How Donald Trump is bringing hope to the 'peace process'
After eight years in which most Israelis felt that they weren't getting a fair hearing at the White House, and in which Israel's Prime Minister looked more uncomfortable with each trip to the United States, times have changed. In a White House meeting earlier this week, President Trump allowed Netanyahu to say what nearly all Israelis believe and what former President Hussein Obama would never allow to be heard.
Despite his international protestations, Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority (like Yasir Arafat before him), has consistently denied
that the Jews have a historic connection to the Temple Mount. Far more
than arcane arguments over historical minutiae, the Arafat-Abbas
tradition of denying a longstanding Jewish link to Jerusalem is the
Palestinian’s inimitable way of saying that the Jews are simply the latest wave of Crusaders,
that Israel is nothing but a colonialist presence in the Middle East.
Just as the crusaders and colonialists of the past ultimately departed,
the argument goes, so too will the Jews.
The
belief that President Abbas sees the two-state solution as a
steppingstone to a one – Arab – state solution leaves many Israelis
cynical about the peace process and tiring of the rhetoric about two
states. Mr. Trump may have shifted that momentum.
President Trump afforded Prime Minister Netanyahu an opportunity to assert – despite American denials – that Palestinian schools’ textbooks teach Palestinian children to hate Jews. Israelis wholeheartedly believe that accusation to be true. They know of the Fatah Party’s incendiary boast on Facebook that it had killed 11,000 Israelis and that the Palestinian Authority recently named its fourth
school for Salah Khalaf, mastermind of the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre
of Israeli athletes. While President Barack Obama obliquely acknowledged
in his eulogy for Shimon Peres, the former Israeli president and prime
minister, that “Arab youth are taught to hate Israel from an early age,”
Mr. Trump gave Mr. Netanyahu a stage from which to make the accusation
explicit.
Obama's eulogy for Shimon Peres - perhaps his first acknowledgment of mainstream 'Palestinian' hate for Israelis and Jews - came on September 30, 2016, nearly at the end of Obama's term, and at a point where it was likely designed to help Hillary Clinton's election prospects and not a sincere empathy with Israel's plight.
Daniel Gordis believes that Trump's openness to hear the Israeli point of view can only help the 'peace process.'
Outward
appearances of confidence notwithstanding, Palestinian leaders
undoubtedly understand that the jig is up – gone (for now) are the days
in which they can tell the world one story and their people another.
That actually gives Israelis hope that – if the Palestinians want
political sovereignty – the Palestinian Authority will have to lay the
groundwork by forging an entirely different narrative about Israel and
Jews.
There
is still no reason to assume that President Trump and Prime Minister
Netanyahu can forge a deal. Mr. Trump’s White House is in disarray, Mr.
Netanyahu is under investigation for corruption and politically
weakened, Mr. Kushner has not a day of diplomatic experience, the other
Arab countries that Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu hope will be part of an
agreement may or may not cooperate and Palestinian hatred of Jews may be
too deeply entrenched.
Yet
there is at least cause for a glimmer of hope. On Wednesday, whatever
ambivalences about Mr. Trump many Israelis have, they heard from a
United States president sympathetic to their story, sensitive to their
fears of Iran and committed to their safety. That may matter a great
deal. For Israelis who feel safe and protected are infinitely more
likely to make accommodations for peace.
Gordis is right that it's highly unlikely (to say the least) that Trump and Netanyahu can forge a deal. Not now and not in the next eight years. But that has nothing to do with investigations, disarray or weak political positions. Rather, it's because the 'Palestinians' have yet to give any indication that they are ready to accept a Jewish state of any size, shape or form, and that creating a 'Palestinian' state (God Forbid) will not be the end of the conflict, but rather moving on to a new stage against a much weakened Israel.
Don't expect it to happen in your lifetime or mine.
Lawless: Obama trying to handcuff Trump on Middle East
Greetings from Israel. I am home again (briefly).
President Hussein Obama is trying to handcuff President Elect Donald Trump's Middle East policy.
Washington DC insiders widely expect the president to launch a bold
effort to constrain the president-elect's options in dealing with the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict by supporting unilateral international
recognition of Palestinian statehood, possibly in the UN Security
Council.
...
In seeking to overturn longstanding precedent and thwart the expressed
policy positions of his successor, Obama presumably hopes that
supporting (or not vetoing) a UN Security Council resolution on
Palestinian statehood will create an irreversible fait accompli
that will eventually spur Israel to make concessions, like a settlement
freeze, which will in turn strengthen moderates on the Palestinian side.
