How Israel Lost: The Four Questions 0743250281, 9780743250283

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RICHARD BEN CRAMER WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE AUTHOR OF WHATir TAKES AND JOE DIMAGGIO: THE HERO'S LIFE

HOW

ISRAEL

LOST THE FOUR QUESTIONS "Solid

the

and

irrefutable

tragic

Palestinians

Cramer's theme

.

predicament of the .

.

.

funny and

and down-to-earth.

1^

.

.

.

.

polemic that deserves

-Amos

.

Elon, The

bitterly sad,

This book

to

Israelis

is

is

and

shrewd

a powerful

be read."

New

York Review of Books

?:

How Israel Lost

Praise for

"Driven by sympathy and

enough

[Cramer] suspends moral judgments just

curiosity,

to bring alive the ironies

.

.

.

of human

life

under brutal conditions.

He is able to do something few journalists succeed at: makes

much

institutions, emotions,

moral

.

.

.

He

and the gradual corruption of so

vivid the invisible dust of despair

—

capturing a Zeitgeist.

—the

sensibility, solidarity

toxic gas of un-

derlying pessimism that has seeped into everything during almost forty years of

occupation."

—Gadi Taub, Chicago Tribune "How

Israel Lost

.

.

.

some poignant

offers

portraits of those caught

up

in the

Middle East tragedy and delivers sharp arguments on how things got to where they are and how they can move forward. Cramer knows his stuff." Emst-Ulrich Franzen, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel .

.

.

—

"If ever a

book on

and the Palestinians was a good read,

Israel

tion to the half-century-long conflict.

When it comes

to prognosis,

vice to both sides."

"A

Cramer is

Cramer shoots

its this

introduc-

great at telling an anecdote

straight

from the hip

.

.

.

in giving ad-

—Publishers Weekly

anecdotal, thought-provoldng and often entertaining book about the and arguments on both sides But its the personal stories [Cramer] that win the day, by putting a human face on an endless conflict." The Arizona Republic

lively,

faults tells

.

.

.

—

"Herein

lies

the lucid charm

the forest for the trees.

.

.

.

oiHow Israel Lost: The author hasn't lost sight of

Mr

Cramers argument

is

cogent: Israelis have for-

gotten their birthright."

— Daniel Asa Rose,

Islew

York Observer

"Cramer's quick, anecdotal, very personal style puts an entertaining spin on an otherwise extremely painful

how they affect the lives

reality.

His forte

is

in capturing events

by showing

of real people."

— Elena Lappin, The New York Times Book Review

—

"Cramer one of the most memorable nonfiction stylists ahve has invented a new way to cover one of the most devastating wars in human history. ... It is an account that is bound to result in a mixture of laughter, tears, anger and, ulti.

.

.

mately, desperation."

— Steve Weinberg, Orlando Sentinel "Cramer has a This

is

real gift for bringing to life the

people caught up

in the endless

those whose not own. —even, or indeed wonderful book, courageous and honest — McConnell, The American Conservative

struggle

politics are

especially

his

.

.

.

..."

a

Scott

"[How epic

Israel Lost] recaptures the hip, verbal

What

rlMhm

of Cramer's 1992 poHtical

" It

Takes.

—Casey

Seiler,

The Times Union (Albany, NY)

Also by Richard

What It

Takes:

Ben Cramer

The

Joe DiMaggio: The

Way to the White House

Hems Life

What Do You Think of Ted Williams Now?

HOW ISRAEL

LOST THE FOUR QUESTIONS

Richard Ben Cramer

SIMON & SCHUSTER PAPERBACKS New York London Toronto Sydney

For Ruby

SIMON & SCHUSTER PAPERBACKS Rockefeller Center

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020 Copyright

© 2004, 2005 by Richard Ben Cramer

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in

whole or in part in any form.

First

Simon

Simon

& Schuster paperback edition 2005

& Schuster Paperbacks and colophon are registered trademarks & Schuster, Inc.

of Simon

For information about special discounts

for bulk purchases,

& Schuster Special Sales at

Simon

please contact

1-800-456-6798 or [email protected]

Designed by Jaime Putorti

Map by Paul PugHese Manufactured

in the

United States of America

987654321

10

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition

as follows:

Cramer, Richard Ben.

How Israel lost / Richard Ben Cramer, cm.

p. 1.

— Moral and

Arab-Israeh conflict

conflict

—

— Peace.

1993

conditions.

4.

— Social conditions.

Israel

7.

National characteristics,

DS119.76.C73

Arab-Israeh

—West Bank— —Gaza — —Ethnic—

6.

Strip

I.

Title.

2004045354

ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-5028-3

ISBN-10: 0-7432-5028-1

ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-5029-0 (Pbk) ISBN-10: 0-7432-5029-X (Pbk)

Social

Social conditions. relations.

