Fewer prisons, more kibbutzim An olive branch with a gate

Some people in Jerusalem think talk of integration is crazy or naive. What is crazy is doing the same thing over and over, hoping for a different result.

Despite my belief in creating mixed communities.  I have never been naive when it comes to security. I advocate for programs that meet security standards set forth by COGAT and our security apparatus.

I have been an Israeli since 1988. In that time, we got better trash bins and stronger glass for rockets. That does not remove the cause. That does not take away an enemy. I spent Shabbat in Gaza in 1986. It did not look like this. For an old olah, the drop is not a theory. It is a street I walked.

Avraham Avinu kept a tent open on four sides. He fed the guest who came in peace. His family stayed who they were. That is not a slogan from abroad. That is our own book. Klal Yisrael was never one sealed household. It was many origins under one law.

The fastest way to grow loyalty to the State is for the State to care for the people in it. Idle young men fill prisons and factions. A watched village with work and a table does not. Pump money back into the kibbutz — not as a museum and not as a private club, but as what it was built to be: a machine for belonging. Work next to a home. A school. A place at the evening meal. Jews, Arab citizens, Druze, Bedouin, and olim can share that table. That is the great thing about kibbutz life when it is honest. It trains the muscle of living together.

Those programs should be open to all Israelis first. They should also be open to Palestinians who pass a security check and live by the site’s laws. Not a dawn wage and a bus back to a camp. A real job. A chance at a permanent home for people who keep the file clean. That is an olive leaf. It is not a gift on day one, nor a demand that anyone convert.

Security is not optional. The army holds the fence and controls who is allowed into such programs; these are safe, weapon-free zones that provide work, education, healthcare services, a way out of poverty, a path toward inclusion in the State, and the knowledge that you are needed and valued by the State.

We can say both sentences in one breath: we need a gate, and we need shared work. Peace that is only a ceasefire without addressing the root causes will not end the current crisis.

Programs to end poverty and unite all Israelis at risk should be encouraged and heavily funded by the state. An example would be programs for at-risk youth to clear roads, plant and protect trees, and engage in general forestry, as well as many other valuable youth jobs, which could do much to end poverty and offer direction and a sense of belonging and contributing to the state.

Just as President Roosevelt offered the New Deal, creating jobs, dignity, and education to young men. We, too, could offer such programs to at-risk youth.  Roosevelt preserved government parks, and his men-to-work programs built roads and changed lives for the better. People were fed, the nation recovered, and patriotism and unity were at an all-time high. We could do that here. Right now, we could choose unity. Let us choose a New Deal and bring Klal Yisrael together, starting with her citizens.

We must, as a nation, stop the tired fight over the words “capitalism” and “socialism”. Israel already lives as a hybrid. High-tech and business feed the State. The kibbutz and training schools feed the people who must belong to one another. Do not kill one to save the other.

Unity also means a nation free of gender discrimination in all its forms, as it creates disharmony amongst fellow citizens.

If we order women into the IDF, the army must be safe for them. Men and women are equal. No faction should block a woman from serving or from rising. If we cannot treat female soldiers with dignity, we have no right to demand their service. Integration starts at home.

I am not asking the Knesset to dissolve the border. I am asking it to put real money into mixed communities and to bring the kibbutz back as a way in and up for all Israelis, including Bedouin and others at risk: dignity, work, a home, and a sense of belonging. Then extend that same offer to neighbors who pass a security check and want to live and work beside us. Permanent jobs and a chance at permanent housing for people who keep the file clean. Keep the gate. Grow what works.

Either we build unity and make room for the neighbor who will live in peace, or we keep buying better glass. The tent is older than this coalition. The invoice for not opening it is already on the table.