I recently attended a press conference on the highly controversial subject of Jewish communities in Judea/ Samaria, which, according to Israel Harel, former chairman and CEO of Yesha Council, the council of Jewish communities in Judea & Samaria, has become an issue above and beyond what's going on in Iran.
He chose to put it in proportion by saying he could not understand "why everybody [particularly the world media] is concentrating so much on this issue nor why they put it at the top of the agenda."
"My son is a founder of Migron, with 42 families in caravans. Is this going to make a difference in the Palestinian acceptance of Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people?" He added that Migron received authorization from the Minister of Defense who saw its strategic importance.
"Putting it in proportion", he said, "means having to ask ourselves what is this issue of "settlements" and isn't the real issue Palesltinian recognition of Israel?"
"Why did the American administration put it on the top of its agenda? I suggest the settlement issue is not the main issue to resolve the problem of war and peace between Israel and the Arab states including the Palestinians. The issue is Jerusalem. The issue is Tel Aviv. The issue if Haifa. The issue is the education the Palestinians give to their students and their denial of the Holocaust. A generation has been raised with hatred and denial."
Debating Mr. Harel was Mr. Mosi Raz, an activist and former secretary-general of Peace Now.
"I approach the issue of settlement as an Israeli who served in the army and one who pays taxes," he said. To him the issue is, are the Yesha settlements good for Israel or bad for Israel. Their creation is a question of security and economics because "they have changed reality and changed the borders." He maintains that the government is afraid of moving settlers from their homes but settlers are a danger to the security of Israel. Raz maintained that from the point of view of economics they have been given government subsidies and investments and when they are dismantled, they will be given compensations. In all these ways they are costing the country funds.
Mr. Harel, however, added that this phenomena is not just political or economic because the communities of Judea and Samaria are Israel's very heartland. He also pointed out that the vast majority of Yesha residents are secular not religious.
In a surprising and revealing comment, Mr. Raz commented that Israel remaining a Jewish state is important but perhaps it isn't all that important for a peace agreement.
He then remarked that "we" have to give up and make compromises [making no comments what the Palestinians have to give up or what they must compromise]. He also referred to the Judea/Samaria areas as "occupied," in contrast to Mr. Harel who said he preferred using the term "disputed."
In closing, Mr. Harel said that he supports the Palestinian state that exists - Jordan - where 70% of the Jordanians are Palestinians and that for the past 15 years the Palestinians have not wanted a solution; they could have had a state with the Oslo Accords and Barak's offer and Annapolis but they always backed down. "They don't want a state, they want Israel, If they don't recognize our right to have a state, we don't do business with them."
Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, lecturer, and book reviewer who lives in Jerusalem
photo by Barry A. Kaplan
