Beginnings
Good news and bad news out of Israel, from which I have just returned after a two week stay. The good news: Henceforward, each month's moment will be graced by an article by either Matt Nesvisky or...
...But for the rest of us, it has come time to give up our illusions, to deal with the new facts that are daily narrowing Israel's future options...
...all new housing is being built in the West Bank...
...We felt that it deserved to be shared with moment readers...
...I met a t-shirt in Los Angeles recently that carried the following legend: Roses are red, Violets are blue, I'm a schizophrenic...
...Both are Americans who now live in Israel, and their regular contributions to these pages will dramatically improve our coverage of events in that country...
...After all, the Camp David accords call for an interim period of five years, once the nature of the autonomy is decided, before the final disposition of the West Bank is settled...
...And remember, please, that this being the January-February issue, there will be a six week interval before your next issue arrives...
...Withal, I think it a splendid piece of both thinking and writing, much the most sensitive depiction and appraisal of Israel's condition these days I have seen...
...On the basis of extensive conversations with Israelis both in and out of government, both hawks and doves, and on the basis of hearing and reading what Israeli leaders are saying to their own people, and, most important, on the basis of reviewing the construction plans and activities on the West Bank, I must report that the notion that Israel's intentions on the West Bank are negotiable is a self-indulgent delusion...
...Yossi Klein's extraordinary memoir first appeared in the Village Voice last October...
...Readers will recall Nesvisky as the author, in October, of "Unofficial Rumors of the War," an account of his experiences as a soldier in the Lebanese war...
...I will have considerably more to say about Israel in next month's issue, where I plan to discuss my recent visit in some detail...
...Klein will be best remembered for his article, in September 1981, on the World Gathering of Holocaust Survivors...
...In the meantime, by Way of unmitigated good news, I am happy to report that our circulation leaped forward by nine per cent last month, due to your response to our special gift subscription sale...
...And there, much new housing is being built, most of it not intended for hardy ideological zealots on lonely hilltops, but for crowded Tel Avivians looking for suburban space within an hour's commute of their jobs...
...And this, I might add, although there are elements of Klein's memoir with which I disagree rather sharply...
...I say this is bad news because I have the strong impression that most American Jews agree that Israel's permanent control of the West Bank is a prescription for permanent conflict...
...The good news: Henceforward, each month's moment will be graced by an article by either Matt Nesvisky or Yossi Klein, who have both joined our masthead as contributing editors...
...For all practical purposes, there is no longer any housing construction taking place within the borders of Israel proper...
...By coincidence, articles by both Nesvisky and Klein appear in this month's issue...
...And now for the bad news: Some American Jews have permitted themselves to believe that Israel's intentions regarding the future of the West Bank are negotiable...
...they will find comfort in the accelerating pace of Israel's de facto annexation of the West Bank...
...The coincidence owes to our decision to reprint an article that first appeared elsewhere, something we have done only three times since moment's inception...
...Some, of course, do not agree...
...Way to go...
...So am I. Happy Purim, sooner than you think...
Vol. 8 • January 1983 • No. 2
