For two years now we have been hearing from some right-wing Israelis that “the people” do not want this peace and that God forbids any contact between Jews and the PLO. And for too long we have been seeing nothing but angry right-wing anti-peace demonstrations in the streets. But since the assassination, the silent majority of peace-oriented Israelis is coming into the open, speaking out. They mourn Rabin not because all of them agree with his policies, but because of the simple, overwhelming realization that he was on the side of life, whereas the killer and his sympathizers represent death.
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis, mostly young, have been mourning in the streets, lighting candles, singing peace songs. It would be both wrong and dangerous to put the blame for the crime on the entire Israeli right wing. Most Likud supporters, most of the hard-line people in Israel, are as genuinely shocked and bewildered by Rabin’s death as the rest of the nation. They know that mock-religious fanaticism is as dangerous to right-wing leaders as to anyone else.
A small sect, a loose conglomerate of mad-dog fundamentalists, has declared war on the rest of Israel-left and right. Those fanatics have the crazy dream of turning Israel into an Iran-like theocracy, controlled by Jewish ayatollahs. It is typical of religious fanatics, Christian, Muslim or Jew, that the “orders” they get from God are always, essentially, one order: Thou shalt kill. The god of all fanatics sounds more like the devil.
Israel will give them no chance. The highest command in Judaism is “Uvacharta Ba’chaim”–meaning “Thou shall choose life,” or “Thou shall opt for life.” The peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, Israel and the rest of the Arab world will continue; there will be a comprehensive peace agreement. There may be setbacks and crises, shootings and bombings, but there is simply no alternative to a historic compromise between Jews and Arabs: The Israelis are in Israel to stay; the Palestinians are in Palestine and they won’t go away either. The two nations, having been deeply injured by one another for so many years, cannot share the land-they will have to divide it between them. The opposite of peace is neither “Greater Israel” nor “Greater Palestine.” The opposite of peace is fanaticism and death. The Israelis and Palestinians will choose life.
