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Jack Engelhard is the author of the novel "Indecent Proposal" and the award-winning memoir of his experiences as a Jewish refugee from Europe, "Escape From Mount Moriah." His novel "The Days of the Bitter End" is being prepared for movie production. He receives e-mail at:
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By Jack Engelhard
January 1, 2006
An Israeli novelist I'm corresponding with, sharing tips, asks me if it's all right to mention Netanya in his novel, in case Netanya is gone in a year.
Only an Israeli could ask such a question.
That same day I'm reading that the Israeli government is expanding certain settlement blocs outside Jerusalem. The next day I'm reading that, fearful of international condemnation, the expansion plan is nixed. A day later Ariel Sharon says that the expansion will go ahead, yes, but that he's prepared to uproot and destroy these new settlements upon any agreement with the Arabs.
In other words, Israelis and newly arriving Jews are welcome and invited to put down permanent roots anywhere in Israel, until those permanent roots are permanently uprooted. Every inch of Israel is negotiable. Or, as Israeli politicians and diplomats refer to the Land of Israel -- bargaining chips. Just like Gush Katif, which was vacated from Gaza, vacated of Jews for an Arabs-only zone ("All Jews Out Of The Pool!"), to make room for peaceful Kassam rockets being hoisted from new and improved Gaza.
In the middle of all this, I'm getting e-mails, from Israel, urging me to make Aliya.
Sharon himself urges me to come on down and make Israel my new home.
Sharon is big on Aliya.
But suppose, a year ago, I had made Aliya to Gush Katif? Today I'd be without a job, my kids without a school, all of us without a home, except in a trailer park.
Suppose "Next Year in Netanya", Netanya is gone just when I decide to move in?
Suppose "Next Year in Jerusalem", Jerusalem is gone by the time I get there? After all, Mahmoud Abbas now says the Western Wall is his. Why not? Only Israeli "intransigence" (a word re-coined by Steven Spielberg) would keep Abbas from the Kotel and all the rest. A Jerusalem void of Jews would be seen by the world as a step forward. In Hebrew, forward is read as Kadima.
What if I decide to make my ascent to Beit El and by the time I get there, there is no place to set a ladder, if you are Jewish, like Jacob?
Suppose I pick up to move my family to Hadera and by the time I arrive Sharon and company have already established it as part of an Arab-only state?
What if I decide to make Ashkelon my new home but Sharon has already shaken hands with Abbas and Ashkelon is a done deal?
Suppose Ashdod is just right for my family and no agreement has been reached between Sharon and Abbas, but Condoleezza Rice phones Sharon (boss to employee) and tells Sharon that Ashdod is needed for a Palestinian state, and that the people who live there already, if they are Jewish, had better get packing? So forget Ashdod.
Pardes Hanna. I stayed there once when I was deep into Krav Maga, Israeli martial arts. I thought, then, that this would be the place. But suppose Pardes Hanna is to be wrapped up with a ribbon and handed over to the Palestinian Arabs, for the promise that they will murder fewer Jews today than they did yesterday? Peace, in other words.
An Egyptian military man was once asked if he is against the existence of a Jewish State. No, he said, that is okay, as long as all of Israel is confined to Tel Aviv's main boulevard, Dizengoff Street. Sharon and company must have been listening, as well as the U.S State Department, headed by Condi Rice, for that is the pattern.
Aliya means Dizengoff Street.
Suppose I stay put until Israel decides to act like it's for real.
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Special Note: Jack's Engelhard's political newsroom thriller, "The Bathsheba Deadline," is running as an exclusive online serial on Amazon.com for digital download. Parts 1 and 2 are available now, or just visit Amazon.com and write "The Bathsheba Deadline" in the Search bar. And, once you're up to speed, the just-released Part 3 awaits. The rest of "The Bathsheba Deadline" will be featured on Amazon.com in monthly installments.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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