Life in Tel Aviv is insulated from the despair in the West Bank and Gaza. Discussing the Occupation and polices of Israel towards Palestine is not your common lunch table conversation. When I do discuss all that with an Israeli, my primal instinct as a journalist is to pull out my recorder and pen down notes. To learn about their thoughts on their country gives you a truly different perspective, one that you won’t find in the newspapers or in policies framed by the government.

Last evening’s chat with a couple of Israeli friends was profound.

 
We began with the contentious topic of Occupation. What is the average Israeli’s opinion on the occupation? Pat came the reply from A, “Clearly, no one cares enough. Otherwise, we would have had a solution by now… Everyone thinks that the Arabs deserve what is happening and the current generation is not responsible for what is happening now.” At a later point, A pointed out, “In fact, I don’t mind Ultra-orthodox people so much. Yeah, they don’t serve in the army. They get allowance to have more children. But it is the Settlers with whom I have a problem.” According to him, they have a sense of entitlement over the West Bank. “I dread the day when Israel will give West Bank to the Arabs. Only because these Settlers will then become my neighbours. Just imagine!”

 
This brought us to the topic of war. A asks me, “Were you here for the 50-day War? If you were not, don’t worry, you will witness the next installment soon. Maybe this summer or the next. It is imminent.” The Arabs have figured out that Israel will only respond to terror, he says. “Gazans live in abject poverty. The blockade did not help. Their only means of making money is by smuggling goods from Egypt. Israel claimed to be defending itself against attacks from Gaza, when an attack from Gaza cannot cause large-scale terror,” says V.

Conscription carries on…

A says wistfully, “In the early 90s when peace talks were going on, it looked like my nephews and sons may not have to join the army. But then (Yitzak Rabin was assassinated) the talks failed, my nephew served in the 50-day war last summer and he was in the thick of it.” The IDF is one of the strongest military forces in the Middle East. It has complete control of the West Bank and exercises that control with impunity. “If the army thinks that Arab children were pelting stones or any such thing, the children can be taken into custody with no access to an attorney with no questions asked until the kids are released,” says V. That is the power the military has in the West Bank. Quoting a rather absurd incident, A says, “Do you know about an Israeli university in a West Bank settlement?” I nod, no. “Well, the settlers wanted to upgrade a college to a university, but Israel’s Council for Higher Education turned down the proposal because the college did not meet the standards of universities in Israel. But this was in the West Bank! So with the military’s approval, they made the college a university. There, you have it.” Read more about Ariel University here.

Serving as an air force pilot allowed A to watch Israel and consequently the West Bank develop over the last 20 years from the skies. “When I began flying, the West Bank was a dark place at night. Now though, you can’t see the difference between Israeli cities and cities in the West Bank. It is all lit up at night,” he says.

A mockingly says, “Why do they even bother with all this development if they have to eventually give it back?” V interrupts, “What makes you think they will give it back?” 

Real estate though has not caught up with Israeli standards in West Bank settlements. One of V’s friends knows someone who lives in a West Bank settlement, when V learnt of this, she was surprised. The friend explained, “Well, it is cheaper there.” And thus, the apathy grows.

And what about elections? “The Likud party (Netanyahu) has no manifesto.  The Labour party, which is supposed to be the left, identifies with right of the center because they know they cannot get votes if they are leftist…” says A. The Labour party won’t talk about peace talks because it does not want to offend anyone, he continues. “Anyway, since Netanyahu is already PM, no one sees any other candidate as a fitting replacement,” says B. What about the immigrant population, who do they vote for? “They are typically right wing. Most immigrants in Israel are from former USSR countries. They came here fed up with communism,” notes A. Many Jews immigrated to Israel in the 90s after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, “They constituted nearly 20% of the population back then and they mostly end up voting for the right,” he says. (The fraction of immigrants still hovers around 20%)

Is there hope for withdrawal from the West Bank, hope for a solution, peace? Is there hope for anything at all, I ask myself.

A state ruling a hostile population of 1.5 to 2 million foreigners would necessarily become a secret-police state, with all that this implies for education, free speech and democratic institutions. — Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz, The Territories, 1968

I have been trying to dig up material to read/watch and educate myself on the various shades of gray that Israel stands for. This is a documentary that I found compelling.