By Arieh Eldad

Four forces operate in the material world in which we live. We are always aware of some of them: an apple falls from the tree to the ground in conformity with the laws of gravity. The plumber’s advertisement sticks to the refrigerator because of the electromagnetic force. The other two forces operate on a subatomic level, hidden from view, and concern us only if we are curious about the building blocks of matter or if we are worried about an Iranian bomb.

Physicists have for year been trying to find a common denominator, an overall order that will explain the four basic forces. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity explains the laws of gravity. Quantum Mechanics explains the other forces. A unified theory to explain all the phenomena has yet to be discovered. One often-accepted possible explanation is called String Theory. Those who are not mathematicians or physicists find this theory hard to understand because it describes a universe that includes ten dimensions. We mere mortals, who barely manage to handle three spatial dimensions and have no time left for others, find it hard to understand where more dimensions are hiding. Some physicists explain that these dimensions are very small, very dense, and therefore nobody can see them or measure them. A few days ago I read an article by Ofri Ilani in Ha’aretz about Garrett Lisi, an almost unknown physicist in Hawaii, who shocked the world of science by offering a “simple” theory unifying all the natural forces. Lisi’s amazing innovation: he proposes no dimension that we cannot see or understand. He accepts the world as it is.

As for myself, I admit that I understand nothing in physics, and I won’t even try to guess which of the physicists is correct. But I found myself fascinated by an analogy to the situation Israel is in.

Many forces operate in our region: the national and religious forces of the Arabs who want to destroy Israel, Global Islamic Jihad, the self-destructive self-hatred that threatens to dismantle us from within, the desire for peace, the Eternity of Israel, Zionism, faith, and our one God. Anyone who wants to find a solution for the conflict in our region, an order that will mediate between all these opposing forces, needs to choose a theory.

To our great misfortune, most of our leaders have accepted String Theory. If reality contradicts their hallucinatory peace, they create an alternate reality in which the Arabs do not want to destroy us. According to their approach, the Arabs possess unseen and un-measurable dimensions. Peace with the Palestinians is one such dimension. And if we, mere mortals, fail to perceive or see this dimension, they explain that it is still very small, hidden from view and from any existing measuring device. But they assume that it exists because otherwise their entire theory collapses.

I, however, prefer, at least for the purpose of finding a political solution, those who say that reality cannot be manipulated or new dimensions invented in order explain it. The Arabs who want to destroy Israel are a fact. The others who Olmert and his colleagues on the Israeli left consider their “partners” do not exist at all, or perhaps they are so small and so weak, maybe even not born yet, and therefore they are irrelevant except for purposes of theoretical research. He who seeks a real solution for our problems cannot rely on hallucinations or alternate reality. We are familiar with four dimensions in the world of physics and in the world around Israel. The land of Israel has minute length and width within the thousands of miles of Arab states. The dimension of our depth includes the destruction of the First and Second Temples, the Book of Books, and heaven above us. And the Arab dimension of depth includes oil, Jihad, and hatred for anyone who is not a Moslem. Our dimension of time is four thousand years of the Jewish people’s history from Abraham until today. Olmert and his colleagues who have lost their Jewish and Zionist way and cannot find it within the familiar dimensions are creating an alternate reality, dimensions which do not exist, or are not relevant. They are creating “partners” who can not only take our land but can also provide us security, and they rely on these “partners,” even as they leave behind the existing and familiar dimensions: Eretz Israel, strategic depth and defensible borders, sources of water, the cradle of the nation, and the future.

In the world of abstract physics, if a theory proves baseless, the real world does not collapse. In the world of geopolitics in which we find ourselves, Israel may find itself destroyed in a big bang because of the irresponsible gamble of these helmsmen of an alternate reality.