MaCain and Palin vs. Obama

Sent 25.Sep.2008

A friend of mine recieved a letter about the up and coming elections in the United States. She forwarded to me the letter with a remark that she "can’t dismiss her opinion out of hand". Being I greatly disagreed, I responded to her friend's letter.

This was her friend's letter:

Helen we don't agree on the US election in November. The world is suffering from a lack of leadership - USA - Israel - everywhere. The US is going through an extremely difficult financial crisis which I believe will have long lasting effects in this country and probably a strong negative effect on the world economy.
I am voting for the McCain Pallin Ticket.
I could not cast my vote for Barak Obama.
FYI I am an independent voter - I am NOT registered as a Democrat or a Republican as I don't feel that either party represents me. I also cannot tolerate the partisan politics in which both parties engage.


1. I don't respect a man, Barak Obama, who could sit in church for 20 years and listen to his Pastor spew hateful inciting racist statements I am not a racist and do support white or black racism. Obama claims he wasn't aware of these tirades. I cannot believe that in 20 years, such a bright man, was not aware of the hateful statements his pastor was spouting. Let us turn the tables around. Would either you or I sit in a synagogue for one half hour and listen to a Rabbi speak so hatefully? I don't think so. Would we consider voting for a white person who supported or listened without a response to these hateful ideas? I don't think so.
2. I cannot support a candidate who draws a moral equivalent between terrorist acts and the State of Israel. I believe he is very naive about foreign policy especially when I hear him say that he wants to evaluate and get to the core of the terrorist mentality so that he can understand why they act the way they do. Obama has frightened me when he identifies those whom I consider to be terrorists and gives them credibility by calling them "legitimate" seekers of peace" He believes in meeting with them without any pre-conditions. The UN did the same when they gave Yassar Arafat the same honor. They empowered him. Barak Obama would do the same. What have we learned from history?
3, John McCain has never drawn a moral equivalent between Israel's right of self defense and terrorist acts. He does not call terrorists "freedom fighters"
4. Mr. Obama, in my view, is an empty suit. He has served 3 1/2 years of his first 6 year term as Senator - half of which time he has spent campaigning.
Regarding Sarah Palin
5. Obviously this was a political decision on the part of John McCain. I do not agree with or support her views on abortion, gun control and hunting. I contribute to Planned Parenthood, and animal rights groups. Although I do not support her views on these issues I don't feel that it is valid to beat this woman up for her accomplishments as a Mayor of a small town and currently as Governor of the State of Alaska.
I am disappointed in Gloria Steinem who represented the voice of women and fought for Women's civil rights and equality. Sarah Palin is entitled to the same equality. She was probably able to rise to her current position partially because of the women's movement of the 60's 70 and 80's. It is ironic that the Republican Party has chosen a women as a VP candidate. Sarah Palin does not fit the "concept" of a liberated woman but in my view she is quite a strong and independent thinker and entitled to her choices. They may not be my choices but I don't believe that once we have paved the way for women to rise to powerful positions that we have the right to legislate her thinking and positions. It is one thing to disagree with a candidate's decisions but quite another to put the candidate down based on their gender, appearance, family life etc.
6. Although Sarah Palin practices and supports the concept of 'right to life" I don't believe that she is a proselytizer. Her political record shows supports this. Let us not forget the Thomas Jefferson, a man who wrote that "All Men Are Created Equal " owned more than 100 slaves.
7. Sarah Palin in her experience as Mayor and Governor has had more experience as a decision maker than Barak Obama as a Senator.
8. Did you know that the women employed by the Obama campaign are paid 82 cents on the dollar that men earn. In his acceptance speech at the Democratic convention Obama distinctly said that he would like to see a world in which his daughters would receive equal pay for equal work. The policy in his political office is therefore quite hypocritical and a disgrace.
Partisan Politics.
9. Most recently the Democrats have engaged in the worst kind of Partisan Politics. I am quite disappointed in Hillary Clinton's decision to withdraw her appearance at a rally scheduled to take place on Monday at the UN apposing Iran's potentially Nuclear Power and Ahmadinejad's scheduled appearance at the UN. Hillary decided to withdraw when she learned that Sarah Palin was also invited to appear as a speaker at the rally. . Senator Clinton represents NYS and is my Senator, I resent that she feels that this issue protesting Iranian Nuclear Power is less important than her appearing at the same rally with Sarah Palin. The issues and the best interest of the country should supersede petty partisan politics. FYI, the Democrats lobbied and asked that Sarah Palin's invitation be withdrawn and so no one of this stature will appear at the rally.
Although it was my intention to attend the rally I decided not to do so based upon the priorities of partisan politics.
10. It is my belief that John McCain is the candidate who will most likely put himself above Partisan Politics.

