THE WORK ETHIC

 

Next week my kibbutz will undergo a profound transformation!  Renewal is the best description of this structural-socio-economic change. 

At one time the term” privatisation” was widely used to describe the proposed change. However, sociologists and marketing experts, thought "renewal" would be easier to promote. Understandably, there was some opposition to the change, but finally, after   the proposal was repeatedly brought to the vote, the new format was approved by the majority required by law.

It's quite likely that you will recognise some of the topics I have included in this week’s post. I am recycling them because they are especially relevant now.

Hopefully, the change will lead to a society that is both efficient and caring. In the discussions that were held prior to the final vote, the work ethic was mentioned many times. At the time, I recalled an anecdote I heard from one of our ‘old-timers.’.

For many years Shlomo Rosenberg, handled odd maintenance jobs and the upkeep of paths around the kibbutz. The paths, mainly much-worn pedestrian tracks are short-cuts between a number of points inside the kibbutz. Once they were unpaved tracks covered with crushed stone, slaked and packed to form a hard surface.

Rosenberg, as he was known to everyone, replete with pick, shovel and wheelbarrow was usually found somewhere along one of the paths repairing eroded edges and filling in potholes.

Today, Rosenberg’s paths are paved with concrete and few remember the dusty crushed stone tracks that preceded them.

Rosenberg never married and had no known relatives. He was content to live frugally in his small sparsely furnished apartment.

The man was a living legend, someone from another era who never managed to keep apace with the ever-changing kibbutz community. He seemed awkwardly out of place and time as Ein Harod progressed and became more affluent.

Sometime after his ninetieth birthday, age got the better of him. He moved to our “Isolator,” originally an isolation facility to accommodate sick adults and children. Later on, it was renovated and repurposed to serve as an assisted living centre. Rosenberg died there a few years later.

Despite his eccentricity I always admired him. There was something about my New Zealand connection that aroused his curiosity.  So, I wasn’t surprised when he welcomed me warmly whenever I visited him. We traded memories. I described the landscape and the people of New Zealand and he described the bleak Jordan and Jezreel Valleys in” fifty shades of grey” at the beginning of the Jewish settlement.

In one of our conversations, he told me about the “long field “at Degania. I’m sure I’ve  mentioned it before. Nevertheless, it’s worth repeating.   

In October or November 1911, a number of plough teams were ploughing a field. The field was the longest field in the country; it stretched for one kilometre close to the south bank of the river Jordan. It was part of an experimental land allotment allocated to thirteen people who had formed a collective settlement called Degania. The horse drawn ploughs were turning perfectly straight furrows in the soil. Work had started shortly after dawn and continued with a short break for a simple lunch till dusk. One of the ploughmen was a newcomer to Degania. In those days there were no reception committees and people wandered in and out almost at will. They stayed as long as they worked or were asked to leave.

Earlier the same year the Degania settlers had harvested their first crop of wheat. The yield was good and it left them with a small profit. Had the crop failed the group would have probably disbanded and the collective settlement later called the kibbutz might never have come into being.

Late in the afternoon the newcomer reined in his horse, pulled out a leather tobacco pouch, took a pinch of tobacco and rolled a cigarette. He lit the cigarette and smoked it, then returned to his work. Unknown to him he had broken a cardinal rule, a basic tenet of the group’s work ethic and the unscheduled break had been seen by everyone in the field.

At the end of the day when everyone had gathered in the dining room for the evening meal the group was silent. There was no mention of the cigarette but the offender could sense the unspoken censure. The next morning before dawn, while the members of the group were still sleeping, the newcomer gathered his belongings and left.

Rosenberg left Degania and joined Ein Harod shortly after it was founded in 1921.

 

  

The nameless ploughman, Rosenberg and everyone else in the field including the horses have gone the way of all flesh. The ploughshares are museum pieces scattered around the country. Only the field remains the same, tilled year in year out since time immemorial.

The Degania group was formed to solve the problem of a deadlock crisis and for the past hundred years there has always been a crisis of one kind or another in the kibbutz movement. Many times, the Kibbutz appeared to be on the brink of total collapse. Despite all the crises this collective settlement form has survived.

It is remarkably resilient and so far, has defied all the predictions of its demise. Does it possess the moral fibre to ride out the crisis that is plaguing it now?

