In the 1973 Yom Kippur war, as Israel was simultaneously attacked by overwhelming Soviet-trained and equipped Egyptian and Syrian forces, the country’s leaders were virtually paralyzed by the war’s initial setbacks. Not so Ariel Sharon, then a division commander, who thrust boldly across the Suez and consequently saved Israel, many believe, from ruin. As prime minister he is now faced with a similarly consequential peacetime decision. He has to decide whether to throw his weight behind a bold economic reform plan elaborated by his finance minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, or let it languish.

Two recent documents – the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice in The Hague and a report of the International Development Committee of the British Parliament – both purporting to base their conclusions on legal grounds, actually show how abysmally ignorant of the most rudimentary facts of law and history these bodies are.

Politics, especially related to security and the putative peace process, have always dominated Israeli public life. They became, inevitably, an end in themselves, consuming immense energies and resources. As a result, Israel neglected its many economic and social problems, with negative repercussions on security and peace as well.

The present political turmoil in Israel over the reshuffling of Sharon’s coalition is a good example. It seems that for the sake of an uncertain disengagement plan – a unilateral withdrawal, really – Sharon is going to threaten the one major achievement of his coalition: an economic reform that will greatly strengthen Israel and also enhance its ability to make peace.

One of the left’s most celebrated gurus recently tried to explain our existential predicament, the true, if hidden nature of our conflict with the Palestinian Arabs. Our guru, A. B. Yehoshua has also devised a solution that may heal not only our guilt-ridden Israeli psyche, but will also resolve a deep conflict besetting our very nature as Jews.

The amazingly simple solution is a unilateral withdrawal from practically all of the West Bank, the eradication of most of the settlements (an original sin if there ever was one, for Yehoshua) and the demarcation of a fenced border along the 1967 line.

The Wall’s greatest drawback is that it punishes the innocent along with the guilty, and often instead of them. The wall will worsen the already miserable condition of the Arab population upon which terrorist organizations thrive.