Uri Dromi Complains. Alas

Uri Dromi of the Israel Democracy Institute, Hebrew University lecturer, Jerusalem Post book reviewer and Haaretz contributor of a weekly special obituary highlight section of 'heroes', has a complaint:

I have been preaching for years that Israel should pull out of most of the West Bank, with minor modifications and maybe a land swap. I truly believed - and I still do - that it was the only way for Israel to remain both a Jewish and a democratic state. Once the Arabs become the majority between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, Israel will either become an apartheid state or lose its Jewish identity [I suggest this is not necessarily a given].

Alas, it seems that not enough Israelis share my views. [alas!] In today's Israel, which is leaning to the right (and for good reasons, I hate to admit), there doesn't seem to be a government with the power to uproot 250,000 Jewish settlers from the West Bank.

Aw gee wiz.

But then, he gets a bit foreboding:

What's the alternative?...

I believe that the answer lies in the collective memory of the Israelis. Eighty years ago, in 1929, the Jews of Hebron, who had lived there peacefully for generations, were suddenly attacked by their Arab neighbors. For three days in August, the pogrom raged, until 67 Jews lay dead and the rest left the city. If the settlements stay under Palestinian rule, scenes like this might happen again, and then Israel has to jump in to help. In short, Balkanization of the conflict.

I still think a two-state solution is the best possible solution, but every day it becomes more difficult to realize.

Believe me, there are other alternatives.

Uri Dan Had Opinions

Uri Dromi reviewed Uri Dan's last book on Ariel Sharon and wrote:-

On September 13, 1993, I stood beside Uri Dan on the White House lawn. As the director of Israel's Government Press Office under prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, I was in charge of the Israeli journalists who had traveled there to witness the historic ceremony of reconciliation between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples. A question hovered in the air: Would the two old enemies, Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, shake hands?

The officials came out of the White House and walked toward the small, tense audience assembled on the lawn. And then Bill Clinton, with his trademark charm, turned the two men toward each other: an enthusiastic Arafat and a dour-faced Rabin who, gripped by a visceral sense of foreboding, wanted nothing more than to be somewhere else at that moment. Then, the inconceivable happened: They shook hands, and a roar of joy went up from the audience. Even cynical longtime journalists could not disguise their enthusiasm. Everyone joined the celebrations.

Everyone, that is, except Uri Dan. The veteran reporter, who died in December at age 71, stood beside me frowning and said to his colleagues in disgust: "What are you so happy about? Many funerals will come out of this wedding." We all looked at him with pity: Here was the professional spoilsport, unable to give credit for success to anyone except his master, Ariel Sharon.

Years passed and indeed, that wedding was followed by many funerals, many eulogies in both Hebrew and Arabic.