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Last update - 02:10 26/06/2008
What the public wants
By Nadav Shragai
Tags: peace talks, syria 

The disengagement from Gush Katif is seared into the evacuated settlers' collective memory as a deportation, and as such - as blatantly immoral.

Many of the evacuees still feel they had been attacked, like the Altalena's passengers. That their brethren, their own flesh and blood, had fired on them. The poets among them write about "the Katif binding" - evoking Abraham's binding of Isaac before attempting to slay him. Others compare themselves to Joseph, whose brothers threw him into the pit. In his poetry book "Lament for Katif," Yaniv Cohen cites the Book of Lamentations: "Bitterly she weeps at night, tears are upon her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is none to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her."

Many of the evacuees, even if not all, would feel differently about the trauma and injustice they suffered three years ago had the public approved the disengagement in a national referendum, as Likud members did in a vote.
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A reminder: Before the evacuation, most Gush Katif settlers and their rabbis undertook to accept the result of a referendum, whatever it was, as long as such a vote was held. If this had been done they would have found it easier to accept the outcome, despite their disappointment and anger.

On the eve of the disengagement, West Bank settler leaders and Religious-Zionist rabbis spoke about the importance of accepting the results of a referendum - if one was conducted.

But no referendum was held. The uprooted settlers' consciousness was imprinted with the feeling that they would "neither forgive nor forget." This pushed aside the possibility of accepting their fate, or in modern language, this is what the public wanted and this is what it got.

Now in its twilight, the Olmert government hopes to bind its successors to dangerous, far-reaching concessions - dividing Jerusalem, giving up the Golan Heights and evacuating tens of thousands of Jews from their homes in the West Bank.

A day after a new government comes into office, our negotiation partners will pull out the papers currently being drafted in the dark, far from the public eye, and demand to continue from exactly the same place.

We must make it clear to them, but mainly to ourselves, that the Gush Katif events cannot be repeated without going to the public with a focused referendum, not with a general election. The questions of whether the Syrians will dip their feet in the Kinneret, or whether Jerusalem will be divided and 90,000 people uprooted from their homes, are essential and crucial. They cannot be determined by leaders who bypass the public.

Domestic peace and determining issues in a way acceptable to the overwhelming majority of Israelis are at least as important as peace with our neighbors. Perhaps they are more important. If we do not regard these people, who are part of the national mainstream, as our brethren, we should not be surprised when they refuse to forgive and forget and even think twice about serving in the army. This is happening already.

When crucial decisions are made in parliamentary deals, when personal interests are at stake rather than the issues the Knesset votes on - then a referendum is called for.

The Knesset's status will not be harmed. On the contrary, Knesset members will have to be more cautious and attentive to public sentiment. The government will have a better idea of the boundaries the public sets for it in peace negotiations, fewer people will be indifferent and more will be forced to become active partners to the public debate and decision-making process.

