I served as an officer in the Israeli Army and was wounded in the war of 1973. Healing from the war injury was difficult. However much more difficult was recovering from the haunting memories of what I did and did not do in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Lebanon. The toll of the occupation weighs heavily on my soul and on the souls of many Israelis who have served in the Palestinian territories. The Jewish people are widely, and potentially violently, split and so even though Israel, with its mighty army may gain military victory over the Palestinians it likely may lose its soul.

Like the Vietnamese who fought off the Americans and the Afghanis who fought off the Soviets, the Palestinians realized with the recent withdrawal of the Israeli army from Southern Lebanon that Israel could no longer stomach the continuous human cost of occupation. Palestinians are also aware that Israel is gradually losing sympathy in the eyes of the international community and of many Jews abroad. They recognize that many Israelis are feeling dispirited, some army reservists are refusing to serve in the Occupied Territories and that other Israelis, like me, leave Israel for a moral reasons.

The daily reality of destruction, injury, hate, revenge and death between Israelis and Palestinians continues without an end in sight. Increasing numbers of young Palestinian men and women are willingly to blow themselves up for the cause of a Greater Palestine or driving the occupying forces out. Given the fact that memories in the Middle East stay for thousands of years, hope for peace seems to be generations away. Israel must act immediately to stop the daily carnage. Israel must impose a unilateral, forced separation by building a tall and wide wall between the two states.

Unilaterally building a 'cold' wall is not a very heart-warming solution in comparison to negotiated 'warm' peace. The Israeli Right is appropriately concerned about the future of the settlements which will end up, according to this proposal, on the other side of the wall. The Israeli Left naively still hopes to see true peace rather than a time out phase. However, history has taught us that walls or time-outs can effectively separate warring parties, reduce hostilities in the short run and bring peace in the long run. The Berlin Wall separated the two Germany's well and got dismantled when the time was right for reconciliation. China was protected well by the Great Wall and the Roman Empire was equally well protected from the barbarians by the Roman Limes. The wall between the Greeks and the Turks in Cyprus has also proven effective and so has the grim DMZ between North and South Korea. A little know fact is the effectiveness of the already in place security fence around parts of the Gaza Strip.

A 20-point plan for unilateral forced separation:

General principles:
1. The amount of hatred, spilled blood and distrust makes peace impossible in the foreseeable future.
2. Only a time out in a form of forced separation can stop the daily carnage in the region.
3. Israel will unilaterally implement a physical separation between itself and the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by constructing a wall and a security buffer zone.
4. This idea is not founded on trust or love of the Palestinians. It is based on the idea their hatred and despair towards Israel is so great at this point that peace is not possible.
5. The wall (with the accompanying high voltage electric fences, barbed wire, land mines, etc See #9 for details) will make it impossible for suicide bombers to simply cross the presently, barely marked border into Israel and blow themselves up.
6. Such separation will stop the daily violence and deadly altercations in the region, which occur between the Israeli Army in the occupied territories and the Palestinians, especially at checkpoints and around the settlements.
7. It will allow the Israelis and the Palestinians to cool off and allow a new generation to grow up without experiencing first hand the injuries, hatred, and fear of their neighbor. Then, and only then, will peace even be a possibility.

   Further considerations:
   