To this I replied:

I read the letter you received from A----, and being you wrote that you "can’t dismiss her opinion out of hand" I needed to respond. There were a number of things that bothered and perplexed me in her letter. I’m writing this to you, even though it is written as if to A----. So here goes, just a few points………

Hello A----,
I am not voting in the American elections. I am far away for many years and do not feel American enough to give me the right to vote. But being the US has such a large effect on the rest of us in the world, I do have the right of opinion. I read you letter to Helen about the elections and would like to comment on some of your conclusions:

1. I like John McCain. He gives a friendly honest impression. But he is backed by a party that is backed by businessmen, politicians and citizens who are backed by many of the values that I think are wrong, harmful and so often downright unethical. Some of those values and the policies they generate have made the US loose its leadership role in the world, and loose its ability to lead a united democratic front to oppose the rise of fundamentalist surges within the Moslem world. These are policies that have made the gap between poor and rich in the US the widest in the western world and have also kept the federal government from poking its nose into the unethical business finaglings that have recently greatly wounded US and global economies.

2. No president can “rule” without a solid backing of his backers. He will need his senators and congressmen to pass legislation, and these are the Party that holds the values mentioned above – regarding religion and state, regarding birth control, regarding immigration, regarding regulation of Fat-Cat earnings, regarding taxation of the rich, regarding gun control, regarding the dangers of global warming, alternative energy and oil and oil and oil, and don’t forget health care and social security. Even if McCain is a total “Democrat” on these issues (which he is evidently not), he will need to make tremendous compromises in order to get the backing of at least a fair part of the Republicans in the House and Senate (remember also who are the big financial backers of many of these elected Republicans?) During the campaign we already saw how McCain is able to backtrack and compromise on issues in order to get the backing he needs.

3. Palin ?!! It is difficult to understand how you can “not agree with or support her views on abortion, gun control and hunting….” And yet support her simply because she is “strong and independent”. It can only be understood if you actually support (and you have the right to do so) her other beliefs from “our mission from god” in Iraq to a disbelief in the dangers of global warming. If this is not so, then I can only gather that you support her only because she is a woman. This too is legitimate, but in my eyes (the eyes of a far away Hillary supporter), this is a dangerous choice considering her views and the fact that you are probably right in calling her “strong”. Considering her views, I would wish for her to be weaker. But more. Statistics of male life expectancy, give her a pretty good chance of becoming president. With her views ? support her just because she is a woman ?? Wow !! unless you also support most of her views. That would be understandable and legitimate.

4. I had difficulty understanding your decision not to attend the rally at the UN opposing Iran's potential Nuclear Power just because Hillary decided she doesn’t want to appear together with Pallin. Hillary made here decision according to her political sensors, whether you agree with them or not (remember the US is in the final month of a very special election campaign). But the moment the rally turns really non-partisan (neither Hillary nor Palin), you decide not to go because of partisanship. You, as Hillary, have a right to your priorities. But why knock her, when there is little difference between both your decisions?

5. Terrorists. Oh my. I’ve always been perplexed with the US administration’s black and white approach to what is a terrorist. I live in a country that constantly needs to cope with terror. In the past, Menachem Begin was a terrorist – who was fighting for a Jewish State and later on made one of the few peace agreement that we’ve made with an arab country. The US has also had it’s past terrorists: the Indians whose land was being taken from them, the Boston Tea Party, to name a few. And yes, Arafat was a terrorist. Having done everything in our power (with Liked governments) to undermine the Oslo agreements and his ability to present his people with a State, we ended up with the Hamas, and traded a fairly secular terrorism looking for a country with a fundamentalist terrorism looking for the world. Perhaps there are Statesmen in the US who are willing to differentiate between the two, seek a modus vivendi with the one, and through that to halt the tremendous surge of the other - fundamentalist terrorism. Obama seems to be saying that it’s a road that needs to be tested. MaCain and the Republican party are not (and certainly not Palin the huntress). I realize you are voting for them because you too see all terrorists as entities we can not talk to. It is a legitimate opinion, but hopefully a very wrong one.

OK. Enough. I really should say a few words about Obama and what you write about him (a very “White” approach to his background). But I’m not campaigning right now and I’ve commented enough.

Aaron

appraising 43 years of questions.

sent Sept.2008
Recently, a close friend and relative asked to interview me as a prelude to deciding whether to engage in a study of secular Americans who made aliya. The question she and her group were thinking of investigating was the reasons for secular American Jews to leave the land of endless opportunities for the land of milk and honey. Some time during our talk I told her that I think the great majority of secular Americans came because they thought of themselves fulfilling a Zionist destiny. I ventured that the reasons for coming were not so diversified among this minority group of immigrants to Israel. It seemed to me that a much more interesting study would be to see the diversification of attitudes today towards their original Zionist decision. I said this of course because it’s a question which I think I’ve grappled with throughout the years since coming in 1965. I proceeded to give her a very short synopsis of my own attitudes.

