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July 13, 2001/Tamuz 22, 5761, Vol. 53, No.40
Not business as usual
'I felt a sense ... we are losing Israel in bits and pieces'
GINA ASULIN
Special to Jewish News
Our family visited Israel in June for our son's bar mitzvah. I have lived in Israel for three short periods and have visited 10 times over 20 years. Each time I have gone, whatever the political climate, it has been business as usual there.
This time was different. I felt a sense of slipping away, a sense of loss, a sense we are losing Israel in bits and pieces. However, I'm not certain the Israelis feel this, either because they are in denial or they don't notice the gradual change because they confront the situation every day.
On my first trip in 1979, I roamed freely about the country, exploring Arab cities in the "occupied territories" such as Ramallah, Jericho and Hebron, alone and without fear. Now Israel has enacted a law forbidding Israelis to enter Arab cities in the territories. An Israeli who enters does so at his own risk and upon leaving, risks arrest by Israeli police.
Arab cities in Israel proper have always been considered safe. Israelis routinely stopped to buy pita. No more.
Between terrorist incidents, Israelis continue to go about their business. On one balmy Shabbat evening we sat with friends in a beit cafˇ near the beach in Bat Yam. At 1 a.m., the place was popping with activity. Israelis of all ages were dancing, strolling and enjoying one another's company.
Yet tourists were noticeably missing, as was the case wherever we went. That morning, Israel radio had announced that two-thirds of the American Jewish delegation to this summer's Maccabiah Games would not attend due to the "unstable situation."
I find it difficult to explain to my Israeli relatives decisions such as this as well as why the Reform movement would take the drastic measure of canceling its youth programs to Israel. Imagine how the Israelis feel about this sorry statement of non-support at a time when it is most needed, not to mention the example the decision sets for Jewry worldwide.
With Israelis, who live with "the situation" each day, it is not so much a matter of fear as it is a matter of choices. They may choose not to go to the mall if they don't really need to - just in case.
Similarly, as tourists we would have liked touring a Druze village or seeing the ruins of the crusader fortress in Acco but we chose not to - just in case. Every time an Israeli, or a tourist to Israel, makes a choice not to go somewhere in Israel proper, Israel becomes in effect a little bit smaller.
When I queried my Israeli relatives as to what solution, if any, they see to the present situation, I got answers ranging from case-by-case retaliation, to a major military operation to disarm militant factions, to building a "Berlin Wall" to separate Israelis and Arabs. Most were in agreement that future peace negotiations with the Arabs would be just as successful as past negotiations - in other words, a complete failure.
If I were an Arab living in Israel today, I would be quite hopeful for the future - of Arabs in the land. Yet Israel always has been a land of miracles. Let's pray for one now.
Gina Asulin, a resident of Phoenix, is married to an Israeli. She is office manager for The King David School in Scottsdale.
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