By Rabbi Dow Marmur
JERUSALEM–Within a very short time after hearing that the eviction of the settlers at Machpelah House had been postponed, they were, in fact, evicted. In a moment of premature enthusiasm I thought: “Three cheers for the Prime Minister.”
But those cheers may have been premature. For the Prime Minister may not have acted with strength and determination toward the many hotheads in his cabinet, but may, in fact, have promised them much more than they would have gained if Machpelah House had remained in the hands of the settlers.
It now appears that the hotheads will “blame” the eviction on Defense Minister Barak, who probably acted on the advice of the forces on the ground who told him about the danger to the current fragile and delicate relationship between the army that controls the area on behalf of Israel, and the settlers who only seem to report to the God of their warped imagination and misguided understanding of both tradition and reality.
More important and ominous, however, is the rumoured promise to “compensate” the settler movement and its advocates in the government for their “loss” of Machpelah House. Steps are likely to be taken to get the Knesset to declare other illegal settlements “legal” and in other ways strengthen the hands of those who implicitly work towards what under one pretext or another would further harass Palestinians.
The fact that all this is happening at a time when – as part of his summary of the first three years of the government and prospects for the rest of its time before elections – Prime Minister Netanyahu declared his determination to renew the peace process. It’s reported that he’s to meet the allegedly pragmatic Prime Minister Salem Fayad of the Palestinian Authority and to take other steps in the same direction.
Such apparent double-speak may be calculated to keep the different factions in the cabinet happy while the rest of us remain suspicious about the real intentions, There’re even suggestions that – despite the assurances that the present coalition is stable, will last until the next elections and, probably, remain in place thereafter – one side or another will find the present situation intolerable, leave the coalition and force an election sooner.
Some people, presumably particularly those around the new leader of Kadima, Shaul Mofaz, may be happy about that prospect. More skeptical people (among whom I count myself, alas) don’t think that much will change without a tougher line by theUS administration, which, of course, isn’t likely until after November when, judging by what’s going on in the Republican primaries, President Obama will be re-elected.
As we know, it’s invidious to predict the future in politics, particularly inIsrael. However, it’s difficult to look ahead without seeing the ever-growing settler domination irrespective of the cost to the country, the peace process and thus the very future of the Jewish people.
That’s why the moment of my near-euphoria over the decision to evict the settlers from Machpelah House – though understandable, I hope – seems to have been embarrassingly premature because of the price we may all have to pay for the episode of what looked like Netanyahu’s strength and his government’s prudence.
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Rabbi Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. Now dividing his time between Canada and Israel, he may be contacted at dow.marmur@sdjewishworld.com