I am stuck in a huge traffic jam at the entrance to Jerusalem, and I am furious. Around me I seehundreds of cars stuck at the only entrance to the “eternal capital”, as they are every day, andas they are at the entrance to Tel-Aviv and Haifa. My thoughts wander to the dozens ofwonderful, modern, wide, multi-lane by-pass roads that were built all over the West Bank,including the one from Modi’in to Jerusalem, all of which are now completely empty.
I think about the railway that is not there – a scandal of long standing. One train would havesolved the problem, but the railway was not built. There was no money. Billions were pouredinto the settlements and the by-pass roads, and no money was left for the railroad, the means ofmass-transportation operating even in the most backwards countries.
Nobody knows the total sum that has been invested by the state in the settlements during thelast 33 years. It is impossible to know, because much of it is hidden in a variety of obscurebudget items. Without doubt, many tens of billions. Perhaps hundreds of billions. Thebillions that were needed for the building of a strong infrastructure, for providingemployment, for hospitals, improved schools and universities. With the money invested inone medium-sized settlement, several hospitals could be built, so that no granny would haveto lie in a corridor.
Nobody dares to talk about this openly. The “social” demagogues and the politicians who havebuilt their careers on the “needy strata” of society – not one of them dares to spell it out: thatthe settlements are a tumor that sucks the blood from the social body. The settlements havepushed many sectors of our state to the level of the Third World.
An Israeli paradox: It is the victims of this phenomenon – the unemployed of Ofakim, the sick ofYerucham, the disabled of Ashkelon – who are the most enthusiastic admirers of thenationalist regime that furthers the cause of the settlers.
But the money taken away from development and welfare is only a small fraction of the nationalexpenditure on the settlements. The need to protect the settlements swallows a huge part ofthe state’s giant defense budget. At this moment, the Israeli army is almost completelyabsorbed by this task, reservists are taken from the workshops and high-tech enterprises toguard Netzarim, Kfar-Darom and dozens of other tiny settlements in the middle of a densePalestinian population. “Closure”, “siege” and all the other devices for the protection ofthe settlers are turning us into a pariah state in the eyes of the world.
This, too, is not the whole story. The settlements are the main obstacle preventing peacebetween us and the Arab world. Because of them, Israeli governments do not dare to return to thepre-1967 Green Line, even after the Palestinians have already given up 78% of historicPalestine, which was conquered by us in 1948. Because of the settlements, no border can befixed, making permanent peace impossible. The other problems – such as the Temple Mount andthe refugees – would be solved, if this central problem were resolved.
In the absence of peace, the occupation goes on. The Palestinian people rises up against theoccupation, as would any other people. No army in the world is able to put down such an uprising.For this reason, the senior officers are looking – consciously or unconsciously – for aconfrontation that they capable of facing: war. Under the auspices of Sharon, we are slidingslowly but surely into a general war. This week we heard war threats because of a 10 cm. (4 inch)pipe taking water from the Hazbani river in Lebanon to near-by villages. In the next war,chemical and biological missiles will almost certainly be employed. The civilianpopulation will suffer as never before.
A symbiosis has taken place between the army chiefs and the settlers. The generals seethemselves as the patrons of the settlements. The military that was supposed to be a “small,smart army” for the defense of the state is becoming more and more like a colonial militia forthe defense of the settlements. It has become more and more estranged from large parts ofsociety. The best and the brightest do not remain in the army, they go to high-tech and theuniversities. Their place is being taken by the fanatical “hesder” yeshivot, a kind of modernversion of the Templar order of the Crusaders.
A simple question: When did the State of Israel ever consciously decide to sacrifice itself onthis altar? When was this choice ever put clearly before the people? When has the public, theKnesset or the government ever made the decision to take this road?
The answer: never. This way was imposed on the state by a small, fanatic,messianic-nationalistic sect, which was joined over time by opportunists, gold-diggersand villas-for-nothing seekers. They have dragged the state on their way, step by step, andnow it’s they who decide the destiny of the State of Israel.
The tail is wagging the dog.