It's the same thinking that led the United States to make concession after concession in the Iran nuclear deal,
and it is likely to backfire in the same way. Unilateral recognition of
a Palestinian state will communicate to Palestinian leaders that they
do not need to concede anything and validate the use and incitement of
violence, vindicating hardliners.
Until the Palestinian leadership can recognize
and accept a Jewish state in the land of Israel, the United States must
continue working to prevent international recognition of a Palestinian
state.
Anyone still want to claim that the Obama administration is the 'most pro-Israel administration evah'? If yes, it's time to take your blinders off.
Now with subtitles: 'Palestinian' father sends his toddler son to throw stones at soldiers
Here's the full video with subtitles of the 'Palestinian' father sending his son to throw stones at IDF soldiers.
Palestinian Media Watch reported today that the 'Palestinians' have released a falsified version of the video that takes out the kid shaking hands with one of the soldiers (0:29 in the video).
It's come to this: Israel Television begging 'human rights watch' for comment on 3-year old 'Palestinian' throwing stones at soldiers
Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.
Over the weekend, IDF Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner (who runs foreign and social media for the IDF spokesperson's office) posted the following video of a flag waving 'Palestinian' toddler being sent by his father to throw stones at IDF troops.
The so-called 'protectors' of human rights have had NOTHING to say about this video. The Israel Broadcast Authority is now begging 'human rights watch' and Sarah Leah Whitson (who once raised money from the Saudis by bragging about how bad her organization makes Israel look) to comment.
Two videos 'celebrating' first 'Palestinian' suicide bombing in Jerusalem in more than a decade
Over the weekend, Israeli media released videos of 'Palestinians' celebrating the first successful suicide bombing in Jerusalem in more than a decade. Watching these videos will give you an indication of the continued Jew-hatred here in Israel.
This one is from Gaza (and not Jerusalem as it says in the blog post where I got it). Let's go to the videotape.
And the second one says it's from Bethlehem, but is actually the Abu Srour family (which lives near Bethlehem) and is the same video I posted here.
Let's go to the videotape.
But give them a 'state' and they'll stop celebrating every time someone
tries to murder us, just like they'll stop educating their children to
murder us. Right....
The 19-year old terrorist who blew up a Jerusalem bus last Monday did not come from an impoverished home. In fact, he lived a life of privilege, much like the Saudi 9/11 terrorists. And that worries the Israeli authorities.
His uncles are prosperous merchants. He did not grow up in a refugee camp. He went on shopping trips to Jordan.
But the cover photo on his Facebook page
includes the image of Yahya Ayyash, a.k.a. “The Engineer,” the chief
bombmaker for Hamas, who likely was killed by an exploding mobile phone
planted by Israeli agents in 1996.
On Monday afternoon, 19-year-old Abdel Hamid
Abu Srour boarded the Egged No. 12 bus and placed a package between his
legs. His uncles think that it might have been his first visit to
Jerusalem.
His seat was above the vehicle’s gas tanks,
according to Israeli news media. His relatives scoffed at the idea that
Abu Scour would know how to make a bomb himself.
His high school grades were poor enough that he wanted to retake subjects and redo his exams.
Who gave him the bomb and how it was detonated is the object of a fast-moving investigation.
Hamas claimed that Abu Srour was a member of
the Islamist militant movement, although the Gaza-based terrorist group
did not assert direct responsibility for the bombing.
Israeli police announced Thursday that they had arrested several members of a Hamas cell in Bethlehem tied to the case.
The 'Palestinian Authority' tried to portray Abu Srour as a poor 'refugee.' But that's yet another lie.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health described
Abu Srour as a resident of the Aida refugee camp, a tough, politicized
neighbourhood of tight, twisting alleys where the walls are painted with
murals of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and covered with
the faded posters of dead teenagers hailed as martyrs, killed either
attacking Israelis or in clashes with Israeli troops.
But his relatives said Abu Srour was more of a
Palestinian preppy, the scion of a well-to-do and well-known clan of
eight prosperous brothers, who own and operate a string of furniture
outlets and are rich enough to take their young sons for holidays in
Jordan and to set them up with their own shops selling clothes.
“We are financially comfortable, you could say
very comfortable,” said his uncle Mahmoud Abu Srour, who was gathered
with relatives in a courtyard at a family house in Bethlehem awaiting
the return of his nephew’s body so they could bury him.
Abu Scour’s teenage cousins listened to their
uncles speak but kept silent. They wore pricey watches, skinny jeans and
fancy sneakers.
