Israel's war of the colors By Uri Avnery -- International Herald TribuneFriday, July 22, 2005 ----
A visitor to Israel might get the impression that the country is in the throes of a contest between two soccer teams - orange and blue. While a majority of cars in fact don't betray which team they support, thousands are flying ribbons from their antennas, with the orange outnumbering the blue by about 2 to 1.
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Those who fly the orange ribbon know this perfectly well. They swear to "paint the country orange" and aim to change its way of life from the bottom up. As they see it, the laws of Israel's Parliament are invalid if they conflict with religious law as interpreted by the "nationalist Zionist" rabbis, a nationalist-messianic faction with a fascist fringe. Government decisions are null and void if they are opposed to the will of God. And God, as is well known, speaks through the mouths of the settlers' leaders.
Those who fly the blue are struggling for a different vision. Some have a thought-out conception of a democratic, liberal and secular Israel, living at peace with the Arab world. Others have a more general vision of a sane and decent Israel, where a majority decides through the Knesset. Either way, the difference is striking and unmistakable.
Today, less than a month before the planned evacuation, public opinion polls show that two-thirds of Israelis support the Gaza withdrawal. If that is so, why is there no solid majority of blue ribbons on the highways? The first reason is unsurprising: A fanatical minority with a strong emotional motivation has an advantage over a "silent majority" that always tends to be passive and weak-willed.The settlers and their allies also have a distinct logistic advantage. They live in their own communities, so it is easy for them to mobilize thousands of children and youngsters, who disperse throughout the country and attach their ribbons to the cars. The religious Jews, almost all of them supporters of the settlers, are concentrated in their seminaries and separate townships, where they can easily be called to action.
But these advantages would not have been so manifest, were it not for the weaknesses of their opponents. Many citizens are simply anxious. They are afraid that if they fly the blue ribbon, their cars will be vandalized by right-wing hooligans, in a classic attempt to paralyze the law-abiding majority.
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In addition, the blue ribbon is a unifying symbol. Forces of different shades are working together in this campaign, from those who support Ariel Sharon and withdrawal from the Gaza Strip only, to those who want to turn this withdrawal into an instrument for the achievement of a general peace.
To belong to this camp is respectable, for it is a camp with a liberal and peace-loving culture, a camp that believes in equality between the citizens of both genders and of all ethnic and national backgrounds. In short: the opposite of what the settlers believe in.
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The importance of this is more than symbolic. More and more people are becoming convinced that the current struggle is essentially one between the State of Israel and the "State of the Settlers" - a democratic state on the one side, a nationalist-messianic state on the other. That is an important conception, which may have far-reaching implications for the future. It is the start of the real separation - that between the State of Israel and the settlers.
For that, too, it is important that the blue now win the war of the colors.
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A bit outdated, but a good editorial nevertheless by Uri Avnery of Gush Shalom.
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