ON TARGET: The best of weeks, the worst of weeks

By Tallie Lipkin-Shahak, Jerusalem Post, 31.5.00

(May 25) The biggest problem with the withdrawal from Lebanon is the resulting schism: The joy of one part of society is the other's nightmare.

This was one of the most beautiful weeks in Israeli history, and at the same time, one of the most difficult. It was the week the IDF withdrew from Lebanon. A problematic act, whether from an ethical, military or political point of view, yet also an important one - not only with regard to politicians keeping promises, but for what it tells us about being able to admit failure, to admit the limits of power, and to seek a different direction.

Arrogance brought the IDF into Lebanon 18 years ago; an arrogance that believed it was possible to destroy people and ideas by using weapons and a large army. The same arrogance held that it was possible to use people - to turn them into our agents - and to assume that our interests would motivate them.

This is the same arrogance which assumed that the world would always rotate around the axis of old-fashioned imperialism. These working assumptions have been exposed as spurious, and Israel has acted appropriately, even if the actual withdrawal resulted from election promises, and not careful strategic planning.

This week's withdrawal from Lebanon is proof of the influence and power of public opinion here. Acts of aggressive citizenship - something heretofore rare in Israel - harnessed public opinion and pressured our leaders into pulling the IDF soldiers out of the Lebanese quagmire.

A group of women, the Four Mothers, spearheaded the process, and this in itself signaled an impressive upgrade in the status of women here. Not only did women launch a pressure group, they did so on a very male issue, a security issue. This is a new development here, and is good news.

The soldiers' return home is a dagger in the heart of parents whose sons were killed before Israel managed to extricate itself from Lebanon. It is a tremendous relief to those whose sons sang and cheered their way across the border this week - and a relief to many of the soldiers, too.

It must be remembered, though, that soldiers are young people, trained to fight and sometimes overly excited about fulfilling their mission on the battlefield, whether out of patriotism or, just as likely, out of youthful adventurism. But their fear, the experience of real battles, the loss and wounding of comrades, and the frustration at a faulty military campaign, certainly left scars which withdrawal may help heal.

Regarding the influence of Lebanon in terms of wear and tear on Israeli society - on the youth, on the residents of the North - it is impossible to exaggerate. In that context, the withdrawal is better late than never.

On condition, of course, that the withdrawal does not result in further damage to society, to our ethics, to the army, and to our security situation.

THIS is how the beautiful and the difficult are bound up with each other: This has been a week of horrific scenes.

It is hard to decide which is worse: the sight of SLA soldiers and their families banging on Israel's gates and of the Lebanese workers stuck at the "Good Fence" (a concept taken from a world that was wiped out in an instant) - or the sight of the long-suffering northern residents entering the shelters once again. The sight of IDF soldiers hurriedly taking down the Israeli flag at Bint J'beil, or the sight of Hizbullah terrorists unfurling their yellow flag on the way to villages bordering Israel.

The sight of buses taking political exiles, prisoners of the situation, to refuge in Israel; or the sight of trucks loaded with SLA soldiers who surrendered themselves to the Hizbullah, and those with pistols stuck in their necks who were suspected of collaboration.

The abandonment of the SLA - there is no other name for it, even if a partial solution is found for some of them - is an issue which will haunt Israeli society for many years to come. This ethical dilemma has no simple answer, as is the case with most complex issues. The legitimacy of public opinion having such a huge influence on governmental decisions - whether courageous or merely adventurous - is also not such a cut-and-dried issue. Taking security issues out of the exclusive domain of "the security establishment" is a blessed act of democracy, but not without its problems.

The main problem is the resulting schism. The joy of one part of society is the other's nightmare. The relief of parents whose children have been taken out of Lebanon is the fear of other parents who must put their children on buses to school each morning, within range of Katyusha rockets and mine-laying terrorists.

The soldiers' relief is also the threat hovering over thousands of residents in the North who, at this moment, are serving as the country's living shield. One cannot bury one's head in the sand - these are not second-class citizens, and the price they have already paid throughout the years of the Lebanon war has been a heavy one, perhaps unbearably so. This country and its leaders are responsible for their lives, no less than they are responsible for the lives of soldiers and the peaceful sleep of their parents.

The negligent way in which the IDF was "allowed" to retreat by the good graces of Hizbullah - that's how it seems - makes it difficult to count our blessings this week, and ruins the gloomy festivities.