Israelis' False Unity Is Enabling the Settlers to Achieve All Their Goals

Ariel Rubinstein, haaretz.com

I have no illusions that genuine peace between us and the Palestinians could be made if only the sides would show ‘a little’ flexibility in their positions. Sadly, real peace requires real catastrophe.

Image from, with note: “[The] hot-button political film that fired up everyone who saw it [at the Telluride Film Festival, 2012] is Dror Moreh's extraordinary documentary The Gatekeepers, in which six former heads of Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency speak with extraordinary bluntness about the country's past and present."

Excerpt:

I agree with the right. It faces no real opposition. If I were a settler, I would vote for Likud and Labor alternately. It’s enough for Likud only to be in power some of the time, since Labor can also be counted upon to expand settlements and expropriate land (just for security purposes, of course). Besides, Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni are so good at fooling the world into thinking Israel has a more sympathetic face than that reflected by the political portraits of Benjamin Netanyahu, Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Lieberman. ...

But I don’t agree with the right about the most important thing: I completely deny that it is our right to continue the occupation. ...

The anti-settlement and anti-occupation camp isn’t really fighting. Conferences, op-eds and sad songs are just a salve for the conscience, fostering an illusion of action in a time of futility. If the movie “The Gatekeepers” didn’t crack the right, no public diplomacy move will help. The camp is devoid of energy and unwilling to sacrifice any of its comforts in order to achieve its goals. ...