Seeking to inject positive content into right-wing ideology that rejects the two-state idea, Sara Haetzni-Cohen, whose family belongs to settler aristocracy, has been out seeking alternative strategies. Haetzni-Cohen talks about life as a secular woman married to a religious man, and explains why she won’t live in Kiryat Arba.
By Hilo Glazer, HAARETZ
Media monster
A recent issue of Makor Rishon published three plans proposed by readers of Haetzni-Cohen’s interviews. The final part of the series, scheduled to appear today, was to be her personal roadmap for the conflict. Its basic principles are: extending Israel’s sovereignty by legal means to so-called areas of consensus, such as the Etzion Bloc and Ma’aleh Adumim; creating channels of dialogue with an alternative Palestinian leadership; and undertaking an intensive international effort to change the discourse: from two states to graduated Israeli sovereignty. These steps, Haetzni-Cohen hopes, would enable “normalization of life in Judea and Samaria, and will bring about a healthier approach to managing the conflict.”
Don’t you feel it was somewhat pointless to embark on this whole search only in order to arrive at a recipe of “managing the conflict” in the spirit of Netanyahu?
“No. Netanyahu is wrong when he talks about two states, and is pulling the rug out from under us. As soon as you talk about applying sovereignty, you flip the coin. It is absolutely not a continuation of Netanyahu’s approach, not in terminology and not in substance. Even if it’s not a grandiose comprehensive plan, the very fact of putting forward a path is important.”
The picture has changed radically since her grandfather’s “The People Against a Hostile Media” campaign. Presently, right-wing journalists hold senior posts in the mainstream print and electronic media.
You can see right-wing journalists every day on Channel 2, which is considered the voice of the people.
“Look at the panel they have on the Friday evening weekly newsmagazine. It’s not right-wing. People say to me: ‘But [military correspondent] Roni Daniel is right-wing.’ Do you think that everyone who is a militarist is right-wing? That’s a very superficial approach. You know, tomorrow he’ll give away Judea and Samaria in return for an agreement.”
Recently, though, the Channel 2 newsmagazine has also undergone a face-lift, and a symbolic one, too: Haetzni-Cohen’s Uncle Nadav is now a regular commentator. Haetzni-Cohen is not satisfied, however: “So now you have a fig leaf. They brought one person who represents the position of the majority of the nation. You can’t shut up a huge public for such a long time and then think it will all pass just like that, on its own.
“It’s no coincidence,” she continues, “that the recent measures by the prime minister concerning the new public-broadcasting corporation – which I didn’t like, either – were met with such indifference by the public. For years you people gave us panels of commentators who think pretty much the same, plus-minus, so it’s no wonder the nation is no longer with you. The people demand a more radical change. It’s a counter-reaction.”
Are you saying: ‘You created a monster, now deal with it”?
“No, I am saying that we all have to deal now with the monster [the media] you created.”
A singular secularism
Haetzni-Cohen, who identifies herself consistently as a secular person, is raising a family together with a religiously observant man, “which means,” she says, “that everyone does contortions in his spheres and both of us compromise.”
Do religion and compromise go together?
“I don’t know anyone who upholds all 613 commandments, and when a religiously observant person chooses to live with a secular woman, he simply approaches the subject with full awareness.”
How does it work in practice? What is your Shabbat like?
“Shabbat is Shabbat according to Jewish religious law. I sometimes allow myself to ‘go wild’ and go into Facebook, but I am discovering the lovely sides of refraining from that. It’s terrific that there’s one day a week when people don’t call and pester me. I also decided not to travel on Shabbat, unless there is an emergency. That means that if I’m invited to appear on a weekly TV newsmagazine or to ‘Meet the Press’ in the summer, during daylight savings time, I don’t go. I’m giving up something. But the biggest sacrifice is the family outings.”
And the children?
“They are in the state-religious school system and will make their choice [about how they want to live] at the appropriate age. The eldest knows that Mom is like this and Dad is like that, and that he has grandparents who travel on Shabbat and grandparents who don’t.”