In some sketchy form it would appear like this:

1. I grew up as a naïve social-Zionist who saw in the creation of Israel the embodiment of a revival of the Jewish people and the ability of our nation to exemplify to the world the meaning of social justice.

2. I came to Israel to be a builder of that revival and joined a kibbutz in order to work via the highest expression of social justice. As far as I was concerned Israel and the kibbutz were headed in the right direction.

3. My first years in Israel were occupied with adjusting, working and raising a family. I remained a naïve social-zionist clouded to the various processes developing around me.

4. My first awakening jolt came as a result of the war in 1967. No. not the war. And no, not the military occupation itself, but the rude and disturbing public awakening for a Greater Israel during the years after the war, accompanied by frenzied settlement in occupied territories.

5. The Israel of my youth began crumbling as through years of military occupation and harmful settlements, through years of having four sons serving in an army of occupation, Israel became a country with more and more people resolved to an environment of violence, extremism, discrimination, hate and corruption, while becoming consumer and dollar oriented led by the 20 or so families who control the country’s finances and have created one of the widest schisms between the poor and the rich in the western world; and less and less a country whose priorities are the search for peace, education, social welfare, and being a light unto the nations.

6. Having been a Yeshiva student from a secular home till the end of high school, I’d always seen the Jewish religion as part and parcel of my Jewish secular life. After years of seeing how the Israeli religious establishment and its followers have become the backbone of Jewish divisiveness between Jew and Jew, the mentors of hate and discrimination in the occupied territories, the supporters of illegal settlements, the teachers and preachers of right-wing extremism, and one of our main obstacles to learning to cope with our neighbors and enemies, my respect for our religious fellowship in Israel crumbled to ashes.

7. For many years I saw the kibbutz as a bulwark of a different society, a society where human value is measured in behavior rather than in wealth. I joined the effort to build and deepen such a society. In my own kibbutz, as in many others, that effort was waging a losing battle against the seeming opportunities of the consumer world and the kibbutz’s own inability to cope with individual aspirations within a diversified community. My model community slowly lost its meaning through internal disintegration, and then quickly turned into something else as it was consumed and assimilated by the larger surroundings.

8. The disappointment and frustration in the dissolution of my expectations and dreams regarding the triad of my younger naïveté, my religion – my country – my model society – did not succeed in driving me away from a hope that all three will eventually tread the golden road. Naïveté melted over years of reality while expectations were mellowed with the knowledge of uncertainty in the struggle to fulfill earlier and present hopes.

9. It is a moot point to ask whether I would still come here “then”, if I had known what I know today. “Then” I would still be younger and naïve without having the perspective of time. Even if I knew the situation of “today”, I would still not realize the difficulty in the struggle to change reality. Nor would I know the surprising abruptness of some changes in reality. At any rate, I’d like to think that the younger me would still hop on the boat for Israel with the challenge of changing the future.

10. The inertia of life molds some of the boundaries of our possibilities and opportunities. In the 1980’s I was already disappointed with the reality of my kibbutz community, from a community with vision to an empty shell of a kibbutz framework. I saw little hope in changing the direction of that reality. I was looking over the fence and probably would have liked trying other places, meaning other kibbutzim. By that time, in our 40’s, we had four sons and four elderly parents to take care of. We were anchored. We also thought of taking a leave via “shlichut” abroad for a few years, both as a mission and as a “breather”. That too was scuttled by the need to care for elderly parents. I don’t think at any point were we contemplating “leaving” the country. I don’t remember it ever even being an “if we could”. Nor was I ever going to leave the ideal of a kibbutz. Anyways, we were anchored. In the end, of course, the kibbutz left us and we were turned into a suburban center of the nearest town. The inertia of life has fairly impenetrable boundaries. Within them rest our possibilities and opportunities.

11. For many years now, I’ve entertained another important question: Knowing what we know today, and being frustrated with the possible future of our country, what would I suggest to my children? I am deeply worried for my four children and eight grandchildren. In 1982 when Katyusha rockets fell heavily around us for a period of three weeks before it was possible to silence them, we took our selves and our children into underground shelters never thinking of running down south to a safer haven. In August of 2006, when rockets were again pounding our area for over a month and most of the community drove south, Iris and I knew we weren’t going anywhere. We stayed put. Two of our children living here, now married and with two of their own, drove south and returned only after the war was over. I was very glad they went. But, I was also sorry that the feeling of “we shall not be moved from here” which was so natural in 1982 was almost totally missing in 2006. I know, there are reasons for it, and times have changed, and don’t judge one period thru the lens of another. Nevertheless, I think I silently rebuked my children for having “run away”. And yet, I was glad they went. These are conflicting emotions with no need to ease the conflict between them.

