Israel: 67 years old and still not sure what to be

Gideon Levy
Thursday 23 April 2015

The retirement age for men in Israel is 67. That’s when an Israeli man becomes a pensioner, and can ride the bus for half fare. And there are other discounts. But when a state reaches that age - as Israel does today (by the Hebrew calendar) - it gets no discounts and no pension.

At 67, Israel still has no idea where it is going. It is the only state on the planet without borders: it has no clear and recognised physical boundaries and sometimes lacks other boundaries as well. It doesn’t know what kind of state it wants to be. Does it want a Western or a Mediterranean character? Religious or secular? Democratic or apartheid? Two-state solution or one? None of these questions has a clear answer yet in Israel.

The Israeli Titanic sails on as if there were no tomorrow and no icebergs looming. Israel doesn’t even ask itself where it wants to get to. Israelis want “quiet,” yes; who doesn’t? They also used to say they wanted “peace.” They’ve always said they want “security.” But each of these legitimate aspirations has a price. To achieve these aspirations, Israel needed to take some brave steps, some very daring steps, which it has never taken; but these goals can’t be reached any other way. What’s left when speaking of peace or quiet or security is just empty rhetoric: Israeli society has no actual, clear goals.

But of all the goals, real or imaginary, to which Israelis aspire now or to which they have aspired since the state’s founding, the foremost is, of course, to be a “Jewish and democratic” state. Since this is the touchstone of Israeli thinking, on the country’s 67th Independence Day one must pause to reconsider the idea. Jewish and democratic? The falsity is right there at the foundations. There is no other state anywhere, apart from Iran and Pakistan, maybe, which define themselves by the religion or national origin of part of their population, even if it is a majority. France does not declare its desire to be “French and democratic,” Canada doesn’t seek to be “Canadian and democratic,” and of course the USA has never defined itself as “American and democratic.”

in full: http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/israel-67-years-old-and-still-not-sure-what-be-1226760891