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The fence and the bombs: Rage and Reconciliation02/23/2004
As the International Court of Justice in the Hague opened its hearings on the Israeli Security barrier, Yasser Arafat declared February 23 as a day of rageover the Israeli Apartheid imperialist warmonger rotten Wall, and the Israeli Terror Survivors declared a day of rage, more or less, over the rotten nogood Palestinian Jihadist terrorists. Yesterday, was not a day of rage, just a regular day you understand. A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up, killed 8 people, and wounded 60. Voice of Palestine news called him a Shahid martyr. and around 6 PM PA TV ran some of their regular fare. For example, they ran a clip of a small child about no 6 - 7 years old singing to himself "by stone or by knife I will attack the enemy". The Israelis weren't raging either. They arrested some people and detonated some houses here and there because of the bus bombing. Everything was quiet. The occupation continued as usual, the bombings and incitement continued as usual. A regular day for us here. But today is different. Today we are all supposed to be in a real rage, and indeed demonstrations by Palestinians were met with tear gas in Israel, and everyone raged. An American who doesn't understand our peculiar ways wrote: "Has Arafat ever launched a 'Day of Conciliation'? Has anyone?" In places where sanity rules, it is a good question. He continued: How about this? A three-point program of conciliation:
1) Let's not kill each other. But then someone said, "That will not overcome the real problems - the need for statehood and an end to the occupation." And someone else said, "No, it will not overcome the real problem, which is the Palestinians want to destroy Israel." And so we were back to the starting point. This exchange was a reasonable simulation of the history of the last 11 years. Reconciliation was tried, with the same consequences as our little exchange. It was called the Olso Accords. Arafat and Rabin shook hands on the White House Lawn. Everyone ate pita and hummus and other things, and called each other fine fellows, and vowed not to kill each other. Guess what? It didn't work out. Both sides went home to go back to business as usual. The Israelis went home to plan how to use the "peace process" to perpetuate the occupation. The Palestinians went home to plan how to use the "peace process" in order to destroy Israel. A decade later, things are worse than ever. It seems that reconciliation, like everything esle, can be hazardous to your health, if the reconciliation is not sincere. The Palestinian rage, and the Israeli rage, and the farce inside the ICJ and the demonstrations outside the ICJ building, are meant to obscure the real issues of the conflict, which nobody wants to discuss:
1. The Israeli occupation and commitment to preventing a real Palestinian state. Anyone who joins the Palestinian rage bandwagon, or the Israeli rage bandwagon, is not serving the cause of peace. They are not contributing to the solution, they are contributing to the problem. Ami Isseroff
Original text copyright by the author and MidEastWeb for Coexistence, RA. Posted at MidEastWeb Middle East Web Log at http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000198.htm where your intelligent and constructive comments are welcome. Distributed by MEW Newslist. Subscribe by e-mail to mew-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Please forward by email with this notice and link to and cite this article. Other uses by permission. |
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Replies: 3 comments "The Palestinian rage, and the Israeli rage, and the farce inside the ICJ and the demonstrations outside the ICJ building, are meant to obscure the real issues of the conflict, which nobody wants to discuss: 1. The Israeli occupation and commitment to preventing a real Palestinian state. 2. Palestinian terror and commitment to destruction of Israel". Yes, Ami, those two points you have made really put this conflict in a nutshell. The above two points as you aptly say nobody wants to discuss. It is these two points which are the crux of the conflict and the failure of the Oslo Accords. Rage is very often followed by reconciliation, but not in this case where both sides are so committed to hating one another. However, the tilt is more to the Palestinian side which had invented the cruel suicide bomber in the name of some form of Islamic mutation which under no circumstances will tolerate non-Moslem rule in their "backyard". The non-recognition of Israel, whether one wants to admit it or not is an unfortunate fact, and the wars waged throughout her history are a result of this. It has just received different connotations in the Palestinian lexicon of epithets and stereotypes. The occupation is just one of many excuses and reasons used by the Palestinians to castigate Israel. Had there been no occupation - would the situation be any different? After all, prior to 1967 there was no occupation. The Security Fence - whether it is used as an excuse to create new facts on the ground in consolidating Jewish Settlements or to protect Israeli citizens is irrelevent. If it serves its purpose in saving Israeli lives from suicide bombers then that is sufficient. We have reached a stage now in our lives in this country where we and our families are threatened by Palestinian terror groups and as much as we wish that not to be the case, we must be realistic. A change of heart which would result in dismantling settlements and establishing a Palestinian state in the occupied areas could never occur until there is a sincere change of direction on both sides of the conflict. Posted by Shimon Z. Klein @ 02/23/2004 03:50 PM CST if i were an arab palestinian i would rage too...at the stupidity of their leadership in 1936 for refusing the Peel Commission's suggestion for a two state solution, and again in 1947 for saying no to the UN's plan for a palestinian state, and once again when Barak offered damn near everything they had been asking for and the only thing they could think to answer was 'Intifada' and homicide suicide bombings of innocents. you bet i'd be in a rage at such block headedness. Posted by mike levine @ 02/23/2004 06:06 PM CST I had written this piece which is much in line with the intent of this column (It is posted in Hopeways site, under my name as well); that I wish to share with you all...
'... A suicide bomber today killed people young and old on a Let us talk peace I just buried my mutilated child and you want to talk of peace! Who said, the voice of peace is rational
'... Tanks moved in and shots were fired, young and old are Let us talk peace I just buried my disfigured child and you want to talk of peace! I never said, the voice of peace is rational '... New settlements are going up in ...' Let us talk peace
Are you crazy, it's my land you're using and you want to talk of But then, the voice of peace is not rational '... Rocks thrown at worshippers at The Wailing Wall in ...' Let us talk peace
You forbade me then, to visit my Holy sites, and you throw rocks at It isn't easy, that the voice of peace is not rational
'... A rocket propelled bomb hit a Jewish elementary school Let us talk peace
Children were killed today, their memories cry out for vengeance and Why G_d is it that, the voice of peace is not rational
' ... A targeted missile killed a Palestinian terrorist and Let us talk peace
Why did my baby have to die, an innocent bystander, who will avenge Alas, the voice of peace is not rational
Israel and Ishmael, descendants of Abraham, you once were touched by Posted by Israel Bonan @ 02/23/2004 11:46 PM CST Please do not leave notes for MidEastWeb editors here. Hyperlinks are not displayed. We may delete or abridge comments that are longer than 250 words, or consist entirely of material copied from other sources, and we shall delete comments with obscene or racist content or commercial advertisements. Comments should adhere to Mideastweb Guidelines . IPs of offenders will be banned. |
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