How deeply ingrained is secularity in your worldview?
“I am secular in the same way that you are secular.”
Are you for or against public transportation on Shabbat?
“I don’t know, there are some things I don’t have an opinion on.”
Separation of religion and state?
“In the big picture, yes, but I have to see how we ensure that this remains a Jewish state. I am not a great fan of the rabbinate.”
Pride Parade in Jerusalem?
“Yes.”
Gay marriages?
“Good question. They certainly have rights, and since in principle I am in favor of civil marriage, then why not?”
The struggle for access to public mikvehs [Jewish ritual purification baths] by Reform and Conservative women?
“I don’t go to the mikveh, but I am with them completely.”
Women of the Wall?
“Let them pray, I am for freedom, even though three-quarters of it is ultimately a provocation. After all, [Meretz MK] Tamar Zandberg doesn’t actually pray every day. She goes there and puts on a tallit because it serves the struggle against a way of life she opposes. If we’re already talking about freedom of religion, it upsets me that Jews are not allowed to pray on the Temple Mount.”
‘De-Nazification’ and other solutions
Besides the plans put forward by members of the Haetzni family and by Education Minister Bennett, the people Haetzni-Cohen interviewed came up with a variety of ideas for the territories in the West Bank Israel conquered in 1967.
Nobel laureate Yisrael Aumann: Israel should initiate a full unilateral separation between the populations by annexing Area C, with a demilitarized Palestinian state to be established in Area A and the border stretched in Area B. Underlying this approach is the principle that “the idea that territorial continuity is needed was right 100-200 years ago, but it’s not relevant today.”
Yoaz Hendel. Moti Milrod
Journalist and columnist Caroline Glick: Gradual annexation of all of the West Bank, in order to create one political entity between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. For the Palestinians there, Glick proposes a blue (Israeli) ID card, and the right to vote, other than for those who belong to the apparatus of the PA or were suspected by Israel of having ties to terrorist organizations. Those individuals will have “to undergo de-Nazification,” as she puts it, and in the meantime will be permanent residents, like the Arabs of East Jerusalem.
Yoaz Hendel, former director of communications and public diplomacy for Prime Minister Netanyahu: Advocates “maximum territory with minimum Arabs.” Israel would annex the 30 percent of the West Bank in which the majority of the Jews live, including the Jordan Valley, with citizenship to be granted to the Arabs living in those areas. The Palestinians will be given 40 percent of the West Bank, where they will be able to choose between a demilitarized state or an expanded autonomy regime. The remaining 30 percent will be declared a “controversial region,” based on the assumption that “the conflict will not end,” so it is best to reduce the geographical problem to a third of the territory.”
Moshe Feiglin. Emil Salman
Dr. Mordechai Kedar, a scholar of Arabic literature at Bar-Ilan University who spent 25 years in Military Intelligence: Espouses what he calls the “seven emirates plan.” City-states possessing separate governmental and economic structures would be established in Nablus, Hebron, Ramallah and other West Bank cities. Each city-state would be able to engage in cooperation with others in specific spheres, such as water or aviation, with the aid of Israel, which will control the rural areas. There would be border crossings between the “emirates,” by means of visas. Under this plan, Kedar maintains, “the population will not be loyal to a state but to its own ethnic, religious or communal group.” In his view, “The PA needs to melt away, because it is not legitimate, has not entered the people’s heart and has not replaced the traditional identification with and loyalty to the tribe.”
Former Likud MK Moshe Feiglin: Annulment of the Oslo Accords, including the division into Areas A, B and C. Full Israeli sovereignty to be applied throughout the Land of Israel (annexation) with no area at all under Palestinian security or civilian control. The Arabs would have three options: voluntary emigration, acquiring partial residency status or becoming citizens if they prove their intention to link their fate to the State of Israel, “like the Druze.”
Plain common sense. Most of the world hates common sense when it originates from thinking Jews.