Impressions from Jerusalem
Friend, Abraham
INEVITABLY, the first question every Amer ican visitor asks Israelis is: "What about the occupied territories?" The answers, in that highly political and vocal country, cut across party...
...we don't think in those terms any more...
...Until recently, the religious parties held the balance of power in the coalitions that are necessary in order to form a government...
...He criticized Eshkol for calling up the reserves and thus making it more difficult for Nasser to execute a partial retreat...
...Nevertheless, Mapam has refused to lose its identity by merging with the ILP...
...Now the secular parties may be able to govern on their own...
...Some of the old-guard Mapainiks hope that the two groups, Achdut Avodah and Rafi—those slightly to the left of Mapai and those slightly to the right—will balance each other, with the result that the Mapai "machine" will retain power in the best of all possible worlds...
...Beigin, leader of the far-right, nationalist Herut, proposed Ben-Gurion as defense minister, but popular opinion focused on the architect of the 1956 victory, Moshe Dayan...
...They only differ about the mix of the two elements...
...They are ours...
...They will control a larger party and still give the appearance of having transferred power to the younger militants...
...As one Israeli put it, "Without the Jews of the world, we would be another Biafra...
...Tourists returning from Israel report with awe on the remarkable self-assurance or, if you wish, cockiness of the average Israeli's attitude toward "the situation...
...The major portion of the ILP is the former Mapai, which still has the final say in policy decisions—subject, of course, to horse-trading with the other groups, Achdut Avodah and Rafi...
...Pinchas Sapir, an old-guard Mapainik, has come out against the integration of the West Bank economy with that of Israel...
...The rationale is that peace will be long in coming and meanwhile Israel should show the world (and the Arabs) that it can coexist with the Arabs...
...Opponents claim that this is only a shamefaced way of proposing annexation...
...they seem united in their supreme confidence that any confrontation will be decided in Israel's favor...
...We must give back the territories...
...While there are differences, all three groups are sufficiently in agreement on the major premises—a combination of socialism and Zionism...
...The ILP is expected to make electoral history by becoming the first single party to achieve a parliamentary majority...
...it has agreed to a joint electoral list with the new party, forming a single parliamentary bloc, but will remain an independent party...
...Maki supported Israel in the Six Day War and has produced some of the best polemics in condemnation of Russian support of the Arabs...
...He once visited a village the day after the army had dynamited houses on the suspicion that they were used by terrorists...
...His friend, sharing the meal, disagrees: "We need peace, yes...
...A few years ago Rafi's political prospects as an independent party seemed rather promising...
...Up to June 9 Dayan also opposed mounting the Syrian plateau, since he felt this would bring Soviet intervention...
...What matters most is control of the party machine, of the Histadrut (the labor federation) and the industrial and agricultural enterprises...
...DAYAN, it turned out, was then against the army's advance to the Suez Canal, feeling that international pressure would be irresistible...
...Despite the Mapai's predominance, the most popular contenders for the succession to the prime ministry—Moshe Dayan and Yigal Allon--come from minor partners in the new ILP...
...When I asked about Dayan's numerous and contradictory plans for the territories (ranging from annexation to a federated state, and stopping in between at an independent Arab state on the West Bank), he became a shade less belligerent: "Will giving them up bring us peace...
...Israel is the only country in the Middle East to boast a legal Communist party...
...The Israeli Army's plans were formulated and prepared —like the contingency plans of all other armies long before Dayan's admission to the cabinet, and implementation of the plans did not have to await his appointment to the post of Defense Minister...
...As a "conquering hero" Dayan is unique...
...This is not the same "one inch" that was the subject of Eshkol's statement of June 5, 1967, "We don't want one inch of the terri tory now in the hands of the Arabs...
...This is in sharp contrast to Ben-Gurion, who never visited an Arab village during his long tenure in office...
...The progressives in the Liberal party, who refused to unite with the antidemocratic, antilabor, anti-Arab Herut, became the Independent Liberals...
...in his swashbuckling but not merely chauvinist style he embodies the ethos of the new Israel...
...Therefore Dayan, who recognized this fact, led the small Rafi group into the newly united ILP, despite Ben-Gurion's opposition...
...Support for Biafra is overwhelming...
...It also promises to tax the kibbutzim and to reduce their share of development funds...
...Next to Mapam, this party is most outspoken against the policy of raids and reprisals, and was vehemently critical of the raid on the Beirut airport...
...Allon follows the Achdut Avodah's "activist" policy of retaliation against Arab terrorism and, unlike Dayan, serves as a spokesman for the kibbutz movement in matters of internal policy...
...But what about security...
...The facts, as they became known, contradict this picture...
...In 1967 he embraced Beigin publicly...
...but with time and debate, alignments on this question are gradually being formed and integrated into the party setup...
...Allon and the former Achdut Avodah favor complete equality for those Arabs who have been living in Israel since 1948, but they have not yet developed a firm position on the territories...
...If Israel would be assured of peace, I would accept any plan...
