There is a storm brewing and we are all waiting, wondering where and when it will begin and how it will all turn out. This event is not some small insignificant affair. It ultimately will decide the fate of all man/woman kind.
In my small corner of the planet there is a continuous battle for a piece of land that we Jews have been living on continuously since biblical times. Recent genetic testing appears to have supported this narrative. Some so-called Palestinians have actually come forward anonymously and admitted that their ancestors were Jewish and were forcefully converted during Turkish rule. They were given the choice to leave or become Muslim. It is an interesting twist to an already complex scenario that has no easy answers but many questions as yet unanswered.
There is no quick fix to the variety of attitudes that both sides maintain in light of all the distrust that both sides share. This distrust is also complex in and of itself. More often then not it is embedded with a fanatical religious insistence of all or nothing.
To be fair, while these voices cry louder then others it is still a minority voice that has been used by the media for ratings affect. This has muffled the sounds of reason by certainly the majority of Israelis and many Palestinians.
This is not by chance that the opera and its dramatic staged performance is dragging all of us along for the ride. Aside from all the he-said-she-said game play, Jews now have a home where we can once again be ourselves without apology or suspicion. However, the problem of being ourselves is not a simple one as many would think. It has been far too long since we ruled ourselves and that through a king. A poor choice warned the prophets.
In the sixty plus years of governance we still struggle to find a political system that effectively works as the needs and the population changes. We still suffer from the lag of cultural change it takes any society in order to adapt to the new status quo. One of the major challenges we obviously find our selves facing since 1967 takeover of the West Bank from Jordon and the Gaza Strip from the Egyptians is the desire by some to inhabit what was truly a part of ancient Israel that even today houses places of great social and religious significance to Jews along side the former Jordanian and Egyptian populations that also inhabit both areas.
I will not argue we belong here more then anyone else. First it is a useless effort and second it is irrelevant considering we are already a Jewish State. Facts on the ground created out of a moment in time that was ripe for Jews to once again decide their own fate as a people and nation. Fairness plays little in this narrative. There is only so much land in the world. No two people can stand on the same point. However, there is room for sharing with partners willing to acknowledge the others rights to be here. This is where the problem begins.
If the rest of the world governments would have stayed out of the situation I believe this two state solution would have been resolved. However, the unwillingness of the Muslim countries to accept the Jewish State prevents any further progress. The agenda of many Muslim leaders was for Islamic domination as it had so successfully achieved in previous eras throughout much of the world. With Islam being beaten back by the Turks and the Europeans the retreat was seen as a humiliation and defeat. The shame was just too much.. Now Israel exists as a nation and is flourishing in a region where governments/kingdoms have continuously oppressed their populations from thriving and manifesting their rights as free human beings. The Israeli success was just more fuel to the fire of shame and jealousy.
The European communities were recovering from a major devastation and were complicit in premeditated efforts to destroy the entire European Jewish population and blot them out of history. Directly and indirectly complicit in the heinous of crimes: Genocide.
Israel now a strong and proud people with a religious/cultural tradition that dates back thousands of years has the ability to rule over their own lives and to rule over the lives of others as a result of war. This was the perfect excuse for Europeans to absolve themselves of any burden of guilt they may still have had regarding the massacre of six million Jews by accusing the Jews of being the Nazis. This narrative worked just fine for the Palestinian leadership. They essentially got the wink from the Europeans to do what they needed to do, including terror attacks, in order to get rid of the Jews. The European religious mantra that the Jews were the Christ killers and deserve to die didn’t help the situation. It works for Europe and works fine for the Muslims in the region. By the way all of these countries excluding Egypt were artificially created out of European political expediency.
Israel in 2009 is a strong, creative, athletic, industrious country with a minority of non Jews that are also reaping the benefits of Israeli success. This is in spite of the Arab leadership in Israel constantly encouraging a hostile fifth column mentality. This reinforces a lack of trust that makes it difficult to fully secure all our citizens with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
This kind of leadership by the Arab members of the Knesset through out Israel’s history has lent itself to relegating this “hostile” population to a begrudging equal status under the law. To be fair there is a significant part of the non-Jewish population that participates in all avenues of Israeli life and is quite integrated in the Israeli milieu with out giving up their own unique traditions. We have so much more to attain for all of our citizens but the road is clearly paved toward success. We have no other choice.
Today the pressure is on to find a solution to a problem that has been used by all sides as an excuse for hostility. This only postpones a solution for a Palestinian State and encourages the Palestinian leadership from recognizing Israel as a Jewish State that has a right to exist in the region.
This simple act will be the beginning of a trust that can only develop into a partnership for peace. Until the Arabs admit and accept Israel as a legitimate player in the region there will never to a Palestinian State. Not because of Israel, but as a result of Palestinian and Islamic forces unwillingness to embrace their brothers and open up their populations to the riches and talent that all Israelis will be more then willing to share with our Arab neighbors.
