Monday-Friday mid-day reports from Israel by Robert Rosenberg
Images by Silvia Rosenberg (unless otherwise noted)
Everywhere is Hadera
Friday, November 21, 2003
Fear the fear, painting by Silvia Rosenberg
The bombings in Istanbul and the ongoing investigation completely dominated the news. But the bottom line was best expressed by an Israeli man at Ben-Gurion Airport, last night, who said that he decided not to cancel his vacation in Turkey. 'I'm from Hadera, so what do I have to be afraid of in Istanbul?' Indeed, everywhere now seems to be Hadera, which has seen its share of terror attacks over the last few years.
But while the public focus was on Istanbul, on questions like how deeply was al Qaida involved or how soon after a bombing campaign like the one in Istanbul taking place in London will the anti-Bush and Blair demonstrators there disappear, or even how the terror attacks in Turkey will contribute to closer ties with Israel, there was another development that almost went missed altogether this morning.
Last night, for the first time, Ariel Sharon indicated that he is ready to make a change – and not in military strategies against terror. Instead, he appeared to confirm speculation and rumors that he has been working on a new Israeli initiative to break the deadlock with the Palestinians. It's all still iffy – last night, speaking to a business conference, he only said, 'We are committed to the road map, as approved by the cabinet, and to our agreements with the Americans. In addition, we do not rule out unilateral steps.'
But there have been stubborn reports that he has a draft speech about a Gaza first initiative (finally quitting the settlements of Gaza) on his desk and that he plans to use an upcoming conference on Israeli national security at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center to present either that Gaza first idea or other political proposals. It was a year ago, at last year's conference, that Sharon formally adopted the two-state solution envisioned by President Bush. At the time, that seemed like a breakthrough, except Sharon did nothing to advance it – fighting the roadmap tooth and nail, for example, and when he finally brought it to the cabinet, he made sure that the Rightist flank in the government neutered it (as far as Israel was concerned) with a list of 14 conditions that essentially hollowed the roadmap of any meaning.
Indeed, as opposed to last year, when Sharon's 'Herzliya speech' was billed by his aides as historic, it has become clear to everyone – and perhaps clearest to Sharon – that he has been sliding down a slippery slope of lost popularity in recent months. The dovish 'Left' is suddenly everywhere, offering alternatives. It's not yet organized as a partisan electoral force but the 'private' Ayalon-Nusseibeh and Geneva initiatives, combined with ever more outspoken criticism of Sharon policies by consensus figures like former Shin Bet chiefs, seems to have cornered Sharon. And over the past week, two of his three best friends internationally – Bush and Putin – seemed to openly betray him.
In a public speech Bush slammed the settlements, the separation fence, the outposts (meaning Israeli credibility) and the humiliation of Palestinians; Putin meanwhile ignored Sharon's requests to keep the roadmap out of the Security Council and Russia won a 15-0 vote on the Security Council expressing support for the roadmap – and not the Israeli version, with the 14 reservations, comments and corrections. Only Sharon's third best friend overseas, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi have Sharon the treatment he believes he deserves – a warm, red carpet welcome in Rome.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei' works on his cease-fire plans. The current goal is a post Id el Fitr conference in Cairo, attended by all Palestinian factions, to hammer out the final details. Sharon's people seem to be indicating a meeting between the two prime ministers might be possible before that Cairo meeting, while Qurei' keeps saying that he wants to make sure that whenever the meeting takes place, its achievements are already nailed down before the photo-op.
In any case, everyone is aware, as each day goes by, that a day without a terror attack in Israel on the order of those that took place in the last few days in Istanbul, is enabling the 'skeptical optimism' that is beginning to sprout on both sides that a new cease-fire might actually lead to some improvement for both peoples' condition. And as such, perhaps 'hopeful pessimism' is even more precise a way to describe the mood nowadays.
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There have been very few people in the last decade -- and perhaps longer -- who
managed to be heroic for all or almost all Israelis, religious, secular, Right,
Left, Jewish, Arab, Sephardi, Ashkenazi, new immigrant or fifth generation.
Too many issues divide too many people here. But Ilan Ramon, the somewhat baby-faced
air force colonel selected as the first Israeli to go into space on board the
American shuttle craft, was one of those heroes whose deed fired the imagination
of Israelis across every spectrum. Even the most cynical and skeptical had to admire
not only his ascension to that vaunted gallery of people who had the 'right stuff' to
go into space, but the grace with which he did so, the alomost childlike joy he
so generously gave of himself during those live broadcasts from space on board the shuttle,
and the faith in science and humanity that he expressed during his broadcasts.
And then the shuttle crashed, and with it, another hero was gone.
So much hope was pinned on Ramon's trip and in a way, the shuttle disaster tragedy
was more than the loss of an Israeli hero, but like the Rabin assassination,
the loss of the hope for heroes. Get the book. It's short, concise, informative and moving. (RBR)
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