8. This separation does not require lengthy negotiation, international summits and endless pre-conditions that have rendered such attempts useless. It does not require endorsement by the Palestinians, USA, Arab States, UN or the international community. Israel can implement it tomorrow.
9. The wall will be wide and tall. It will be augmented by high voltage electric, barbed wire and electronically monitored fences, strips of (clearly marked) land mines, booby traps, neutral zones and other electronic technology, explosives, satellites and available sophisticated devices.
10. The wall will be built as close as possible to the 1967 green line. It will divide Jerusalem again so East Jerusalem can become the capital of the new Palestinian state. It will go around the heavily populated Jewish areas around Jerusalem and the Palestinians will be compensated by land elsewhere.
11. Israeli armed forces will be categorically excluded from the Palestinian side of the wall.
12. Israel will initially retain minimal, necessary control over the entries along the Jordan River from Jordan into Palestine and along the Mediterranean Sea coastline for the sole purpose of preventing entrance of heavy arms into the Palestinian State. This monitoring responsibility will be transferred within a short period to a third party, such as the UN or other neutral entity.
13. The settlers presently living in the occupied territories will have to choose to move into Israel or take the grave risk of living under Palestinian control. Of course, this is one of the sorest points in the discussion of the wall. This solution will stop the confrontations resulting from the presence of 200,000 settlers residing in dozens of settlements all over the West Bank in the midst of more than two million Palestinians. It will prevent the escalation of conflict, bloodshed, and immense suffering on all sides resulting from their relentless pursuit of the "Greater Israel" dream.
14. The Palestinians will be able to focus on their newly established State's affairs. These internal affairs are likely to be complex, numerous and regretfully divisive and volatile but with support and financial assistance from the Arab nations and international community should stabilize.
15. The wall will have a few crossing points where Palestinian laborers under intense Israeli scrutiny, may cross into Israel. Suicide bombers will be detected by similar means used in airports. Goods will also be inspected and transported between the two states through these gates.
16. The Gaza Strip will be connected to the West Bank via a direct, non-stop, secured, fenced, suspended highway. A fast rail should also be considered, as it will provide hermetically secure rail cars for passengers and cargo.
17. If hostility is initiated from the Palestinian side (e.g. launching the Kasam home made rockets over the wall) Israel will respond the same way it would respond if Syria, Egypt, Jordan or Iraq had initiated such hostilities. It will do whatever is necessary to protect itself. Having one of the most powerful armies in the world, Israel is perfectly capable of protecting itself by military and other means.

    In Summary:
    

18. In the short run, such a separation will stop the suicide bombers from entering Israel at will, reduce the volatile atmosphere in the region, and put an end to the role of Israelis as an occupation force.
19. This cooling off arrangement will enable healing, from the wounds of occupation and enmity to begin in the souls of Israeli and Palestinian citizens and soldiers, and in Jews and Arabs around the world.
20. Hopefully in the long run, this separation will translate into a stable, albeit, cautious co-existence and, ultimately, into real peace.

Published in: Song of Peace, Sonoma Valley Congregation Newsletter, Issue #19:7, 10, May, 2002

To order audiotape of lecture on "The Soul of Israel", click here.

I vividly remember a day in 1970 when I served as a young officer in the Israeli army in one of the poorest and most overpopulated refugee camps in the occupied Gaza Strip. Unexpectedly, my platoon and I were surrounded by several hundred rock throwing, hate spewing young Arabs. As the circle closed around us I called for back up, which was not immediately available. I had to make an instant choice: Do I want to get out alive or not. The only way to stay alive was to shoot in the direction of the quickly encroaching mob. Desperately torn between my ethics and my survival instinct, I knew right then that something was profoundly wrong with the moral junction I faced.

Serving in the occupied territories provided me with a deep realization of the psychological and spiritual costs of being part of an occupying force. Shooting towards a rageful mob of young people in order to save one's life is not easily forgotten, if ever. Thirty-three years of occupation has taken a greater toll on the soul of Israel than on the lives of Palestinians. Although it took many years I physically recovered from my 1973 war injury, but to this day I still carry pain and regrets from that war which I have come to recognize as being preventable. As military control over the lives of the Palestinian people continues, we Jews and Israelis are losing our moral, ethical and spiritual foundation.

Most Jews and Israelis react from a place of immense, deep-rooted fear of another holocaust. Considering the long Jewish history of oppression, including the recent Holocaust of WWII and the present actions and rhetoric of many Arabs and Palestinians, such fear seems easily justified. However, the reality is that Israel has one of the best-equipped and most powerful armies in the world, including nuclear weapons. I believe in the critical importance of Israel as a home for the Jews and feel safe in the assurance that Israel is here to stay. It is in no danger of being eliminated and is not even mildly threatened by the lightly armed, rock-throwing Palestinians. What is in danger is the soul of the Israelis and Jews who continue to support the military control of Palestinians. This long period of immoral occupation has driven some Israelis like me to leave the country, but many more turn politically to the right in an attempt to justify Israel's actions.

