A PRE-OBITUARY MONOLOGUE

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(I think this is mainly another footnote to our fellow Jews in the Diaspora. Here in Israel….who knows…..)

Prophesy is left to Fools, but future reality needs to be faced by all of us fools. Anyways, in today's reality we may all be fools………so here goes…..
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I yearn for an Israeli-Palestinian 2-State modus-vivendi. I also mourn tearfully for that possible reality which seems to be breathing its final breaths and quickly becoming a fantasy of the past.

I yearn for a two state scenario even if many in the neighboring state remain forever hostile and we are forced to continue living by the sword, building an even higher wall, and constantly retaliating against terrorist attempts.

The alternative is a devastating scenario begging the demise of the Third Jewish Democratic Republic.

The demographic statistics coupled with the globalized politics of the 21st Century, alongside the conservative no-need-to-compromise politics of my country, are ushering in both the demise of the two-state scenario and its devastating alternative.

The demography speaks for itself. In the "Greater Israel-Palestine" between the Jordan and the Mediterranean there are today approximately 5.7 million Arabs and almost 6 million Jews. In ten years at most the numbers will equal. After that…..we Jews will become more and more of a minority. Because we passed–up on the 2-State scenario, global (Western) politics will no longer be able to see us as a country fighting at the forefront of Islamic terrorism. We will simply become a minority dominating over a growing majority…..A majority seeking its rightful place in the civil rights of Greater Israel-Palestine.

Why is the 2-state scenario on its deathbed??......because the physician firmly believes that amulets and prayers are more powerful than the gangrene demanding an amputation.

Why is the 2-state scenario on its deathbed??......

1. Our government is against it. The great majority of parties forming the government, the great majority of Jewish Knesset members, the majority of Jewish voters, …..all are somewhere between fervently believing-in or fervently-wanting to remain in Greater Israel. Our government is secure in the polls.

2. "Religious Zionism" has made war on anything less than Greater Israel. Religious Zionism's activism and influence is pervasive within the halls of government and within the Israeli public. Their most honored rabbis state over and over that "the promised land is only Jewish" and "we can't give up land given to us by God." And, perhaps even more telling, they teach us that a rabbi's interpretation of God's will is way and above the law of the land, and certainly above the interpretations of liberal humanism. They do not really debate the demographic issue. They are certain that we are on the threshold of the promises for messianic days, and when we reach the pinnacle of those days all the nations of the world will know and understand that we are justified and flawless. (you probably think I'm exaggerating. If so, you have not read what they write or heard what they lecture to their public.)

3. Our Government's idea of compromise is based on publicly accepting the notion of a 2-state scenario, while placing conditions known beforehand as impossible to accept, and while continuing to make physical and demographic changes in the West Bank which we know will make any Palestinian State completely not viable.

4. The Palestinian Authority cannot be a voice proclaiming Israel as a "Jewish" state. They can recognize Israel's legitimacy and sovreignity, something we had always demanded of them…..until the present government added the Jewish issue as a condition for talks. With 20% of Israel being Arab, the PA can only guarantee its acceptance of Israel as a legitimate and sovereign neighbor. How Israel defines itself, is Israel's issue, not that of the PA. As a matter of fact, Israel can ask of the UN to accept a decision for a two state solution based on Israel as a "Jewish Democratic State" and Palestine as an "Arab Democratic State". This would free the PA of having to be part of Israeli identity issues, while once again giving international legitimacy to Israel's Jewish nature. But Israel will not ask for such a decision of the UN., because it is most likely to pass and thereby commit Israel even more to the 2-state scenario.

5. The settlements……again the settlements….and once more the settlements. These are the soldiers in the front line. While the government maneuvers constantly between global pressure for "Two States" and the need to stave off such a scenario, these are the soldiers continuing to build and expand land taken over from the Palestinian future non-state. East Jerusalem and its corridor leading towards the Jordan River are a good example of our attempt (and evidently, success) in cutting the Southern half of the West bank from the northern half as much as possible. We are doing our best to split the West Bank into two parts in order to make the Palestinian State more and more non-viable. We are succeeding.

6. The present government in the PA is probably the last government with which a territorial compromise for a 2-State scenario is possible. We are doing our best not to negotiate, while hammering in the mantra of "its them, not us." We are counting on it that the next PA government will decide to be more militant and allow us once again to say "how can we negotiate with such a militant PA?"

Enough!.........though there are many more reasons……but most of them revolve around our attempts to stave off any possibility of a 2-State scenario. And we are way ahead…. and succeeding. Therefore…….the alternative: A Greater Israel in one form or another…..a defensive need for an apartheid policy…..a religious/cultural desire for an apartheid policy……a minority ruling (not so humanly) over a growing majority…….a global and Western (including American) demand for equal rights…….some type of coercive capitulation to those demands……and an end to the "Third Jewish Republic" which could no longer call itself "Democratic".

This is not a 22nd Century scenario. With the deliberate strangulation and probable demise of the 2-State agenda, this will be part of our current Century…..feasibly within only ten years……but perhaps within 20. Time has moved quicker lately than in the past.

And yes, World Jewry…..
As a Jewish State, we in Israel see ourselves as representing the interests of all Jews around the world. Evidently World Jewry accepts our leadership and defends whatever road we take. All right…..keep supporting whatever we do…..don't criticize us……don't speak out against our policies……don't attempt to divert us from a probable self-destructive course…..finance our addictions….stay mum and defend our government's backs…….

But please…..please…..please…….keep the gates of your Diaspora countries open. When the time comes, when it is evident that the Zionist Dream has drowned, many Jewish Israelis will be streaming to your shores. I know you will take them in kindly. You will at last, with open arms, be part and parcel of the unfolding drama which will have morphed the dream into our next wandering nightmare. A little late, don't you think, but what more could we expect of you.

Some years ago I was more hopeful. The last two years, with a popular government driving down a one-way street, I've become less so. Evidently, the older I get…..the future is not what it used to be.

Recently I turned seventy. My father died at 92. One grandfather died at 96. I may live long enough to be a witness to the above scenario. No, I will not depart from my Jewish homeland for the Diaspora. My roots are glued……….but…but…., oh hell…….what do I tell my grandchildren ??

(please note: I left the 2-State scenario on its deathbed, but not quite and utterly dead. Is there a chance? Electric shock or something? Is there an alternative physician in the house ?? See you in 20 years, or so.....or before.)