Abu Srour’s father declined to speak on the
record. He was exhausted, he said. His family said his DNA was used to
identify his son. He said the body was unrecognizable to him.
Earlier in the day, the father denied in an
interview with Reuters that his son had any connection to Hamas, which
had announced Wednesday that Abu Scour was the bomber and that he was an
affiliate of the group.
“I never thought my son would do such an act,”
the father said. “My son did not make me feel, even for 1 per cent,
that he has feelings or thoughts like that. Never.”
But Abu Srour apparently WAS connected to Hamas and his family didn't totally discourage terrorism. It just tried to keep their children safe.
But on his Facebook page, there is a photo Abu Srour with a Hamas flag.
Israeli news media also reported that before he died, Abu Srour had
given his mother a photograph of himself wearing a Hamas scarf. The
Jerusalem Post reported that Abu Srour’s relatives gave out sweets on
the street to celebrate his martyrdom in the bomb blast.
And of course, the family is blaming the victim - Israel.
As if we're the ones who are ambivalent or worse about our children's involvement in terrorism....
In Bethelehem, 'Palestinians' celebrate bus bomber
We now know who blew up that bus in Jerusalem on Monday. Abdel Hamid Abu Srour, 19, a resident of the Aida refugee camp near
Bethlehem who is suspected of detonating an explosive on a bus in
southern Jerusalem that left 20 others injured, died on Wednesday
following multiple surgeries. Yes, we even try to save the lives of those who come to murder us. Crazy, aren't we?
The 'Palestinians' in Bethlehem held a march last night to support Abu Srour. His mother handed out candies.
But give them a 'state' and they'll stop celebrating every time someone tries to murder us, just like they'll stop educating their children to murder us. Right....
If only the NY TImes used the sports headline writers for the news
Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.
Saturday's New York Times sports section features an article blasting the NFL for its treatment of Israel's football team (which plays for the AFC title and a trip to the Super Bowl tomorrow) and team quarterback Tom Brady (Hat Tip: Memeorandum). The headline is titled True Scandal of Deflategate Lies in the N.F.L.’s Behavior.
In
May, the data arrived. The prominent lawyer Theodore V. Wells Jr., who
was hired to investigate Deflategate for the league, delivered a
devastating indictment of the Patriots. The Wells report
concluded that “it was more probable than not” that two members of the
Patriots’ locker room staff had “participated in a deliberate effort to
release air from Patriots game balls,” and that “it was more probable
than not” that Brady was “at least generally aware” of the impropriety.
Although
the evidence was circumstantial — based on ambiguous text messages;
Brady’s discarding of a cellphone; and a trip to the bathroom by one of
the staff members, who took the balls in with him — it was also
buttressed by a lengthy scientific report prepared by Exponent, a consulting firm with dubious bona fides, having disputed the dangers of secondhand smoke and asbestos. Exponent was a hired gun, and its conclusions backed Wells’s narrative.
Brady
liked his footballs at the lowest p.s.i. in the range — 12.5. The
consultants concluded that the drop in the p.s.i. of the Patriots’
footballs — the average was 11.3 p.s.i. — could not be fully explained
by the Ideal Gas Law; it was too steep. But the smaller drop in the
p.s.i. of the Colts’ footballs could indeed be explained by the laws of
physics.
Numbers
in hand, Leonard went to work. He bought the same gauges the N.F.L.
used to measure p.s.i. levels. He bought N.F.L.-quality footballs. He
replicated the temperatures of the locker room, and the colder field.
And so on. When he was done, he concluded that Exponent had made a
series of basic errors. Leonard’s work showed the exact opposite of
Exponent’s conclusions: The drop in the Patriots’ footballs’ p.s.i was
consistent with the Ideal Gas Law; the smaller drop in pressure in the
Colts’ balls was not. (Leonard surmises that because the Colts’ balls
were tested after the Patriots’ balls, they had warmed up again.)
By
early November, he had a PowerPoint presentation with more than 140
slides. By the end of the month, he had given two lectures about
Deflategate, the second of which he had videotaped and posted on
YouTube. A viewer who watched the lengthy lecture edited it down to a
crisp 15 minutes; Leonard agreed to let him post the edited version.
The edited lecture
went up on YouTube on Dec. 1 and has been viewed more than 17,000
times. It is utterly convincing. Leonard told me that if an M.I.T.
undergraduate made the kinds of mistakes that Exponent made, “I would
force them to repeat the experiment and correct the analysis.” Based on
his study of the data, Leonard now says: “I am convinced that no
deflation occurred and that the Patriots are innocent. It never
happened.”
