_a.jpg "Photo: Gil Yohanan")
Clashes at Amona outpost
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Democracy waning
How can I pray for IDF troops to successfully crack settler skulls?
After the expulsion from Gush Katif and the northern West Bank, it was clear that the Land of Israel faithful was desperately in need of unity – but it only came at the last minute, and only the pogrom at Amona managed to bring it about even then.
The expulsion has been a failure from many perspectives – the fact that dozens of Gush Katif families are still living in hotels is just one of them. Not enough caravillas (luxury mobile homes) were built. Reparation payments have not been made on time, even to families whose income was stolen and have become destitute.
Alienation
Sallai Meridor
I'm not a religious man, but as a Zionist I am very worried about the crisis facing religious Zionism.
As human begins we must be sensitive to their despair; as Israelis and as Jews we must be concerned about a community whose sons and daughters, more than in any other community, volunteer on behalf of the whole society – in combat units, development towns, settling the land and absorbing immigrants
The Ministry of Education was totally unprepared for the refugees. One of the reasons for this was that no one knew where they would be placed and everything was based on assumptions, etc. etc.
But no one thought to demand a commission of inquiry. Only after Amona did they manage to put enough pressure to establish such a commission.
The Yesha Council denounced the road-blockers and calls for IDF soldiers to refuse orders. Some Gush Katif residents asked those residing in hotels to be evacuated. It was very easy to say, "They are the extremists, not us. We're okay."
No more apologies
After Amona – that community and that council stood united behind the kids and gave them the support they needed – for the first time, with out apologizing and without denouncing them.
Some say they couldn't denounce the extremists because the folks from Yitzhar left the night before the houses were destroyed, and so no one could accuse them of incitement.
But it was clear that it was more than this. Even the head of the Shin Bet understood it was no longer possible to say it was just a handful of extremists.
Our community stuttered at the destruction of Gush Katif and northern Samaria, tried to please and failed to instill in the national consciousness that the expulsion was a crime, and that everyone who aided in the process either directly or indirectly was an accessory to an immoral act.
Good vs. evil
At Amona, for the first time, we lifted our heads as one and said, "We are right, we have deployed against skull-crackers, against pure evil.
Why? Because for the first time we fought properly, we were ready to pay a price.
The results of the fight were predetermined, David against Goliath, a no-chance struggle. The toll was worse than we expected.
And yet, the struggle bore fruit. The struggle made the public wake up, made it sober up from its blind faith in the state and its agents, to understand that the law is not holy when it is selectively enforced, when our blood is considered legitimate, when soldiers are instructed to hit, trample, and rape. Everything is permitted.
Thanks, Tzipi
Last week (Foreign Minister) Tzipi Livni said she warned the Yesha Council about the state of the youth. Because disengagement is not over, there is a social bomb ticking here: Thousands of kids feel alienated from justice and legal systems they have no faith in.
Livni understood the situation is dangerous. Great, Tzipi, so glad you understood. You'd better take responsibility – you're the one that brought us to this situation. There's a price for expulsion.
When there are different laws for different communities, when disengagements are carried out at any price – Israeli society will pay the full price.
No more democracy
In the coming elections Israel is the least democratic it has ever been. Some of the price is the disenfranchisement of many religious Zionists. I've spoken a lot about that, and will continue to do so.
Clearly, anyone who experienced the Amona pogrom will never again believe in the state in its current construction. And residents of Ofra, who took in the injured with wounded eyes, who heard about the "special treat" the riot police promised a group of 13-year-old girls, are much less devoted to the state and now hold opinions much closer to those of residents of Yitzhar.
The next step, in my eyes, is to re-write the prayer for IDF soldiers recited on Shabbat morning. How can we continue to pray God "grant blessing and success in all their endeavors" – when they receive orders to break a few skulls?
Hazani, a film director and teacher, was evacuated from the West Bank settlement of Homesh during last summer’s pullout
