The Ben Levy Framework for Peace in the Middle East

"We will not abandon the path of Jihad and martyrdom as long as one inch of our land remains in the hands of the Jews."

So said Raed Sa'ed, a senior Hamas leader, this week at a rally in Gaza City.

Palestinian militancy is much more widely reported here in Israel than in the US. On the day of the final Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, I compared the press coverage between Haaretz and the International Herald Tribune, which is published by the New York Times. The Tribune story spoke generally about the challenge of maintaining order in Gaza, and while it stated that former synagogues in the Jewish settlements had been destroyed it did not go into details.

In Haaretz, by contrast, the entire top half of the front page was a photograph of mob chaos inside the sanctuary of a former synagogue, with dozens of Palestinians smashing and burning. The accompanying story vividly described the fury of the masses that descended upon the Jewish settlements as soon as the last Israeli soldier had left. And this was in the left wing newspaper. The violence was described in even more apocalyptic terms by the conservative Jerusalem Post.

The Jerusalem Post regularly reports on attempted suicide bombings that are foiled by Israeli security forces, the implication being that the decline in terrorist attacks over the last year is the result of the security fence working, not the cease fire with the Palestinians.

No, there are no illusions here about the Palestinians becoming "peace partners" any time soon. Even staunch left wingers, though they may largely blame Israeli mistakes for the status quo, concede that from where we are today the idealistic vision of two states peacefully coexisting is a long way off.

Why, then, do Israeli Jews seem to be LESS hard line than American Jews on the Palestinian issue? And why are my own views moving to the center (gasp) since coming here?

Here's my theory:

From 5,000 miles away in America the existence of Israel seems more tenuous than it does when you wake up here every morning, take your kids to school and afterwards maybe basketball or gymnastics, or go to the mall and get stuck in traffic. Of course I knew before our trip that the perception of Israel as the site of a continual life-or-death struggle was not accurate. But living here for the last two months has underscored how much of a "done deal" Israel feels like now, much more so than when I first lived here 25 years ago.

Maybe for this reason, things like Hamas's charter calling for the outright destruction of Israel seemed like more of an affront when we were in America than they do now that we're living in Herzliya. Here -- on this side of the security fence and protected by a powerful and technologically advanced army, with peace agreements in place with Egypt and Jordan and most Palestinians living in squalor in poor villages and refugee camps -- it just seems like words.

A few weeks ago I was explaining the Gaza evacuation to Ben in the context of the Israeli-Arab conflict and the current situation with the Palestinians. After listening and asking some good questions about the relative military capabilities of the Israelis and Palestinians, he asked, "If we're so much stronger than they are, why can't we just give back the West Bank and not worry about it?"

That's exactly the debate raging in Israel right now.

The Gaza withdrawal last month will serve as a test case to evaluate an evolving centrist position here that advocates unilaterally withdrawing from most of the West Bank -- to set borders protected by a security fence -- regardless of what the Palestinians are doing or saying. The precise borders would no doubt be hotly contested, but in any reasonable scenario would resemble the pre-1967 lines, with carve-outs for the largest Jewish settlements that have been established since then. Then we wait for the Anwar Sadat of the Palestinians to emerge and make peace.

The Camp David plan offered by Israel in 2000 would have returned 95% of the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, to the Palestinians in exchange for declaring the "end of conflict." Arafat rejected the deal and started the Intifada. So why should Israel give the Palestinians the same result five years later without getting anything in return, even an acknowledgement of its right to exist?

Because, the argument goes, the military risk of withdrawing is manageable, and is more than offset by the benefits of ending the occupation, which drains Israel economically and psychologically. (Some might add that Israel also would gain politically, but I am cynical on this point and doubt that Israel can ever win in the court of world opinion.)

The wisdom of this strategy rests on the following military question: what is the worst-case damage that could be inflicted on Israel from behind the security fence by a radical Palestinian entity, populated by people who think like Raed Sa'ed (see quote above) and unfettered by an Israeli military presence in its midst?

It seems unlikely that the Palestinians, acting alone, could strike a serious military blow against Israel, let alone a mortal one, with the safeguards that Israel would doubtless leave in place after a withdrawal from the West Bank. Of course, rockets and missiles fired into Israel from Palestinian-controlled areas could cause damage and loss of life. But these are not existential risks, and I imagine Israel would retaliate even more fiercely after withdrawing to pre-1967 borders, or something close to them. In any event, I suppose that in the worst case scenario Israel could reoccupy Palestinian lands if attacks became a significant and enduring problem.

