A Leftist on Leftists

Sixty years ago, Rachel Svorai 

accompanied Meir Har-Tzion on a hike, across the border into Jordan to the "Red Rock", Petra.  They returned.  Alive.  Others were less fortunate in their adventure.  Nessia Shifran just published a book (in Hebrew) on the hikers who dared to attempt to reach the site.  A previous article of hers, in Hebrew, is here.  A recent article in English is here. Another here.  A review of a previous book is here.

The route they took there and back:

One of the third group of April 1956, Dmitri Berman who, though wounded, managed to make back alive:

By the way, in the 1990s, and prior to the peace treaty, three more attempts were made.

But this is not about that time or the hikers themselves.

Rachel is still alive at 87.  A former Palmahnik and resident of Revivim, never married but mother to three, with 9 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, she's a kibbutznik.  She was interviewed in Makor Rishon in its February 7 issue and here is an excerpt:

I never liked her [Shulamit Aloni] for two reasons: she very much extroverted herself, that they should pay attention to her, and she was a leftist.
And you?
Not at all.  I am a Zionist.  And I can't tolerate those leftists who identify more with the Arabs than with Zionism. I belong to the Left but not to the leftists. They see the justice of the other side but not ours.  they don't see what the other side has done to us.  We lost half of our territory when the state was declared.  We danced, they initiated a war.
Does the peace process have a chance?
At present,we have no partner.  I am prepared, with sorrow, to return portions of Eretz Yisrael. My borders were those of the Allon Plan, from rammallah to Jenin, with the Jordan Valley in our hands.
A state of Palestine?
If there's no alternative.  But we give as less as possible.

A short video (in Hebrew) with Meir, Rachel and others on Petra.

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