January 28, 2002

Admit it: Israel's cities have become war zones

Neill Lochery
National Post

With several dead and 150 hurt in a weekend of carnage in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, is it any wonder that Israel's patience has long run out with the Palestinians? The situation in Jerusalem has become so stressful that even Mickey Levy, the hardened chief of police, suffered a major heart attack while organizing the rescue effort following Sunday's bombing. The terrorist attack was only a matter of yards from the pizza parlour that was the targeted last summer.

Everyday life in Israel has become very cheap, just as Yasser Arafat and the bombers intended with the slogan "bring Gaza to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem." Each bomb, as well as bringing new horrors, breaks a previous taboo. Sunday's attacker was apparently a woman. Terrorists disguised in Israeli army uniform and ultra-orthodox clothes have carried out previous attacks. What's next?

For Israelis, the Russian roulette game is getting ever more complex. One makes calculations as to what is safe, or not, on an almost minute-by-minute basis. Many parents have banned their children from visiting the central shopping areas -- Ben-Yehuda, King David Street and Jaffa Street in Jerusalem and Dizengoff in Tel Aviv -- fearing the worst. Young love, however, is young love and many teenagers continue to defy their parents' wishes and visit cafés and bars in these beautiful areas seeking fun and a break from the depressing newscasts at home. Anyone with teenagers will be fully aware of the difficulties of (a) getting them to do what you want and (b) knowing exactly where they are all the time. Hence the continuing fear of every Israeli parent

If the attacks themselves are not bad enough, what follows is even sicker, with a carefully worded press release from Mr. Arafat condemning the attack in the strongest possible language. Is this the same man who on Saturday night called, in Arabic, for thousands of martyrs to go to Jerusalem, and stated how he wished he could be one of them?

Mr. Arafat is clearly a man under great strain; his pronouncements in Arabic are becoming more contradictory by the day -- strange, for despite everything, he is an intelligent man. The Middle East is full of rumour and speculation about possible exit strategies for him, and that he has started moving assets into foreign bank accounts to pay for his new life in exile. There may be some truth in this, but it is more than likely that Mr. Arafat will go down fighting with his own men, ensuring his legacy among the Palestinian masses.

While Mr. Arafat loses the plot, Israelis brace for the next attack. People will eye each other nervously on the buses in the coming days, looking for something that doesn't fit. Perhaps a man whose coat is too heavy for the increasingly pleasant winter sun or someone who doesn't wait for his change after boarding a bus. The possibilities are endless, but everyone will be on their guard as they go about their mundane business of earning a living.

Those of us who are in positions where we have to decide whether to send people to Israel -- in my case my students for a year abroad at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem -- debate what is best. Give in to the terrorists and stay away or have anxious parents on the phone every time there is an attack. The most common question I am asked is, do you think it is going to get any better? At this moment the answer, I'm afraid, is that it is going to get much worse in the coming months.

Many people comment on how well Israelis are absorbing such attacks and continue to go about their daily business. Comments such as, "Well they are used to it" are often heard in diplomatic circles. In truth, the stress is there, but most Israelis internalize their trauma. You can still see it in the eyes of the young soldiers who served in Lebanon during the occupation, or in those who have witnessed a suicide attack.

Israeli cities, to all intents and purposes, have become war zones, but ones in which the enemy is largely invisible and strikes without fear of capture. It is time that the world realized that Israel must shift the battleground and start fighting a conventional war against Mr. Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. Only then will it be able to use it superior firepower to dismantle the infrastructure of those who send or support the suicide bombers. This is fast becoming Israel's most logical option.

Neill Lochery is director of the Centre for Israeli Studies at University College in London.