He is hardly the only scientist to take that position. As Dan Wetzel pointed out in a recent Yahoo Sports column,
scientists at Carnegie Mellon, the University of Chicago, Boston
College, Rockefeller University, the University of Illinois and Bowdoin
College — and others — have all come to the same conclusion.
Fair headline? I think so. Now compare it with this headline and the accompanying article's content.
Palestinian Girl with Knife Killed by Israeli Guard, Police Say
A 13-year-old Palestinian girl was fatally shot by an Israeli security
guard at the entrance to a West Bank settlement on Saturday after she ran at him
with a knife, according to the Israeli police.
The girl was identified by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa as Ruqayya
Eid Abu Eid, a resident of the Palestinian village of Anata. The village is about a mile
from the settlement of Anatot, where the episode occurred.
According to the Israeli police, Ms. Abu Eid quarreled with her family on
Saturday morning and then left her home with a knife “intending to die.” She arrived
at the settlement about 8 a.m., the police said in a statement, and ran toward the
civilian guard at the entrance, who opened fire. Grainy security camera footage from
the scene appeared to show a girl with a knife in her hand chasing a guard.
The girl’s father, who was looking for her, arrived at the settlement soon after
she had been shot. The police detained him for questioning.
Sure glad I read the article for the context. I wonder how many other people didn't/
Meet 16-year old Morad Bader Abdullah Adais, whose father in the 'Palestinian' village of Dura is gushing with pride this week. Why? Stephen Flatow - himself the father of a terror victim - reports that the senior Adais' pride is because his son murdered 39-year old Dafna Meir in front of her children.
But Adais' pride is not an exception in 'Palestinian' society. It's the rule. (In fact, if anything is the exception, it's the fact that Adais was taken alive after the attack).
Advocates of the Palestinian cause are always
telling us that ordinary Palestinians are just like ordinary folks
everywhere. They say Palestinian moms and dads have the same concerns as
moms and dads in America, Israel, and anyplace else.
Then-president Bill Clinton epitomized this
attitude when he met with Israeli parents of terror victims on Dec. 15,
1998, and then traveled to Gaza to meet with Palestinian parents of
imprisoned terrorists. The president told reporters: “If I had met them
in reverse order, I would not have known which ones were Israeli and
which Palestinian.”
Even back then, the president should have been
able to tell the difference. The Israeli parents were the ones mourning
the deaths of their innocent children. The Palestinian parents were the
ones cheering on their children for murdering the Israeli children.
The problem is not just individual Palestinian
parents endorsing their children’s terrorism. The problem is that the
official Palestinian leadership actively encourages such
attitudes. Consider how the PA’s Minister of Women’s Affairs, Haifa
Al-Agha, recently explained the “uniqueness” of Palestinian women: “The
Palestinian women’s uniqueness differentiates her from the women of the
world, as [only] she receives the news of her son’s Martyrdom with cries
of joy.”
Her statement appeared in the official daily newspaper of the “moderate” PA, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida,
on Nov. 7, 2015. Such declarations appear in the official PA news media
every day. They send a very specific message to the Palestinian public;
and it’s clear that the message has been received, loud and clear.
As much as we wish that the Palestinians were
moderate, reasonable people who hate violence and terrorism and would
live in peace with Israel if they were just given a state of their own,
they keep demonstrating, through their words and deeds, exactly the
opposite.
Keep that in mind the next time someone tells you that the key to peace in the Middle East is a 'Palestinian state.'
Abu Mazen last night in Beit Lechem: We oppose murder or bloodshed of any person without connection to his sex/origin/religion. Our opposition will continue to be peaceful and we will not encourage otherwise.
Today, a 15-year old was arrested in connection with the murder of Daphna Meir HY"D (May God Avenge her blood), a mother of six children who was murdered in her own home in front of her children on Sunday. How does a 15-year old become incited to murder?
This video is from 'Palestinian' television in October of 2015. The senior 'Palestinian' official was commenting on the murders of Eitam and Naama Henkin HY"D (on which Abu Mazen had no comment - see the link).
When a child is fed this kind of support for murder with his mother's milk and thereafter for all of his brief life, is it really surprising that he decides that his duty is to murder Jews in front of their children (God Forbid)?
Abu Mazen doesn't oppose bloodshed. He lives for it. He's a liar.
And for this we can thank President Hussein Obama and his European Union friends, which continue to let the 'Palestinian Authority' off scot free for this type of incitement.