12. I could never leave the country unless I saw all hope for a future gone, or was forcibly driven into the sea. We live under the constant prediction of war. We are threatened with possible nuclear destruction. We are at the forefront of the storm brewing between Islamic fundamentalism and western civilization. All this goes far beyond the frustrations of religion/country/society gone sour. In reality, it is a perilous existence. Yet, I won’t leave. Through vision or delusion, I have hope. But what of our children and grandchildren ? Am I willing for them to gamble on my hope ? No problem….they’re grown up and make their own decisions. But should I tell them that I’d like them to leave for safer shores ? …….just in case……?........perhaps they’re not totally aware of the risk…..? Of course, if they were to leave I would probably silently rebuke them for “running away”, but perhaps I would be somewhat relieved that the family line has a better chance for a safe future. No matter…..I’ve never raised the issue out loud with our children. I probably never will. It’s a subject which will remain as one of my silent conflicts.

FROM KINNERET TO YAM-HAMELACH

A few days ago I received this e-mail from a friend:

Hi friends:
While we are in Israel this summer, we will be travelling with some Y'rusalyim friends to the Galil Elyon. Nadav outlined a very interesting 2 days. He also described driving from the Kinneret through the Jordan valley to Jericho and then to Y'rushalayim. I wrote back and said I was uneasy about driving through the West Bank and would not look forward to that tense and anxiety producing 2 and 1/2 hours of driving. He said that it's fine with him to not go that route but that most people in Israel wouldn't give it a second thought.
I am writing to all of you and hope you will let me know how you feel about driving from the Kineret to Y'richo via the Jordan Valley. Am I being overly cautious?
…… I would greatly appreciate a short response.
Thanks,
S-----

I followed it with my overly long reply:
Dear S-----.
I understand you “would greatly appreciate a short response”, but no can do. So this answer may bore you, but I’m not good enough to do “short”. Just remember……you asked.

I assume that most people will tell you there is no problem traveling on route 90 from south of the Kinneret down to Yam Hamelach.
Yes. It is evidently safe, and also perhaps more natural and quieter than the alternative routes. It is also, by far, the quickest route.
During these past few years I have reluctantly traveled that route twice.
Still ……. Reluctantly each time.

Why reluctantly?? My reasons are called political, though I think of them as moral. I prefer to stay out of all “conquered territories” except for humanitarian or “friendship-building” purposes.

For me these territories are generally out of bounds because their legal owners don’t want me there, nor do they want to see my Israeli license plate speeding thru lands which are today forbidden to them.

For me the status of all conquered territories is one of a land held conditionally under military rule until and for the sole purpose of reaching an agreement of peace or co-existence between us and the Palestinians. It is not an area for casual Israeli civilian use. The fact that we’ve settled and usurped so much of the land for our own civilian use has brought us into the realm of criminal and immoral behavior.

“Eeloo” we didn’t have Israeli settlements in Yehuda veShomron; Eeloo we didn’t have 500 road blocks that bring the economy in Yehuda veShomron to a standstill; Eeloo we didn’t have our Jewish civilians destroying their neighbor’s olive groves in Yehuda veShomron; Eeloo our soldiers were stationed in Yehuda veShomron only in order to protect Israel until we reach an agreement for co-existence, rather than spending so much of their time protecting Jewish settlers and settlements that shouldn’t be there; Eeloo we would be building a wall that was only separating us from the Palestinians rather than also separating farmers from their land, and families from their schools and hospitals; and Eeloo a few more “Eeloo”s………, I would probably have less of a guilty conscience while using Palestinian land to get from Kinneret to Yam Hamelach.

But these are my own hang-ups, and I guess no real political or moral harm can come from your driving down that route.

Be well.
Aaron

A LETTER FROM HEVRON

We who live in the comfort of our homes and neighborhoods in Israel are totally unaware of the daily harassment of Arabs living in occupied Hevron. It’s an harassment engendered by a symbiotic relationship between illegal settlers and military occupation. It’s a relationship based on the premise that the settlers can have a quassi-normal life only by spending much effort in protecting them militarily within an occupied area; an effort to protect illegal settlers which so often overshadows the protection of the recognized borders of the Jewish State.
Much of this harassment is actually physical and violent. But there is also the constant harassment by “non-violent” degradation and punishment. This is constant, constant. constant. I repeat, constant.

Last week I received a copy of a letter written by Issa Amro. Issa Amro is a resident of Hevron in the occupied (H2) section. Issa is a Palestinian activist in Hebron. He is also the closest you can call a “peace-activist” in Hevron – meaning protesting the occupation by non-violent means. He also works for B’tzelem, an Israeli center for human rights in the territories. He is known as such in Hevron by Arabs and Jews and the military. His English is far from excellent, but it is perfect enough to show the meaning of constant harassment, constant harassment, constant harassment – and the symbiosis between settlers and military occupation.

