was invincible."
The story above was not told just for nostalgia. The lesson is extremely important for the survival of Israel today. Unfortunately Israelis are daily witnessing the consequences of seven years of declining deterrence vis a vis its arab population. In 1987, the intifada presented Israel with a new challenge. It was a new kind of war, but with the same aim of driving the Israelis out of Israel. The Israelis fought the intifada with many handicaps, not the least of which were their own rules of conduct. Israeli soldiers failed to cope with attacks by teenage arab boys. In the course of several years, the arabs learned that the soldiers would not aggressively retaliate for their attacks. They became emboldened. The Jews living in Judea, Samaria, and gaza showed great fortitude, enduring thousands of attacks and still tripling their numbers. The serious security failure developed as arabs became accustomed to attacking Jews and Israeli soldiers. By trying to remain humane in the face of massive attacks, Israel emboldened the arabs to more and more attacks. Throwing concrete boulders, molotov cocktails, and then using firearms at Israelis, became the norm of behavior among the arabs. The Israeli government allowed its citizens to be attacked solely because they were Jews. In no other country of the world would such a policy be tolerated. Several weeks ago a reserve officer of the Israel Defense Forces made a wrong turn and ended up in the center of Ramallah, an arab city. He was immediately attacked by a vicious mob of arabs, murder in their eyes, who almost beat him to death. Deterrence had vanished.
While the Jews may not have been afraid like the man in the forest, the affect of multiple restrictions on the Israeli right of self defense had the same result. That result was to increase the bloodlust of the arab population and to multiply the Jewish casualties. For Israelis to seek security behind a security fence is a total reversal of the traditional policy of deterrence. From the days of Orde Wingate during the arab riots of 1936-9, Israeli military strategists have always emphasized the doctrine of striking the enemy deep within his territory. Retaliation, deep penetration raids, were the hallmark of the IDF. To return to a siege mentality hiding behind electrified ghetto walls would be the beginning of the end of Israeli independence. No barrier whether the Bar Lev Line or the Maginot Line can resist a determined enemy willing to risk money and lives to breach it.
In conclusion, I believe that the only way for Israel and her beleaguered citizens to achieve security, both personal and national, is by reasserting those traditional methods of combat that will re-establish deterrence in the minds of the arab enemy.
[This article was published in the Jewish Herald-Voice (Houston) on April 5, 1995 and in the April 1995 issue of The Maccabean. Nothing has changed since then and the talks have achieved nothing but war and division for Israel. However, the danger of war is uniting Israel once more.] Excerpts from, "Israeli Reservists Eager To Serve In Yesha Territory," by Amir Rapaport, Yediot Achronot, October 18, 2000:
A few days after rioting began in the territories, Lt. Col. (Res.) Boaz
Zafrir telephoned Efraim Brigade Commander Eitan Avraham: "Call up my
regiment for reserve duty," requested Zafrir. "You don't need to issue
emergency call-up orders. For starters, I'll arrange for 50 volunteers
within a few hours."
Zafrir's request was not unusual: Commanders in the territories relate
that this is a phenomenon, and that they have been deluged with hundreds
of requests from IDF reservists who seek to volunteer for service due to
the situation.
Col. Gal Hirsch, Commander of the Binyamin Brigade operating in the
ramallah area: "In our brigade, dozens of men wanted to volunteer. One
of our reservists, who lives in South Africa, saw what was happening on
TV, dropped everything, and turned up here."
Major (Res.) Tal Vardi, a bank employee from Raanana: "I can't remember
any mobilization that ever proceeded so smoothly. Usually, a large
number of soldiers line up for personal interviews at the beginning of
each stint of duty. There are many requests for exemptions for various
reasons, like a new job, problems at home, or "back pain", which is very
popular. This time, the number of requests for exemptions was
negligible, which actually created a certain problem.... No-one wanted
to go home."
Pony-tailed Staff-Seargent Lior Stein, 30, from Givatayim: "This time
there are no (political) arguments (between reservists). Everyone
understands that this is obligatory combat forced on us by the other
side. That's why there are no political arguments between us now."
Israel is the only nation whose people have been scattered throughout the world for thousands of years, yet they have returned to their Land and rebuilt their nation. And Israel is one of the few nations that only one-third of its people reside in their Land; yet the exiled majority still retains strong ties to its nation and a lasting concept of nationhood. Even then, Jews around the world argue amongst themselves, perhaps more than anyone else; and not one of them can agree with the other, because none of them understand their Role in the world. I don't know who they're trying to impress; all this division and yet they're united. It seems they're united only in foolishness, because the only thing that keeps them together is that they're all always in a state of constant danger.
SEPARATION & SECURITY FENCES, "The Primary Fallacy," by Bernard J. Shapiro, April 1995:
The idea of separation has much appeal to an Israeli population feeling threatened daily by hostile arabs. The Israeli government recently advanced an elaborate plan to construct hi-tech fences and new military checkpoints between Israel and the "palestinian" West Bank in an effort to reduce the risk of militant violence. Israeli security officials brought the plan before the Knesset a day after islamic extremists opened fire on an Israeli bus near the West Bank town of Hebron, killing two Jewish settlers and wounding five. The separation plan involves building extensive fences, other barriers, and restricting arab access into Israel through eight to ten crossings points. The border would be heavily patrolled by Israeli soldiers and police. Cost estimates range from $300 million to $500 million. An economic report on the draft plan said the cost would be too high and separation would lead to political and economic instability in the plo areas, perhaps intensifying the danger of attacks from opponents of the Israeli-plo peace process. Analysts such as Dore Gold, Emanuel Winston, and Ze'ev Schiff have discussed many of the reasons why it simply won't work...
The rioting in the territories has caused a new phenomenon: eagerness
for reserve duty. Israeli army reservists are no longer seeking out
exemptions because of problems at home or back trouble, and units are
flooded with hundreds of volunteering requests.