Rabin, Peretz and Education Day

Today's education day was about Zionism and Post-Zionism. We visited Har Herzl in Jerusalem, Israel's military cemetery which is also the burial site of Yitzhak Rabin, Golda Meir, Levi Eshkol and other political figures. Har Herzl is absolutely beautiful. Apart from the political graves, they make a point of making all the gravestones similar, rich soldiers and poor soldiers alike. A throwback to a more egalitarian Zionism. Famously, though we didn't see it, there is a random soldier's grave next to Yoni Netanyahu's which in turn is next the guy who was Commander in Chief during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Yoni Netanyahu, for those of you who don't know, is one of the greatest heroes that ever lived. The older brother ex-PM Bibi, Yoni was a math and philosophy grad student at Harvard who dropped out and returned to Israel to defend the state and continue to serve in an elite military unit. He led the raid on Entebbe, when Israel rescued those hostages miracuously from Uganda, and he was the only casualty. Anyways, the place is inredible and brings tears to my eyes. It also overlooks the city beautifully.

Rabin's grave especially brings tears to my eyes. Rabin has to some degree been Martin Luther Kingized in Israel, a martyr for peace who cannot be defamed. This isn't entirely true, cuz people on the right are happy to blame him for Oslo's failures, saying he got suckered by Arafat, led Israel down the wrong path, etc. I think that is nonsense, personally. As my old Harvard professor Eva Beilin said, Oslo put the two-state solution on the ideological map, and it hasn't been removed, even through the intifadah. Rabin, a warrior, was able to make an overture for peace and recognize the PA, even if an evil sleaze like Arafat was in charge. Rabin has been famously quoted as saying that "You don't make peace with your friends" and Arafat clearly was not a friend. But Rabin tried, and a Jew gunned him down for it. Who knows what would have happened had he lived?

Guy Grossman, a leader of the recent refusenik movement (refusing to serve in the territories) spoke at Harvard a few years ago. I remember he said that even though Barak was willing to offer more far-reaching compromises, he knew Barak could never make peace. Why? Because, according to him, Barak thought negotiations were a game. "Give me 10 minutes with Arafat and we will have peace," he said. He thought that as long as he made the right moves he would win. But Rabin understood, according to Grossman, that you really had to make sacrifices, you had to understand that you were giving something to your partner, because you had wronged them, because they deserved it, legitimately. Who knows if this is true. But I would like to remember Rabin this way.

Amir Peretz just won the leadership of the Labor party, defeating the the loser Shimon Peres. I must say I'm delighted. I love Peres but he is too old and cannot win. Peretz, on the other hand, is socialist. He wants Labor to leave the coalition right now. He is going to run on economic issues, and with the growing gap between rich and poor that might make Labor a player again. Still, security is always the biggest issue, and he supports negotiations, big time. Can he rival Sharon? It's unlikely. But I hope so. And hopefully the election will be soon. If I were a citizen, I'd vote for Peretz.