A Toast for Peace

:: haaretz :: A couple of weeks ago, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced his intention to pass a bill that would ban alcohol from kiosks and gas stations as well as limit its sales and advertisement. The purpose of the bill is to reduce the seemingly rising level of violence and road accidents inside Israel.

The subject of violence and alcohol has been recently seared into the consciousness of Israelis when a group of inebriated teenagers attacked a family of three at a Tel-Aviv beach, brutally murdering the father.

That killing was just one of many harrowing accounts of high-profile crimes reported in Israel this summer - including a mother starving her child, a father killing his toddler, a dismembered woman found in a burning garbage bin, another dismembered woman found in a river, and a shooting at a gay youth center.

Reflecting on this phenomenon, Haaretz columnist and former politician Yossi Sarid aptly wrote that violence in Israel is undergoing privatization:

"The state no longer has a monopoly over the use of force. We meet violence everywhere: in the army, schools, hospitals, publicly, privately, driving and parking."

While there may be a relationship between violence and alcohol consumption, in a society like Israel, where heavy drinking is not the norm, Netanyahu's new law is akin to putting a band-aid over a tumor.

If the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is really interested in meaningfully reducing violence in Israeli society, which he surely is, he should focus all his energies on ending the conflict with the Palestinians.

The Greek historian Thucydides once wrote that, "War is a violent teacher." By this he meant that war makes all - victim, aggressor and spectator - brutal.

During WWI, Sigmund Freud added that it should surprise no one that during times of war the "relaxation of all moral ties" would have "repercussions on the morality of the individual."

More recent research in psychology have confirmed these observations - established a strong correlation between exposure to violence and an increase in aggressive behavior, emotional desensitization, apathy, hyper-vigilance, over-protectiveness, and general mistrust of others.

Children and youth have been found to be especially at risk. Children who are exposed to violence, directly and indirectly, often learn that the use of force is a normal and proper way to settle disputes.

A study in 2007, conducted by Merav Solomon, Even-Chen and Haya Itzhaky of Bar Ilan University, entitled "Exposure to terrorism and violent behavior among adolescents in Israel", found that such exposure "contributes significantly to violent behavior."

But the problem in Israel is deeper than a one-to-one reaction to terrorism and war. The brutalization of Israeli society is perpetuated at a structural level as well.

Israelis get conditioned for violence through a highly militarized and patriarchal social order; an exclusive form of nationalism that privileges the interests of a particular group of citizens; a media obsessed with narratives of war; and a religious establishment that often lends spiritual credence to the institutional violence of the state.

To escape the corrosive influence of such a milieu is analogous to a fish escaping water. It is no surprise, therefore, that consistent exposure to violence - in its varied manifestations - is one of the main causes why Israel is becoming an increasingly violent society. Yet all is not lost. History teaches us that conflicts can be resolved and environments transformed.

Forces outside the control of the Prime Minister's office are purported to have pulled Mr. Netanyahu "back" into the peace camp. As the Roman statesman Seneca once wrote "the fates lead him who will; him who won't they drag." If this is really the case, Mr. Netanyahu needs to decide if he plans on being led or dragged.

Perhaps he may even decide on leading. Having committed himself to the two-state track earlier this year, the Prime Minister must now muster all his energies to demonstrate his sincerity. He must do so without the ridiculous preconditions he placed before his Palestinian counterpart.

The good news is that the Israeli public is behind such efforts. A recent poll by the War and Peace index showed that 72% of Israelis believe that it is urgent to reach an accord with the Palestinians. Palestinian polls also indicate wide support for such initiatives. And even Hamas has indicated it would be willing to recognize Israel's 1967 borders.

Of course, everyone has always-wanted peace - a cessation of violence - but not everyone is ready to make the compromises and perform the hard work that true peace requires. For that, great leadership is called for.

Peace with the Palestinians will not transform Israeli society over night, but changing what Israelis call "hamatzav" (literally, "the situation": terrorism, occupation and war), will go a long way in transforming how Israelis treat one another on the roads, in the streets and in their homes.