I know nothing about military matters, so I am trying to get different opinions from knowledgeable people. Based on what I know now, the Ben Levy Plan makes sense. I believe a majority of Israelis think so too.

Travel update

Last Saturday we spent a long, fun day with our cousins Abby and Bruce in the Dead Sea area. The group photo is from the top of Masada looking out over the sea. On the way back, we dropped off Abby and Bruce in Jerusalem and arrived just as the sun was setting, so we stopped on Mount Scopus to take in the amazing view. On the photos from there (click to enlarge) you can see the beautiful Dome of the Rock, where Mohammed ascended to the heavens, in the background. This is considered the third holiest site for Muslims, behind Mecca and Medina.

Our First Big Tiyul

A "tiyul" is a hike, anything from a short stroll in the woods to a multi-day camping trip. One of our goals during our time in Israel is to do as many tiyulim as possible throughout this beautiful country. We got off to a.... um, memorable start last weekend.

When I was here in 1979-80 the typical Israeli was much more knowledgeable about his/her country's geography, ecology and natural history than the typical American. After all, back then Israel was only about 30 years old and many Israelis had been personally involved in establishing and building the country.

It seems that the outdoorsy quotient has dwindled among the younger generations, who are more interested in modern things like shopping. Luckily, our good friends Dani and Nomi DiCastro are "old school." They possess an unusually broad knowledge and appreciation of their beautiful and fascinating country, and are wonderful and eager guides for the Levys.

Dani is kind of like Crocodile Dundee trapped inside the body of a middle age Jewish guy. He loves the outdoors and seems to know every road, hill and canyon in Israel.

Perhaps it was this total familiarity with the terrain that caused him to underestimate the level of difficulty of his first "tiyul" recommendation.

We agreed that our families would meet on Saturday morning near the start of the hike. It was funny how Dani described the meeting place. He couldn't remember the names or numbers of the highways. He just said, "Let's meet at 9:30 at the junction just northeast of the Kinneret." Like we're meeting outside the corner drug store. "Kinneret" is the Hebrew name for the Sea of Galilee, a gorgeous lake 200 meters below sea level and surrounded by spectacular cliffs, where Jesus walked on water. These days you can waterski.

We apparently found the right spot on the map, because we met right on schedule and drove off to the starting point for the hike. Soon we arrived in a parking area and, after loading a few backpacks with water and snacks, we got underway at about 10am. We were going to hike in Nahal Yehudiya, in the Golan Heights. "Nahal" means canyon or gorge. The Golan is a stunningly beautiful area filled with mountains, canyons, streams and waterfalls. Before 1967 Syria used to fire rockets from Golan down on Israeli farms and towns in the Galilee valley below. Israel took Golan from Syria in the Six Day War. Today, it is a very popular area for hiking and camping.

We started walking along the edge of the canyon and could hear water below, although couldn't see to the bottom. After just a few hundred meters Erin started wilting in the heat and whining. Uh oh, not a good start. I carried her for a short distance and then poured cool water over her head, which revived her and even elicited some giggles.

Then the path started descending into the canyon. The descent was tricky in a few spots but nothing too tough. Everyone did great. I would estimate that the vertical drop to the canyon floor was about 400-500 feet.


Suddenly, we arrived at a clearing with waterfall and large natural fresh water pool. We all jumped in to cool off. Ben and the DiCastro kids (ages 12, 9 and 8) swam over to the falls and jumped off rocks along the edge of the pool. We lingered there for about a half hour, and then started down the trail that runs along the canyon floor.

Except it wasn't really a trail. The canyon floor consisted of flowing water, rocks and boulders, and occasionally dense brush, with steep cliffs on both sides. Occasionally there would be a marker to suggest the easiest way through this mess, but it wasn't very easy. Some of the boulders were bigger than the twins, and we had to lift them over. Also, we had to wind back and forth through the stream so the rocks were wet and slippery. We had all worn Tevas; the sandals slipped on the rocks and our feet slipped in the sandals. Ben excitedly ran ahead with the DiCastro kids, but Ellen and I kept Erin and Thomas very close, often holding their hands to steady them at tough spots. We were very nervous that they would fall and get hurt, especially after the experience of our Edgemont friends, the Kleins. On the first day of the Kleins' recent trip to Israel, their son Terren had fallen at the top of Masada and cut his head. They spent their first full day in Israel in a hospital getting his head stitched up.