Our Arab and Palestinian partners as well as the international community will do a better job assessing their options. They will adjust their expectations, which Israeli statesmen have raised to intolerable heights, to reality.
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  1.   Presumptuous Shragai! 09:56  |  Vinegar Hill. 26/06/08
  2.   Let notice be served to the "public" 10:15  |  Natallie Durson 26/06/08
  3.   fantastic editorial 10:16  |  PS 26/06/08
  4.   a referendum is absolutely essential for peace 10:26  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 26/06/08
  5.   Great concern among Jews about concessions to Syrians and Pals 11:15  |  Sam 26/06/08
  6.   REFERENDUM ON WHAT ISRAEL IS ABOUT 11:33  |  indrajaya 26/06/08
  7.   The people of Israel should go on the record 11:36  |  spyguy 26/06/08
  8.   No referendum needed 11:43  |  Bandar Michaels 26/06/08
  9.   Golan Is Part of Israel, This is not up for Discussion 12:30  |  Baruch Gold 26/06/08
  10.   #4 spyguy in his true anti israel colours 12:31  |  victor hardman 26/06/08
  11.   # 1 CJK 12:35  |  Vinegar Hill 26/06/08
  12.   question to israelis 12:58  |  outsider 26/06/08
  13.   #10, VH 13:14  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 26/06/08
  14.   #5 our dear LOL friend Indrajaya. Something to think about 13:17  |  Ari ben Yisrael 26/06/08
  15.   #6 Spyguy: you missed the most essential point 13:30  |  AliciaYasmeen 26/06/08
  16.   #10 who elected whom in israel 13:32  |  victor hardman 26/06/08
  17.   Excellent Idea 13:41  |  Malka Leifer 26/06/08
  18.   Shragai in nuce 14:22  |  Axel 26/06/08
  19.   A referendum should be held 14:39  |  Tosefta 26/06/08
  20.   #9 Victorpaul Harrisman 14:39  |  Labhras 26/06/08
  21.   # 13 CJK 14:46  |  Vinegar Hill 26/06/08
  22.   Vinegar Hill from Spain: Israel is NOT your colony 14:57  |  Realist 26/06/08
  23.   # 7 Palestinians should go on the record 15:05  |  CM 26/06/08
  24.   Israelis won`t accept any further retreats. 15:08  |  Chaim 26/06/08
  25.   Visit the Golan 15:24  |  Steve 26/06/08
  26.   #21, VH, referenda, democracy & practicality 15:29  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 26/06/08
  27.   #22, Realist, you are absolutely right, thank you 15:31  |  Cipora Julianna Lohn 26/06/08
  28.   Spanish Vinegar Hill: is Gibraltar British?occupied? or Spanish? 15:58  |  AliciaYasmeen 26/06/08
  29.   Israel`s security should always come first 16:04  |  Susanna?shoshana 26/06/08
  30.   vinegar hill "land grabbing" 16:36  |  avihai 26/06/08
  31.   vinegar hill on shragai 16:39  |  avihai 26/06/08
  32.   vinegar hill 16:43  |  avihai 26/06/08
  33.   vinegar hill "accomplice" 16:45  |  avihai 26/06/08
  34.   Why don`t we make this Referendum first in the West Bank??? 16:46  |  Sharif Hafez 26/06/08
  35.   Vinegar Hill vs. Referenda 16:57  |  Tosefta 26/06/08
  36.   To leave or not to leave....... 17:02  |  O Boy 26/06/08
  37.   #1.Vinegar Hill.Right on. 17:06  |  salvador 26/06/08
  38.   sharif hafiz 6th october 17:10  |  amnon rashef 26/06/08
  39.   sherif hafez on the 6th of october you attacked 17:13  |  amnon reshef 26/06/08
  40.   #20 labarse of arabia and how peace is only won by war 17:17  |  victor hardman 26/06/08
  41.   sherif hafez we shot down 546 egyptian and syrian 17:19  |  amnon reshef 26/06/08
  42.   Sharif-You have no power to tell Israel what to do 17:20  |  Sam 26/06/08
  43.   salvador we are one too may for vinegar hill 17:51  |  avihai 26/06/08
  44.   That from a Jew! 18:25  |  Axel 26/06/08
  45.   Sharif and the people that responded too you 18:43  |  Tarzan 26/06/08
  46.   our german friends 18:56  |  Avraham 26/06/08
  47.   kohn as a source of amusemrnt keeps on giving 19:06  |  Labhras 26/06/08
  48.   ireland has probably the lowest cognitive ability 19:30  |  papalbull 26/06/08
  49.   if unemployment is too severe ireland can export people 19:33  |  papalbull 26/06/08
  50.   8 19:39  |  zionist forever 26/06/08
  51.   Response to #2 Natalie 20:07  |  Steve 26/06/08
  52.   Steve in Brooklyn #51 20:31  |  wibism 26/06/08
  53.   # 51 steve 20:46  |  Axel 26/06/08
  54.   Referendums may reflect more what Arabs want than Israelis 20:52  |  S 26/06/08
  55.   # 50 zionist 21:04  |  Axel 26/06/08
  56.   For those of u who are ignorants! (2) 21:42  |  Sharif Hafez 26/06/08
  57.   This is wrong 21:51  |  moutaBandae 26/06/08
  58.   What kind of name 22:30  |  Just wondering 26/06/08
  59.   Sharif-You and other Arabs want to DICTATE what peace is 22:36  |  Sam 26/06/08
  60.   To Axel the NAZI 22:42  |  CM 26/06/08
  61.   to papalbull 22:48  |  Axel 26/06/08
  62.   amnon reshef, senseless gloating. 22:49  |  Ibrahim 26/06/08
  63.   A fierce example of Israeli dictatorship, is .... 00:06  |  Sharif Hafez 27/06/08
  64.   axel re Zionist #55 00:16  |  JP 27/06/08
  65.   YOU MEAN REFERENDUM OF SURRENDER 00:39  |  PalestniansAreA Myth 27/06/08
  66.   Axel re Papalbull #61 01:06  |  wibism 27/06/08
  67.   # 64 JP 01:14  |  Axel 27/06/08
  68.   axel and the answer is 01:50  |  papalbull 27/06/08
  69.   axel "fool" 01:55  |  papalbull 27/06/08
  70.   axel and israeli research 02:00  |  papalbull 27/06/08
  71.   ibrahim you obviously do not pay attention