Israel

Israeli.

2004

956.05—dc22

2.

Palestinian Arabs

3.

Palestinian Arabs

5.

ethical aspects.

Contents

Preface to the paperback edition

vii

I.

Why do we care about Israel?

II.

Why don't the Palestinians have a state?

III.

What is a Jewish state?

139

IV.

Why is there no peace?

227

Glossary

279

Author s Note and Acknowledgments

297

1

65

Preface to the paperback edition

/jLllah

is

He was

most kind, and he sent Yassir Arafat off to Paris

succeeded

as

Palestinian Authority

chairman of the

Mahmoud

by

to die.

PLO and president of the

Abbas, the former prrime

minister and a longstanding opponent of suicide bombing.

Within days,

Abu Mazen, as Abbas is known, declared a cessation

of attacks against attackers,

Israelis.

He

and he sacked the commanders who failed to do so.

met with the leaders of the their

ordered his security forces to stop

promise to respect

ultra-Islamic groups

his cease-fire.

He

and secured

Within weeks. Abbas met

with Arik Sharon and together they proclaimed a truce.

The The

Palestinians' vote for

Palestinian people

known)

Abbas was an affirmation of hope.

were convinced

that life with the Israelis can

thing better, than Idll-and-be-killed.

(as

they have always

be something

other,

some-

The clear support from a clear

majority gave Abbas the upper hand to put his truce into effect.

There was a mirror image of hope on the Israeh politicians

and common

folk who

side,

from

supported Arik Sharon's plan to

VII

Preface to the paperback edition

The support of

pull the Israelis out of Gaza.

a clear majority

helped Sharon to survive a rejection of the plan by his

As

write, in the Spring of 2005, the parties are

I

way from an accord

—from

own party. still

the vision that George

a long

W. Bush

sketched out: two nations living side by side in peace. Sharons plan to withdraw from Gaza into mothballs.

The

more and more still

Israelis

is

a clear attempt to put that vision

continue to build their wall, seizing

Palestinian land.

Hamas and

dedicated to the destruction of Israel

truce

peatedly

temporary.

at best,

is,

The

cease-fire has

have killed several Palestinian

truce endures

—

bly fragile

like a

endured

could snuff out while

it is

X know Sharon

to

wildflower in Alaska

emerge,

it is

make

ple).

But

and

Is-

in Israel,

kids. But, so far, the

It is

to

beautiful,

its life. Still, it is

precious, and dou-

—a miracle

now prey

won't

make any new

for the hard-

any harshness that

and must be prized

scuttling the

friends with the assertion that

peace process.

him, as George Bush does, as a great to

re-

here.

I

is

been marred

—and so does hope.

In this place, hope cannot be ignored.

it

their respect for the

—two suicide bombs shattered calm

raeli soldiers

ship

—

Islamic Jihad are

It s

more popular to regard

Man of Peace (who means

real the great vision of a nation for the Palestinian facts are just as

stubborn as Arik Sharon

... so,

peo-

here are

a few to consider:

The withdrawal from Gaza of a few hundred settler famihes, and thousands of

made

soldiers

who had

sense to the army brass.

It

to protect

them, has always

was Sharon s genius

VIII

to

combine

Preface to the paperback edition this practical

plan with a bold assertion that the biggest settle-

—with hundreds of thousands of IsraeUs

ments on the West Bank in residence

—should be regarded hereafter

Gaza withdrawal was presented

as a

Breakthrough!) ... no one talked

as Israeh land.

peace move (No!

much about

A

The

Peace

the other half of

the plan.

George Bush rose

to this

Gaza

bait like a bass

Sunday

in the shallows of a Texas lake.

good

happen

to

in the

Middle East

on a blessed

Bush needed something

—even something

be good, or looked good, or could sound good

.

.

.

that might

forthwith he re-

versed thirty-five years of U.S. policy and announced that

the

all

big settlements should be regarded as part of Israel. So, for a very

modest price

—a

handful of indefensible

— Sharon obtained the

tomato farms on the unhistoric Gaza sand blessing for

all

the designs of his forebears.

He won this without

the unpleasant chore of actually talking to the Palestinians.

were not consulted. In

fact,

Sharon also won Bush's blessing for

his stance that the Palestinians

a clear

end

They

cannot be consulted until there

to terrorism. In the

is

view of Sharon (and Bush), that

means poor Mahmoud Abbas must launch and win against the ultra-Islamic groups. That's the minimal

a

civil

war

demand be-

fore talks can ensue.

No one is more

eloquent on the subject of Sharon's triumph

than his number-one advisor, friend and confidante, his lawyer (and back-channel to the Americans), Weissglass cannot figure

why the

Dov

settlers

Weissglass. In fact,

and the

right

wing are

not dancing in celebration around the Prime Minister's office.

