Anxiety in Israel

...This seriously interrupts the education and career of every young man, particularly since it is not only the 18-year-olds who have to serve but all the new immigrants in their late twenties who have not yet completed their training...

...Yet, the proposed wage freeze, which by the Government's own definition is only a subsidiary question since it is merely one means of dealing with the national emergency caused by the threat from outside, has sharply and dangerously split both the coalition and Mapai...

...Immediately after the war, there were three years of terror and counter-terror in the struggle against the British Mandatory Government...

...One month each year and a day each month, he has to go on reserve duty--not to mention voluntary participation in the longer officers' courses...

...Indeed, this highly vocal and knowledgeable public opinion would regard any consent to appeasement at Israel's expense as nothing less than national treason...

...The population here is made up in almost equal proportions of two groups: native-born and veteran settlers, and new immigrants...

...The latter, of course, are no less preoccupied than he with the security problem, but somehow they have tended now and again to give the impression that there are internal questions which matter almost as much--an impression which is neither correct nor representative...

...of course, taken by the Government collectively...

...Anxiety in Israel The average Israeli, a keen student of foreign affairs, is deeply concerned about his country's future now that the East and West are vying for Arab favor By Uri Ra'anan Tel Aviv Internal problems exist in Israel today, but they do not really matter...

...On such questions, it is impossible to divide the public here into a politically conscious element and an uninterested group...

...What is sometimes regarded by Western statesmen as the exasperating "difficulty" or even "intransigence" of Israel's leaders is nothing but a reflection--often a pale reflection--of what the public feels...

...Thus, in Israel, as probably in no other country in the world--certainly not in the Middle East--public opinion, far from lagging behind its government in awareness of foreign-policy problems, sometimes even gives the (possibly erroneous) impression of being a step ahead...

...Finally, no one here has forgotten the original aim of the Jewish State--not merely to give self-determination to those Jews already in Israel, but to provide a home or at least a national rallying point for the Jewish people as a whole...

...In this Israel has succeeded, not only by bringing in some 800,000 immigrants but also by infusing with national life the whole Diaspora, including, from all reports, Soviet Jewry, which many had wrongly given up as lost after years of oppression and repression...

...That is why a great section of the youth in this country is determined that Israel must get arms from abroad, if possible from the U.S., or fight before the Arabs can again achieve the conditions of 1948...

...It is questionable whether any formal decisions on Israel's foreign and defense policy will be able to alter the attitude of the youth if Israel does not receive arms aid...

...Even the most outstanding of these questions, the one likely to affect the average citizen most intimately--Finance Minister Levi Esh-kol's proposed wage freeze--has by and large failed to excite the public...

...Israel's Arab neighbors proclaim day and night, without guise or guile, that they intend to destroy her and sweep every Jew into the sea, and they are arming at an ever-increasing rate...

...Nor have the right-wing opposition parties distinguished themselves in this respect: On the very eve of the vitally important Knesset debate on foreign affairs and defense, they saw fit to divert public attention with dubious reports about political appointments in certain ministries, although they themselves had practiced this kind of spoils system when in office...

...The newcomers, of course, were influenced by Hitler or by persecution under the Moslem rulers of their native Iraq, Morocco or Yemen...

...What is equally important, the Israeli feels that the war to achieve this object has, in fact, never stopped...

...In this respect, there tends to be a certain gap between the political consciousness of most ordinary Israelis and their leaders, a differentiation which makes the man in the street look good...

...On financial problems, which surely demand no lesser expertise, there has been no such bowing to superior experience by the lay men in political circles--hence the sharper clashes...

...Can we get arms and, if so, from where, under what conditions, and when...

...What the questioner does want to know is, "Will there be a war and, if so, when...

...His education and early life were interrupted again and again by such events and by underground training in the Haganah...

...Quite apart from those who will have to stand in the front lines again, the broader masses of the people have equally good reasons for feeling intimately concerned about foreign affairs...

...For a lost war for Israel surely spells genocide...

...During the war, he probably volunteered for the Jewish Brigade of the British Army...

...it means that this deep awareness has somehow become part of the processes of normal life...

