Posted on 06/04/2003 5:11:59 AM PDT by SJackson
JERUSALEM Although it isn't instantly apparent, most Israelis seem to be keenly aware that the struggle Americans view as an Israeli-Palestinian issue is, in fact, much larger — which President Bush acknowledged by visiting Nazi death camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau before the latest "peace summit."
Talking with a wide range of Israelis in the week immediately preceding Bush's Middle East visit has proven revealing about the perceived prospects for peace. Israelis with whom I spoke in both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv the past few days realize that they are wanted dead by a massive portion of the world —almost all of which surrounds their tiny country. President Bush's journey to the region has done little to inject ordinary Israelis with a sense of optimism.
Walking down the residential streets of Jerusalem Thursday afternoon and through the business district of Tel Aviv the night before, the atmosphere is one that could be found in Los Angeles or New York. Sitting outside restaurants and nightclubs, people are walking, flirting, laughing. Most of the Tel Aviv delis (or convenience stores, as some Americans would call them) have no fourth wall, conveying an openness that belies the residual anxiety many Israelis feel.
One Israeli, a light, olive-skinned woman in her mid-20's whose family emigrated here from Yemen, told me that if you are here long enough, you see that not everything is actually copasetic. "Israelis are nervous, but we are allowed to be," she explains. "I used to live right over there (pointing to an apartment building near the U.S. Embassy, about two blocks in from the Mediterranean Sea). There were three bombings right nearby in the year I lived there." Just one block from where that conversation occurred is Mike's Place, the site of a suicide bombing just a month earlier that killed four.
Walking past Mike's Place now, an observer would see no signs that an attack had taken place —except for the small, makeshift memorial about 15 feet from the entrance. Photos of the victims adorn a small sign that stands about four feet tall. The bar, which is a popular hangout for U.S. Embassy staff (who work next week), was re-built within one week of the April 30 attack. That is common here in Israel. More than anything else, it is a statement of perseverance, a determination that Israel will stand strong in the face of evil.
To an American on his first visit here, Israelis can seem unflappable. But talk to anyone long enough, and emotions ranging from apprehension to angst come to the fore. "What most Jews don't want to verbalize," notes an Israeli man who emigrated from the U.S. over twenty years ago, "is that they know, deep down, this is never going to stop." The high-ranking official in the Jerusalem police force continued, "This has been going on for thousands of years." At a jazz nightclub in Tel Aviv Thursday night, an American Jew on his fourth visit here said, "The Holocaust was not of a different kind, but of a different degree." The two Israelis at the table with us nodded solemnly in agreement.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
We know one thing: if in any agreement the Israelis give up the so-called "west bank and Gaza," somehow God will restore it to them before the end times, regardless of man's "agreements."
Which leads to the next $64 question. Why do liberals bend over backwards (and forwards) to apologize for and defend the Muslims and their "Religion of Peace"?
I don't think the Arabs/Pales will EVER acknowledge Israel's right to exist, so from that perspective no "deal" can ever take place with that in the equation.
God will never acknowledge philistines remaining in control of gaza or the so-called west bank. So that can never happen.
What puzzles me is that W is a good man, a godly man led by the Spirit. He reads his Bible. Surely he knows this. Still, perhaps he is forced by his convictions to try for "peace," knowing, in fact, it cannot happen.
Be open to that possibility . . . anytime . . . even TODAY!
PATIENT: "Dr. everyone is out to kill me."
DOCTOR: "Your just being paranoid. Now get back up to the front line."
Represent is a bad choice of words. Exploit would be much more appropriate. Such was the experience of most groups that emigrated to the Northeast. Remember, we're talking about Tamany Hall here.
The anti-Semitsm of the Left is a new phenomenon in America
I wouldn't say that the Left had been immune to anti-Semitism, but it is true that it wasn't a driving force in the American Left until very recently. Interestingly, eastern European communists were quite anti-Semetic.
If the Jews of Israel are eventually driven into the sea, there will be Palestinians who follow them out in boats to further harass and butcher them.
Represent and exploit are both correct. The problem occurs whenever you expect others to defend your interests for you.
Interestingly, eastern European communists were quite anti-Semitic
True. But I don't know the details or causes - probably the eastern Europeans were anti-Semitic no matter what their politics.
Yes, it's the same reason why African Americans support the party of slavery. Besides, the GOP does not effectively communicate across social, religious, cultural, etc lines. Bush is a rare exception, but one person alone can't do it all and a segment of the GOP doesn't want to do it. There is a strong negative perception that GOP is for bigots and religious zealots only.
It's probably because I didn't do a good job of making that point. LOL.
This is precisely the rationale that many conservatives tend to look upon any physical separation of competing religious or ethnic factions as a good thing. Because once these competing factions are completely separated, then they are fully responsible for their own success or failure and can no longer blame "the other guy" for their problems (as is often the normal human response). Of course the whole process is fraught with potential perils, but nobody ever said this would be easy.
In my mind, the bigger issue here is whether the combined area of Israel/Palestine is a viable region from an economic standpoint even if every religious/ethnic/political dispute is resolved. The region (along with Jordan) is very small and has very few natural resources, so there is a very strong possibility that it will end up as a permanent ward of the United States regardless of how things turn out.
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