Let's "rewind" to 1911 and the anonymous ploughman who unwittingly broke a cardinal rule. The rigid work ethic that damned him as a slacker has long been jettisoned along with other outmoded "principles." Admittedly the stigma attached to anyone who didn't pull his or her weight, to every under-performer, served to deter potential shirkers. I mention this topic because it is a pivotal point in the ongoing debate concerning the kibbutz community's social fabric.

The crisis that caused the present division in the kibbutz communities can be traced to the attempts made by the kibbutz federations and their affiliated member kibbutz communities to resolve their financial debts.

Although an understanding of the root causes of the debt crisis is important. and relevant to any analysis of the kibbutz today, I want to avoid dealing with it mainly because it’s a side issue, a time-consuming digression.

Initially many of the kibbutzim heavily in debt embarked on extensive privatisation including a differential salaries payment system.

In an effort to cut costs they privatised almost everything that was formerly supplied by the kibbutz without payment.

The privatisation of water, electricity, food and a number of services has been accepted almost universally in most kibbutz communities. Kibbutz members receive allowances for all the items privatised so paying for them hasn’t impoverished the kibbutz member. He/she is thriftier. Indeed, the axiom “waste not want not “is applicable to this situation.

The real bone of contention is the differential wage system.

The people in favour of a differential wage system claim that members who work harder fill more responsible positions and generally contribute more to the community deserve more than a token recognition. The wage disparity in many kibbutz communities that have adopted a differential wage system now places them on a par with the general society. They have created a nouveau-riche economical elitist class within a close-knit social entity – the kibbutz. Provision for pensions in cases where the kibbutz neglected to pay into pension funds is now paid for mainly by the people who earn more. They pay proportionately more to support the kibbutz social and cultural infrastructure. Therefore, it’s not surprising to find growing discontent, a reluctance among the better salaried members to support the senior citizen sector, members with special requirements as well as services and facilities they consider to be superfluous, simply a waste of money.

A random glance at neighbouring communities in the Jezreel Valley reveals that a number of the privatised kibbutz communities have closed their communal dining rooms, laundries, cut back on cultural activities and generally have become more introspective. There is less communal sensitivity and concern.

The move from the traditional collective society to a highly privatised community occurred gradually. Initially the kibbutz communities adversely affected by the economic crisis of two to three decades ago were the first to “pare the fat.” By and large they managed to survive, some recovered well.

 

Have a good weekend.

 

Beni,              29^th of June, 2023.

 A DOG'S TALE

Yonah Jeremy Bob is the Jerusalem Post's senior military correspondent.

In a piece he wrote about the IDF incursion in Jenin this week, I think he was too critical of the way it was carried out. 

He claimed that the operation “got out of hand   because dozens of Palestinians were wounded and five killed in order to arrest two suspected terrorists. The operation got out of hand because the IDF suffered seven wounded, because an armoured personnel carrier (APC) was badly damaged and because around seven vehicles were stuck for several hours before they were extricated.

On top of all that, Bob said that the operation also  got  out of hand because the IDF had to use a helicopter firing missiles.

“This is also far from the first operation in Jenin that went wrong.”

“Then, as Israeli forces withdrew from Jenin with their prisoners, a roadside bomb detonated next to one of the IDF’s Panther armoured personnel carriers.

Two soldiers and two Border Police officers were moderately wounded, while one soldier and three Border Police officers were lightly wounded.

The Apache gunships were called in to support the soldiers' evacuation, after the rescue helicopter came under fire. It was the first Israeli airstrike in the West Bank since the Second Intifada in 2002.”

Other news outlets described the clash without interpreting if and how the situation got out of hand: -

“Israeli soldiers were evacuated from Jenin by helicopter after coming under 'heavy fire' during a morning raid.

Israeli helicopter gunships struck targets in the Jenin area on Monday morning, after a deadly gun battle erupted during an IDF counterterror raid.”

“Israel used Apache attack helicopters in its Monday morning raid on Jenin, which killed at least five Palestinian terrorists and wounded 91.   

An Israeli military spokesman said that after a Panther APC was hit by an “unusual and dramatic” improvised explosive device (IED) detonated by Palestinian “terrorists, an Apache helicopter gunship fired in support of the Israeli force.”

“The security situation in parts of the West Bank has been deteriorating for some time, with Israel launching repeated incursions into Jenin over the last year. At least eight Israeli soldiers are believed to have been wounded in Monday morning’s raid, which went on for several hours.

