From Kaf-Tet to Shloshim

Dateline 29 November 1995

ACTIVITY #1: MINI-SURVEY

Synopsis

Preparatory session; mini-survey outside the working group on Israel's territorial concessions; round-up of results leads into Activity #2.

Aims

• Enhance awareness of issues within the group
• Identify and expose controversial aspects of the debate
• Motivate in-depth exploration for next activity

Preparation

• Survey sheets and pencils etc.;
• Notepads for participants;
• Large spreadsheet [or computer program!] for collating results;
• Copies of Israel survey data for follow-up.

PREPARATORY SESSION

Time-frame:

Depending on how many of the ideas below have already been addressed, you may require from 20 minutes of organization to a full hour to prepare participants.

1. Trigger Discussion
   • What was your major reaction to the Rabin assassination?
   • How did people you know react? Did you feel they were well-informed?
   • Are you concerned about Israel's future? About what in particular?
   • What are your major hopes for Israel?

   ---

2. Lead-in
   • What are the major issues for the new Israeli government? Are they substantially different from the Rabin government? [Possibilities: continuing the peace process; security and the peace process; unity/division in society; political extremism; violence in speech and behavior; the economy; the 1997 elections.]
   • Does the new government stand a better or a lesser chance of success?

   ---

3. Starter
   • Why is Israeli society divided about the peace process? [Possibilities: security fears regarding Israel's borders or territory granted the Palestinian Autonomy; historical/religious/political attachment to the land; opposition to the possibility of a Palestinian state; anxiety about personal safety.]

   ---

4. Focus

   The permanent settlement with the Palestinians is going to continue to be at the price of granting areas of control to the Autonomy, creating a separate entity. Almost 50 years ago, in 1947, a Palestinian state would have been formed had the Arab states accepted the Partition plan. They did not - and local attacks on the Yishuv, the Jewish community, began the next day; war ensued following the Declaration of Independence on May 5 1948. Israel lost some land, won more and survived precariously within those borders until the Six Day War in 1967, when her borders were greatly extended.

   Some of this land has already been relinquished:

   • the Sinai to Egypt;
   • Gaza, Jericho, Jenin and other towns to the Palestinian Autonomy;
   • minor alterations to the border with Jordan.

   How do the people in our community feel about Israel's territorial concessions in the future - maybe it doesn't interest them; maybe they know a great deal about the issues?

   The objective is for each of the group to survey 4 or 5 people and report back at the next meeting, marking up their findings on the spreadsheet. Please use notepads to jot down any interesting observations you wish to make apart from the answers you received.

SURVEY SHEET

NOTE TO THE EDUCATOR:
This is not an opinion poll, but leads into the activity in the next file. The questions are drawn mainly from polls conducted in Israel, to which the responses can be found in file #6.

1. Do you agree with territorial concessions - that Israel should concede land in Judea & Samaria [the West Bank]?
   • Yes
   • Considerably oppose
   • Completely oppose
   • Depends on situation
   • No position
2. Do you think Israel should retain integrated Jewish settlement blocs in Judea & Samaria, contiguously linked to Israel after the permanent Israel-Palestinian settlement?
   • Yes
   • Considerably oppose
   • Completely oppose
   • Depends on situation
   • No position
3. Do you think Israel should concede sovereignty over eastern Jerusalem, including the Old City?
   • Yes
   • Considerably oppose
   • Completely oppose
   • No position
4. Do you think Israel should concede sovereignty over eastern Jerusalem, excluding the Old City?
   • Yes
   • Considerably oppose
   • Completely oppose
   • No position
5. Since the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, has your opinion on the peace process changed? [choose one option:]
   1. Support it more
   2. Support it less
   3. No change
6. If Israel held elections this year, who would you most want to see as Prime Minister?
   • Shimon Peres
   • Binyamin Netanyahu
   • Ehud Barak
   • Chaim Ramon
   • David Levy
   • Ariel Sharon
   • other choice
   • can't decide
   Did you know all these names?
7. Do you think Israeli democracy is endangered?
   • To a great extent
   • Not at all
   • To some degree
8. Can Jews around the world impact on what happens in Israel?
   • Yes
   • No
   • Marginally
   • To a great extent