 
Bibi's Bubble
From The Editor's Desk
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By Larry Gordon
Published on Thursday, December 10, 2009 -
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| Israeli police officers seizing a woman who was protesting the building freeze in Judea. |
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It’s said that lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place. But that doesn’t mean that the same people cannot be dragged out and barred from their own homes more than once, especially from two homes, in different locations, at different times. Now, just a week or so after the Israeli government’s not-too-well-thought-out freeze on construction (on land that Palestinians are demanding one day be the capital of their new country), that is exactly what is taking place.
An otherwise weak and ineffective government in Israel cannot stop Hamas in Gaza from stockpiling state-of-the-art weaponry or Hezbollah in Lebanon from arming itself with tens of thousands of missiles. But it seems the Israeli government knows how to deal with women wearing colorful headscarves and wheeling double strollers.
Mr. Netanyahu is in such a rush to checkmate the bumbling Palestinian leadership that he has completely overlooked the impact his grand international gesture would have on the little people—you know, the population of the State of Israel. And what’s with the those special black-uniformed tough-looking police officers that can’t get enough of roughing up some of their fellow countrymen and co-religionists?
As I write this piece, our contacts in Israel tell me that modifications are being made to the freeze that will in the end make it less of a freeze and something more along the lines of just a big chill. It’s difficult to believe that such minimal consideration went into this idea of sending out police and inspectors to deliver stop-work orders on all new construction in the territories.
Someone in Washington, or maybe someone inside what settler leaders call “Bibi’s bubble,” must have indicated to him that if he announced a freeze, the Palestinians would immediately reject it outright and he would be able to effectively demonstrate to Barack Obama, the UN, and the Europeans that, sadly, Israel just does not have a legitimate peace partner at the present time.
By rushing to get this done, though, Netanyahu trampled over a number of people—mostly Jewish settlers. But, as you know, they’ve been down this road before, more than once.
What was Bibi thinking when the new freeze on construction in the territories included, shockingly, the homes of those who were evacuated from Gush Katif and had only recently finally begun building their new homes in Ariel in the Shomron after years of waiting? “Oh, yeah,” was the essence of Netanyahu’s response. And he stated further that of course those who were dragged from their homes in Gaza in 2005 can’t be included in this, so, let’s see, the freeze will not include them. Maybe the Palestinians are right, after all—this really isn’t a frozen-solid freeze; at best it’s a freeze with a hot sun shining down on an otherwise icy day.
Anita Tucker—a former proud resident of Netzer Chazani in Gush Katif, originally from Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, and today a resident in a prefabricated home in Nitzan—has a bird’s-eye view of the latest gesture to the U.S. and Israel’s stubborn peace partners. In an e-mail exchange, Anita wrote: “My oldest daughter, who lives in Talmon in the Judea area (a 20-year-old settlement that is totally “legal”) sent me the picture that appears here of the Yassam police who had grabbed a mother who was standing at the gate, verbally objecting to the building freeze.”
She continues: “You can see in the picture how her arms are being held much more roughly than called for, as well as the policeman [who] is digging his thumb into the back of her neck and, as we see, his other four fingers are stretched outward to cause this mother much pain.”
The stipulations of the freeze were that if a foundation had been poured for a structure, it would be considered that building had commenced prior to the freeze and it would be able to go forward. Some in the settlement community pointed out to us that they’ve been pouring the cement for foundations for structures for months because they knew this day was coming. One man in a particular community poured the foundation the night before the construction freeze was supposed to begin. When the inspectors arrived, they felt that the cement had not hardened completely and issued a stop-work order to the family, thereby dashing the plans for their new home.
The other day it was revealed what former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s territorial offer had been to the Palestinians for their own new state. While the offer was quite generous—it offered the Arabs about 93 percent of the West Bank—it just wasn’t good enough for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to accept. What he did accept was that areas like Gilo could remain inside Israel, and this area of Jerusalem would have of course continued to grow and develop.
Now, however, under Netanyahu and with Obama in Washington, the Palestinians have rejected all Israeli offers (like the freeze) and are demanding that building cease in all of the territories, including Gilo in Jerusalem. The point is that Arab leaders are not serious about peace with Israel. Actually, as hard as it is to believe, they are already doing better with Netanyahu than they ever did with Olmert. Former Prime Minister Olmert never agreed to stop building anywhere. Unfortunately, Bibi has.
Even the head of the Kadima Party, Tzipi Livni, jumped on the bandwagon to criticize Netanyahu. How, she inquired, does it help anyone in Israel to have communities with tens of thousands of residents—like Maale Adumim or Ariel—equated with some of the small hilltop communities?
The answer has to be that the freeze is not much more than a lot of pomp and hoopla. Somehow it seems to help Israel’s international standing—albeit very fleetingly—to talk tough and even rough up some settlers in these communities.
For Anita Tucker, who had her life and the lives of her children bulldozed in the summer of 2005 as they were tossed out of Gaza, these scenes are difficult to observe.
She concluded her note: “Words cannot express how the Gush Katif parents feel seeing their children in this situation in the Land of Israel, after educating their children to [have a] great love of Eretz Yisrael, Am Yisrael, and Torat Yisrael and seeing that their children too have gone in ethical ways. Be’H in spite of these latest trials and tribulations that seem for naught, we know that the spirit and values of the families will not be destroyed. And if we might feel a moment of feeling tired, Chanukah will be here next week to bring us renewed strength and faith that HaKadosh Baruch Hu answers those who consistently act on their love of the land, people, and Torah of Israel. The Maccabees were persistent and finally Hashem answered their efforts with the miracles and the chanukat ha’bayit.”
Comments for Larry Gordon are welcome at editor@5tjt.com. ♦
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