Here is his letter (received via the Israeli activist group - Bnei Avraham):

Dear All
I am writing this to discharge my feeling by writing to my friends who can understand me .Today at 9:00 Pm I was walking beside the new settlement in Hebron (Palestinians building was occupied by the settlers recently). Two settlers with guns, they came to me, stood in my way and started photographing me. I didn't care. Its normal with me , I kept walking. One from them told me “I will kill you. I will kill all the Arabs”. The other one said “where is Carlos, where is Joanne, where is gorge and Troudy (gorge and Troudy yesterday the settlers attacked them and they went to the hospital). I didn't care and I kept walking. When I arrived to the soldiers tent I called them and I told them please help me, they are telling me that they want to kill me. Directly the settlers said to the the soldiers that I cut the water pipes, I told the soldiers NO NO NO NO, they told me they want to kill me, and lets go to see the water pipes. Soldiers said: 'sheket' (shut up) , give me your ID. They were five soldiers - two border police and three regular soldiers. They told me what do you have in your bag. They forced me to take off everything from the bag and put it in the ground. I told them I work for 'Btselem' and its the Israeli center for human rights. One of the regular soldiers said “I hate them more than you”. I told him “why?” He said “shut up”, after they saw every thing in my bag ,they were trying to provoke my feeling and they said many bad words. they finished with the bag so they told me now we want to search your body. They forced me to face the wall and to open my legs and searched me in very violence way. After that I told the soldiers you know I am not a terrorist, why you doing this with me? he said "shut up don't speak", they gave me my ID and told me have a nice day.
I think they intended to examine my nonviolence attitude. I think I got 10 from 10 , but I don't know next time how much I will get. They are doing all of this harassment daily in Hebron. For me each day they check me and detain me for at least 20 min. Some people they converted their attitude to be violence. I understand them.
According to the Israeli law the soldiers can do this if they suspect I am a terrorist, but they are sure that I am not and they know that I am usually leading Israeli tours and International delegations in the area , all the Israeli parliament members who visited Hebron I led them in the same area.
We need in hebron an army from the human rights worker. Now we have just three volunteer in TelRumieda.

Think of it: These are not the “normal once in a while” screw-ups of war and occupation. This is not a "special military operation". This is part of the daily, hourly norm of Arab life in occupied Hevron. It also relates the normal relationship between settlers and army.

HEVRON - real-estate problems

Settlers have physically harassed this house and it's Arab residents many times in an attempt to oust the last of three families that own it. (See also Hebrew "Kahana" graffiti on entrance gate.) Before leaving the house thru the gate, the residents must walk over corrugated aluminum sheets - in order to warn the soldier standing outside that someone is coming out of the house.

WHAT'S THE RUMBLE IN HEVRON?
To a dear friend in the U.S. who sent me a letter she recieved from a friend in Israel.

Hello Debbie

It was wonderful hearing from you and a little about you. I also read your friend’s letter. Normally I would have put her letter aside, but I obviously sensed the tinge of urgency and desperation in your own request for a sounding board. So this letter is to you, not to your friend.

Yes, I think your friend is right in pointing out that a major obstacle to peace are the Palestinian Arabs. They are one of three major obstacles: The first obstacle is of a global nature – the attempt of a militant and fundamentalist Islam to take over the Arab world and once again “take on” the western world. The second obstacle are the Palestinian people themselves that are finding it difficult to stand up to the first obstacle, are wooed by its promise of “victory”, and live under enough misery to warrant an approach of “nothing to loose” in a struggle for what they believe is theirs. The third obstacle is “us” – we Israelis, who have created a conquered territory filled with a local population that is held in bondage – not as hostages towards bargaining for peace or co-existence, but as a way of expanding and repopulating our “promised land”, regaining our biblically promised territories, and excusing much human degradation under the guise of defense necessities.

It seems to me that whoever doesn’t recognize all three major obstacles is either inflicted by a serious lack of knowledge regarding our situation, or else blinded by an overly amount of non-objectivism. Either case is often generated by an overly amount of subjective “belief” in “my side is right” – whichever side that may be.

No, I am not totally objective. I have beliefs, and some of them definitely come into conflict with the beliefs of others. It is particularly then, that I need to begin looking objectively at BOTH beliefs and decide whether it is worthwhile to find a way of resolving the conflict without one belief obliterating the other.

I need to add one more observation regarding the three major obstacles to peace. Resolving any one obstacle will not necessarily result in peace; more likely it will not. This is really the point that shows how intricate our problem really is, how answers cannot be given in “black and white”.

