A RECENT one week tour in Israel, provided gratis by the Ministry of Tourism, gave me a chance to talk to some Israelis about the problems they face. The Ministry's tour, geared primarily for travel agents to promote tourism hit all the famous tourist spots, put us up in fancy hotels and fed us extremely well. Yet we were given little time to explore on our own.

I did break away from the tour for a couple of days, but others on the tour who did not complained that the Ministry officials seemed like they "were hidding something. "One day while driving alon the Jordanian border in the South, our tour guide mentioned that the border was very safe, and that there had been no problems with terrorists for years in that region. "Shhh," said the Ministry official on the bus, under his breath, and the two argued heatedly-in Hebrew. The official obviously didn't want those aboard to hear too much about terorism. But it was difficult. If no impossible, to hide several divisions within Israel.

One can understand a tourism official glossing over such aspects of Israeli life. Yet this sam attitude surfaces in the views of many Israelis:" Americans aren't aware of what's going on, they won't understand it," one said. In fact, there is more room for the discussion of the ugly aspects of Israeli life-like the oppression of Arabs-in Isareal than there is here. And when one does raise the questions here. American Jews often feel like they are being attacked.

The backdrop to the Israel Arah conflict within Israel's borders has to be seen in the context of what is going on now within the dominant camp the Jewish society in Israel. And the back ground to the Jewish camp, Holocaust survivor Ben Don believes, is the army.

Everyone serves in the Israeli army, though only men till the combat positions. This his psychological and political effects, Ben-Dori says, "Young-sters are full of ideas. The army makes them grown-up, deep-thinking." Also, the army is a cultural common dedominator in a country of immigrants. And since what the government decides may determine whether one or one's children will die or live in peace, Israelis are more concerned with and feel a more personal stake in politics than we do here.

The unique quality about the Israeli situation is not that army service is universal, but that it has been crucial for the existence of Israel from 1948 on. When the government decided to go into Lebanon, and then to keep going, there was an outery--but soldiers usually overcome their doubts and misgivings "I hate the army, but I need to go because I understand that I'm fighting for myself, my family, and my country," says Shalom Sagiv, a reserve artillery commander.

But this unity is apparent only in military activity. Currently in Israel the political, religious, and cultural tensions among Jews are increasing. And there is a deep division between those who welcome this pluralism and those who fear it.

Perhaps the most important split now is between those who supported the invasion into Lebanon and those who did not Sagiv, who went into Lebanon, believes the operation was necessary. "The PLO was developing an army; they had bunkers of weapons there," he says. But Hadas Enoshi, who was an army social worker at the time of the invasion, disagrees "Some people say that if the aim of war is good, it doesn't matter what the cost is. But I say you have to take the cost into account. And life, because the Palestinians will just build up their armies there again."

THAT THERE are different views on the invasion--as well as on the economy, the settlements, the West Bank, and so on--is not surprising. But these differences have begun to go beyond politics. These divisions have started to segregate people socially, which has not been the case before. And a Jewish terrorist group has emerged: TNT (Terrorism Against Terrorism).

This group is feared to be behind the grenade--killing of a Jewish demonstrator at a Peace Now march protesting the Lebanese invasion. And there is concern now in Israel over the weapons, explosives, and grenades that are missing from army stockpiles. These are disturbing developments for a population which already has become accustomed to threats from Arabs and the PLO; now it is Jewish extremists who are causing troubles.

There is also a long-standing split between the Eastern "European Ashkanazi and the oriental Sephardic immigrant Jews, a split which greatly affects Israeli political life. The Ashkanazim came to Israel first, early in this century, and hold most of the professional and prestigious positions. The Sephardim came later and are generally of the lower-class. Menachem Begin and the Likud party appealed to the Sephardim, who felt ignored and snubbed by the Labor party. While a tenuous generalization, it has been largely (but far from wholly) the Sephardim who have supported Likud's expansionist policies.

The last major split is between the very religious Jews and nearly everyone else. Some religious fanatics hold that there can be no Jewish state until the Messiah comes--thus the entire state should be returned to the Arabs. Other religious groups force weak governing coalitions to accede to demands for the inclusion of religious laws into the state Sometimes, though, religion is used as blackmail. For example, a religious group recently complained to the mayor of an Israeli city that the city was violating certain religious laws. But instead of asking that these violations cease, they asked the city for more money for their Yeshiva, or religious school.

WHILE THE division of Israeli society were becoming more intense after the Lebanese invasion, the world was focusing on Israel's supposed break with its moral soul. Founded largely because of the Holocaust, Israel had until recent years been looked upon as the threatened underdog. The occupation of the West Bank and Gaza changed some minds, but it was the Lebanese invasion--according to some, an offensive not defensive action--that became the symbol of Israel's eroding morality.

But many Israelis quickly reject international criticism. 21-year-old Enoshi says the world is "still full of anti-semites--people talk about every little thing Israel does. The world is like a hypocrite--they're not better than us. Everyone conquers another. Everyone has an interest in the Middle East and acts on it. Nothing else."

Reuben Ben-Dori claims Israel has a historic quest, he seems part of an older generation of romantic settlers. He proudly boasts of having brought the first tractor to the Holy Land. Young citizens though even on an traditionally idealistic kibbutz, are not prone to Biblical visions of a "greater Israel." Shalom, 28 years old, says "We have a state because we're strong. That's all."