In my humble opinion veteran military affairs correspondent Ron Ben Yishai described the Jenin confrontation accurately and to the point.

“The roadside bombing of an IDF Panther APC in Jenin was not a planned ambush, but rather a result of explosive charges set along exit routes. 

Inevitably, the terrorists in the Jenin area, particularly within the Jenin refugee camp, have devised effective tactics and strategies to counter the IDF’s raids and to impede counterterrorism operations. On Monday, they achieved this objective by detonating an explosive device that targeted an IDF "Panther" personnel carrier, transporting a team of Border Police and IDF special forces.

This was not a planned ambush but rather the use of one of the explosive devices that the terrorists had planted over the roads used by Israeli forces, in the past few months, particularly during raids on Jenin, its refugee camp, and places nearby.

The device was set off as troops were leaving the area after they succeeded in carrying out an arrest raid. After the explosion, light arms fire was directed at the vehicle from the outskirts of the camp.

The incident reveals that there has been no intelligence breach as to operational planning. However, over the past year the local terror cells have been meticulously studying the routes used by the IDF to enter and leave the area, Similar IEDs were found near Nablus as well.

Since the latter part of last year, Palestinian terrorists affiliated with Islamic Jihad and Hamas have been strategically planting explosive devices along the anticipated routes of IDF forces.

The placement of explosive charges primarily aims to inflict injuries on the departing forces once they have accomplished their mission in the area. This phenomenon is notably absent in other regions of the West Bank, where the presence and activities of the Palestinian Authority's security mechanisms and forces render a significant portion of the IDF's countermeasures redundant.

In contrast, the Jenin region continues to pose challenges as the PA's security forces have been unwilling or unable to take on the local militants leaving the IDF to gather intelligence and launch operations.

A senior IDF officer recently described the situation in the Jenin area as an ongoing and persistent challenge, stating, "Operation Breakwater that began on March 22 has turned into a Breakwater situation' that we have been dealing with for over a year."

Both Israel's security forces and Palestinian militants have developed and refined their combat methods to counteract each other. Last September, it became evident that the Palestinians had devised effective defence strategies against the IDF, Shin Bet, and border police's "deep penetration" operations.

They identified the routes used by Israeli troops to exit the area as vulnerable points and strategically planted explosive charges there. Initially, the charges consisted of improvised explosives with limited weight and power. However, in recent months, elite units have encountered larger charges weighing over 20 kilogrammes, which are activated remotely, often using cell phones.

The IDF has acknowledged the significance of this phenomenon. In response, the military took measures to protect the undercarriages of the jeeps and other operational vehicles used by special forces during deep operations in the Jenin refugee camp, the city of Jenin, and the surrounding areas.

Explosive charges are not a new phenomenon. The IDF has encountered them before, notably during Operation Guardian of the Walls in 2001

While they are less sophisticated and lethal than the IEDs  employed by Hezbollah in Lebanon, the widespread deployment of these relatively rudimentary explosives by Palestinian terrorists constrains the operational flexibility of the IDF, Shin Bet, and Border Police.

Given the increasing use of explosives by terrorists, it is evident that the IDF needs to adapt its operational methods and employ tools that can effectively clear exit routes, thereby minimizing the risk to forces. It is expected that the sophistication and effectiveness of the explosives employed by Palestinian militants may continue to evolve, necessitating continuous adaptation and vigilance on the part of the IDF. and that the roads leading to settlements could also be subjected to such explosive devices.”…

“The IDF must develop and implement proactive intelligence-gathering methods and preventive measures on the roads in general, with particular emphasis on the areas surrounding the refugee camp and the city of Jenin.

While there is talk of a large-scale operation to foil the activity of the terrorists in the Jenin area, a complete occupation of the city and its surrounding may not be necessary thanks to the Shin Bet and the IDF's excellent intelligence capabilities, which enable them to effectively suppress terrorism and thwart terrorist attacks through targeted operations.”

In fact, that’s what happened yesterday when an Israeli drone struck a car carrying three Palestinian gunmen who had just opened fire at a checkpoint in the northern West Bank.

   An Elbit Hermes 450 drone

The strike, which the IDF said killed all three, marked the first targeted killings in the West Bank since 2006,

The IDF and Shin Bet said in a joint statement that the gunmen had opened fire at a checkpoint north of Jenin.

IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters that three Palestinians were killed in the strike carried out by an Elbit Hermes 450 drone,

Hagari didn’t actually describe the incident as a targeted killing, but said it was about “removing a threat.”

“We identified a vehicle shooting at the checkpoint and removed the threat,” he said.

The Elbit Hermes 450 is an Israeli medium-sized multi-payload unmanned aerial vehicle. It has been upgraded continuously since it first came into service in 1998. A number of countries have purchased or hired this particular drone, mostly for surveillance purposes.

I want to conclude with a brief story about a dog.

A dog named Dago from the Oketz Canine special forces unit was evacuated  along with the wounded IDF soldiers and Border Patrol officers who were sent  to the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa. They were air-lifted from the battle in Jenin. While treating the soldiers in the emergency room, imaging personnel from Rambam and a veterinarian who conducts research at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine were called in for a comprehensive examination. They were joined by Dr. Y., a veterinarian of the Oketz unit.

The injured dog was found to be suffering from internal bleeding, and a fractured pelvis

Dr. Anat Ilivitzki, director of the paediatric radiology unit at Rambam’s Ruth Rappaport Children’s Hospital and an attending physician and radiologist in Rambam, performed a quick ultrasound examination on the dog that raised the suspicion of internal injury.

An emergency CT scan confirmed the earlier diagnosis that Dago was suffering from internal bleeding and a fractured pelvis. He is being treated accordingly and is recovering in a cot next to his handler’s bed.

 

Have a good weekend.

 

Beni,              22^nd of June, 2023.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Mukhtar

Last week I mentioned how the old-timers at breakfast in the kibbutz dining room were only too willing to explain what went wrong at the Egyptian border on the 2^nd of June when three Israeli soldiers were killed by an Egyptian border policeman. Reluctant to draw hasty conclusions I said I prefer to wait till the IDF publishes its official report, adding, “There will be no whitewashing or coverups. If there were operational failings the public has the right to know what happened. I’m confident they will be rectified.”

This week the chief of the IDF’s Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Eliezer Toledano, and the commander of the 80th Division, Brig. Gen. Itzik Cohen conducted a thorough investigation of the incident and presented their findings to IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi. The faults detailed in the report were mainly command-level operational failings. Following the investigation three senior commanders will be reprimanded, one will be dismissed from active service, others will be demoted and transferred to other units.

My breakfast table companions were satisfied with the report’s findings and recommendations.

Last week I also wrote about the worrying increase in the number of murders committed in Israeli Arab communities.

There was a time, within living memory, when the rule of law was mandatory in Arab rural communities. Regulating daily life during the Ottoman period was conducted by means of the Mukhtar, a salaried government-appointed official who was responsible for collecting taxes and maintaining law and order, usually by mediating in minor disputes in his village.   He was also responsible for registering births, marriages and deaths, and recruiting for the Ottoman army.

Shibley Ayoub Telhami (1868 - 1940)  Mukhtar of Isfiya, near Haifa

During the British Mandate in Palestine, the Mukhtar was divested of much of his authority.   Nevertheless, his position as nominal head of the village remained unchanged. However, the Jewish rural communities usually managed well without a Mukhtar. But in some instances, it was necessary to appoint someone to represent them in dealings with their Arab neighbours.

Today the village Mukhtar is very much a relic of the past, but then, I really don’t know. When I visited Daburiyya two years ago I didn’t think it prudent to ask.

Daburriya gained local council status in 1961 In 2021 it had a population of 10,782. I’m inclined to conclude that the local council body has replaced the Mukhtar. Daburriya is typical of many small villages and hamlets that have grown considerably and are now small towns.

In 1596 Daburiyya appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as a hamlet of 40 households and 3 bachelors, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat and barley, fruit trees, cotton, as well as on goats and/or beehives.

Here is another example: - Issawiya is a Palestinian neighbourhood in East Jerusalem. It is located on the eastern slopes of the Mount Scopus ridge. In a survey conducted in 2016 there were 16,000 residents in the town. In the 1596 Ottoman tax registers it had a population of 35 households and 3 bachelors, all Muslim. The villages paid a fixed tax-rate of 33.3% on wheat, barley, olive trees, vineyards, fruit trees, goats and beehives. 