Perhaps I should also introduce some of my background. I am a Zionist, an American Oleh who came here in 1965 to kibbutz Gesher Haziv. I am familiar with Arab terrorism much earlier than the first Intifada. One of the first Katyushot that fell in Israel landed beside the window of our children’s bedroom as they were asleep. For many years my wife and I carried guns while strolling outside for fear of terrorist infiltrators that were coming in by border and by sea. Many many nights were spent lying in ambush around our perimeter before going out to work in the fields by morning (armed, of course). I have also spent time standing guard over Arab farmers near Shchem fearful of working their fields in the vicinity of pseudo-legal and vastly illegal Jewish Settlements in the occupied territories. I have also been to our Israeli occupied section of Hevron to witness and examine the conditions under which the local Arab populace lives. At least some of my impressions and thoughts come not from those of others but from what I have also seen, heard and felt on site.

I have read your friends letter of April 1st. She expresses what I think is a majority opinion in the country. It is therefore also the comfortable opinion, in the sense that it will rub fewer people the wrong way and will allow us to be acceptable in most crowds. (I don’t say this to be crude, only to point out that contrary opinions – like mine – can be awfully uncomfortable in most circles. As your friend indicates in her letter, not knowing her “truth” is a matter of “intellectual integrity” or lack of….)

As for some of the truths embodied in the letter, they are certainly worthwhile examining.

Your friend writes: “Fact: The "settlers" did not seize the building [in Hevron]. It was legally purchased. It would seem that you are not prepared to give Jews rights under the laws of Israel.”

Allow me to mention a few minor “facts”:
The Israeli occupied Hevron (Area H2) is not part of the State of Israel wherein reign the “Laws of Israel” – legally, according to Israeli law, it is occupied, not annexed. Israeli law, by the way, also states that moving into any new area of occupied territories must first receive government sanction and approval. This of course was not done in the case at hand. (Unfortunately, in my thinking, the government has given so many sanctions and approvals in the past, both over and under the table, that most settlers see this as a very minor issue.)

Your friend also misses the point regarding our search for co-existence - rather than our search for property. If legal property papers were the issue between us and the Palestinians, we are in deep trouble. Literally scores of villages in Israel, and a frightful amount of real-estate in cities like Jerusalem, Tzfat, Yaffo, and so much land which is today in the hands of the Lands Authority or the Army – have behind them legal titles belonging to many Palestinian refugees and Arab land owners from other countries in the Middle East (and also to many Israeli Arabs who are not allowed the privilege of returning to their homes). Aside from misrepresenting the legal issue, your friend seems to be trying to avoid the real issue: putting out the fire or at least lowering the flames of enmity. Your friend’s assumed “fact” prefers to throw another can of gasoline on a burning house – rather than assist the fire department in containment of the blaze.

Your friend enlightens us to another “fact”: “Hebron is widely considered an "Arab" city today only because of a history of Arab massacres of the Jews there during British Mandate times, when the British considered it easier to forcibly remove the Jews who survived the massacres rather than protect them, followed by a period of Jordanian occupation during which the area was rendered Judenrein.”

I found this to be a very strange “fact”. Most of the world considers Hevron an Arab city because of demography that stretches from earlier than the previous millennium till this very day. Our Jewish heritage and history not withstanding, Hevron is considered an Arab city also because it was not within the cease-fire boundaries that created the “recognized” State of Israel. It is considered an Arab city because it was occupied by us in a defensive war and held by us under martial law – because it is an Arab city. Even at the height of Jewish presence in Hevron, Hevron was demographically an Arab city.
Unless, of course, your friend means something else………something connected to her remarks about the pogrom of 1928 and to the last word quoted in the alleged “fact” – “JUDENREIN”. How quickly we revert to pogroms and the Shoah to excuse our every action. Your friend seems to be entering the complicated conflict between us and the Palestinians with intent for “revenge” rather than a quest for solutions. She is not alone in that approach.

Your friend’s subject matter is specifically Hevron rather than the wider issues of our conflict. I assume this is as a response to some other article or remarks about the latest real estate take-over in Hevron. Perhaps, then, I should relate some impressions I’ve gathered while walking the streets of our Israeli held H2 section of Hevron.

But first I must apologize. I, too, have been rambling on without touching base with those issues of the conflict which are so much more basic within my thinking. Also, these paragraphs fail to relate my own deepest sense of commitment to our Zionist creation, our State of Israel. Nor do these paragraphs relate my deep sense of regret at today’s face of our creation. Nor do these paragraphs relate my deep sense of frustration with the Palestinian leadership and their choice of terrorism as a legitimate weapon.ׁPerhaps some later opportunity will allow us to expand. Meanwhile, I revert to some impressions from Hevron.

