Literary / Arts
My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel by Ari Shavit
Clint Mooney, Calgary
Volume 29 Issue 4, 5 & 6 | Posted: June 30, 2015
On the cover of this book, Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times is quoted as saying, “[A] must-read book.” He is absolutely right: read this book.
Ari Shavit is a well-respected Jewish Israeli journalist. He has long career experience and has gained personal respect and access from Israeli leadership, both factional and governmental. As a born and raised Israeli, he says, “For as long as I can remember, I remember fear. Existential fear.” But also, from his mandatory military service as a young man, he remembers his chagrin at having to interrogate Palestinians at border crossings; he hated the experience and sympathized with those subjected to it. Additionally, he thinks the occupation of the West Bank has been unjust and wrong; it should have been rectified as soon as the 1973 war was over.
On the cover of this book, Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times is quoted as saying, “[A] must-read book.” He is absolutely right: read this book.
Ari Shavit is a well-respected Jewish Israeli journalist. He has long career experience and has gained personal respect and access from Israeli leadership, both factional and governmental. As a born and raised Israeli, he says, “For as long as I can remember, I remember fear. Existential fear.” But also, from his mandatory military service as a young man, he remembers his chagrin at having to interrogate Palestinians at border crossings; he hated the experience and sympathized with those subjected to it. Additionally, he thinks the occupation of the West Bank has been unjust and wrong; it should have been rectified as soon as the 1973 war was over.
These are the concerns from which Shavit begins his discussion: “Intimidation and occupation have become the two pillars of our condition.” How did Israel come to this? He thinks that if he examines the history of the land for the last century and a half perhaps something will emerge that will indicate the way forward for Israel, the way out of the dilemma. He believes “there are no simple answers”, “no quick-fix solutions”.
Shavit chronologically relates significant happenings that epitomize the unfolding history of the land and its peoples in the twentieth century. As he does so, he acknowledges the building of friendships and cooperative assistance between Jews and Arabs, as well as the growth of fears, self-assertions and violations of trust over the course of their history together. Layers of division are piled on top of one another, and the reader comes to see how complex the situation now is and how seemingly impossible it would be to satisfy everyone’s interests. Some of the emergent concerns of minorities that need to be addressed are those of settlers, ultra-Orthodox, Palestinian Israelis, Bedouins, youth, peace activists, Orientals; the role of each of these in what Shavit says is the “disintegration of the Israeli republic” is elucidated.
One very interesting chapter traces the development of Israel’s nuclear capability. The scientific facility where nuclear research was being advanced was subject to annual American inspections. Israelis were able to fool inspectors for as long as it took to build an arsenal of bombs and missiles. The implications are clear: if Israel could stonewall so effectively once, it could be do so again with respect to ending the occupation; and also, if Israel could deceive so well, even while subjected to annual inspections, another state, like Iran, could do it too.
Beyond the external existential threats (as Shavit sees it, Iran’s nuclear programme is the most significant one here) and the internal threats arising from occupation and factionalism, the most significant barrier to progress is internal: it is Israel’s lack of leadership, lack of direction and lack of governability.
While he thinks that Prime Minister Netanyahu is right about the threat from Iran, he challenges much of the Likud Party policies and performance. As he relates it, there have always been many different interests and strongly-held points of view among the peoples in the land. Until 1973, Labour was able to provide overriding vision that all could sufficiently buy in to. The unpreparedness of the leadership for the 1973 Yom Kippur War, however, led to an elevation of fears and then to the election of a Likud government in 1977. Shavit sees this as a very significant date and from it traces the demise of a unifying centre within the diversity that is Israel, the lack of a commanding vision for the country that could transcend the disparate interests of the many emergent factions.
Shavit is optimistic, perhaps because he has to be. He and his family are Israelis; this is the land they know and want to live in. Although he sees what he calls “seven circles of threat: Islamic, Arabic, Palestinian, internal, mental, moral and identity-based”, he believes that Israelis are inventive, reflective, stubborn, resilient people. Factions can come to see that their separate wellbeing is dependent on the wellbeing of all; compromise is possible. As it says in Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish … ” (KJV); what Israel needs, Shavit suggests, is leadership with a vision that will lift all Israelis, with their narrower special self-interests, to another level of commitment to the Israeli state. He hopes it is coming. Meanwhile, he provides a highly illuminating history of how Israel got here, and of where here is.
Clint Mooney is a retired United Church minister who is prominent in inter-faith circles.
Clint Mooney, Calgary