The Long Road Home

In many ways, Gilad Shalit's journey home has barely begun.

Obviously, we all know that spending years of 19 to 24 in a Hamas bunker is going to leave terrible scars. There will be so many difficulties in his reentry into normal life, and many of them are so hard to anticipate.

Could he have known that he has become an international celebrity and front page news? He must have known that his family would be advocating for him. But what could prepare him for the public persona he now has? Celebrities often complain about the down sides of fame, although they worked hard to earn it. What if it is thrust on you through happenstance? It must create a Harry Potter like sense of confusion. Can he ever have the kind of privacy in public that we all enjoy?

Will he possibly feel guilt? Don't forget that other soldiers were killed during his capture. Will he fear running into families of the victims of the released terrorists? (I don't even want to consider future terrorist actions, God forbid, and what that would make him feel)

I was just watching an interview with the hero Dennis Fitch. It was for Errol Morris' "First Person", and it is riveting. He saved dozens of lives by landing an impossibly out of control plane. It is an amazing story. In the interview, he talks about meeting the mother of a young woman who didn't survive the crash. This mom walked up to him and said, "You killed my daughter!" The injustice of it gave him no consolation. Here was a hero made to feel guilt for what he could not control rather than what he accomplished.

Will Gilad fear such meetings? Will they happen? They could. And what positive accomplishments can he use to attempt to console himself?

I wonder who is even qualified to help Gilad through these times. Who has had an experience like his? Other prisoners of war in Israel may yield some aid and understanding.

I hope it goes as well as it possibly can.

Did the government do the right thing? Its too hard for me to say. Were the potential concerns of strategy and the abstract concerns of justice worth this young man's life? How does one decide?

I keep thinking about a scene from Frank Miller's 1986 graphic novel, "The Dark Knight Returns". The new commissioner asks the retiring Commissioner Gordon how he could have sanctioned a vigilante like Batman. The panels below are his response.

"You will," he answers.

A Powerful argument for the Jewish Renaissance: "Jerusalem & Babylon"

Jerusalem & Babylon / In listing himself as 'without religion,' Kaniuk exhibits lack of imagination - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Ahad Ha'am

Still the Long Now

The op-ed below presents it in a nutshell. In the seemingly unbridgeable gap between the Israeli left's limit of compromise and Abbas' lies the impossibility of moving forward with any peace deal. See for yourself on the Haaretz website, or just read it below:

• Published 12:56 07.10.11
• Latest update 12:56 07.10.11

Open letter to Mahmoud Abbas for Yom Kippur

The two-state solution is running out of oxygen, if it is not implemented soon, it will die; it is time for Abbas to take the step Anwar Sadat took by coming to the Knesset, recognizing Israel as the Jewish people’s homeland.

By Carlo StrengerTags: Mahmoud Abbas Palestinian state Benjamin Netanyahu 1967 borders

Dear Mr. Abbas,

Generally I write to my fellow Jews and Israelis for our high holidays. For you Yom Kippur is, of course, not a day of reckoning, but I hope you will accept these words from an Israeli who has sponsored your cause for years with all his heart. I have done so no less for the sake for my country than for your country that has yet to come into being. 


Because a State of Israel that oppresses another people is an affront to my Jewishness, and that of the majority of Jews worldwide for whom human rights are an inviolable value – precisely because our people has suffered immensely from bigotry and racism. 


Given my sympathy for your cause, I hope you will listen to my call to you; you know, as well as anybody else, that the two-state solution is running out of oxygen. If it is not implemented soon, it will die. 


You will not get a viable Palestinian state from Benjamin Netanyahu. It’s against his ideology. Your success depends on convincing Israelis that they must elect another government, and there is only one way you can do this. 


In your speech at the UN you spoke to your own people. Now you must speak to Israelis. You must take the step Anwar Sadat took. You must come to the Knesset and tell Israelis that you recognize Israel as the Jewish people’s homeland. 


Tell Israelis that the Palestinian people demand that their tragedy of 1948 be acknowledged and recognized, but that you do not demand physical return of refugees to Israel; that individual Palestinians can claim compensation for the loss of their homes, but that, as was the case in Europe after WWII, you recognize that physical return is no longer an option. 


You certainly know that for at least a decade, seventy percent of Israelis have believed that two states for two people is the only way to peace, and that the same proportion thinks that in this generation there is no Palestinian partner for peace. The main reason is the second intifada. Less than two years ago you admitted that this uprising was the greatest mistake Palestinians ever made, and you are right - Israelis, ever since, have no longer trusted Palestinian intentions.


The other reason is that Israelis believe that for most Palestinians the two-state solution is but the first step in a two-stage process to abolish Israel as a Jewish state; that once Palestine is recognized along the 1967 borders, your people will continue to attack Israel physically and diplomatically; that you will insist that every Palestinian refugee around the world has the right to return to the lands and houses of their forefathers; that you will never accept Israel’s legitimacy as the homeland of the Jewish people. 