...IMPRESSIONS FROM JERUSALEM It was generally assumed that Prime Minister Eshkol was in favor of a diplomatic response to Nasser's aggressive acts of removing the U.N...
...One can already distinguish quite clearly the political lineup...
...Allon is being groomed by many in Mapai for becoming the next prime minister...
...has been accepted by Gahal...
...Pinchas Lavon, a former Secretary-General of Histadrut and the "original cause" of the estrangement between Ben-Gurion and his colleagues, recently came out of semiretirement to urge the return of the territories without waiting for negotiations...
...To a good part of the public he remains the "conquering hero," and if he were to favor a compromise solution the Israeli government would have little difficulty in getting wide public support...
...In this crisis such prominent Mapam intellectuals as the novelist Moshe Shamir have joined the "Land of Israel movement," calling for the annexation of the occupied territories...
...In 1947 BenGurion had used Haganah troops against the Irgun and vowed to "never [align] with the Communists and never with Herut...
...The image that now emerges is, politically speaking, extremely powerful: a dashing and vivid military hero, yet a military hero who fraternizes easily with the Arabs and has in fact urged a course of military restraint...
...IN THE PAST few years, seven of the nine important Israeli parties have merged, federated, or split...
...Maki has also denounced the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia...
...A much more accurate gauge of Israeli feelings is the serious political discussion now taking place in the press and the many solutions offered by various leading political figures...
...The answer is that both Rafi and Achdut Avodah are, in a sense, the children of Mapai...
...In foreign policy Beigin's motto of "Not One Inch...
...Outwardly, at least, Israelis seem to regard their constant harassment by Arab terrorists as a trifling inconvenience...
...Only one prominent voice has been raised in favor of returning the territories now...
...I asked a middle-aged Rafi member, a government economist in Tel-Aviv, about his attitude toward the pertinent issues...
...His response to my first question: "Socialism...
...The Six Day War gave Herut leader Beigin a new political lease on life...
...Whether this new respectability will translate into votes for the relatively united Right, in the Gahal, we still do not know...
...Such divisions are not similar to the alignments of the American radical movement...
...BESIDES the territories and peace, there is another important issue within the ILP: the nature of Israel's economy...
...The bombing of civilians in Biafra by Egyptian pilots has not helped endear the Lagos government to the Israelis...
...Normal" (read profitable) in dustries he proposes to turn back to private ownership...
...Within all the parties there are, of course, minorities that reject their leaders' various stands on the territorial question...
...troops, sending huge forces to the border, and blockading the Gulf of Aqaba...
...A young raf tan (dairy worker) in a kibbutz in the Gall explains over his breakfast: "The most important thing is peace with the Arabs...
...The other Communist party, called the New Communist List (Rakach) is predominantly Arab in membership but has a mixed leadership in Meir Wilner (Jewish) and Tewfik Toubi (Arab...
...His underlying view seems to be that Israel should rid itself of the territories as soon as they can be used for gaining a permanent peace...
...He establishes personal contact with Arabs as often as he can...
...Though the second largest parliamentary group in Israel, Gahal has no chance of coming to power in the near future...
...The two large nonsocialist groups, the Liberal party (controlled by the General Zionist conservatives) and the Herut Party (the former Irgun, and generally reactionary) entered into an electoral alliance—the Gahal —in the last election...
...The pivotal personality in Israeli politics is Moshe Dayan, a man with a positive genius for attracting gossip and speculation...
...The answers, in that highly political and vocal country, cut across party lines...
...It is of course possible, as some commentators maintain, that the political leaders are all out of touch with the sentiments of the average citizen and that the country's whole party structure has become anachronistic...
...The original party is Maki, led by Moshe Sneh, with a predominantly Jewish membership...
...The Israelis think of the Ibos as the "Jews of West Africa" against whom the Nigerians are practicing Nazi policies...
...Eshkol favored a military response to the threat of Arab invasion much earlier than did Dayan and his follow - ers...
...The ideology to be cast off is usually the other fellow's...
...Tobenkin, the leading theoretician of Achdut Avodah, has raised the slogan, "We are returning home," and is in favor of annexing the West Bank...
...Gahal is therefore eager for the state to take over welfare functions now performed by the labor movement, in order to weaken Histadrut...
...But the party as such continues to reject annexation...
...But this impression of Israeli public opinion is only partly correct...
...Mapai generally wants to keep things as they are now, with approximately 65 percent of the gross national product deriving from the private sector, and some 35 percent produced by the labor and public sectors...
...it made a strong pitch to the youth...
...In economic matters, Gahal favors a complete shift to private capitalism...
...It urged an "activist" reply to provocations from the Arab states, and confidently hoped to become a serious contender for leadership...
...But results were so disappointing (a mere 10 Knesset seats) that the road back to Mapai looked inviting...
...What it means is anyone's guess...
...Shimon Perez ran from one political leader to another warning against military action and stressing the importance of recalling Ben-Gurion to office, because only he could get de Gaulle to change his mind and thereby end Israel's isolation...
