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least publicly, in making these demands. Clearly, America, for its own
political reasons, is interested in maintaining the negotiations with Syria.
But whether President Assad is interested in paying any reasonable price is
another matter. I think that people may be underestimating how con–
venient the current status quo remains for Syria. What seems like a very
favorable deal for Assad on the Golan may not look that way to him be–
cause he has to worry about the continuation of his own power-base in
Syria. Under conditions of peace, that does not look quite so secure. I
think popular expectations inside Syria would then build up, and his
rather precarious position as an Alawite (a minority sect in Syria) would
make him more vulnerable.
With regard to dialogue between religious and secular Israelis, it
should be said that since the assassination there have been a number of
grass-roots initiatives to try and get something going, for the first time.
That effort has been a positive thing. Even among groups that never
spoke to one another at all, there is now some attempt to find some sort
of minimal common ground. The government also appointed Rabbi
Amital to act as a bridge-builder between the secular and religious com–
munities. I'm not convinced that he's really accepted in that role by the
settler community in the territories.
But I think what happens at the grass-roots level is more important.
In this context, it is distressing to realize that in the Israeli school system
so many children are turned off by Jewish education of any kind. There
was a statistic published recently, indicating that two-thirds of Israeli teen–
agers in the secular school system dislike or are hostile to any form of
Jewish education. This is cause for concern, in light of the issues ofJewish
continuity and Jewish education in the Diaspora. What I mean is that
even in Israel, in a Jewish state where they speak Hebrew, there exists a
serious problem with Jewish values and Jewish identity and how they are
perceived by young Israelis. The problem is related to the sort of value–
vacuum that, as I suggested earlier, exists in Israel.
Question:
I wonder if you would comment on the problem of the minor–
ity immigrant groups in Israel, the Ethiopian, the Russian, and - what has
been talked about over here recently - the large groups from North Af–
rica and the Middle East.
Robert Wistrich:
I don't think they would necessarily like to be referred
to as minorities. Let's take the Russian Jews, who are now a political
force. Nathan Sharansky has chosen to run for the Knesset, and various
surveys show that his list, mainly representing the Russian immigrants,
could gain anything from four to six seats. So he is really a kind of loose
