A letter to karim

I'd like to share another response of mine in an ongoing dialogue

Karim,
I’m afraid this conversation only serves to illustrate in the most frustrating way that chances for real change in this part of the world are close to nil. Let me put all this in a big nutshell: The Arabs make their way from Arabia, conquering and colonizing their way through the world. When all is said and done they find themselves “occupying” some 20 countries. You like to point out that “at least“ the indigenous populations of all those colonized countries were not expulsed. How magnanimous of the Arabs. I’m afraid your characterization of a benign Muslim stewardship of those invaded and conquered lands differs a bit with the historical facts. Yes, you were good to “your” Jews. Just so long as they understood their place, paid their Jizya tax, kept their eyes averted when passing a Muslim, and learned to live with the occassional massacre. Thank you for all that. But a miniscule home (1) for the Jews, in a land where there has been a continuous connection for thousands of years, with a proven willingness to respect the faiths of others, is just too much for you. That really is the bottom line Karim. Everything else is just window dressing. Germans, Poles, Finns, Indians, Pakistani’s, Cypriots, Turks, and more have all had to deal with population exchanges in times of war, and have moved on and made productive lives for themselves. Historically there has always been refugees because of war. ONLY the Arabs, who for the most part created the refugee issue, refuse to accept and move on. Twenty two countries in a crescent of Islam, and a (tiny)Jewish cancer smack dab in the middle is just too much to bear. So a people who didn’t even know they had a national identity before say, 1930 are put to good use by the rest of the Arab world. Keep the hatred burning, preach it to your children from birth and through your education systems. What a wondrous thing we can all have in common, helping to focus our rage on a common enemy, rather than on our own inequities, rather than having to have to come to grips with the realization that as a culture we, as Arabs, have been a society moving backwards for centuries. THINK OF THE TIME, MONEY, AND ENERGY SPENT ON HATING THE JEWS.
I’m sure you will write back and repeat your mantra that no, you in Lebanon love and, miss “your” Jews. Thanks but no thanks. We get to be our own Jews now. And that means screwing up and making lots of mistakes, and proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are human, with all that that entails. But one thing for sure, we won’t be “your” Jews anymore.

A letter to Walid

Here's a response I wrote to a question posed by someone (Walid) with whom I'd been having a running dialogue with about the Israeli-Palestinian issue:

Walid, I’ve always said that regardless of history, or who’s to blame for what, that for a true peace, I, as an Israeli would be willing to give up almost everything. What does that mean? It means that if I were able to gaze into a crystal ball and see a true, honest, and everlasting peace as a result, I would be willing to live w/o the West Bank (save for the largest of the “settlements”), Gaza, East Jerusalem (a very tough one for me), and the Golan Heights (this from someone who raised a family there). But I’m not willing to cede those “cards” for simply another piece of paper that can be signed with disappearing ink. The Oslo experience was an eye opener for many Israelis. For years during that “experiment” there was not a single Israeli presence in Jenin, Ramallah, Bethlehem, or Nablus. The PA had full control of over 90% of the Palestinian population (population, not land). This was a perfect opportunity to show the world, and convince Israel that they (the Pals) could take advantage of this door ajar, this window. No IDF, no checkpoints, no curfews. True, it was small step, and maybe not enough for some Palestinians. But after so many decades of vitriolic hatred, it seems reasonable that Israelis wanted to do this in phases. Give a little, everything works, give some more. But I think you know what happened. Jenin became “terror central” and Israel was fed a constant diet of death and destruction. The education system that was to have been overhauled not only wasn’t, it was made worse, if that were possible. What did Israelis see with regard to Gaza and Lebanon? We finally got out of Lebanon, back to behind the internationally recognized border (please no Shebaa Farm references anybody, it’s insulting), and still, not good enough. We tore our own country apart and left Gaza, albeit unilaterally. But still, even unilaterally, here was a chance to show the world and Israel that okay, it’s not much, but we will do something with this opportunity, to prove to the world that we deserve the next “phase”. Instead, tunnels, Kassams, and Hamas. So where do we go from here? Hamas has made it clear from the start, and has reiterated numerous times since, they will never recognize an entity called Israel. What other country in the world must continually justify its’ existence? It’s not a matter of “you only make peace with your enemies, not your friends”. How does one negotiate with someone who doesn’t believe you have the right to exist? And as such, how can one ever put trust into agreements signed? So in answer to your question Walid, I don’t want a “Greater Israel”, and believe I speak for the vast majority of Israelis. Give me my tiny little pre-’67 Israel, with minor adjustments, leave me alone, and I’ll be happy. But, because I don’t trust Syria sitting on the Kinneret, because I don’t trust that a Palestinian state sitting a few kilometers from Ben Gurion won’t be looking to eventually “take back” Yafo, because there are still no pictures of Israel on any maps in the schools of the Palestinian children, all of those things are out of the question for me. I don’t have answers anymore Walid, I just know that I won’t commit national suicide in the name of “peace”.
Respectfully,
Sabashimon

"A lie told often enough becomes the truth" - Vladimir Lenin

It's one of those things I've been saying I would do now for years, but hadn't gotten off my butt to do........write my own blog.
So here it is, my own blog where I can pontificate on the issues regarding my home Israel, and her place in the volitile neighborhood known as the middle east.
I was born in Israel and raised my family there, served in her army (and still serve in the reserves), and have children and grandchildren who live there. Does that make me an expert? Is there any such thing as an 'expert" on the Middle East?
Let's just say that I'm as knowledgable, if not more so than the vast majority of pundits that continue to regale us with their stale and anti-israel rantings, usually written with no regard to the truth.
And make no mistake about it, there are truths out there, and they don't include the myriad lies and myths that have been perpetuated for so long now that they have taken on the status of truths.
So check in from time to time, and we'll see where this takes us