From Beirut to Jerusalem

Grrr. I just wrote a long review of this excellent book and blogger killed it. Grrr.

So you have to read the book. I'll tell you the one part that I found most intriguing. Friedman writes that Israel founders had three goals for their state: (1) Jewishness, (2) democracy, and (3) location in the whole of historic Israel. The UN Partition Plan in 1947 gave them the first two goals, but only half the third. David Ben-Gurion and his cohorts took the deal, and had no choice but to live with an unment third goal for 20 years. When Israel snagged the West Bank and other areas during the 1967 war, they found they could realize their third goal. However, to realize it would have been to disregard one of their other goals: either they could integrate all the occupied Palestinians and give up Israel's Jewish character, or they could oppress the occupied Palestinians and give up her democratic character. Lastly, they could abandon the territories and remain Jewish and democratic in half the land of Israel.

The decision was never made. Israel just let time pass, and eventually it caught up with them when Palestinians revolted in 1987 and again in 2000, with a failed Peace Process in between. An article today in Ha'aretz highlights the difficulty of running Israel and trying to grasp all three goals. How can Israel be democratic if it represses political views such as the right of Palestine to statehood? Can Israeli Arab politicians support forces at war with Israel on moral or tribal grounds but still be a loyal citizen of a Jewish state? Will Israel ever face up to the fact that it has to choose 2 of 3 - but not all 3? I doubt it; they'll probably hang on to the myth that you can have it all until some aspect is forcibly taken from them. Many would say they have already chosen to give up democracy and keep the other two. Implicitly speaking, that may be true, but it's not part of the Israeli consciousness, and Israeli rule over the West Bank is far from complete in terms of annexation.

I would recommend "From Beirut to Jerusalem" to anyone with even a passing interest in the Middle East. It's an easy read, steers clear of jargon, and has enough entertainment that you won't realized you learned some serious theory until it's all over.