IsraelThe
End!

FP 19. Juni 2013

Haaretz Jun.11, 2013

How long does Israel have left to live? (a self-test)
Bradley Burston

American author and philosopher Leon Wieseltier says Israel won't survive much longer as a Jewish state unless the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is solved. But if Netanyahu has indeed managed 'to take the Palestinian question off the table,' as Wieseltier suggests, could the end be nearer than we think?

Excerpts:
Scoring: 10 points for each A answer, 50 for each B, 200 for each C.

30 – 40 Points: Jews in North America and other Western centers are abandoning Israel and Zionism at a rapid pace. Demographics of age, political orientation and intermarriage point will only accelerate the trend: A Jewish state in Palestine has, at the outside, 5-10 years to live.

50 – 150 points: By 2030, Palestinians will constitute a 56 percent majority in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. By that same year, more than a third of all Israelis under 20 may be ultra-Orthodox. If Israel keeps the West Bank, it will lose Israel. Without partition: 20-30 years to live.

200 Points or More: All Jews and supporters of Israel need to realize that if they unify around the message that Israel is here to stay – from the Mediterranean to the Jordan – it will be.

Supporters of an independent "Palestine" take heart in delusional liberal support for a two-state solution, and in murderous Islamist faith in annihilating Israel.

They refuse to come to grips with the reality: Israel, with God's help – and if traitorous elements do not succeed in undermining it – will live and endure forever and ever.

Full article:
The American man of letters Leon Wieseltier, a lifelong defender of Israel – in his own words, an "impenitent Zionist" – said this week that "Unless there is a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there will not be a Jewish state for very long."

Wieseltier, visiting Israel this week to accept the Dan David Prize, presented for contributions to ideas and contemporary philosophy, added that "One of the most shameful aspects of the Netanyahu government has been to succeed in taking the Palestinian question off the table."

If, as Wieseltier suggests, there is effectively no longer a Palestinian question, his darkening sense of Israel's future raises another, the subject of this week's self-test: How long does Israel have left to live?

Question 1

Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon declared last week that the Netanyahu government would block any peace deal providing for an independent Palestine alongside the state of Israel.

Netanyahu's Likud is anchored by party vote as "legally" opposed to a two-state solution, he said, and a commanding majority of the coalition would block the creation of a Palestinian state if such a proposal ever came to a government vote.

"Asked whether Netanyahu truly is in favor of a two-state solution, Danon replied that the prime minister tied the creation of a Palestinian state to conditions he is certain the Palestinians will not agree to. 'He knows that in the near future it’s not possible.'"

Choose one:

A. Despite denials by a number of cabinet ministers, Danon's words are the true expression of this government, and of every Israeli government. From 1948 on, Israel has found ways to sugar coat and disguise ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, theft of their lands, and colonialism as a step toward eventual sovereignty over all occupied Palestine.

The "two state solution" is a smokescreen, an illusion, a fig leaf – just as the "peace process" is. No Israeli government will ever really seek this.

B. Danon is right when he says that a majority of the coalition members – many of them settlers – staunchly oppose a two-state solution, with many openly advocating immediate annexation of much of the West Bank.

At the same time, the current government has shown growing signs of fragility, and Israeli society, propelled by socio-economic concerns, has shown a tilt toward pragmatism.

Support for peace progress on the part of Israel's key ally Washington is at its highest point in a dozen years. New elections – with centrist parties this time speaking openly on the diplomatic and economic costs of settlements, could shift the balance.

C. Danon is right. Israel has nothing to gain from negotiating with terror-sympathizers and Holocaust deniers like Abbas. The Israeli electorate has spoken. There is no partner. There will be no partner.

Question 2

The Oscar-nominated documentary "The Gatekeepers" centers on interviews with the six living former heads of the Shin Bet, which oversees Israeli security policy in the territories. They support a more active effort to forge a permanent peace with the Palestinians. They believe that such a move would contribute substantially to Israel's security.

Their view is shared by many if not most former senior intelligence figures, including former Mossad chiefs.

A. More misdirection. "The Gatekeepers" actually gives some Israelis comfort, enabling them to fool themselves into seeing themselves as enlightened and well-intentioned, despite the torture, collective punishment, summary arrest and execution-without-trial of which the Shin Bet chiefs – and Israeli society - are guilty.

B. At long last, politicians need to pay attention to what their security experts are telling them: Seeking peace is the only sustainable security option.

C. Nonsense. The Gatekeepers is biased and misleading in outlook and editing. It is distorted, demonizing, it treats these men – who kept silent when they were in office and did not resign in protest – as sacred cows.

Question 3

Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics: First-quarter 2013 new construction projects in West Bank settlements grew by 176 percent compared to the same period last year, and by 355 percent when compared to the final quarter of 2012. In the rest of Israel, first quarter 2013 construction starts were down by 8.9 percent.

A. Whatever trumped up justification there may once have been for a Jewish state, there's none whatsoever now.

B. Settlements are a lethal danger to Israel's future as a democracy and a Jewish state.

C. Slandering settlements as anti-peace is a bogus libel. In fact, new settlement housing construction actually fosters peace with the Palestinians, pressuring them to return to the table.

Scoring: 10 points for each A answer, 50 for each B, 200 for each C.

30 – 40 Points: Jews in North America and other Western centers are abandoning Israel and Zionism at a rapid pace. Demographics of age, political orientation and intermarriage point will only accelerate the trend: A Jewish state in Palestine has, at the outside, 5-10 years to live.

50 – 150 points: By 2030, Palestinians will constitute a 56 percent majority in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. By that same year, more than a third of all Israelis under 20 may be ultra-Orthodox. If Israel keeps the West Bank, it will lose Israel. Without partition: 20-30 years to live.

200 Points or More: All Jews and supporters of Israel need to realize that if they unify around the message that Israel is here to stay – from the Mediterranean to the Jordan – it will be.

Supporters of an independent "Palestine" take heart in delusional liberal support for a two-state solution, and in murderous Islamist faith in annihilating Israel.

They refuse to come to grips with the reality: Israel, with God's help – and if traitorous elements do not succeed in undermining it – will live and endure forever and ever.
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