SEPTEMBER 11, 2002 – ONE YEAR LATER

Summer is gone and we once again find ourselves in the midst of the Yamim Nora’im (Days of Awe) between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. During this period, both we as individuals and as a people are reflecting on our acts during the past year. In synagogue this past weekend, I thought deeply about the difficult events, tragedies, and loss of human life during the past year, as well as the many positive moments. It was not an easy year, and I was left with asking, “What Will be in the Year 5763 "?

I heard a very interesting D’var Torah on the weekend that I have been thinking about quite a bit. As we read in Bereshit/Genesis, Adam was created B’tzelem Elokim (in the image of G-d). G-d has the ability to create life (the story of Creation) and to destroy life (the story of Noah and the Flood). Each person has a divine spark within them. Humanity has the ability to create life (giving birth to children) and to destroy life (murder, terrorism, etc.). We each make the choice what to do with the powerful urges of creation and destruction within ourselves.

Let us hope and pray that this year, the world will focus more on creating than destroying life, and that we will see a return to negotiations and peace and quiet in Israel.

This summer, I spent some time at the two FZY camps, Kesher and Ofek, where I saw how the madrichim were able to excite and interest almost 270 fourteen- and 15-year-olds. I also had the good fortune of spending a day with the 65 participants of the FZY Europe Tour for 17 year olds, and spent a weekend at the orientation for the 153 Israel Tour participants. It was great to see so many people involved in Jewish-Zionist education, learning about Israel and its centrality to the Jewish people, and not merely focussing on talking about the Matzav (Situation) in Israel.

At the end of the summer, I was in Jerusalem where I saw the 19 Year Coursers beginning their challenging year in Israel. They have embarked on a very exciting journey during which they will experience so many different levels of and elements of Israeli society.

I hope that these Israel Updates will continue to help you keep apace with the continuing events in Israel, but I also urge you to do your bit to understand that Israel is not just the Matzav. Look further and understand the internal issues within Israeli society. May our prayers for peace be answered soon and may these columns focus more on internal Israeli issues in the not-too-distant future.

So what has been happening in Israel in the last two months? In early August, Israeli Defence Minister Benyamin (Fuad) Ben Eliezer presented the Gaza-Bethlehem First Plan to the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Interior Minister, Abdel Razeq Yehiyeh. The Plan called for withdrawing Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers from PA controlled Area A territory in Bethlehem and the Gaza Strip in return for a PA clampdown on militant Palestinian groups. The implementation of the plan was delayed by the attacks at the Hebrew University and at the Meron Junction over a month ago.

The IDF withdrew from the Bethlehem area, and it has been quiet there for the past two weeks. There has been no IDF redeployment in the Gaza Strip, since the PA has yet to bring the militant groups under security control and has been unable to stop their attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers. Last week, two Israeli soldiers were killed and five injured in the Gaza Strip. In the last month, there have not been any large scale terror attacks in Israel.

The Israeli government permitted the convening of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in Ramallah on September 9-10, allowing members of the PLC to travel out of the Gaza Strip to attend the session. The first meeting of the PLC in 18 months was held in the headquarters of Yasser Arafat. Faced with increasing Palestinian and foreign criticism in recent months, he sought approval of the new cabinet that he appointed during the summer and of the reform plans sought by the United States and Israel. He said that presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections would be held on January 20, 2003 (the same date as the first and only PA elections in 1996). Although he said that he was opposed to suicide attacks inside Israel, he did not condemn all attacks (ie. Those that are trying to ‘throw off the occupation,’ in the West Bank and against IDF soldiers). Interior Minister, Abdel Razeq Yehiyeh, has taken a harder stance and has said that that the Palestinians should adopt nonviolent civil resistance against Israel.

The opposition voices to Arafat and the PA leadership and to the continuing violence seem to be growing. Last week, Nabil Amr, the former PA Minister for Parliamentary Affairs wrote an open letter to Arafat in an official PA journal, Al Hayat al-Jadida. His letter criticized the mismanagement of the national institutions under the PA. He also wrote about his frustrations with the leadership which began with the failure of the Camp David meetings between Arafat and the former Israeli Prime Minister Barak and American President Clinton in July 2000.

"How many times did we accept [the compromise proposals] and then reject them, and afterward accept them again? And we never wanted to learn the lessons of either the acceptance or the rejection. How many times were we asked to do something that we were capable of doing, but did nothing? And afterward, when the solution was no longer within reach, we wandered around the whole world in the hope of getting once again what had been proposed to us - only to learn that between our rejection and our acceptance the world had already changed and presented us with additional conditions that we did not consider possible."

On September 11, the PA Cabinet submitted its resignation, as its member believed that a group of PLC members were going to vote against the cabinet that Arafat had appointed earlier in the summer.

Does this mark a change in public discourse within Palestinian society? Or is it merely the voices of a few ‘radicals?’

However we look at these developments, it is clear that something is happening within Palestinian society. In addition, Ziyad Abu Ziyad, and Sari Nusseibeh, two prominent PA members from Jerusalem, publicly declared that the Palestinians should no longer insist on Israel's acceptance of Palestinian soveignty over the Western Wall and of the right of return of Palestinian refugees to pre-1967 Israel borders.

On the Israeli side, it seems that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon may believe that now may be the first opportunity in months to end the violence and return to negotiations. There has been talk about him meeting Abu Mazen, the Number 2. figure in the PA. In addition, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres met with five members of the PA this week in an attempt to revive the Gaza-Bethlehem First Plan.

As we begin the New Year, let us hope that these new developments and recent lull in the violence will, like the hatzav flowers (Mediterranean squill) in Israel which are now coming out to herald the arrival of the first fall rains, herald new hopes for the coming year.

L'shana Tova Teekataivu to all Readers!

For those of you who want to follow the on-going events, check out some of these web sites that I hope you find useful:

www.haaretzdaily.com
www.jpost.co.il
www.jreport.co.il
www.jta.org (the Jewish Telegraph Agency, a great site)
www.tau.ac.il/peace (The Tami Steinmetz Centre for Peace, Tel-Aviv University – they do monthly “Peace Updates” with surveys about Israeli public opinion)
www.jajz-ed.org.il (Jewish Agency Education Dep’t web site)
www.israel21c.org (site that focusses beyond the conflict)