...This resulted in further splits...
...And most reports indicate that he is cordially welcomed by the Arab villagers...
...The two young kibbutz workers belong to Mapam, a Marxist-Zionist organization noted for its emphasis on both the kibbutz as vanguard of Israeli society and ArabJewish rapproachment...
...Some Israelis say that this is his hobby...
...On this visit he was accompanied by less security guards than an Amenman President would require in any city in the U.S...
...There are few issues in Israel not directly involved in partisan politics, and one of these is Biafra...
...Right now it has only 23 of 120 seats in the Knesset...
...Why the demand for Dayan...
...As a whole, the Biafra tragedy has had one somewhat unexpected effect in Israel: it has made the Israelis more willing to admit that in their struggle for national survival, the Jews throughout the world still play a crucial role...
...His major contender for leadership of the ILP is Yigal Allon, member of an Achdut Avodah kibbutz and a former chief of staff...
...The territories...
...So far his is a lone voice, but it may be symptomatic of a sentiment among the old guard that a price must be paid for peace...
...Dayan's role in the 1967 military actions have been greatly exaggerated...
...We must keep Golan and East Jerusalem...
...Right now Dayan favors "integrating" the conquered territories into the Israeli economy...
...It was Dayan's view that the Israeli forces should content themselves with a devastating strike against the Egyptian forces in Sinai and with taking Sharm-a-Sheikh...
...But in Israel new opinions soon make themselves felt, and the notion, so popular among certain journalists, that the party leaders have lost contact with the people, isn't likely to stand up under close examination...
...All groups accept the idea of a mixed economy...
...To give them up would be a sign of weakness...
...We know now that even after the blockade of the Than Straits, Ben-Gurion, Dayan's mentor, was against recourse to arms...
...But, as Ben-Gurion learned to his chagrin, personality is not the decisive factor in Israeli politics...
...they follow the tradition of Euro ABRAHAM FRIEND pean politics...
...It promised to lead the country from a class-conscious to a "national" outlook...
...This is an elastic phrase, never properly defined...
...Beigin's inch refers to the occupied territories, and IMPRESSIONS FROM JERUSALEM the inch in question is not to be returned to the Arabs under any circumstances...
...The most important recent political event in Israel is the formation of the Israeli Labor party (Mifieget Avodah...
...Rafi combined, at the top, the revered figure of Ben-Gurion with such "Young Turks" as Dayan and Shimon Perez...
...Almost everyone in Israel can find something to please him in Dayan...
...Meir Yaari, the Mapam's theoretical leader, is happy about this prospect because "Israel will now be able to resist the blackmail of the religious parties...
...This raises an important question: Why should an entrenched social democratic machine support a declared "leftist," who is not part of the old Mapai, for leadership...
...Now all that remains of Rafi is Ben-Gurion himself, in splendid isolation in his Knesset seat, though within the ILP Rafi members still constitute a distinct tendency...
...For a while it seemed that the "New Communists" were developing a Maoist line, but they have been recognized by Moscow and have supported its actions in Czechoslovakia...
...Allon hopes to reverse the ratio, while Dayan, who tends to see the state (rather than the chalutz) as the modem "pioneer," calls for state investment in industries that are not attractive to private capital and for state operation of industries of "national importance...
...On this issue, Dayan holds the trump cards...
...One of his strongest arguments is that the new Arab citizens acquired by Israel through annexations could change the national character of the country, that Israel would then no longer be a Jewish state, but would either become a binational state or some day face the possibility of being a country in which an Arab majority is ruled by a Jewish minority...
...Israel is less a welfare state than a welfare society, and many welfare functions are performed by nonstate institutions like Histadrut...
...In the mood of national unity generated just before the Six Day War, all political parties were invited to join the cabinet...
...That's an old-fashioned issue...
...The older generation of Mapainiks, composed of powerful personalities greatly experienced in the ways of Israeli politics, cannot be counted out...
...In a surfeit of wealth, it even has two Communist parties...
...We can't go back to farming under Syrian guns...
...Inevitably, the consolidation of the labor parties has led to reactions among the other parties...
...Some Israeli observers feel that the seemingly endless regroupings are necessary to the painful process of casting off old European ideologies and adapting to the new situation...
...As a reward, Israeli Communist journalists have been refused visas to Russia to attend the Youth Festival and other occasions...
...Just prior to the war, he had, for the first time, joined the ranks of the "respectables," when he became a minister in the unity cabinet...
...The similar military backgrounds of Allon and Dayan may explain their substantially similar policies regarding the new territories and their responses to Arab terrorism...
...The "Allon Plan," which calls for returning the West Bank while keeping a strip along the Jordan for garrison purposes, has not been endorsed by his group...
...Yet ABRAHAM FRIEND it is only Dayan who today can exercise charismatic powers both in Israel and abroad...
...This group has inherited the Arab protest vote that once went to Maki...
Vol. 16 • July 1969 • No. 4