I want to return to the main topic, namely, the sharp increase in major crimes committed in Israel’s Arab communities. Many community leaders blame the police, who they say have failed to crack down on powerful criminal organisations and largely ignore the violence. They cite family feuds, mafia-like turf wars, protection rackets and violence against women. The communities have also suffered from years of neglect by state authorities.

Local leaders claim that many people in the Israeli Arab sector are living in fear of being caught up in the violence. They are afraid to leave their homes at night.

The problem is multifaceted and includes numerous national and societal failings, especially the reluctance of the government and police; official neglect of the Arab community; a lack of access to banking services, leaving no option but to seek loans on the grey market; shortfalls in police manpower.

Ironically, the weakening of some large criminal organisations has benefitted smaller gangs that have been quick to replace them in a number of places.

According to the Abraham Initiatives, some 75 percent of murders in the Arab community are committed by organised criminal gangs, while 15 percent is attributed to tribal blood feuds, femicides involving family members and the remainder to general criminal activity.

Arab Israelis have called for the government to take stronger measures against the criminal gangs, but they are deeply opposed to the Shin Bet being tasked with fighting crime.

Just the same, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his call to involve the Shin Bet in the fight against the wave of violent crime in the Arab community, despite reported objections from the Shin Bet director and the attorney general.

At this juncture, I want to add a margin note to clarify our security agency acronyms. The Israel Security Agency "the General Security Service", better known by the acronym Shabak or the Shin Bet (a two-letter Hebrew abbreviation of "Security Service"), is Israel's internal security service. It is one of three principal organisations that make up the Israeli intelligence community, alongside Aman (military intelligence) and Mossad (foreign intelligence service).

Let’s return to the main text: -

The prime minister’s insistence on involving the Shin Bet in the war against crime in the Arab sector ignores the fact that the Shin Bet is a small organisation. A kind of elite patrol, whose purpose is the war on terrorism (along with countering espionage and some security tasks). It has no extra manpower to tackle other tasks; the diversion of its agents or means to the Arab sector will come at the expense of other tasks.

Furthermore, employing the Shin Bet security agency to combat the wave of Arab sector crimes is beyond the scope of the agency’s legal mandate and would violate privacy rights, warned Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara in letters sent Sunday in response to the prime minister’s proposal.                               

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) appealed to the attorney-general stating that, according to previous High Court of Justice rulings, the Shin Bet law should be interpreted as requiring the agency to be used in national security situations of serious and immediate danger to citizens and the state.

Under this narrow interpretation of the law, routine criminal threats would not be the province of responsibility of the Shin Bet, but of the Israel Police. Arab sector crime is not a novel phenomenon, and has been increasing for several years, the ACRI noted.

Tasking the Shin Bet with the responsibility of addressing Arab crime families is not a national security matter. To change its designated role, the government would have to pass a new law or amend the current Shin Bet Law, ACRI assessed. The NGO noted that the government’s intention appeared to be to bypass new legislation through a cabinet decision and rapid approval in a Knesset committee.

At the conclusion of a meeting with senior police and Shin Bet officials, Netanyahu’s office said he instructed authorities to prepare for the security agency’s involvement in law enforcement in communities plagued by crime gangs. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, also argued that an active role in policing would risk revealing Shin Bet’s investigative methods in court if they were to convict anyone.

Administrative Detention is another proposal that has been suggested recently. The legal basis for Israel's use of Administrative Detention is the British Mandate 1945 Defence (Emergency) Regulations which were amended in 1979 to form the Israeli Law on Authority in States of Emergency. Administrative detention is for six-month terms, although they can be extended barring appeal. Administrative detention is also used in cases where the available evidence consists of information obtained by the security services (particularly the Shin Bet), and where a trial would reveal sensitive security information, such as the identities of informers or infiltrators.

Although it is commonly applied to alleged Palestinian political activists, it has also been applied to a few Jewish Israeli citizens.

The identities of the Arab crime families are known to law enforcement authorities, but arresting them without concrete evidence wouldn’t put an end to criminal activity in our Arab communities. Arresting them and keeping them behind bars till an effective system of law enforcement is established in Israeli Arab communities is worth considering.

I’ll hazard a guess and say that Netanyahu will get his way. He will force the Shin Bet to tackle the problem.

 

Have a good weekend.

 

Beni.                                      15^th of June, 2023.