Section H2 had about 35,000 Arab inhabitants when it was sectioned off from the rest of the city. I receive a variety of estimates regarding its present population – it seems that a good number of thousands have left their homes and crossed over to Section H1. I start walking from Maarat-Hamachpela. As I walk down the main street, Shuada, I realize that this is the immensely bustling downtown business center that I saw at times on the silver screen. Shop after shop line the street on the ground floor of all the buildings. Above them are the many windows of people’s homes, entrances thru narrow doors on the street bellow. This was a bustling market area. Today it is almost silent. Only soldiers. Army vehicles, some cars with “settlers” driving in or out of the city, and occasional “outsiders” like me visiting and perhaps disturbing the peace.

Along this entire main street, Arab vehicles, be they a bicycle or a pushcart or a car, cannot travel. Along most of this street Arabs cannot walk (only recently I joined a small group of young Arabs who dared “walking the road” as a result of a Supreme Court decision that the ban has been illegal for many years.) Shop fronts are all barricaded and shut tight – no business allowed. More than 1,500 shops have been closed down and nailed shut. No one can enter their homes thru the street doors. Nor thru the street windows. Doors are nailed shut. Windows are behind bars or wire mesh. Most homes are entered by climbing to the roof from the other side and going down from there into the buildings. More than 900 homes have been evacuated here because of the cumbersome obstacle course coming home to your kitchen or bedroom.

At the end of this main street (bordering between H1 and H2) is a passage way to H1 and a marketplace that isn’t hindered by “no walk and no wheels” rules. An Army checkpoint searches each man/woman/child crossing this junction. I can’t go into H2. I turn left going up a long steep street with local houses on both sides, into a totally residential area of Hevron. “Steep” is an understatement. I feel like I’m walking up at a 45 degree angle. Here Arabs can walk, but still nothing allowed on wheels (except for settlers). Ahead of me is an Arab man my age carrying on his back a large heavy canister of cooking gas for his kitchen, slowly trudging uphill at what seems like a 45 degree angle. Somewhere ahead of him is a young woman carrying bags of something as she leans forward to grapple with the upward climb. A car filled with settlers passes us by. I’m out of breath and rest a number of times till I reach the top of the street.

Once more I turn left, climbing up another street to visit an interesting family. Here I also pass alongside a large building which is one of the “Settlements” in the heart of Hevron. Doors are wide open, so are all the windows on all floors, Jewish children wearing bowl-shaped kipot are playing out on the street and giggling as we go by. Across the street are Arab houses. Doors and windows totally enclosed in iron cages with wire mesh. No children on the street. The cages were put up by order of the army. No, not just to keep the street adjacent to the “Settlement” clear of Arabs (or according to your friend’s vocabulary – “ArabRein”), but –according to the army- to protect the Arab families from harassment by the settlers.

(I already have a feeing that I’m not getting it all in…..the soldiers at every turn and corner….their faces…..The man with the canister on his back moving aside for the settler’s 4X4….the Arab having his groceries frisked on his way back home…..the embarrassment….the frustration….the shame….the silent anger. I don’t have all or enough of the right words.)

I go thru an iron gate into the courtyard of a three-family building. Two families have already left for H1. One family is still there and insists on staying. This has been their home for generations. I’m visiting a home of a relatively young couple who have a small daughter and a son almost reaching the beginning of his teens. The grandfather of today’s young owner made this house a safe haven for Jews during the pogrom of 1928 and forcibly held back any marauders attempting to enter. Many years later a grateful Israeli government gave him a letter of appreciation and thanks. It is held as a family treasure. The grandchild of that brave Arab belongs to a small group of young Arab adults in Hevron who have put together a small “non-violent-but-get-out-of-our-town-and let’s-have-Peace-now” movement. Obviously their impact is less than overwhelming, but nonetheless important.

This home has been a particular target of harassment by the neighbors next door – our Jewish Settlers. (This is a wonderful piece of real-estate. Large house and yard. A good view of lower Hevron from on high. But most of all, it’s in the proximity of our Jewish settlement. If we could only get the last owner out, and then find a way thru third and fourth parties to get hold of - even buy, if need be - the necessary deeds of ownership. Wouldn’t that be great??) Till recently (The family says this last year has been quieter) the family’s home had barrages of children throwing stones, older children and young adults actually entering their yard, surrounding their house from every side, menacing their children and trying to break in, only to be called back at various times by the appearance of army personnel. After lodging a number of complaints with the “proper authorities” – they learned the lessons of “a waste of time”. After all, it was only harassment (violent harassment, yet only harassment). But they aren’t moving out. This is irksome, even outrageously insulting to Settlers whose aim is to push out all Arab residents (remember once more your friend’s vocabulary style – ArabRein), and return this biblical city of Abraham to its rightful owners.

