By Elyakim Ha'etzni
September 5, 2005
Many Jews are soul-searching, a process that always ends the same way: Beating the chest and confessing our sins.
This time, goes the argument, the settlers' sin was failing to "settle" in the hearts of ordinary Israelis. As a result of neglecting the general public, we were left alone when the pullout tragedy struck. But is it really true?
Let's say the Sycamore Ranch Forum decides one day that in order to save Ariel Sharon's skin, Israel must remove itself from the "Galilee finger," that small parcel of land in the north, heavily populated by Arabs and located between two Arab countries -- namely, Jordan and the Palestinians -- that has become too big a security burden for the IDF.
Arab Knesset members secure a majority for the move, the media pitches in to do their part, and "Operation Galilee Finger" is all set.
Who, except for the new refugees, will run to demonstrations, refuse military orders, sneak through open fields to infiltrate the blockaded area?
Forget the clear majority, the "political center." Once again, you would have the same folks, kipas on their heads, those same dregs from the "nationalist camp."
But will anyone ask why Kiryat Shmona and the kibbutzim of the north failed to "settle in the hearts of ordinary Israelis?"
Or perhaps we'll ask, for a change, what happened to those very same hearts?
Who's Farcical?
Commentators have called the symbolic opposition on the rooftops a "farce".
But what did they expect? 9,000 protesters to take on 60,000 soldiers and cops?
It's really the opposite: Settlers had something important to gain by resisting their eviction - they forced the State to call up the reserves on a war-time level, a luxury most countries can only afford once a generation or so.
And the price they extracted was a deterrent, albeit a worrying one, by disobeying IDF orders, that was hiding behind quiet agreements with individuals and with combat units.
Now, many have stopped seeing the IDF as a "people's army," and the repercussions on motivation will be severe.
Saving Sharon's skin
More than anything, Sharon was trying to rescue his political future. In order to do so, he tried to prevent pictures of forced evictions and violence, crying and desperation -- the reality of expulsion.
He wanted a "deluxe" evacuation, Ganim- and Kadim-style -- quick, elegant, painless.
To achieve this, he applied double pressure: Loss of property and loss of a third of the compensation payout to anyone who didn't willingly leave his home before being deported.
But on this count, Sharon was a resounding failure: Deportation Day dawned with most residents in their homes, and here the image becomes anti-Semitic: Jews interested only in money.
By staying put, and by leaving painfully, tearfully and broken hearted, they extracted their price from Sharon and his regime.
Failing the test
How did the settlers fail? They failed the "Galilee finger" test.
The public "at the center of the political map" failed to close down the government, as they did not-so-long-ago in Prague, Budapest, Belgrade, and Kiev to topple those dictators.
Sharon's rating amongst that public remains high, despite the deportation and destruction. And this is the greatest existential threat the Jewish people face today.
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