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PARTISAN REVIEW
few years. A lot will depend, of course, on the new generation that is
now coming of age. Many people were surprised by the responses of the
younger generation in the days immediately after the assassination.
It
was
rather poignant to visit what is now called Rabin Square in Tel Aviv
(where he was assassinated)· and see a spontaneous outpouring of identifi–
cation with the lost leader. What connection could there possibly be
between the teenybopper population of today and the tough soldier–
politician who embodied the Palmach generation? Rabin was not par–
ticularly communicative, and his tastes were far removed from those of
Israeli youth. The public certainly respected him and thought he was a
straight-dealing politician, but he was not exactly loved, until the assassi–
nation turned everything around. Then he became a martyr on the altar
of peace.
In
the eyes of the younger generation, he was suddenly identi–
fied with the song of peace. "Yes to peace, no to violence," sung by
Rabin, may have sounded rather kitschy, yet it helped create an old-new
martyrology. The "sacrifice of Isaac" is a very powerful motif in Jewish
culture.
I think this effect is now dissipating, overshadowed by a new cycle of
terrorism and violence. What is more difficult to assess are the longer–
term trends which may be foreshadowed by the response of Israeli
youngsters to Rabin's death. The generation in Israel today which is of
army age does not want a return to the old status quo, but it is neverthe–
less patriotic and also looking for a way out of the impasse.
Three years of military service is a long time. Young people do not
want to feel deprived of all the good things in life they perceive their
contemporaries in the Western world as enjoying. They want an Israel
where such sacrifice will no longer be necessary. The question is not
really about their patriotism. We should recall that it was the so-called
Coca-Cola generation which fought the Six Day War.
It
turned out that
they knew how to fight when their existence was on the line. I think the
same is true today, only the general culture has changed. Israel is now
hooked, for good or bad, into the consumer world of mass culture. No
one really knows what the effects of this exposure are going to be in the
long run. Can Israel continue to remain a special kind of society with a
distinctive culture and identity in the face of the products of modem mass
culture that it also enjoys? This is an open question.
Question:
Do you see any likelihood that the Papacy, the Israelis, and the
Arabs are going to work out complicated negotiations about East J erusa–
lem?
It
looks to me as if one of the options the Israelis have, conceivably,
is to make the Papacy an ally, in order not to lose all control over East
Jerusalem.