I strongly believe that a peaceful solution is not only possible but is essential for the long-term survival of the Jewish State. Initially, such a resolution would not necessarily be based on trust or love between the Palestinians and the Israelis; instead, it would be fueled by each nation's desire to stop the violence against its own people. The Israeli army was originally positioned to protect the fundamentalist settlers in their scattered settlements all over the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The presence of these settlements and the military in the midst of the occupied territories is the most significant factor in the deadly escalation of tension.

In order to halt the violence and set the stage for long-term solutions, radical changes are in order. All the fringe settlements should be dismantled while the others should be consolidated and annexed directly into Israel and the two countries must separate completely. Definite boundaries are called for, complete with fences, electrical devices, and any other effective divider. The security must be absolute, with exchanges between the countries limited to goods and laborers. Philosophical acceptance of the idea that G-d is on both sides would be healing, accompanied by an agreement that Jerusalem would either be divided, shared or become international.

A critical shift for American Jews would be to realize that their fears about Israel's annihilation are unfounded and to become more selective in their financial and political support of their homeland. United States politicians will also have to be more critical about their financial and military aid to Israel, even though arms sales are profitable.

As a nation and as human beings, we must reject the moral junction that I faced as a young officer and pursue the moral, ethical and spiritual path of peace.

Published in: Song of Peace, Sonoma Valley Congregation Bulletin, Issue #3, December 2000.

• Special thanks to Azzia Zur for critiquing and editing this article.

To order audiotape of lecture on "The Soul of Israel", click here.

The sound of heavy artillery launched from Israel into Lebanon mixing with the sound of small waterfalls along the Jordan river was overshadowed by the cries of joy of our children jumping into the refreshing "holy" water not far from where St. John baptized Jesus a couple of thousand years ago. These days of inner-tubing with my family and dear friends capture for me the immense complexity of my homeland: Close and life-long friendships, the beauty of the land, the rich and turmoiled history, the tension of living in a war zone, and of course the spiritual overlay of the land.

Most of my life I have lived with ambivalence towards my country. On the one hand I loved the close feeling of community, the idealism, the sense of mission, the soulfulness of the land. On the other hand I could not stand the dehumanization of the Arabs, the mentality of siege, the overused metaphor of Masada, and above all the superiority of the "chosen people" that was connected to entitlement rather than to responsibility.

I go with my beloved wife and children every other year to Israel to visit my family and friends, to smell the air, remember the sounds, and always to spend time in Jerusalem. Last summer's visit was colored by my disappointment about the last election. Like clockwork, after being in Israel 3 weeks, I am painfully reminded of why I left my motherland.

Since 1967 I have felt that it is morally, ethically, and spiritually wrong to continue the occupation of the West Bank. As a lieutenant and a paratrooper in the IDF I served in the West Bank and Gaza and later was wounded in the 1973 war. As a young officer I felt torn between my desire to defend my country and my guilt about being part of a force of occupation. Later on I had to decide how to deal with this conflict. I figured out that I have a number of options. Firstly, I could continue to serve in the West Bank and numb myself to what I did, just to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder further on down the line. Secondly, I could serve and shift my policies to the far right to justify my actions. Thirdly, I could become a conscientious objector, which would mean spending long years in prison. Fourthly, I could become politically active, which I became, even though I felt extremely ineffective. Finally, I made an extremely difficult moral decision to leave. I felt that staying in Israel was colluding with the immoral occupation. I could not live with that burden.

The last election in Israel saddened me and painfully reminded me of why I left. The most recent violence has deepened my despair about the possibility of peace. I often feel that Sonoma is the closest to Israel I can get without the burdens. The weather, the vegetation, my close community and deep friendships remind me of Israel. I still wake up some mornings and hope there will be a sixth option.

Published in: Song of Peace, Sonoma Valley Congregation Bulletin, November 1996.