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bAnd the Arabs were allowed an incredible amount of local bautonomy and freedom. In Marcus’s words, “Was there ever an boccupation under which people could move so freely . . . and not bencounter a single armed soldier?” Marcus’s bliss was shared bby Peace Now sympathizer Shlomo Avineri, former director- bgeneral of the Foreign Ministry. Writing in Commentary magazine b(June 1970), he exclaimed: “The kind of military administra- btion set up by Israel . . . was a brilliant improvisation. . . . The bgeneral idea was that the less the military administration med- bdled in the daily affairs of the population, the better, and the bresult is that today Arab municipal self-government on the West bBank and in Gaza remains intact and Jordanian and Egyptian blaws are still the law of the land.”

bOf course, the real result of this “brilliant improvisation” bwas that Israel’s failure to declare sovereignty over what it told bthe world was Jewish territory merely convinced one and all that bthe Jews were indeed “occupiers” and thieves. And the low pro- bfile of the Jews and their leaving in place Arab laws and muni- bcipal self-rule were convincing proof to the local Arabs that the bIsraeli’s presence was only temporary. It was this disastrous pol- bicy that kept the Arabs from leaving, that blocked Jewish sov- bereignty, and that eventually led to the riots, killings, and re- bbellion of today.

bThe architect of the disastrous policy was Moshe Dayan, bwhose contributions to Israeli tragedy will yet be fully outlined bin the history that will be written of our times. Dayan is a man bwith an extraordinary ability to adopt contradictory positions. bIn a 1968 newspaper interview on the occasion of Israel’s Inde- bpendence Day, Dayan gave the following insight into his views bon the territories—and himself. After calling for ensuring that bcontact with the Arab countries not be cut off, he continued: b“We Jews must not interfere too much in their domestic affairs, bsuch as their educational system, their law courts, the way they belect their leaders, and representatives, their newspapers, etc. bWe must let them live their own lives. If these two conditions are bmet, I don’t think that the Arabs of the West Bank would mind bif Jews were to live in Hebron. . . . All in all, in terms of the bArabs’ readiness to live side by side with us, I believe that the bprospects are better today than they have ever been before.” No bcommentary is necessary at all.

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THEY MUST GO Page 249
Chapter 10: Separation—Only Separation