They don't understand what Sharon pulled off (Fortunately

IX

for

Preface to the paperback edition Sharon, the

left didn't

support when his

understand either and lent him crucial

own party voted him down.)

"The disengagement glass, in

the

is

actually formaldehyde," said Weiss-

an interview with the newspaper Haaretz.

amount of formaldehyde

necessary so that there will

that's

not be a political process with the Palestinians.

"Because what

"It supplies

.

.

effectively agreed to with the

I

Americans

was that part of the settlements would not be dealt with at all, and the rest will not be dealt with until the Palestinians turn into Finns. That

is

the significance of what we did.

the freezing of the political process. process,

The

significance

And when you

is

freeze that

you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and

you prevent a discussion about the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem. Effectively, this whole package that Palestinian state, with

our agenda sion. All

all

indefinitely.

that

And

it

entails,

all this

is

called the

has been removed from

with authority and permis-

with a Presidential blessing and the ratification of both

houses of Congress.

What more could have been

What more could have been given to the ilLlas, Mr.

Abbas has

troubles.

He

thority with an absolute brutality,

ommend

for

any other people.

about a dozen-and-a-half clan-leader

is

settlers?"

supposed to exert

his au-

which the U.S. would not

He

rec-

inherited, as security troops,

militias, private

commanders and not

anticipated?

armies loyal to their

to the central authority.

he smushed into three central commands about a dozen clan leaders affronted. His

These

—which guaranteed

own

office

compound

was shot up by yahoos from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which

— Preface to the paperback edition is

supposed to be the suicide unit of

need succor and

services in the

own

his

party.

His people

most desperate way, but Abbas

has no mechanism to deliver them, save for the band of rapacious

goons

whom Arafat installed as the "government."

Still,

fence

there was

—good news

election

some good news on the largely unreported.

Palestinian side of the

For one

thing, there

was the

by which Abbas was installed. There was, at that same time,

great handwringing, then great celebration about the Iraqi election

—a

miracle,

was called

it

a,

free

But, unremarked, the Palestinians

and fair vote in the Arab world.

went

to the polls

and calmly

elected a calm leader, with a clear madate to restore calm. (So

much

for the Israeli claim that the Palestinians cannot govern themselves.)

Another

more

bit

of Palestinian election news struck

hopeful. In the local elections,

faction, not only participated

dates.

They did well,

risdictions

even

its

own

slate

of candi-

electing local officials in seven out often ju-

where they

ran. It

seems possible that Hamas could party.

Nothing makes people

responsible quicker than work-a-day responsibility.

Hamasniks who'll get the the dead dog out of the

calls to fix

And now it s

the stinkin' sewer line, or get

alley.

When I proffer this hope at book events,

it s

often dismissed

crowd who cannot think of Hamas

in the

as

Hamas, the leading Islamic

but offered

change into a legitimate poUtical

by some

me

as anything

other than a band of terrorist murderers. They point out that

Hamas is not working for "two states living side by side in peace."

Hamas means

to destroy Israel

and drive the Jews

into the sea.

And all that is true, I freely concede. But people change, and parties

with them.

I

offer an

example from the region.

XI

Preface to the paperback edition

Menachem Begin was song ran something like This one's mine,

the leader of a faction whose

this:

theme

There are two hanks of the Jordan

and the other one,

too.

.

.

.

The

militia

of that fac-

tion

was adjudged a terrorist organization, and was responsible

the

first

party,

its

massacre of Arabs in Israel s

symbol was a

"ONLY THIS WAY."

fist

holding a

history.

rifle,

Even

with the

.

for

as a political

Hebrew slogan:

But Begin went on to engineer the

historic

accord with Egypt (and Jordan!) ... he was the winner of the

Nobel Prize

for Peace.

V^ne more

note about reaction to this book.

How

Israel Lost

got a bit of a rough ride, at least in America, because

branded got

as unfriendly to Israel.

much

facts.

static

from the

But American

It's

Israelis

Zionists,

—

interesting to note,

at least

we can

unburdened by

the trouble of reading the book), saw through

it

I

was

never

agree on the

fact (and

without

my dastardly plot

to discredit the Jewish State. Still, I

Israel to

think most readers discerned that what I'm adjuring

do represents her best chance

for a future of peace.

want her children, and the Palestinian children, without

and

fear.

What

livehest life for

I

want

is

precisely

her people.

the nation's founders.

I

It's

what

to

have a

I

life

Israel lost, the best

a vision very close to that of

can't think of a

fonder wish to

offer.

Richard Ben Cramer April 2005

XII

HOW ISRAEL

LOST

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