1 Samuel Neaman Institute for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology Metzilah, Center for Zionist, Jewish, Liberal and Humanistic Thought Conditions for the Prosperity of the State of Israel "Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint" – A Meta-Purpose for Israel and its Implications Ruth Gavison 1 May 2006 Translation from the Hebrew: Ruvik Danieli and Yair Levy August 2007 1 I would like to thank the S. Neaman Institute and the Metzilah Center for their generous support of this work. I would also like to thank Gilad Malach, Oren Melberger, Yair Levy and Tami Harel Ben-Shachar for assistance in the research. I am grateful also to Zeev Tadmor, Zvi Tsameret, Tuviah Blumenthal and Evelyn Gordon for their insightful comments. 2 Table of Contents Introduction to the Series ……………………………………………………………………………...3 A Note on the Translation ………………………………………………………….…………………...5 Foreword …………………………………………………………………………………………….………..6 I. What is Israel: a success story? A vital enterprise facing existential threats? A shattered dream? A colonial enterprise, conceived in sin, whose continued existence is unjustified? ……………………………….................... 9 II. A Meta-Purpose for Israel 1. Why is a Meta-Purpose Essential in Conditions of Controversy………......38 2. A Meta-Purpose for Israel ...……………………………………………………….….43 3. The Meta-Purpose, Rules of the Game and Political Action Under Conditions of Uncertainty ………………………………………….…………53 III. Challenges to Elements of the Meta-Purpose for Israel …………………...……. 59 1. Challenges to Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People …………..59 2. Challenges to the State's Democracy .………………………………………….....98 3. Challenges to Human Rights in Israel ……………………………..…………....125 4. Challenges to Israel as a Developed and Prosperous State ……………...141 5. Challenges to a Peace-seeking Israel ……………………………………..….….156 IV. Elements of the Meta-Purpose: Interim Summary ………………………….…166 1. Jewishness vis-à-vis Democracy, Human Rights, Peace and Prosperity………………………………………………………………………………..…167 2. Democracy and Human Rights…………………………………………………….…173 3. Economic Prosperity and other Challenges………………………………….....178 V. Implications of the Integrated Meta-Purpose in its Entirety for Policy Issues: The case of Immigration Policy ……………………………………….……….……185 VI. Where is Israel Heading …………………………………………………..………….......199 Bibliography ……..……………………………………………………………………………………....202 3 Foreword to the Series Late in 2004 the Neaman Institute at the Technion established a long-term think-tank enterprise to tackle the fundamental problems facing the State of Israel and the conditions required to ensure the country's prosperity. Heading the project was Prof. Aviezer Ravitzky of Hebrew University. The volume before you is one in a series of essays, which present the outcome of this enterprise. The project brought together a group of first-rate scholars and thinkers in Israeli society representing various fields of interest- philosophical, political, social, juridical and technological. Each participant took it upon himself independently to write an essay focusing on one of the constitutive areas of national life, to analyze the existing reality and formulate proposals and recommendations for the future, placing emphasis on the opportunities and dangers we face. These essays, then, aim to rise above the press of events and interests and observe reality from a reflective elevated viewpoint, and thus to propose possible ways of correcting and improving this reality. The writers have also sought insofar as is possible to avoid transient political controversies and to focus on the more enduring cultural, social and practical issues that may be expected to preoccupy the state and society in the foreseeable future. At this stage, the series includes six essays: • "Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint" – A Meta-Purpose for Israel and its Implications , by Prof. Ruth Gavison, posits long-term objectives that will allow the country to sustain a proper balance between social cohesion and partnership in the national enterprise, on one hand, and differences and plurality of opinion on the other hand; • Notes on Governmental Rules in Israel , by Prof. Shlomo Avineri, focuses on various issues disruptive of public life; • The Jewish People at this Time: Between Necessity and Freedom , by Prof. Aviezer Ravitzky, is devoted to two basic questions: the rapid turnabout in the situation of the Jewish people and their state in our time, and the new challenge posed by the "clash of civilizations" (whether real or imagined); 4 • Modern Jewish Identities and the State of Israel by Prof. Moshe Halbertal focuses on the plurality of Jewish identities facing each other in Israeli reality; • Without Science there is no Future – without Technology there is no Existence , by Prof. Zeev Tadmor, puts forward the contention that excellence in science and technology is a necessary condition for Israel's survival and prosperity; • Weaving