way, is the ending: “Current government policies, if successful, seem br

likely to lead to the Arab community becoming the majority in Israel br

[italics added]. Thus, an aggressive concern for equity between br

Arabs and Jews might be seen as insurance against the time br

when the Jews no longer enjoy majority status in Israel.”

Three facts stand out as we read these lines—for perhaps br

the tenth time to be certain they really say what they do. One is br

the coolness and calm detachment with which the possibility— br

nay, probability—of the end of the Jewish state is discussed. br

Second is the numbing postulate that we should be careful to br

treat the Arabs well in the hope that when they become masters br

here they will reciprocate.

The third is the hideous part: How many other Jews in br

Israel, consciously or subconsciously, consider the ultimate end br

of the Jewish state and an Arab majority very likely and proba- br

ble? How many who contemplate that likelihood with calm fa- br

talism and dispassion would take to the barricades to prevent br

any effort to preserve the Jewish state by removal of the Arabs? br

How many would allow Zionism and the Jewish state to be sac- br

rificed on the altar of democracy?

For more than three decades, Jews in Israel, led by the br

“shepherds who do feed themselves,” have lived with delusions, br

fed by fear and a sense of hopelessness. And so they put their br

faith in the myth. It took the Arabs to give the cleverest answer br

to it.

On July 4, 1974, Shmuel Toledano warned of problems br

ahead, “unless the Arab minority is totally accepted by the Jew- br

ish majority as an integral part of the state.”

Three days later, in a most ungracious response to the br

benevolent Toledano, the Lebanese newspaper Al Muhrar re- br

jected the Israeli liberal’s largess. The gist of the article, titled br

“Not by Bread Alone Does Man Live,” was: Even if there were br

an opportunity to integrate the Arabs into Israeli society, this br

would not solve the problem, since man does not live by bread alone. br

He has other needs, and among them is to live in honor in his owm br

homeland.

Of course, the Arabs are correct.

British colonialists used to scratch their heads in puzzle- br

ment over “native” rebellions. “What do they want?” used to be br