As a result they ask, why take the security risks involved in implementing the two-state solution in which Tel Aviv and Ra'anana are within the range of Palestinian rocket attacks? And you know very well that this is not just a paranoid fear - the South of Israel has been shelled for years following Israel's withdrawal from Gaza.


I believe that Israel must take the security risk involved, that it has the military strength to deal with these risks if your Palestinian brethren decide to return to the path of violence. I believe that Israel must take this risk because this is the only way that Israel can remain the democratic homeland of the Jews; because a democratic Israel can only exist if Palestinians have their own state. 


But here comes the crucial point. I know that the Palestinian right of return is firmly etched into your people’s ethos; that this right has been at the core of your people’s history, songs, books and stories. 


You, Mr. Abbas, know that Israelis will never accept the right of return. This, for them, is a red line they will never cross. Today, the vast majority of Israelis were born here. In the last six decades, a vibrant culture has come into being here. They have nowhere to go – and they don’t want to go anywhere. This is their home, and they will fight for it without compromise. 


This is not the just the view of people like Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman, for whom, as you know, I have little sympathy. It is the view of Tzipi Livni, of Shaul Mofaz and Shelly Yechimovich. You need to realize that it is even the view of the three remaining MKs of Meretz, Israel’s party most committed to liberal values. 


You are faced with a terrible dilemma, Mr. Abbas. Your legitimacy as leader of the Palestinian people seems to depend on not renouncing the right of return. Your success in establishing a state for your people depends on convincing Israelis that you accept Israel as the homeland of the Jews. 


It will also help you gain support from EU countries, who would be more inclined to support your bid for UN recognition if it were connected to recognition of Israel as the state of the Jewish people. You may remember that Spain, the country spearheading support for your UN bid, also just recognized Israel as a Jewish state – and you might take this as a lead for a fruitful line of action. 


Mr. Abbas, I know that this proposal is very difficult for you to accept. I write to you on the eve of Yom Kippur, because my heart is weary and full of sorrow, because I see the two-state solution slipping away, and along with it the State of Israel as I had hoped to see it – and the State of Palestine that I believe your people deserves. 


I hope you will find the strength to make this historic step. For the sake of your people, and mine. 

Jobs' jobs

A combination of Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Tony Stark and the Beatles. He changed technology, business, culture and formed the future with his vision. Apple is one of the few things left that brands America with images of success, innovation and elegance. 

This is a fundamental element of what it takes to become a light unto the nations. 

Who will be Israel's Steve Jobs?

The Long Now

Have you wondered what Abbas is thinking?

His speech at the UN GA was his explanation of why after 63 years of post Nakba Palestinian suffering Israel must immediately be forced by the world to behave morally. It did not acknowledge any Israeli narrative or concerns, and restated his policy of demanding a stop to all building in the West Bank before he will resume negotiations.

Why would he do this? If he wants a state for his people, and a stop to settlement building, why would he not rush into negotiations? The Palestinians now have the momentum to push Israel into maximum concessions. This has got to be the perfect moment for him to aggressively negotiate in order to achieve his state.

Say what you want about Netanyahu, he acknowledged Palestinian (and Arab) concerns and aspirations in his speech. He called for immediate, vigorous negotiations to get to an end game. It is reasonable to ask if his government could hold together while pulling 100,000 Jews out of their homes after a signed agreement. Heck, its reasonable to ask if anyone could muster the political will from a majority within the Israeli population to support such self-inflicted trauma. And let's accept the, for now, the argument that Netanyahu has deliberately dragged his feet to stall the possibility of finding a deal.

The question is, who would he make it with? Abbas is making it impossible to have the discussion. And I am left wondering why he would make a choice like that. To a reasonable outsider, it would seem to not be in his best interest.

It is tempting to pull out Eban's "[they] never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity" quote. But that is a description, not an explanation. It is also tempting to think of your opponent as crazy and irrational and let it go at that. But its usually a strategic blunder to underestimate that way. Israel made that mistake in 73.

It is possible that Abbas is taking a rational gamble. Perhaps he has accepted the popular Arab narrative that the West is in decline. With Europe and America in dire economic straits, and protests in the streets of major cities, they see our hegemony coming to an end. If the 20th century saw the falls of Fascism and Communism, it is possible that the 21st will see the fall of capitalist Democracies. While praying to God that this will not be the case, it is certainly a real possibility.

It may be that Abbas et. al. are banking on this. A decline of the West leaves a desperately unprotected Israel. If this is so, then the PA is stalling in order to hold off until they can achieve their ultimate goal. Its a frightening thought.

Let me leave off with two videos, one downer and one upper. The first shows a Fatah official explaining what the ultimate goal of the PA really is. He is speaking in Arabic, so its worth paying attention:



The other is an argument in Arabic about their culture today. It is some little cause for optimism that media culture means things like this are broadcast there. Enjoy.

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