a Future for the State of Israel , by Prof. Yechezkel Dror, presents alternative futures for the State of Israel and strategies for implementing them. I can only hope that these essays will arouse extensive public debate and serve as a cornerstone for constructing the future edifice of the State of Israel. Prof. Nadav Liron Director, S. Neaman Institute 5 A Note on the Translation Translation is always a feat. In a way, it is easier for a writer to be translated into a language she does not know at all. She then has no choice but to trust the translators. Being translated into English has not been easy on either the translators or myself. I am very grateful to Ruvik Danieli, Yair Levy and Sandra Fine for producing this translation. Joel Pollak gave the text a final touch. Translations are of course more than rendering a text originally written in one language into another. Three decisions that we have made here merit a special mention. 1. The Hebrew text was written with the Israeli audience in mind, and naturally it contains a lot of details that are known and interesting only to it. We were not sure it would not be better to edit the text before the translation so the level of detail would suit those who may be less familiar and less interested in such details. This might indeed have made the text easier to read, but it would mean that the text would become an English version rather than a translation. We preferred keeping the nature of the English text as a translation. 2. The Hebrew text went to print in May 2006. By the time it was published in September 2006, some of it was already outdated. The war in Lebanon, for example, changed some of the perceptions of the regional situation. There have also been some changes in the legal situation through both legislation and judicial opinions. Again, we preferred the accuracy of the translation to updating the text. We have added an asterisk (*)in some of the places where important developments have occurred since the text was written. 3. Finally, exact meaning often comes from context as much as from the words used. In translation we usually opted for accuracy and not for a text that might better express meanings and contexts. Ruth Gavison Jerusalem, July 2007 6 Foreword This essay is part of a larger work. 2 It focuses on the thesis that it is vital to Israel's future robustness that it re-formulates a meta-purpose that might provide the great majority of the country's inhabitants with a sense of cohesion and partnership in the enterprise of the state. The existence of such a meta-purpose was a central factor in the country's past success, and it is no less vital today. The provision of such a meta- purpose may help to forge agreement over the rules of decision-making in the conditions of profound disagreements obtaining in Israel; it may also make possible the adoption of a determined and consistent policy, which is needed to overcome complex challenges and create in Israel a state and society conducive to the good life. Such a meta-purpose will make it possible for Israel to expand its horizon; to transcend the immediate, short- and even mid-term; and to derive policy initiatives from long-term goals as well. It will also enable a thoroughgoing analysis of the complex totality of factors affecting Israel's prosperity instead of concentrating only on a particular problem at a given time. We learn the importance of a meta-purpose for Israel from the lessons of Zionism's early successes. There are also important differences between the situation in which the Zionist movement and the State of Israel operated—largely successfully—during the country's early years, and the situation that the State of Israel is contending with today and in the foreseeable future. These differences should affect the identification of challenges, determination of goals, and formulation of ideas regarding the ways in which Israel can and should contend with its challenges. This essay proposes a tentative formulation of such a meta-purpose and examines its elements and the relations among them. It deals with the claims that some of the proposed elements in this meta-purpose are neither legitimate nor widely shared, and 2 This essay was supposed to have been written in a context of a think-tank of people who were invited to "think outside the box." The idea was that brainstorming on the part of such people could give rise to innovative works, which might be of exceptional importance to the State of Israel's ability to successfully contend with tomorrow's challenges. In keeping with such an endeavor, the ideas with which I came to the writing of this essay were rather "wild" and tentative. The group never started to work together, so I myself - together with my research assistants - jumped from one idea to another and from one direction to another. Over the course I collected a great amount of material concerning various issues, identified through my understanding of the topic at that stage.