...although, judging by many newspapers and the pronouncements of certain political leaders, this may be considered a subject of great public importance...

...What is responsible for this intense awareness of Mr...

...Everyone here knows that the defeat and failure of Israel would now mean the end of the whole Jewish people as a nation, and that it is most unlikely that in another 2,000 years there would be another miracle to enable another homecoming and the establishment of the fourth Jewish Commonwealth...

...All this is accepted willingly, since everyone realizes that it is quite unavoidable...

...This was followed by Arab guerrilla attacks against the Jewish settlers, and finally by the invasion of the new-born State of Israel by the armies of seven Arab states, equipped with British and other weapons...

...If sufficient arms can be obtained, it is felt, there is a chance that the Arabs will not dare to attack and the status quo will be preserved...

...How much and what type arms can we get...

...Nor should it be read as an implication that the country's policy would have benefited by a crisis or split over foreign affairs and defense questions...

...This means a great deal in a country where everyone lives no more than a few miles from the armistice lines...

...Since the end of Israel's victorious War of Independence, the young Israeli has by no means been able to relax from his military duties...

...and Mrs...

...The war has also gone on at sea and in the air, where the Arabs and especially Egypt have tried to cut Israel's lifelines through the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Elath...

...But the population wants to be sure that all these unceasing sacrifices will at least bring about the desired end...

...Both have endured physical experiences which explain their deep interest in foreign affairs...

...So the average young Israeli may be excused for wanting to know under just what conditions he will have to don his uniform once more...

...Every man, woman and child is deeply aware, almost every moment of the day and night, of the dark shadow which broods over this country...

...As he sees it, under the protection of the armistice agreements a one-sided Arab border war (one-sided at least until late in 1952, when Israel started to retaliate after four years of attacks) has cost Israel close to 1,000 casualties...

...this was followed a few years later by an Arab uprising which lasted until the eve of World War II...

...He is resolved that, if the existence of a sovereign Jewish State still has not given him the right to live in peace, he will at least never have to fight again against overwhelming odds...

...Thus, for instance, it is a fact that, in spite of reports to the contrary, no real crisis has been created either between the various parties composing the coalition or within the ranks of its leading group--the Israeli Labor parly (Mapai)--by the overriding question of the da), i.e., "What is to be done to save this country...

...As for the Israeli Communist party, it has underlined its usual contemptible role by confining its contribution on national questions to a parrot-like repetition of Khrushchev's obiter dicta in the Supreme Soviet...

...The youngsters who were too young to fight in the War of Independence now have to serve no less than three-and-a-half years...

...The Defense Fund, heavy taxation, and the wage freeze will impose extreme financial burdens on the population, and it is by no means sure that there will not have to be many other burdens as well...

...What has been said here concerning the Government coalition does not mean that Israel's political leaders have failed her or are likely to fail her in her hour of need...

...It is on this point that the general public tends to differ from its leaders: The man in the street feels that he cannot contribute much to the solution of economic problems, at least by way of expressing opinions, but that he is within the limits of his rights and ability in presenting an opinion of what steps Israel must take to escape from the dilemma posed by the Soviet-Egyptian arms deal and by the consequent apparent willingness of the West to appease both the Soviets and the Arabs at Israel's expense...

...He readily understands why this duty is necessary...

...As for the former group, let's take the example of any young man around 30 who was born here: At the age of 4 or 5, he experienced the ghastly Arab massacres of Jews in 1929...

...Should we sit tight and wait until the Arabs hit us, or should we, if it becomes obvious that the powers will not give us arms, take the initiative and destroy the enemy's potential before he can pick the moment to sweep us into the sea...

...Most certainly he does not mean, "Will the director-general of a certain ministry be a member of the right-wing General Zionists or the left-wing Mapam...

...But there has been a tendency in political circles to defer to the opinions of the experts on security subjects, although final decisions are...

...Your taxi-driver, your neighbor or your grocer inevitably greets you with "What's new...

...This does not mean that there is panic or that this knowledge in any way interferes with the normal processes of life...

...This is where there are certain differences between the ordinary Israeli and his leaders...

...He does not mean, "How are you getting on...