Why Israel Doesn't Care About Peace--Time Magazine Article

Hello ATS members.

Was doing my usual round of reading today and came accross this article about the Israeli people currently living in Israel and their views on the war and conflict with Arab nations. It's a bit startling, although I don't know how much of this is real and how much is propaganda.

Here's a piece of the article:

No place in Israel is more than 40 minutes from a stretch of sand, but only Tel Aviv is known as "the bubble." Its sidewalk cafés are a way of life. On a Saturday, when Jerusalem turns into a mausoleum in observance of the Jewish Sabbath, a driver wandering Tel Aviv passes kite surfers and bikinis but rarely a disapproving look from a man under a fedora, the headgear of the ultra-Orthodox Jews who, along with politically active religious nationalists, increasingly fill the space vacated by secular Israelis both in the physical city of Jerusalem and in the matters decided there.

"There was a time when people felt guilty about the Tel Aviv bubble," says Shavit. "Then it turned out the bubble was pretty strong. The bubble was resilient." Indeed, there are times when you can think most of the nation is within it. Polls are clear on the point. In a 2007 survey, 95% of Israeli Jews described themselves as happy, and a third said they were "very happy." The rich are happier than the poor, and the religious are happiest of all. But the broad thrust, so incongruous to people who know Israel only from headlines, suits a country whose quality of life is high and getting better.

But wait. Deep down (you can almost hear the outside world ask), don't Israelis know that finding peace with the Palestinians is the only way to guarantee their happiness and prosperity? Well, not exactly. Asked in a March poll to name the "most urgent problem" facing Israel, just 8% of Israeli Jews cited the conflict with Palestinians, putting it fifth behind education, crime, national security and poverty. Israeli Arabs placed peace first, but among Jews here, the issue that President Obama calls "critical for the world" just doesn't seem — critical.

The rest of the article can be read here.

The article goes on to say that Israelis are comfortable in their little "bubble" that the government has created. A competitive economy with a relatively safe existance and a comfortable average income have left Israeli's a bit indifferent towards the peace process.

IMO it sounds a bit like what America has gone through in the last 20 years. Making a populace feel comfortable is always a good way to continue your agenda without much public scrutiny.

In any case I'm interested in what you all think of the situation.

~Keeper

No replies yet?

Bump!

On Topic: Reading further into the article it seems that Israel is currently divided between those who are keeping up with the information and those are are not willing to do so because they are comfortable in their little "buble" as the article puts it.

Thoughts?

~Keeper