But its supremacy is being challenged, as blue or blue-white ribbons make their appearance.
Orange and blue/blue-white have been chosen respectively by opponents and supporters of the upcoming Gaza withdrawal as symbols of their allegiance.
The withdrawal, or disengagement, to give the official name Israel's plan to evacuate all its settlements in the Gaza Strip and four isolated ones in the West Bank, is due to begin in mid-August.
Opponents of the move argue that Premier Ariel Sharon has no mandate to carry it out, despite the fact that both the cabinet and the Knesset (parliament) approved the initiative.
Taking their cue from the mass protests which followed the disputed Ukrainian presidential election, they began displaying orange ribbons as a symbol of their discontent.
Only recently have pro-pullout supporters begun countering them with ribbons of their own - blue, or blue-white, taken from the colours of the Israeli flag in a conscious attempt to occupy the patriotic high-ground.
Activists from both camps stand on street corners and outside public places such as malls, opposite each other and sometimes next to each other to hand out ribbons to passers-by.
Enthusiasts fix the ribbons to their clothing, their vehicles, their handbags and briefcases, their infants' strollers, to anything which moves and several things which don't.
For the anti-pullout camp, ribbons are only one weapon in their attempt to tie up support for their view. They have taken to wearing orange T-shirts, waving orange flags, even demonstratively eating orange-coloured ice cream and, in one extreme example, dying their hair orange.
"I can't wear orange any more, because it's a political statement," one supporter of the withdrawal told the Israeli Ha'aretz daily. "I can't even put on orange earrings."
Sometimes it can cause confusion, leaving the casual observer to speculate about the political statement is being made. One baby was spotted in a shopping mall wearing an orange T-shirt, but chewing contentedly on the blue-white ribbon handed out a few minutes previously by pro-withdrawal activists.
And sometimes it causes embarrassment. Over-zealous security guards at the Knesset (parliament) confiscated the safron-coloured scarves of a visiting delegation from India.
Although polls show a majority of Israelis favour the Gaza pullout, this is not apparent from the number of ribbons seen on the streets. The orange camp definitely has the upper hand here, but Yariv Oppenheimer, Secretary-General of the Peace Now protest group, thinks this situation will not last for much longer.
"The nearer we get to the disengagement, the more pro-pullout ribbons you'll see on the streets," he predicted.
The orange camp, he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, dominates at the moment because it is distributing more ribbons and because people find it easier to protest against something than to show their support for it.
In addition, he said, pro-withdrawal activists are hesitant, if not sacred, to fly their ribbons for fear their vehicle will be damaged by opponents of their views.
This last point was seemingly borne out Tuesday, when three blue- whiters told a radio phone-in show that their cars were damaged after they affixed the pro-pullout ribbons.
According to columnist Nahum Barnea, the gap between the two camps is not only logistical.
"It's genuine," he wrote in the Yediot Ahronot daily. "According to polls, most Israelis support disengagement. However, this support is indifferent, shallow, half-hearted, a sort of support from afar, without any emotional involvement.
"Opposition to the disengagement, however, is an entirely different matter. It comes with a statement. It features defiance. It possesses sex appeal."
Occasionally, however, the statement is disputed, the defiance is misplaced and the sex appeal goes unnoticed.
Residents of an upscale Tel Aviv neighbourhood recently awoke one morning to discover that anti-pullout activists had been busy during the night, tying orange ribbons to the antennas of their vehicles.
Several hours later, most of the ribbons were lying discarded on the sidewalks.
Join M&C's relaunched forums for extended discussion...its free!
Please fill out our anonymous survey, it helps us improve the site and get to know more about our readers.
© 2003 - 2006 by Monsters and Critics.com, WotR Ltd. All Rights Reserved. All photos are copyright their respective owners and are used under license or with permission. * Note M&C cannot be held responsible for the content on other Web Sites.
Arts - Books - DVD - Forums - Home - Movies - Music - People & Celebrity - Science - Soundtracks - Sport - Tech - TV - World News
About Us - The Team - Advertise - Contact - Join the Team - Privacy - RSS Feeds - Site Map - Terms & Conditions - Webmasters
Servers supplied by Servint
