The Oslo Syndrome: Delusions of a People Under Siege

by Kenneth Levin

In the 1993 Oslo accords, Israel embraced Yasser Arafat as its "peace partner." It then installed him in Gaza and the West Bank as head of a nascent Palestinian government, allowed him to bring with him some 7,000 of his loyalist gunmen, and provided the gunmen with weapons, even as Arafat continued to support terrorist attacks on Israelis and to assure Palestinians and other Arabs his goal remained Israel's destruction.Why did Israel pursue the path of Oslo? Why did it persist on that path when, in the wake of the initial Oslo agreements, the Palestinians unleashed an unprecedented wave of anti-Israel terror? Palestinian leaders also routinely called for holy war against Israel and compared Oslo to the Treaty of Hudaibiya, which Mohammed had signed in 628 and abandoned when his forces became strong enough to overwhelm his adversaries. Arafat and his subordinates told Arab audiences that Oslo was a step in the PLO's 1974 "plan of phases," a strategy of acquiring whatever land could be won by negotiations and using that territory as a base for pursuing Israel's annihilation. Yet Israel responded with additional concessions. What psychological, historical and communal forces spawned policies that undermined Israel's security and even threatened its survival? Dr. Levin's original and powerfully persuasive analysis relates Israeli diplomacy of the nineteen-nineties to psychological responses common among chronically besieged populations, whether minorities subjected to defamation, discrimination and assault or small nations under chronic attack by their neighbors. More particularly, he demonstrates links between the evolution of Oslo and the long history of Diaspora Jews being subjected to persistent abuse. The reaction of many enduring such abuse was to seek to improve their predicament by endorsing elements of the surrounding societies' bigoted indictments and embracing delusions of salvation through self-effacement and concessions. This case study in the psychology of a community under chronic attack takes on broader significance at a time when even traditionally safe and secure societies such as the United States are confronting the psychological challenges posed by terrorist assaults.

599 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Charlene Mathe]

I finally pushed through to the end of this important book. It is scholarly, with 50 pages of end notes and 7 pages of bibliography. It is comprehensive, reviewing Jewish diaspora history through the ages with the author's analytical perspective as a psychiatrist. I understand that the author wishes to drive home his central concept that the Stockholm syndrome best explains Israel's compromises in defending her sovereign rights (her "right to exist"). But the effort to weave this theme throughout the book bogs it down a bit with repetitive loops. The first half of the book provides some outstanding historical briefs. I was especially impressed with chapter six, "American Jews and the Holocaust: Catastrophe and Failure." In 25 pages, the author documents most of the material I have read in whole books on the subject; plus adding additional material that I have never read elsewhere!
My main takeaway from THE OSLO SYNDROME is the recognition of the "two different kinds of Jews" in Israel. The good Jews are the the peacemakers. They are the ones behind the backdoor diplomacy that dumped Oslo on the doorstep of the Israeli's as a "done deal." They are the ones who push for a two-state "solution," and for Israeli concessions without reciprocity. This is because they believe that only when Israel has conceded EVERYTHING will the "peace partner" concede ANYTHING. Therefore, the continuance of terrorism is the fault of Israel, until such time as she retreats behind the "1967 borders" and acquiesces to "the right of return."
The bad Jews are the Zionists who insist on a JEWISH national homeland, and who build homes in the Jewish National Homeland that was awarded to them by the League of Nations in 1922, seized by the Jordanian army during the 1948 War of Independence and retaken by the Jews in the 1967 war. (There is a lot of history skipped over here, but it does not change these basics.) The bad Jews are called "settlers" for building homes in Jerusalem, Hebron and Shiloh. Once known as Judea and Samaria, these "territories" are known by their Jordanian name, "the West Bank;" even though Jordan relinquished claims in 1988.
The peaceful Jews are regarded by the world as the modern, reasonable and realistic voice of Israel. They are the heirs of the Frankfurt school tradition transferred via Hebrew University notables such as Martin Buber to the elites and governors of Israel. On the other hand, the Zionist Jews are regarded as racists, religious extremists, and nationalist radicals. They are the heirs of two thousand years of Jewish history and hope, best expressed perhaps in the work of founding rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook and his son rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook.
The peaceful Jews seek a "democratic" Israel, "like the other nations;" a multicultural nation with no particular cultural allegiance. The ethos is "universalist," seeing the Jewish mission "to lead the way to a new postnational world." (p.213) In their view, the Jews have "evolved spiritually beyond needing a state of their own. They had developed to the point of comprehending and embracing a universalist sensibility and universalist vision, and a Jewish state represented regression to a lower form of national-religious existence." (p.425)
The Zionist Jews seek a Jewish-majority nation where the rights of minorities are protected by the law of a sovereign Jewish state which will never relinquish its right to exist and defend the survival of the Jewish people. "Menahem Brinker, a professor of Hebrew literature at Hebrew University, declared in a "Jerusalem Post" article in September 1995, that Zionism is a 'totalitarian' concept that 'has outlived its usefulness and will ebb away in time.' Hebrew University anthropologist Danny Rabinovitch joined those urging that such insights be translated into policy. He advocated government confession of 'the original sin of Israel' and establishment of a day of mourning to 'mark the suffering of the Palestinians during the rise of Israel.'" (p.368)
"Ze'ev Sternhell, a professor of political science at Hebrew University, argued in "The Founding Myths of Israel" (first published 1995) that the founders of the state, while proclaiming socialist and liberal principles, lacked proper universalist sensibilties and were really driven first and foremost by nationalism. Even worse, their nationalism was imbued with religious meaning. According to Sternhell, Israel's difficulties have essentially flowed from this." (p.368)
There is so much more I wish I could share from this book, but I hope what I have shared is eye-opening and clarifying. I hope readers will further investigate the Frankfurt school as its philosophy continues to infect the world (see excellent article here: http://www.americanthinker.com/articl...), and shapes the world view of Israel's elite and governing class. I'll close with the Nathan Alterman poetic lines quoted on p.370:
Then Satan did say:
'How will I conquer this beleaguered one?
He possesses courage, ingenuity, resourcefulness and tools of war.'
Then he said:
'I'll not rob his strength, nor bridle him, nor rein him in, nor enervate his hand.
But this I'll do --
blunt his mind, till he forgets his cause is just.'"