I visited a few more Arab neighbors who belong to the same real-estate resistance club. Their complaints, including eye-witness reports by soldiers, are lodged with the “proper authorities”, and there they rest in peace.

By the way, my ticket to these homes was thru a small group of Jewish peace activists called “B’nei Avraham”. The few of them who I met contain a mixture of “Chiloni-Shenken” with “Dati former-Settlers”. They concentrate specifically on Hevron with its biblical connection to Abraham and his two sons, Ishmael and Isaac – therefore “B’nei Avraham”. How easily so many of our Jews wish to forget that Abraham was also the father of Ishmael (the elder son ! ).

O.K. enough. I haven’t yet touched base with many other words written by your friend and which seem very odd and difficult within our complicated conflict. Yet have no doubt, they are not the voice of a minority. To my great sorrow. As to my own impressions and thoughts (and beliefs) about our conflict, I think that I’ve barely scraped the surface, but I also never meant to turn this letter to you into a dragged out piece of frustration. So I shall stop and let you breath – if you managed to stay tuned in this long.

My very very best to you.
Please keep well……and in touch.
aaron

Sharif family wartime Update (no.5)

7 August, 2006

Life goes on at home in Gesher Haziv.

The sirens give us lots of prime time in our relatively-safe small bedroom with reclining bed, T.V. and telephone. We tend to think that if a rocket lands right by our house (perhaps also inside) we’ll be relatively-safe from shrapnel, shock wave and other little killing objects flying in our direction – if we shuffled into the bedroom in time. We fairly well realize that a direct hit on our bedroom would have us joining ancestors, but that’s a statistical gamble we opted for. The alternative would be to spend a lot of time in an underground shelter, away from the amenities and sweet smells of home. No thanks. Our prerogative.

Another alternative would be to leave the area for the safety of more southern points. Our children did so with our grandchildren. We’re happy about that. Friends and family coax and tempt. We’re grateful, but not now. No particular logic. Just so. Most of the community has migrated southward. That’s fine. I’m not sure, but I think that to turn us into pilgrims there would have to be an actual enemy invasion by land forces, or at least a specific order from our own army to vacate the area. As I ask myself why such an illogical choice to stay, I find myself in an emotional empathy with the many Lebanese who had to leave northward without having any statistical choice. Anyways, we have the choice and we’re here.

As of a couple of weeks ago I actually get up and go to work every morning. In accounting – bookkeeping – records: there’s always what to do, and what isn’t done today won’t go away tomorrow. There is a safe area one floor below. I moved down some computers. I stay upstairs with my own work. At the whirl of a siren (many times during the day) I spend a few minutes behind an inner wall or go visiting downstairs. Iris has been gathering a group of the elderly every day in the main shelter for some arduous physical exercises, after which she helps distribute the daily mail to our more than 400 mailboxes. Mail doesn’t arrive here during the war. We go to the back door of the main post-office in Nahariya, collect an oversized mailbag and bring it to our mailroom. During a lull in the action, those here come to collect their mail.

Though possibly only a third of the community is still here, we are fairly well organized. Rifi sees to underground shelter events for the few children that are still here, and trips outside the war area. Efi is in direct touch with the army about activities in our area. Volunteers constantly man the phone in our main shelter – the “war room”. We have a fire brigade (has been active), we have an “armed civilian unit” in case of terrorist infiltration (no call so far). Communication is constant between all of these and the entire community (both here and those away) via SMS messages sent to everyone’s cell-phones through the internet. There is an Hanhala. There are meetings Shai and Tami keep the kibbutz office open and available for continuing some affairs “as usual” and being available to the outside world. The infirmary, the library and our small local supermarket daily announce times open for service. This can change at a moments notice as the rockets re-schedule our lives.

It seems that more than 3000 rockets have so far arrived from Lebanon. Less than 20 have fallen around our kibbutz; only four in residential areas; minor damage to a number of homes. Many many more rockets fell all around us – Nahariya and Saar bordering on our south, Cabri and our regional hospital bordering on the east, Moshav Lehman bordering on the north, and who knows how many in the sea to the west. People were killed, many were injured, many homes damaged including the hospital which had moved its work underground. So far Gesher Haziv has enjoyed some kind of relatively positive karma.


Even in the chaos of war there are things that have a regular schedule. After dark we have a lull in the sirens, the rockets, the rush into safe-rooms. I thought it was because in the dark it’s easier for the army to see from where the Hezbollah rockets were launched. Somewhere now I’ve heard that after sundown the land cools down and it’s easier for the air force to pin-point the moving “hot-spots” of terrorists preparing their launching activity. All this does not mean that there is blossoming war-time nightlife. Not in our quiet berg. But though we still hear our own guns working overtime and the air force still rumbles the skies, nighttime is relaxation time. And we can find sleep.

Good night. Be well.
Aaron.