So we are condemned to live close together -- either in two states, a proposal rejected by Netanyahu, or in one state, which would be either an apartheid state or a bi-national state.
If one believes, as Netanyahu and his followers do, that every Arab is a potential "fire terrorist" -- how will anyone in the joint state be able to sleep at night?
Only some Arabs have guns. Only some have cars, with which to run over Jews. Only some can make explosives. But everyone has matches. Given a dry season, the sky is the limit.
By the way, just by chance, this week I saw a German TV program about a Swiss village, high up in the Alps. From time to time, a very dry hot wind, called Foehn, blows over it from the south. Twice in living memory the village has burnt down. All without an Arab in sight.
IN ISRAEL, the fire brigades belong to the local authorities, providing patronage and salaries to local party hacks.
In June 1968, as a young member of the Knesset, I came up with a revolutionary proposal: to abolish all the local fire-fighting departments and set up a united, national fire-fighting service, like the police. Such a force, I argued, could plan for all eventualities, prepare adequate equipment and allocate the necessary resources.
Contrary to their habit of heaping abuse on my proposals, my adversaries took this one seriously. The minister in charge acknowledged that it was a good idea, but added that "its time has not yet come."
Now, 48 years later, the time has evidently still not arrived.
Instead, the Great Fire has.
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