To my sister the settler - an open letter

Note: Please read both this and the next post together. This is not a pro or anti disengagement post (I can appreciate both sides of the argument), please keep the comments off that angle if you can.

You are part of what has been a pivotal movement in Israeli society. You accomplished things and made sacrifices that the original Chalutsim would be proud of. Maybe had the rest of Am Yisrael followed you things would be very different. But they didn't. And they aren't.

You feel betrayed by the government, screwed by your former idealist, abandoned by your people by an undemocratic decision. You have been demonized and de-humanized by the press, both in Israel and abroad. Portayed as monsters whose life is worth less than other humans, you have suffered unspeakable terror.

I understand and appreciate all of that. You wish to revolt, to upheave the goverment, to cause destruction until the decree is overruled. I appreciate your desire for civil unrest, though you also have to accept the response of tghe legal system to your actions. You can burn tires on the Ayalon, but drivers who have sat in an office all day and want to get home to their spouses may be justifiably angry with you.

You may express passive resistance to someone throwing you out of your home. But remember that these are the same soldiers and policeman who put their lives on the line for many years to protect you. They are comporting with the principle of discipline and it is not personal. I know that the police, like in every country, are very heavy handed. Policemen have to deal with troublesome people daily and would rather use excessive force to restrain them than daily be involved in a tussle to control someone. So please do not take it out on the police or soldiers.

You wish to persuade the people of Israel and the outside world of the erroneousness of the plan and how it caves to terror. Threats to the Prime Minister or Mr. Basi will not win you supporters. Suggesting wearing orange stars will drive people away from your cause. Sabotaging army equipment that tax payers must pay to fix will not help. Pictures of thousands of wild, payot wearing, hippy-looking indoctrinated youth fighting soldiers who have come to demolish an ILLEGAL outpost do not serve your cause. Use every democratic tool available, protest, publish, demonstrate, argue, debate. But realize that there is a line.

I understand you. I want you to understand others.

TRK