Our community stuttered at the destruction of Gush Katif and northern Samaria, tried to please and failed to instill in the national consciousness that the expulsion was a crime, and that everyone who aided in the process either directly or indirectly was an accessory to an immoral act.
At Amona, for the first time, we lifted our heads as one and said, "We are right, we have deployed against skull-crackers, against pure evil.
Why? Because for the first time we fought properly, we were ready to pay a price.
The results of the fight were predetermined, David against Goliath, a no-chance struggle. The toll was worse than we expected.
And yet, the struggle bore fruit. The struggle made the public wake up, made it sober up from its blind faith in the state and its agents, to understand that the law is not holy when it is selectively enforced, when our blood is considered legitimate, when soldiers are instructed to hit, trample, and rape. Everything is permitted.
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Clearly, anyone who experienced the Amona pogrom will never again believe in the state in its current construction. And residents of Ofra, who took in the injured with wounded eyes, who heard about the "special treat" the riot police promised a group of 13-year-old girls, are much less devoted to the state and now hold opinions much closer to those of residents of Yitzhar.
The next step, in my eyes, is to re-write the prayer for IDF soldiers recited on Shabbat morning. How can we continue to pray God "grant blessing and success in all their endeavors" – when they receive orders to break a few skulls?
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