Shaul Arieli The writing on the wall The During the tenure of Prime Ministers Rabin, Peres and Netanyahu, Dr. Shaul Arieli was the Head of the Pease Administration for the Interim agreement and was Deputy Military Secretary to the Minister of Defense and Head of the Peace Administration during the term of Prime The writing Minister Ehud Barak. Arieli is a lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, a research fellow on the wall at the Truman Institute for Peace, a senior researcher at the Economic Cooperation Foundation (ECF), a research fellow in the American Jewish Organization Israel Policy Forum, one of the initiators and leaders of the “Geneva Initiative”, and a member of the steering committee of “Commanders for Israel’s Collection of articles Security”. Arieli is considered one of the leading experts on the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian 2018-2020 conflict, the borders of Israel and the security barrier. Has published dozens of studies - in books and articles, in journals and the press - on the Israeli-Arab conflict. The latest of which: ‘Understanding the Trump plan’ (2020) on Trump’s “vision of Peace”, ‘Atlas Truman Institute, Maps of the Jewish-Arab Conflict’, published in Hebrew, Arabic, English, Russian, German and French (2020–2021). Arieli often conducts guided tours on his specialties and lectures in various forums on the main issues of the conflict. Some of his recent publications: “The Territorial Aspect of the Israeli-Palestinian Permanent Status Negotiations”, with Ron Pundak, Published by the Peres Center for Peace, 2004. “Going for all, Leaving with Nothing - On the struggle for the borders of the State of Israel”, Carmel Books, 2006. Shaul Arieli “Injustice and Folly - On the Proposals to Cede Arab Localities from Israel to Palestine” with Doubie Shwartz and Hadas Tagari, a Floresheimer Institute publication, 2006. “The Wall and Folly, The Separation Fence - Security or Greed?”, with Michael Sfard, Aliyat Hagag and Yedioth Books Publishing House, 2008. “A Border Between Us and You: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the Ways to its Resolution”, Aliyat Hagag and Yedioth Books Publishing House 2013, winner of the Chechik Award for research on Israeli security 2013, published in English by Aliyat Hagag and Yedioth Books Publishing House, 2021. “All of Israel’s Borders - 100 years of struggle for independence, identity, settlement and territory”, Aliyat Hagag and Yedioth Books Publishing House, 2018. “Is that how it happened? 12 Israeli myths about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”. Aliyat Hagag and Yedioth Books Publishing House, 2021. Shaul Arieli The writing on the wall Collection of articles 2018-2020 PB | The writing on the wall Shaul Arieli | 1 To all the lovers of democracy in the State of Israel who have gone out in these years to defend it and protest against those who seek its destruction. Shaul Arieli The writing on the wall Collection of articles Sixth in a series 2018-2021 All rights reserved to Shaul Arieli © 972-52-4625148 | [email protected] | www.shaularieli.com All materials in this book may be used according to the accepted citation rules Collecting of articles: Yaara Barkol and Mayan Sarnat Design: Sigalit Biksenshpan Mapping: Reshef Moriah Print: Spidgan Printed in Israel 2021 Acknowledgments This collection of articles has been published with the help of people whom I would like to thank. To the Yaara Barkol and to Mayan Sarnat who collected and organized the many articles. To Reshef Moriah for the maps accompanying this collection. To the people of Haaretz newspaper: To the opinion editor Alon Idan and to Orit Kahana for editing the articles. To Sigalit Biksenshpan for designing the book cover. Thanks to Maayan Sarant for translating some of the articles Special thanks to the Economic Cooperation Foundation (E.C.F) and the Danish Embassy in Israel for their assistance in enabling the production of this collection of articles. 4 | The writing on the wall Shaul Arieli | 5 Introduction This collection brings together various articles written by me that have been published in the last three years (2018-2020). They were written during the time that Donald Trump served as President of the United States and Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister of Israel. Two personalities who created and encouraged “Fake News” and “Fake Realty” and contributed greatly to the decline of truth, democracy, global and internal solidarity and distanced the two-state solution from public discourse and the global agenda. The articles express and reflect first and foremost my understanding, insights and attitudes towards the processes we have witnessed in these years, and have the potential to represent social action in Israel within non-institutional organizations. This collection, in contrast to its two predecessors, is organized according to the main themes that accompanied public discourse during this period: society and democracy, Israel and the Palestinians, settlements, annexation and the Trump plan. All of the articles in this collection are new and have not been published in previous collections. I have chosen to add maps to clarify and present some of the areas and concepts that appear in the articles. And at the end of the collection, I have added the main milestones of the conflict in order to sort out the chronology of events. I hope that this collection will contribute to the existence of a factual discourse about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Israeli society. Shaul Arieli February 2021 6 | The writing on the wall Shaul Arieli | 7 Table of Contents Maps .............................................................................................................................................. 12 Society and Democracy ................................................................................................. 13 The Public Must Protect its Gatekeepers – Haaretz October 21, 2018 ��������������� 15 Look for the Override Clause in Rabbi Kook – Haaterz, May 14, 2018 ................ 20 What did Israeli Students Learn this Year? The Least Possible – Haaretz, June 12, 2018 ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 25 Gadi Taub Surrenders to the Tyranny of the Contemporary – Haaretz, July 18, 2018 .............................................................................................................. 29 Goodbye democracy, Hello Jungle - Haaretz, July 24, 2018 .................................... 33 A Day Must Not Pass Without Protest Against this Government – Haaretz, August 27, 2018 ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 36 If the Left Doesn’t Want to Write the Epilogue of the Zionist Story – Haaretz, January 4, 2019 ......................................................................................................................... 39 Israel Will Simply Collapse – Haaretz, June 13, 2019 ................................................. 43 How to Make an Israeli Arab’s Joke about Netanyahu’s ‘Concessions’ Come True – Haa`retz, July 26, 2019 ............................................................................................ 48 Have We Reached the End of the Secular Zionist Dream? – Haaretz, September 11, 2019 ............................................................................................... 51 Don’t Count on the Ultra-Orthodox - Haaretz, September 12, 2019 ................... 56 Bennett’s Suicide Attack – Haaretz, January 19, 2020 ............................................... 60 The War for Democracy – May 6, 2020, On the left side magazine ....................... 63 Give Separation a Chance – The Israeli Peace Camp In the 21st Century – From Peace to Separation - June 25, 2020 ...................................................................... 65 An Exercise in Awakening – Telem -a magazine for the Israeli left, June 30, 2020, .................................................. 72 Has Netanyahu become an anti-Zionist? Haaretz, October 29, 2020 ����������������� 81 Ignoring the Elephant in the Square – Haaretz, December 27, 2020 ������������������ 85 The Left Border - Telem - a magazine for the Israeli left, February 2020 �������������� 88 The goal: Greater Israel. The means: the dissolution of democracy – Haaretz, February 19, 2021 ....................................................................................................................104 Israel and the Palestinians ..........................................................................................109 Rehavam Ze’evi, your prophecy will soon come true - Haaretz, January 2, 2018 ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������111 Peace Plan Fantasies Haaretz January 23, 2018 .........................................................114 What Ben-Gurion understood about Gaza that Netanyahu does not understand, Haaretz, April 12, 2018 ................................................................................121 It is Better to Learn One Thing From Abbas’s Speech, Its Conclusion – Haaretz, May 7, 2018 .............................................................................................................126 Israel Should Listen to What Sinwar Says – Haaretz, June 5, 2018 ��������������������132 They thwarted the construction of the security fence - but blame others - Haaretz, September 2, 2018 ................................................................................................136