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January 9, 2004/Tevet 15 5764, Vol. 56, No. 16
Situation advances, declines at same timeJUDY LASH BALINTThere's an odd atmosphere around Jerusalem these days. On the one hand, there's the distinct upswing in the mood of the city caused by the noticeable influx of tourists who have chosen to spend their Hanukkah/Christmas/New Year's vacation with us. Shops are full of customers, impossible wait times are the norm at popular restaurants, streets clog with tour buses, and the chatter of a variety of English accents fills the streets and hotel lobbies.Rabbinic conferences and solidarity groups add to the clamor, and then there's Birthright Israel. More than 9,000 18 to 26-year-olds from countries including Uruguay, Brazil, France, Russia, Ukraine and the United States are traversing Israel's tourist sites and hiking trails. The head of the Israel Hotel Association can be heard on radio spots throughout the day lauding the arrival of Birthright groups and noting that the visits go a long way in helping hotels retain many of their workers. But despite all this, more and more people have the perception that in many facets of life, Israel is gradually sliding backwards to the point of having much in common with Third World countries. In recent days, I have heard both native Israelis and visitors from abroad independently make this assessment. The natives note the increase in gangster-style violence, corruption in the corporate and government sectors and the stranglehold of the Histadrut Labor Federation, which has kept most government services from being delivered for almost four months now. Unacceptably high numbers of children living below the poverty line and the dismal state of Israeli education complete the picture. In the cold, damp Jerusalem winter, thousands of homes are without heat. Many Jerusalemites rely on kerosene heaters or simply pile on the blankets and sweatshirts to shiver through the cold nights. Visitors from abroad make the Third World assessment after a short visit downtown. Streets have been torn up for almost two years, as the light rail project drags on. Dust and torn-up sidewalks predominate the landscape, and poorly dressed people with tension in their eyes mingle with the Arabs on Jaffa Road. The Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall has gone to seed, the result of a combination of factors. Sporadic tourism, the effects of the construction and the simple fact that the mall has become passe have forced shops to close. Meanwhile, municipal tax bills arrived in this week's mail, including a 3 percent hike in fees. Mayor Uri Lupolianski was forced to announce pay cuts in the exorbitant salaries he's been paying to his six - yes, six - deputy mayors. On the national political front, the right is digging in its heels over the potential dismantling of Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. "Israel Does Not Want to Give In" is the motto blaring from posters all over the country announcing the next rally to be held on Jan. 12 in Tel Aviv. No doubt the event will bring out 100,000 people, with high school and yeshiva students bused in en masse. Media coverage will be scant, and the next day it will be business as usual. There's little thought given to real community organizing to mobilize the silent majority, who instinctively feel that turning Jews out of their homes will not assuage the enemy or suddenly cause peace to burst out in the Middle East. Yet another factor adding to the strained atmosphere of these days is the barrage of accusations hurled at Israel from many corners of the world. Recently, we were told by a multi-national survey in Europe that we're the greatest threat to world peace. And the latest accusation appeared in print on the op-ed pages of the International Herald Tribune last week. The director of the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University labels "hard line Zionists from Israel" as one of three groups that "have emerged as dangerously destabilizing actors in world politics." The other two? Al Qaida and American "reborn Christians and neoconservatives." The learned professor goes on to assert that "if these extremists are not marginalized, they could succeed in creating a world order with devastating consequences for generations to come." As one of those hard-line Zionists from Israel, I can reassure the professor that until things are changed significantly on the home front, we won't be causing any upheaval in the world order. Judy Lash Balint is a free-lance writer living in Jerusalem. |
