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The Makings of History / Suicide and national morale By Tom Segev Tags: Israel News, Suicide Since the state's establishment in 1948, 15,000 Israelis have put an end to their lives - an average of one suicide every two days. Two out of three suicides since 1948 have been men. In a fascinating book, Jerusalem-based psychologist Israel Oron analyzes the notes left by Jewish suicides in the country from the early years of Zionist settlement to the present; they include high-school students, soldiers and, especially, old people. The book, "Goodbye to the Living, I Preferred Death," (published in Hebrew by Ach) is an interesting "self-portrait" of Israelis. Oron even proposes a new way of looking at Israeli history in general. It is commonly thought that in wartime the suicide rate drops and goes back up immediately after the fighting. The usual explanation is that war unites people in the face of a common danger; in such situations, people focus on a shared goal and, at least temporarily, abandon thoughts of self-destruction. To a large extent, this has been true for Israel since World War II. Oron discovered that in 1944, the suicide rate dropped 33 percent, while in 1945 it rose again sharply. Advertisement A comparison of suicide rates before, during and after each of Israel's wars provides us with impressively precise figures on the public's attitude toward these events: The rate rose whenever a war was considered less threatening; this was especially the case after the War of Independence (a 26-percent increase), the Six-Day War (a 41-percent increase) and the Yom Kippur War (22.3 percent). Also, after the War of Attrition of 1967-1970, the suicide rate went up by 14.7 percent. This model also proves valid for the first intifada: The first year did not seem to have much of an impact on the nation's morale, and only in the second did the feeling of an existential threat to Israel become more acute. Similarly, the Sinai Campaign, first Lebanon war and Gulf War did not have a significant influence on suicide rates. In Oron's opinion, terrorists who blow themselves up are not suicides. After studying Japanese kamikaze pilots in World War II, he concludes that so-called Palestinian suicide-bombers, like the Japanese, do not really want to die, but are prepared to do so for a cause. By augmenting the hope for a better life, he says, this form of terrorism can be ended. Oron worked for 25 years as a psychologist at Israel Police's investigations and intelligence division. He supports the thesis that the decision to end one's life often - but not always - stems from genetically acquired traits. The average national suicide rate is relatively low compared with most countries: 0.006 percent, or six in every 100,000 people. Seventy countries have a higher suicide rate. The leaders in this field are countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union, while the Arab states come at the bottom. The suicide rate among Israeli Arabs is very low. Today, a day after the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Egyptian-Israel peace treaty, a significant portion of relevant official documents are still classified. So it's hard to answer one of the main questions prompted by that agreement: Why did the Gaza Strip remain in Israeli hands? In other words, why did Israel miss the opportunity to rid itself of Gaza? It's generally thought that the question never arose because Egypt did not want Gaza, while Israel was unwilling to let go of it. At least, that's the version offered this week by the Israel Defense Forces' former military intelligence commander, Maj. Gen. (ret.) Shlomo Gazit, who was a member of Israel's security team in the negotiations with Egypt.This version is not quite accurate. In the early days of the negotiations at Camp David, Egyptian president Anwar Sadat read out his peace proposal to Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and United States president Jimmy Carter. According to Article 5 of the proposal, the signing of the treaty would end the Israeli military administration in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Jurisdiction over those areas would be transferred in an organized, peaceful manner, with the transition period not exceeding five years from the signing of the accord. The West Bank would be transferred to Jordanian administration, while Egypt would take over administration of the Strip.Begin was furious, particularly because of the idea of Gaza coming under Egyptian rule, but also for other reasons. Exercising his classic wisdom on this issue, Sadat backed down. In this column last week I wrote about a member of the British counterterror unit, Roy Farran, who allegedly murdered a member of the pre-state Lehi underground militia, Alexander Rubowitz, in May 1947. It seems Farran did not concentrate exclusively on rightist terror organizations.Israeli attorney Mati Atzmon claimed this week that in late February 1948, Farran detained three Haganah members who were manning the Israeli position at Mandelbaum Gate next to Jerusalem's Old City. According to Atzmon, Farran handed over the Haganah members to an Arab mob that murdered them. The crew's commander, Shimon Nissani, was Atzmon's uncle.Finally, in last week's column, I wrote that the late ultra-Orthodox rabbi, Baruch Shimon Salomon, used to demonstrate outside the Tchelet movie theater in Petah Tikva on Friday nights to protest the screening of films on Sabbath eve; the name of the movie theater was actually Heichal. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Israel's new policy FM Lieberman: Israel not bound by Annapolis commitment for Palestinian state. Netanyahu's cabinet: An introduction to the faces - some old and some new - who make up Israel's new coalition.   1.   suicide and national morale 12:28  |  Inem 30/03/09

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