As I was walking out of the Old City of Jerusalem today, a man wearing a big yellow sign handed me a flyer. “Big hug around the Old City of Jerusalem. Join thousands of people holding hands with open hearts to promote happiness and human unity in the Holy Land and around the whole world.” The idea was to make a human chain around the Old City, followed by a joint, non-denominational prayer and song and dance. I smiled to myself and went on with my day.
On my way back into the Old City later tonight, I heard the sound of drums from a far. As I got closer I saw a conglomeration of people around a circle of bongos. Did they make it around Old City? Probably not. There were the mandatory hippies, of course, but also a surprising number of religious Jews, some even in black and white; there were Arabs, some of the women wearing the traditional head covering, as a well as an assortment of other people. People were laughing and singing, Jews and Arabs side by side. Is it possible?! Does this show hope that there is indeed hope for peace in Israel? Is this a precursor to the utopia imagined by some liberals, of a single secular state in which the Arabs are in charge of the streetlights and the Jews the mail? Maybe.
But I doubt it. The problem with this mini-utopia which mine eyes beheld is that it was only thirty people. This could never happen on a nationwide scale. There will never be peace with Jews and Arabs living together. I’m not a racist, I’m a realist. The hate here is in people’s blood, not their mind. From birth, the Arabs are taught to hate Jews. Unless it is enforced by Israel, no “Palestinian” textbook even has a map of Israel in it. The Muslim leaders glorify bloodshed and jihad, less than a hundred meters away from where I live. The media pumps them with propaganda against Israel and promoting violence. The “Palestinians” do not want peace.
It’s not as if Israel hasn’t tried. When Jewish settlers arrived in Israel at the turn of the twentieth century, they lived rather peacefully with the Arabs around them. The Jews bought the land legitimately, offering gifts of friendships to the local leaders and more often than not buying disease-infested swamps. The Arabs could care less about their new neighbors. Once the Jews converted the disease-infested swamps into beautiful orchards, the Arabs’ eyes started turning green. They introduced their Arab neighbors to modern medicine, clean water, and successful agricultural technique. The quality of life for Arabs in Israel was higher than any Arab country (it still is). Tens of thousands of Arabs swarmed to the Holy Land, seeking a better life amongst the Jews.
So what went wrong? The Arab leaders were not pleased with the fact that they were losing control of their people, who up until now had lived in a feudal system, with the majority of people living in poverty that bordered on slavery. They incited the Arab masses to jihad and the rest is history. Israel’s has had seven official wars. But the truth is she has been at war since the day she was founded. Maybe it is only because the Arabs want a state of their own, with full rights, and they only use violence as a desperate last resort? Perhaps. But then how do you explain the massacre in Hebron of 1929, in which dozens of Jews were slaughtered and injured; and the remaining Jews were forced to flee Hebron, never to return in full number to the ancient Jewish city, even to this day? There was no Jewish state then, no “oppression of the poor ‘Palestinian’ people.” They rose up and murdered their neighbors out of cold blood. And this was not a lone occurrence.
So what do we do now? Some propose a joint secular state, but as I said before, that will never happen. The prevalent Western opinion today is the two-state “solution.” I agree. We should make one Jewish state and one Palestinian state. We’ll call the Jewish state Israel and the Palestinian state Jordan. The original land appropriated to the Jewish state and verified by every country in the League of Nations (the equivalent of the U.N. today) in 1922 included modern day Jordan. Britain was given a mandate over the area to oversee the construction of the Jewish state. But Britain went behind our back, and made what is known as Jordan today an Arab state. Jordan had a vast majority of “Palestinian” residents, with a Saudi Arabian king in charge. The “Palestinians” want a state of their own? Fine, move to Jordan. I challenge you to give every “Palestinian” in the West Bank Jordanian citizenship and see how many stay. More than fifty thousand “Palestinians” have left Gaza since it was given autonomy in 2005. Many more would join them if not for fear of having their families murdered, and if their Arab “brethren” would grant them citizenship. The “Palestinians” prefer to stay in Israel? Fine, as long as they stop supporting those among them who blow up, shoot, stab, and fire rockets at innocent civilians.
I am tired and you may be tired of reading this. In the future, with G-d’s help, I will continue. I will provide several practical reasons for why a “Palestinian” state would be an absolute disaster. If you are interested or at least intrigued, read it. Everything I have written is with basis. If there has been any misunderstanding or if you take contention with anything I have said, feel free to take it up with me. Good night.
With Love from the Holy Land,
Elisha
