Israel Stories

Monday, March 16, 2009

Peace, But Not Now!

Peace Now! What a great concept. Instant peace in return for, well, an Utopian existence where everybody beats their Kassams into ploughshares in the Garden of Eden. Just add diplomacy, add a little Joseph factor (sell your brothers) and a dash of cut your nose off to spite your face.

Perfect. Now we can all sleep at night.

I was surprised, no, - amazed, to read that at a recent 'peace immediately' demonstration, there were very few people from the South. You would have thought that those guys, being pounded by missiles, going through the trauma that you and I couldn't even imagine, would be screaming for peace. But no, the demonstrators were mainly made up of middle class Israelis from Tel Aviv. Extraordinary!

They are not under threat, yet they braved a cold night to demand peace now. What selfless people they are. Meanwhile the people under fire in Sderot, Beersheva, Ashkelon, Netivot, Kiryat Gat, Ashdod and all the surrounding towns, villages and kibbutzim as well as the North, were screaming just the opposite. They also want a 'Now' solution, but it doesn't seem to be Peace, well not in the short term.

Immediate peace would involve hurried diplomacy, painful Israeli concessions, total withdrawal from land, and the transfer of thousands of Israeli citizens. Hang on a second. Now I may have a short memory, but didn't Israel do that?

What happened? I wonder if you can remind me. That's right we withdrew from Gaza, transferred 8000 Israelis many of whom are still not settled, watched Hamas be 'democratically' installed as the 'government' of Gaza, and then what? Oh yes, they kidnapped an Israeli soldier, they have dug many tunnels to smuggle weapons into their kingdom and have been fired firing thousands of missiles into Israel ever since. Who could ask for a better peace?

You do understand that Israel cannot just sit idly by while they are being shelled, of course you don't? So when Israel tried to force Hamas to stop the shelling, 'blockading' Gaza, they intensified their attack with Kassams and Grads, because after all that's a legitimate response to Israeli aggression. And as for the people, well the humanitarian crisis is all Israel's fault because the Hamas death cult (you'll read that a lot about them, you didn't know they were? Well, now you do) are more interested in Israel's destruction than the fate of their loyal supporters.

How many 'peace very quickly', speedily in our days, supporters have visited Sderot, Netivot and the other Southern towns, in the past few days? Why did you hold your rally in Tel Aviv, are you scared? Of
course you're scared. Who wouldn't be, just ask the guys down South. But mainly I believe you are scared of admitting the truth! You would rather demonstrate from the safety of your comfortable back yard than face the screams of the children of Sderot. You would rather condemn your own people than admit the real problem. There is no quick fit fix solution. Either you are totally naïve or have no concept of the nature of the enemy, oh I'm sorry, the partner for peace.

Do the phrases, 'total destruction of Israel', 'drive them into the sea', 'more killings', 'Israel will burn', 'suicide bombers' and 'every Palestinian is a potential martyr', mean anything to you? It's your bloody house in Tel Aviv they are talking about! Not some illegal settlement outpost east of Hebron.

Now I am going to go out on a limb here and agree with you on one point. No one wants our sons and daughters to fight in a war. We would be inhuman to rejoice, as our neighbors do in, the deaths of their children, and for that I too would shout out Peace, but not Now. Just as in 1948, '67 and '73 we are fighting for our survival. The enemy is literally within. And we have to face them with strength courage and determination, not diplomacy and bits of paper because you know as well as I do that this enemy wants all or nothing and doesn't care to die trying.

Peace has to be lasting, and you cannot bring everlasting peace, now. In utopia just like the Garden of Eden, you need to do the weeding first, then the planting and finally eat the fruits, it never happens now.

This is the time for weeding. Every day I pray for peace but I know my history and I know that there is no such thing as 'peace now'.

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