Shared Land/Conflicting Identity: Trajectories of Israeli & Palestinian Symbol Use

Chapter 7: From Camp David to Lebanon

7 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQP From Camp David to Lebanon zyxwvutsrqponmlkj 1 1 1 1 1 The slightly more than five-year period from Menachem Begin's election as prime minister of Israel in 1977 through the war in Lebanon represents one of the most crucial periods in symbolic development in the history of Israel. This period was dominated by conflicting aspects of the Revisionist symbol system. On the one hand, Begin led Israel first to the Camp David Accords and then to a peace treaty with Egypt. In the development of the peace process, Begin's rhetoric reflected the underlying myth of Holocaust and Redemption, including a strong commitment to maintaining Israeli control over Eretz Israel, but also a pragmatic and liberal ideology. In the first Begin government, the mythic and the classically liberal aspects of Revisionist symbol use were well adapted to making peace with Egypt. There is a strong argument that only Begin could have made that peace, because the symbolic structures of the Revisionist ideology gave him credibility with the Israeli people that the pragmatic leaders of Labor lacked, therefore allowing him to make a bargain with Egypt requiring significant concessions by Israel.1 On the other hand, while Begin's Revisionist approach was well adapted to negotiating with Egypt, it provided little symbolic space for dealing with the Palestinians. This problem was finessed in the agreement with Egypt by 133 134 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA Chapter Seven pledges on all sides to conduct negotiations recognizing the "legitimate" rights of Palestinians. But the problem eventually would have to be faced, because within Begin's symbolic system, the Palestinians possessed only civil rights and no "legitimate" right to ownership of the land. Moreover, after the Camp David Accords, the ideological consistency that Begin had been able to enforce in thirty years of opposition began to break down. Some Revisionists, and others coming out of a millennial religious perspective, viewed control of the Land of Israel not primarily as a means to the end of protecting Jews in an Israeli state, as did Begin, but as essential to bringing on the messianic age. The symbol use of these territorial fundamentalists represented the entelechial extension of the Revisionist and religious commitment to the Land of Israel. In the second Begin government, the invasion of Lebanon represented the reunion with the territorial fundamentalists. That invasion also exposed the conflict between the liberal and the mythic elements in Begin's Revisionist perspective. The Revisionist symbol system was adapted to answering the security concerns of the Israeli people, but it had no answer for dealing with the Palestinians, and taken to the end of the line, as was done by those on the Israeli far right, it led to a fundamentally antiliberal society. While the Revisionist symbolic structures developed entelechially in this period, the Labor system was increasingly irrelevant to the problems facing Israel, leaving Labor to take positions founded on an ungrounded pragmatism based on pure expedience. The lack of ideological grounding created severe problems in the competition with Likud. zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSR Begin in Power The initial response of much of the world to Menachem Begin's election as prime minister of Israel was shock and distaste. The Washington Post's comments labeling Begin "an ideologue—some would say a primitive" typify this reaction.2 Many in the world reacted so sharply to Begin because they failed to understand the symbol system that drove his government's actions . They saw a modern political leader making policy claims based on the Bible and concluded that he was a demagogue. They heard the leader of the most powerful state in the Middle East making constant references to the threat of a new holocaust and saw an irrational ideologue.3 Nor was Begin understood by all Israelis. Many in Labor did not comprehend his mythic appeal, and academic supporters of Labor often dismissed him as From Camp David to Lebanon zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYX 135 simply irrational. Of course, Begin was neither irrational nor primitive. Rather, his worldview was shaped by the myth of Holocaust and Redemption and his commitment to pragmatic liberalism. zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZY Peace with Egypt In the period shortly after becoming prime minister, Menachem Begin initiated a policy that facilitated Anwar Sadat's trip to Jerusalem and the eventual peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. Begin sent information that had been gathered by Israeli intelligence concerning a Libyan plot against Sadat directly to the Egyptians. Israel also attempted to establish...