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Army holds Israeli society together
The army remains the central pillar of Israeli society In this story:
April 29, 1998
- From childhood to citizenship
- 'Circumcised Cossacks'
- Fighting weaker opponents
- Generations differ on the threat
Web posted at: 9:35 p.m. EDT (0135 GMT)From Jerusalem Bureau Chief Walter Rodgers
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- For 50 years, the Israeli army has been the glue that held this country together.
Until recently, 92 percent of all young men spent three years in the army receiving basic training, and for the next 30 years they were on reserve, spending as much as a month each year on active duty.
The army has also been a rite of passage for Israeli women, taking them from childhood to full citizenship.
"What it gives them most is maturity, a sense of responsibility, a sense of affiliation, a sense of becoming part of the nation," says Reuven Gal, the former chief psychiatrist for the Israel Defense Forces.
The Israeli army, the IDF, has been and continues to be a training ground for business and political leaders, including future prime ministers. What you are in the army determines what you will become. No institution has played a bigger role in shaping this country.
"Sometimes you ask yourself, 'Is this a nation with a military or is this a military that holds a nation?'" says Gal.
Modern-day Israel was born in battle. The trauma of the 1948 War of Independence, married to the victories of the 1967 and '73 wars, created the catechism for generations of Israelis.
"Everyone has to do it, in the sense everyone pays taxes, so everyone has to go in the army and serve there," says one soldier. "It is part of our life."
Young men go through basic training exercises 'Circumcised Cossacks'
"Circumcised Cossacks," one Israeli writer calls them -- Jews whose weapon was no longer the Bible but the rifle. It was not always this way.
For centuries, the cowardly Jew, incapable of defending himself, was a tenet of European anti-Semitism. The Israeli army has reshaped the way Jews the world over think of themselves.
"Traditionally, Jews had been a nation of thinkers and scholars," says Martin Von Creveld of Hebrew University. "Now, quite deliberately and consciously, as (David) Ben Gurion and others proclaimed, they were to be reshaped into a nation of warriors."
The year 1948 saw the birth of the modern Jewish warrior, who battled Arab armies and created the Israeli state. Men like Michael "H," whose air force then was a Piper Cub.
"Just those little airplanes, just with hand grenades and pistol shooting out of the opening of a little airplane," says the former Israeli air force pilot.
Michael's H's son and grandson have also flown for the Israeli air force. His son, Harel, flew Cobra gunships against Palestinians in 1968.
His grandson, Harel's son, who can only be identified as "D," reflects on his heritage.
"They were fighting to get the country," "D" says of his father and grandfather. "Today, we are fighting to keep it safe."
Like his father before him, "D" also flies missions over Lebanon.
"Without a strong army, I don't think we can survive here," "D" says. "It's easier to survive now because we built something. We have a strong country. It's not like 50 years ago."
"D" flies missions over Lebanon, as did his father Fighting weaker opponents
Little is the same now, however. And that has created new problems for the IDF, and has led to some soul-searching.
"The Israeli army, which used to be that of a small state fighting much more powerful and larger opponents, has shifted to fighting opponents which are much smaller than itself," says Von Creveld.
"If you fight opponents who are weaker than yourself for any length, then you will find yourself disintegrating," Von Creveld says. "It happened to the French in Algeria. It happened to the Americans in Vietnam. It happened to the Soviets in Afghanistan, and now it's happening to us."
For the last 20 years, except for a mini-war in Lebanon, stone-throwing Palestinian youths have been the major foe of the Israeli army.
"The intifada, indeed, was not the type of war that the IDF, with all its armored divisions and highly effective brigades and so on, was not prepared, was not trained and in a way even willing to deal with," says Gal.
Today, critics of the Israeli army within its ranks say that as good as it is, it is badly in need of reform. They say it is bloated, and that more and more young Israelis are trying to avoid military service.
"Personally, I believe the greatest threat to the IDF is stagnation," Gal says, noting that the army is "sticking to the same structure and strategies that it had in the past without adapting to future threats."
Jewish soldiers watch a Palestinian youth throw stones Generations differ on the threat
Some also believe that Israeli women no longer need to be drafted, and that in an age of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, conscription for men is no longer necessary, either.
Even three generations in the same family disagree on how great the danger is.
"There is a threat to the existence of the Israeli state," says Michael "H," the grandfather.
"In my time," says his son, Harel, "it was never a question of existence. Never."
And "D," the grandson, says, "You see, we are going into peacetime."
Perhaps nowhere more than among the young Israelis who must risk their lives is the wish for peace stronger. But 50 years of what is arguably the finest conscript army in the world has not brought peace so much as it has brought growing pains.
And until peace comes, the army remains the central pillar of Israeli society now as it has been for a half a century.
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