This weekend I came across three news items that I want to share.
1 – The first is an Op-Ed column from Haaretz that explores the possibility that the Saudi government is reaching out to Israel. The Arab Spring has created a confluence of common interests between Saudi Arabia and Israel that the author believes has created a tantalizing opportunity for diplomatic progress.
This possibility resembles past transformative diplomatic initiatives such as Nixon and Kissinger’s opening to China when a confluence of events made that realignment possible. The question is whether the current Israeli government, given the ideology of its coalition partners, has the strategic vision to capitalize on this opening.
2 – The second item is a feature story about a reporter’s day trip to Hebron during Passover. It offers a glimpse into what has happened to that city as the Jewish settlement there has expanded – and the resulting violence that is perpetrated against the remaining Palestinian residents. My experience is that the attitudes that are portrayed by the reporter are becoming the norm on the West Bank: skyrocketing settler violence – settlers can act with impunity with little risk of consequences – versus an evolving strategy of non-violent resistance on the part of many Palestinians. Last week I met several Palestinians in Gush Etzion outside Jerusalem whose attitudes would better be described as resignation: that resistance is futile and one just has to accept the violence and injustice. The mainstream media has not caught up with this change in the West Bank, where the occasional Palestinian violence still makes headlines but today’s widespread settler violence is mostly ignored.
Hebron street with metal grate covering it. Notice the debris thrown down by the settlers above.
3 – This past Saturday, 250 left-wing activists staged a non-violent protest bike ride through the Jordan Valley in the West Bank. A group of Israeli soldiers was waiting for them and their officer apparently led an attack. An article in The Times of Israel features a short video where you will see the IDF officer brutally hitting an activist with his rifle without any provocation. Haaretz has an article that describes the incident in greater detail – the officer alleges he was attacked first and injured – but the embedded video in that article has a technical flaw and is not clear. Unfortunately, this case of an officer allegedly acting with inappropriate violence is not an isolated case as is made evident in this column from this morning’s newspaper.
This incident reminds me of a tour of the West Bank I went on several years ago with Breaking the Silence, an organization of former IDF soldiers whose goal is to “expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories.” The tour was led by a former soldier who said he was volunteering his time as an act of tshuva (repentance) for the gratuitous violence and abuse that he and his comrades had done to the Palestinians while they served in the area around Hebron. He described how his army unit was emulating the violent behavior towards the local Palestinian residents that the senior officers in the area set as an example.
Seven Months in Tel Aviv 
Apr 16, 2012 @ 12:32:46
Responding to your FB musing about how to address/overcome the hostility evident in the comments following your review of the Beinart book. It’s certainly possible to address the hostility, as you’ve done in your responses. Will they hear you? Almost certainly not, for the same reason I believe it’s not possible to overcome their hostility. They *like* their hostility!
The kind of anger visible in those comments indicates that the writers’ positions are intractable to reason, especially as you are not one of their self-identified “in group,” which is to say, and Israeli citizen. Never mind that you bring a perhaps clearer eye; your views will be tainted by what they see as outsiderness. And what’s worse, you have a view clearly at odds with theirs. Oh no, can’t have that!
The great downside of internet comments: that so many people find them an outlet for generalized rage, with no allowance for rational discourse.As with so many situations–certain segments of the NDE community, for instance, or Tea Party zealots, or militant Progressives, or fundamentalists of any stripe–the best approach–or the one most likely to salvage one’s own equilibrium– is often to walk around them. Kumbaya. And Shalom.
Apr 19, 2012 @ 00:03:25
Re: your comments about the incident involving Lt.-Col. Shalom Eisner. You apparently intentionally misconstrue the events, and my question is “Why?”
You claim that “250 left-wing activists staged a non-violent protest bike ride through the Jordan Valley in the West Bank. ” By the protesters’ own words, their intention was to ride along, and block Highway 90.
You then claim, “their officer apparently led an attack.” On what fact do you base this inflammatory statement?
“you will see the IDF officer brutally hitting an activist” a blow which required no follow-up medical treatment.
“without any provocation” How do you know this, if you were not there, and the official transcripts of the IDF’s investigation have not been made public? Eisner claims that the “peaceful protester” in question broke his fingers. Do you know this with absolute certainty to be false?
Once again I ask, “Why?”
Apr 19, 2012 @ 06:54:59
Hi Bill,
The statements in question were taken from several reputable news sources including Haaretz, the Times of Israel, etc. You can argue with them over the veracity of those claims. I might also point out that the officer’s actions were condemned by Netanyahu and the top army brass. I guess I have good company when you accuse me of “intentionally misconstruing.” As I have suggested before, you might want to be more respectful in your comments.
You can deny what is plain to see on the video, a protester standing there, not raising his hands to attack, just standing there, and the IDF officer walks up and powerfully hits him in the face with his gun with enough force to knock him down.It doesn’t matter what came before, if anything. The officer could have arrested the protester if there was cause but instead he chose to use gratuitous violence.
This is part of a pattern of violence and threats being used against non-violent demonstrators that is spreading fear throughout the left-wing community in Israel. One of the scariest examples of this was the incident at Anatot last Rosh Hashanah when non-violent Israeli activists were attacked by a mob of settlers with the police observing and not interfering. Many required medical treatment. See http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4131946,00.html
I might add that if you read the voluminous statements from former IDF soldiers on the Breaking the Silence website, as well as the narratives on the Combatants for Peace website, you will find that this kind of violence is not limited to this incident. It is part of a disturbing pattern that also encompasses the settler community on the West Bank where the number of their violent acts is rapidly increasing. Palestinians and left wing activists are more and more afraid.
Last month I met a journalist who regularly goes to observe demonstrations in the West Bank that begin non-violently and are organized by those committed to peaceful protests. He has to wear a helmet, flak jacket and gas mask because of, according to his report, the excessive force that the IDF is using against demonstrators. He told me he has been shot at even when standing in a group of clearly identified journalists. (I met a young Israeli man, a former IDF soldier, who confirmed this and says he now goes to demonstrations with trepidation, fearing for his life, and has to take along similar equipment as the journalist).
The officer in question in last Saturday’s incident was simply unlucky enough to have a video camera recording his actions. Unfortunately, it seems he is only the tip of the iceberg.