The 11-year old has told police that he wanted to die a 'martyr.'
The 11-year-old, a sixth grader from Shuafat,
is the youngest assailant arrested to date in the current upsurge of
Palestinian terrorism. He is too young to face charges under current
Israeli law; the 14-year-old is facing charges of attempted murder.
In their interrogation, the two children said
they carried out the attack as an act of revenge, without planning in
advance and with no encouragement from any adults.
“I met my cousin at the entrance to school,”
said the 11-year-old, who was not named.
“The headmistress refused to let us in because our parents had not paid
tuition. My cousin told me that on the way to school he wanted to carry
out a stabbing attack but did not succeed because all the travelers were
senior citizens,” said the boy.
The 14-year-old allegedly convinced his
younger cousin to carry out an attack. The two first boarded a bus and
looked for the opportune moment and target.
“We travelled from Shuafat to Damascus Gate in
order to stab a soldier but did not do it because the soldiers were in
groups and we didn’t find one standing alone,” recalled the 11-year-old.
“Then he told me ‘let’s do an attack together to revenge the death of
Muhammad Ali.’ He opened his bag and showed me the knife. At Damascus
Gate I bought a pair of scissors and then we boarded the light rail and
looked for Jews to stab.”
Two light rail security guards boarded the
train, but the boys decided “not to stab them because there were two of
them. Later on one of them got off and we immediately attacked the one
that remained.”
“I stabbed him in his head, my cousin stabbed
him in his chest and stomach until the guard pushed me and fired three
bullets in my stomach,” said the 11-year-old.
The two cousins had decided they were ready to
die as shahids, or martyrs, he said. The younger one said in the
interrogation that none of their family members knew about their
intentions.
My youngest son (son #5, child number 8) is an 11-year old 6th grader. He was raised differently....
This type of behavior is the result of incitement in the official 'Palestinian' media. It's being paid for by you, me, and anyone else who pays taxes to a country that supports the 'Palestinian Authority.' It is long past high time that the 'Palestinian Authority' and its leader, Abu Bluff, pay a price for their support of terrorism by incitement in the media.
One small incident that sums up Israel's conflict with the 'Palestinians'
If you're wondering why Israel cannot make peace with the 'Palestinians,' here's an incident that should go a long way in explaining the problem.
37 children between the ages of 5 and 12, who lost their fathers in this past summer's Gaza war, were to have been brought to Israel on Sunday for a day of relaxation and recreation sponsored by Israel's Kibbutz movement (i.e. the Israel Left). At the last minute, Hamas canceled the previously granted permission for the children to go. No, they were not worried about the children's safety. They worried that the children might - gulp - return home less hostile to Israel.
Eyad Bozum, a
spokesman for Hamas, said the children were prevented from traveling
Sunday to "protect the culture of our children and our people" from
normalizing relations with Israel.
He says Hamas turned the children back when they arrived at a
crossing into Israel. He says Hamas would make sure such an attempt
"will never happen again."
...
[Kibbutz Movement representative Yoel Marshak] waited for hours
Sunday morning for the children to cross together with representatives
of Israel's Bedouin community, who also took part in putting the event
together.
"We did everything we could to allow them to enter Israel,"
Marshak said, standing over a table full of candies the organizers had
brought the kids. "We passed on their names to the relevant state bodies
and they were all okayed. This is a very rare step on Israel's side,
but sadly it was Hamas' men at the crossing that created issues."
According to Marshak, "Arab media is very angry with Hamas, there
were a lot of people waiting to meet these kids, we received a lot of
support and help. We will continue to work, mostly at the diplomatic
level, to allow them to come. If not today, then in the future."
In response to the report, Hamas said that it rejects any kind of
normalization with Israel, saying "these types of encounters are Israeli
attempts to brainwash the children so that they forgot the Palestinian
issue and give up their principles."
Somehow, I don't expect 'peace' to break out before I return home later this week. War seems far more likely. Do any of you wonder why?
What the Newton public schools pro-'Palestinian' education has brought
There's a lot of outrage over this report about the public schools in Newton, Mass., the town in which I grew up.
Parents groups are up in arms after a recent report found public
schools in Newton, Massachusetts presented whitewashed versions of Hamas
and Palestinian Authority (PA) charters, as well as other materials
posing the destruction of Israel as acceptable.
The findings were made through an investigation of classroom materials by the independent watchdog group Verity Educate, which discovered "repeated
instances of bias against Israel, bias against the US and its actions
in the Middle East, and bias that sanitizes the ideology and actions of
terrorists."
