I have to say that I am concerned about the part played by the media in creating this conception. Even though they are seemingly not engaged, the media had a major part in building the conception. They led the process.

Q: Were there years in which you felt alone because of the gap between your perception of reality and the perception of the media, the political echelon and a large part of the public in Israel?

A: It's not just a matter of being alone. Sometimes it's worse. You stand and try to contain [the other side], but they are shooting at you from all directions, and people from your side come and undermine you. Absolutely undermine you. That is frustrating. Very frustrating. Sometimes it drives me crazy.

Q: Is there an Israeli pathology at work here?

A: Of course there is a pathology. You have to understand that we are in a combined campaign -- military, political, civilian, media, economic. In order to build a defensive wall, all those elements have to work in synergy. You have to understand that if you build a military wall but there is no political wall, then there is no wall. If you build a wall of the Shin Bet [security service] but there is no publicity wall, then there is no wall. And it is absolutely clear that there is no wall if Israelis come along and break it or undermine it.

Q: You are a person who is constantly demanding of yourself, with a deep feeling of being engaged and committed--is that right?

A: Yes, absolutely. I was active in the Noar HaOved [left-leaning youth] movement. It was clear that one had to go on to self-realization: to settle the Arava [desert] was part of Zionism was far as I was concerned. I took the whole thing about equality and humanism very seriously. And also making the desert bloom. The hold on the land. I take all that seriously today, too.

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Outpost               - 12 -               September 2002