This post is a simple update on the situation here in Israel. As I am sure many of you have seen the past few days have been extremely violent, with 4 people dead and several more injured on the Israeli side. I am nowhere near where these incidents have occurred (one was in the West Bank and the other was in the old city of Jerusalem). This post is both to assure you all that I am OK, but also to briefly state my views of what has occurred.
The incendiary incident for this series of events is currently up in the air. It could have been the recent Jewish High Holidays, or it could have been Mahmoud Abbas threatening to declare the Oslo Accords (the major agreement between the P.A. and the Israeli government which led to them providing information and support for one another) null and void. I don’t know, I’m neither and expert on the Middle East, nor am I inside the mind of those Palestinians acting up. What I do know is that it has led to an increase sense of urgency and concern here.
My program has officially asked us to stay out of the old city, following a similar mandate from the United States embassy which said that all U.S. government employees were to remain out of the old city, and that all tourists were strongly advised not to be there. This is the first time that I have truly felt the tension that this region can bring up. This is beyond disagreements of who owns the land or who is in the wrong. This steps beyond the Palestinian people desiring a home land, and enters directly into the territory of Antisemitism. I do not feel unsafe, nor have felt that my life in danger, however there is now tension as we await to see what happens next. Currently the Israeli government has locked down the old city to anyone coming from the West Bank or East Jerusalem, only allowing Israeli citizens, those who live or work in the city, or tourists who are staying in Israel proper into the walls.
In response to these actions, and in support of the terrorists, Fatah has declared this the start of the third intifada, Hamas has cheered on the attackers, and the P.A. has declared the attackers to be heroes. This is not about liberation, nor is it about equality. This is simply hatred of Jews and it is these actions which make it hard to support the cause of a free Palestinian state, if the path to it is filled with the blood of people who are neither soldiers, nor combatants of any kind. No country should be founded on the blood of innocents, whether they are Palestinian or Israeli. Now the Palestinians will argue that these people were settlers, making them fair targets for the attacks (conveniently forgetting that the most recent attack occurred in the old city, and was most likely a random choice) but in my view this is not an excuse. These people were neither armed, nor attacking, which makes them civilians. Add on that both these attacks were conducted in front of young children, with the intent purpose of either killing them as well, or at least traumatizing them.
I don’t know what goes into the mind of a terrorist or why they do the things they do. I am eternally grateful for that. I have lived a life that means I have no interest in bring terror and harm to others. So I cannot say why these people do these things. All I do know is my views, which say that the true path to statehood is not in the sword, but in the pen. As Martin Luther King Jr. and Ghandi demonstrated, the path to peace is not pathed in blood, but in treating your enemy as your friend. Even South Africa demonstrates this. It was not until Nelson Mandela went to prison, and changed his views, that any real progress could be made in the fight against apartheid. And the same can be said for the Palestinians. Until the reaction to Israel is no longer one of violence, Israel has no reason to negotiate, or work with them. It is a sad fact, and one which will not change.
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