Parents for Excellence in Newton Schools (PENS), which took part in
the research, on Sunday released a statement demanding action over the
issue and detailing just how serious the school materials were.
In one case, students were given a modified version of the Hamas
charter, in which references to genocide were removed and the word "Jew"
was replaced with "Israeli" to sanitize the terrorist group's murderous
intentions.
In December 2009 Therumpus.net published an interview with Michal
Zak, “a forty-nine year old Jewish resident of Neve Shalom, a village
with a population mandated at exactly 50% Palestinian Arab/Israeli Jew.”
A facilitator at the “school for peace,” she was asked by Jesse Nathan
whether “Palestinian resistance” also includes suicide bombers. Zak
responded that they are “in a category of violence against civilians -
as opposed to violence against soldiers which is the most legitimate,
and violence against settlers, which is second on my list.” Zak claimed
that bombing civilians “just makes me see how desperate they are.”
The interview is emblematic of what "coexistence" often really means in the Israeli-Palestinian context:
the “Israeli” side adopts the Palestinian narrative and supports,
almost wholeheartedly, Palestinians. The Palestinian side embraces the
“Israeli” view - insofar as the Israeli view is the Palestinian view in
this coexistence situation. They "coexist" as Pro-Palestinian
Palestinians and Pro-Palestinian Israelis. Palestinians who are killed
in “martyrdom operations” are martyrs, Israeli soldiers are killers,
Palestinians always have a “right to resist,” while Israeli rights to do
much of anything are diminished. Palestinian nationalism is good
nationalism, Israeli nationalism is chauvinist and fascistic and
unacceptable.
...
For coexistence to ever be meaningful, it would have to build several
real bridges. First, it would have to not only be a case of Israelis
supporting Palestinian nationalism and Palestinians supporting
Palestinian nationalism. It would have to really challenge Palestinians
and hold them to the same accountability as Israeli society in terms of
encouraging progressive and liberal values – to say nothing of
recognizing the legitimacy of Jewish nationalism in the Land of Israel,
not just "sorrow for the Holocaust". Second, it would have to appeal to
not only secular Jews on the left and Palestinians who are
nationalists. Third, it would need to have indigenous Palestinian
support and funding from Palestinian backers and Palestinians playing an
integral part in running the organizations.
If Palestinians aren’t stepping forward to start “Dabka for Peace” or
“embroidery for peace,” the situation isn’t going to improve.
Coexistence work should not be a cover for radical anti-Israel views,
such as one “coexistence” activist who compared the hardship of waiting
at a checkpoint in a Palestinian bus to the mass murder of Israeli
civilians on a bus, in an essay now removed from online called “a tale
of two buses.” Blowing people up, shooting them, sniper fire,
“resistance” and tunnels; none of that has anything to do with
coexistence.
In the long run, as many of the Palestinians who said they don’t go
to coexistence groups precisely because they enjoy the authentic
friendships they have with Jews “as people first, not ethnicities,” the
real coexistence comes when these kinds of artificial frameworks
disappear. “I can coexist at a bar over some drinks,” one woman told
me. Indeed.
This has been precisely the problem with the 'peace process' from Day One. In the aftermath of Oslo, Israeli kids were given an 'education for peace,' which meant learning to see the narrative from the viewpoint of the 'other.' The 'Palestinians' were only taught the 'Palestinian' narrative. Israel has for 30 years or more had groups like 'Peace Now' and 'Tush Shalom.' No such group has ever existed among the 'Palestinians' (and the 'Palestinian Authority' or Hamas would likely kill - literally - any such group if it ever came into existence).
What's worse is that seeing a narrative from the viewpoint of the 'other' weakens one's belief in one's own narrative. There's a huge difference between seeing one's own narrative as the only legitimate one, and between seeing two conflicting yet somehow equally valid narratives. Israelis have been taught to critically question the narrative they have been taught while 'Palestinians' have had their own narrative more and more deeply ensconced in their minds.The result is that Israelis' belief in their own narrative - particularly among the young - has been weakened (although there has been some walking back of that weakening since the second intifadeh) - while 'Palestinians' belief in their narrative has been strengthened.
You thought that Nahoul the Bee was 'martyred' in 2008. But the truth is that the actor who played Nahoul died during Operation Protective Edge. The Hamas kiddie show Pioneers of Tomorrow, on which 'Nahoul' appeared, paid tribute to the actor as part of Friday's episode.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
