Heading nowhere good

I hate to do this so soon after other Israel-related posts (I have other good ideas floating around, but they take too much time to write until anatomy is finished), but worrisome events have been cascading. I won't bother you all with my own 'analysis' of much of these, as you can find any opinion you want in the media and online.

Instead, what I wish to address is the growing rift between settlers and the rest of Israeli society - and, more worrisome, the shift of this conflict into one between the religious and secular. My comments are precipitated, of course, by the recent events in Amona, where overeager police violently removed protesting settlers from the outpost (injuring several hundred along the way), and destroyed the settlement. While not occasioning that much comment in the world, the images of the unprecedented violent confrontation between armored riot police and thousands of settlers shook many Israelis. Previously, removal of illegal outposts (or evacuation of legal settlements, as those in Sinai in the 70s and the Gaza disengagement) had been done in a forceful, but generally peacable manner (ie, people had to be carried out, but generally did not harm or attack the police/army, nor did the army use excessive force against the settlers and protestors). The Amona dismantling changed all of that, in a worrisome direction. I won't give the details of what happened - you can search either Ha'aretz or Arutz Sheva for the leftist and rightist sides of what happened, respectively. Suffice it to say, it was an ugly confrontation that had the police coming ready to do violence, and the settlers barricaded and determined not to move. Hundreds of people (mostly protestors) were injured, and dozens were arrested.

I find this development troubling, because it brings a issue that has been simmering for years into clarity.

First off: I have no problem whatsoever with the government choosing to dismantle illegally built outposts. People may whine about the timing having to do with Olmert's election strategy, but I don't care. Settlers who build illegal outposts know full well that their homes can be legally destroyed. They know that they are breaking the law to make a point - protesting the government's actions with construction (a non-violent but very visible form of protest, no?). Similarly, I have no issues with protestors using civil disobedience (ie, refusing to leave the outpost) to protest this, nor do is there an issue with the government arresting those individuals if they break a law (I don't know, obstructing something). My issues lies in the fact that the government rejected compromises with the settlers, and then came loaded for bear, more than ready and willing to use excessive force to remove the protestors. And most of the Israeli public and media noticed, shrugged, and went on with their lives, perhaps saying, 'eh, the settlers deserved it.'

Treppenwitz, a blog I've recently begun reading, has an interesting analysis of the systematic exclusion and disenfranchisement of settlers by the Israeli government as it relates to the Amona demolition. I don't agree with all of it, but it helped highlight some of the issues that have been bothering me.

The so-called 'hilltop youth' of the settler movement have been demonized by Israeli society in an unseemly way. They are portrayed as blindly following the orders of ideological leaders, willing to do anything and everything to preserve settlements. In the disengagement from Gaza, the media and government as violent radicals that would resort to deadly force against Israeli police and soldiers to keep the evacuations from proceeding. Though this failed to materialize (yes, yes, there were some incidents of assault, I won't deny this - but with tens of thousands of protestors, things could easily have gotten much, much worse, though they never did), most people attributed this to the amazingly sensitive job done by the IDF (there is a great deal of truth to this) rather than on any restraint on the part of the young protestors.

In the months following Gaza and leading up to Amona, this perception has been reinforced further. The hilltop youth are no longer seen as Israeli citizens with a legitimate right to peacefully protest the destruction and negotiation away of their homes and ideals, but rather as a dangerous fringe group of fundamentalists who will tear the fabric of Israeli society. Not cool at all.

Many Israelis are legitimately frustrated that the settlement movement has such sway over the government's security and diplomatic considerations. Many, particularly the secular Israelis, believe that the settlers are dragging Israel into a costly and painful war over their own religious beliefs, imposing them on the rest of Israel. They neglect to realize that every Israeli administration has supported the building and expansion of settlements, and that the vast majority of settlers are peacable, deeply patriotic Israelis who are great assets to their society.

The settlers, on the other hand, by and large religious, see the majority of Israel reversing on its earlier encouragement to build settlements, and joining forces to ostracize the very people who used to protest Israeli national interests.

This growing dichotomy in Israeli society has merged with another difficult issue - the secular/religious divide on religious, social, political, and diplomatic issues. Unfortunately, these issues are not being addressed or minimized by any parts of Israeli society. Most of the meaningful contact that religious and secular Israelis (and settler and non-settler Israelis) has occured in the IDF, and much good has come out of this 'great equalizer'. But I wonder... if the settlers begin to see the army and police as brutal arms of a government policy intentionally aimed against them (as Amona would seem to indicate), then how long will even this last? IDF commanders had talked about not allowing 'hilltop youth' who participated in protesting disengagement to join the military... will this become a trend?

If things like this continue, it is all too easy to see the change of the National Religious (dati leumi) community into a large, disenfranchised, reviled section of Israeli society. Israel would be foolish to allow this to continue; the National Religious community is a very important asset to Israel, full of dynamic, hardworking, committed citizens. To dump them as the 'unwanted children' of former government policies would be immoral and foolish.

I can only hope that someone in Israel realizes this - soon - and fixes the problems. This is *not* something that can wait.

(One last point: I do understand that the NR community has also distanced itself from the rest of Israeli society and created poltical rifts, further exacerbating the issue. I think that people from both sides need to reach out to bridge the growing rift. Yet Amona was far more a fault of the Israeli government and vilification in the media than any actions by the settlement movement. And the Yesha Council, though often unhappy with things, has consistently tried to create compromises with the government, only to be spurned after which the media blames 'settler intransigence'. The rule of law must hold, of course, but this goes way beyond enforcing government decisions.)