After about an hour of tense hiking like this, we reached a spot where some hikers ahead were bunched up, and we heard falling water. As I approached this spot it dawned on me that I had been here before, 25 years ago. Only then did I realize what Dani had meant by "a place where you climb down a ladder."

At this spot, the canyon becomes a sheer cliff for 25 feet, and the only way down is a metal ladder hammered into the rock a few feet from the cascading water. The bottom of the ladder disappears directly into a deep pool. Then you have to swim across the pool, a distance of about 30 feet. Ellen's eyes practically rolled back in her head as she realized that we were going to have to get our 5-year old twins down this cliff and across the pool.

As we neared the front of the line to start the descent the other hikers, all of whom (we realized later) seemed to be in their 20s, looked dubiously at our motley crew of children and 40-somethings. But then Dani pulled "floaties" from his pack and we put them on the twins' arms. Then he produced a little blow-up raft and we threw that over the falls -- we would use that to ferry our packs across the pool. When I reached the ladder I turned around to face the cliff, carefully placed Erin on the ladder in front of me, and down we went together. I kept one arm on the ladder and one arm wrapped around Erin's waist, but she climbed down herself. If she was scared, she didn't say so -- down she went without any hesitation. At the bottom of the ladder, we jumped together into the water with the falls crashing loudly beside us, and then swam together across the pool. Thomas went down with Dani the same way. And then the rest of the group followed. Ben and the DiCastro's 12 year old boy had fun ferrying bags across the pool in the raft.

We were too busy concentrating on survival to take photos as we were descending the ladder, but the photo below shows the view of this spot from a little further down the canyon. If you click on the picture, you can see the ladder and some hikers on it.



Just a few yards ahead there was a similar climb down a rock face into water -- shorter but even more challenging because the "ladder" consisted of some individual foot holds hammered into the rock at tricky angles, and too far apart for the twins to use without assistance. On this one, I went down with Thomas, who thought it was really fun.

After sitting a while to regain our composure we continued for another hour on the trail of boulders and water. Just when Ellen and I we were feeling that we really had had enough, we reached the spot where the trail climbs back out of the canyon. After one last dip in the cool water, we started our ascent, singing songs to keep our minds off the hot sun and exertion. Not once did any of the kids complain or asked to be carried. Actually we all were relieved to be walking on dry dirt and stones.

We arrived back at our cars at about 4pm, six hours after we started. While Ellen and I were giddy with relief from the tension, the twins seemed oblivious to the fact that we had done anything unusual. Ben, however, was on cloud nine and thought it was by far the coolest thing we had done so far Israel.

After a late afternoon picnic we took the scenic route back to a kibbutz guest house where we were staying. Ben seemed much more nervous about driving on the steep, curvy moutain road that descended from the Golan Heights than he had been at any point on the hike.

Other news briefs


Ben's school is challenging, but he likes it and is doing well. He has all the usual subjects (reading, math, science and social studies) plus Hebrew as a second language, PE and music (playing a band instrument is required -- he chose trumpet!). Basketball season has started, with two practices a week. Games against other schools, presumably Israeli, start soon.

The bigger school news is that we changed course with the twins and put them in an Israeli kindergarten -- that's right, it's in Hebrew. Our reasons for doing this were complex -- more in a later post. In the meantime, we can tell you that, after a week, they are doing great. The school is literally 100 yards from our house and the twins are together in a class. It is a two room schoolhouse just for 5-year olds, with a small yard and playground. The head "ganenet" (kindergarten teacher) is terrific, and speaks English, as do a few of the other kids. We have been told by many people that Israeli kindergartens are lovely, and our own observations support this. It will be fascinating to hear as they start to speak Hebrew.


We had a wonderful time recently seeing friends from home who visited with us during trips to Israel -- the Price family from Chappaqua, and the Klein and Melamed familes from Edgemont. Next week we are looking forward to spending a day down in the Dead Sea area with Ellen's cousin Abby and her husband Bruce who will be in Israel for a delayed honeymoon.

We are sadly following the tragic news in New Orleans. It feels weird to be so far away during our country's worst natural disaster ever.