Dear Israel: In Mid-Life, You Can Let Go Of Your Anger

Very nice tribute - patriotic and realistic at the same time. Those two things don't always go together.  

I have enjoyed reading this letter. It is full of love to your land and respect to her "shadow". What you are asking for is such a difficult task but as you said: "I look at this giant mountain of implausibility, and I see you in your true glory"

Roi - you wrote a wonderful loving letter for this country's birthday.  I concur.

I am afraid though that somewhere in its genome lies a defective gene that causes this nation, again and again, to destroy what it has so beautifully built. This nation already built two wonderful temples in the past, but proved it cannot sustain them.  Something always goes wrong and such wonderful heights are always followed by dreadful falls.

The rise of the jewish nation from the ashes and the great achievements of the Israeli state in its first few decades are tremendous.  No doubt about it. But how can we make sure that this gene in us doesn't work at its best ONLY when we're under the most extreme pressure? Building a new state, fighting few against many, surviving and thriving against all odds... this is where we're good at.  This is where we unite.  But what happens when the situation is not so extreme?  What happens when it's not a survival game?

I'm afraid that this gene is lacking the normal being;  the conditions that require us not to fight for our survival but to be just good... considerate... loving... giving.  Are we capable of maintaining ourselves in good terms under these conditions??

I pray we do but I'm afraid of this gene. It has proven its dreadful effect in the past; I just hope the current symptoms of this 60 year-old wonderful state are not indicating the same old disease again.

   Roi's sincere love to Israel is obvious , however there is no doubt in my  mind that unless a major change will take place immediately, the game might be over soon! As Eyal mentioned in his comment "This nation already built two wonderful temples in the past, but proved it cannot sustain them" I am afraid he is right! Unfortunately I am not as optimistic as Roi and hopefully time will prove me wrong. Great article Roi.   

The parliament speaker Dalia Itzik, addressing top state officials and foreign dignitaries said today:

"Israel is an extraordinary success story," she said. "We can be proud of almost all our handiwork in this national home -- almost everything. We turned a dream into reality."

Almost is the key word!

Why parliament members can not open thier speches with a list of issues Isreal should not be proud of....

Maybe because the list is too long and they can not addmitt the issues.

I would love to see an article with a suggested corrective  laundry list for the state of Israel as a birthday present with a follow up test in a year from now.

a difficult and painful piece but i agree. the problem is though that most israelis are too hurt, defensive and insecure to handle any criticism which would challenge the legitimacy of their celebrations. they would see it as an attack on their very beings while at the same time they turn a blind eye to the fact that they are preventing independence from another people. this is situation is very difficult to solve, since israel's claim for independence is legitimate but so is the palestinian claim.  just as the holocaust and arab acts of terror make jews feel righteous in their policy towards the palestinians,so too do the palestinians who were expelled from the land and invaded by european immigrants feel entirely righteous in their claims and blind to the history of the jews.  nevertheless, since israel has a state and palestine is stateless, the responsibility falls on israel to make concessions. unfortunatley however, most israelis do not understand that recognizing the pain of the palestinians will not take away from their severity of their own history and instead constantly turn a blind eye to what they did to the palestinians,while hiding behind self-righteous arguments.

Hi Roi,

I enjoyed this letter very much and thank you for it.

 
" most israelis are too hurt, defensive and insecure to handle any
criticism which would challenge the legitimacy of their celebrations"

No, actually.  We hear your criticism-- it's loud and clear.  We simply acknowledge that our legitimacy as a nation has no more reason to be challenged than any other nation.  Where are you, the United States? I know that we all have short-term memories, but do you remember learning about how the US was established? Blood, inflicting illness upon Native Americans, etc?  You seem awfully comfortable being where you are, now, and unjustifiably challenging the independence of a state that was established in accordance with "international law" (if you believe in its existence). 

As for us making concessions-- I actually recall doing that... yes...vaguely...something in the summer of 2005? Ah, yes, disengagement! We gave them land!  What happened? Gaza became  Hamasistan, and not only are they killing each other in internal conflicts, but they're also making life unlivable for Israelis that live anywhere near Gaza and within the range of Kassam and Ketushya rockets.  As an established, independent state, the rational people in this country are happy to lead negotiations and take a leadership role in the process.  Problem is, we have no one to negotiate with.  There is not a cohesive, Palestinian people that are serious about establishing their own state that can live in harmony next to the State of Israel.  The majority (not all) want an independent state in ALL of this land and they won't stop shooting rockets or blowing up civilians until Israel no longer exists. As a legitimately established state, we can't accept that.

Today is independence day, and we will celebrate. We will celebrate 60 years, yes.  We will face our problems with courage and lamentations alike, and those of us that do indeed support a two-state solution to the current crisis will pray that the rockets stop flying and the attempted/actual suicide bombings stop occurring, so that the Israeli Air Force can stop destroying terrorist cells and the IDF can stop restricting the movement of Palestinians. We will pray that they accept our legitimate right to a state, as we accept theirs.  Then, and only then, will there be negotiations.  Don't hold your breath, though.

 In the meantime, Happy Birthday, Israel.  You've come a long way, and your ideological opposition is weak.

Cori C

http://cori-c.blogspot.com

coriac@gmail.com

Cori,

You write “We gave them land!”  How can you give something that was never yours to begin with? Gaza was never yours to give. You speak of Israel being established in accordance with international law. I agree, it was.  But forcefully removing Palestinian civilians off the land was not (1948). Nor was occupying land through war (1967), and transferring your civilian population to the conquered areas.  Surely you are aware that according to international law that was not kosher, right?

So Cori, you either respect the law or you don’t.  Which is it?  

"Ah, yes, disengagement! We gave them land!"

...but we control "their" airspace, "their" harbors, "their" borders. We won't let them fish off "their" waters. We enter "their" territory at will, assassinate them at our pleasure. We prevent the most essential necessities of life from reaching their infants and children. We starve them (but humanely-you recall Dov Weissglass's cool and bloodless remark-just enough to keep them hungry, not enough to kill them. O light unto nations!)

How generous we are! How ungrateful the benighted Arabs!  

Oh yeah, and as the commenter above noted, it wasn't yours to give. The entitlement of right wing Zionists knows no bounds. "We have complied, after 40 years, with international law. You may now praise us for our benificence."

Dear Eyal,

Your comments are insightful. But I'd like to challenge you on the "gene" analogy -- I see what you're saying and commend your realism. But even still, let me challenge not so much your sentiments - but perhaps inject a bit of hope into this conversation.

I assure you that I'm not being nitpicky about semantics, either. Your choice of words made me think - not just about vocabulary but about the evolution of consciousness we should all be striving for.

The thing is, what is genetic is essentially permanent. There might be a medicine here or a treatment there to alleviate symptoms. However, the sufferer - the victim to the genetic defect - is, by and large, stuck with the defect (and the ramifications of it) until death. 

The problem here? When we determine a ruling body or a state to have a genetic defect, we're signing off on a few things:

One, that entity gets to play the "victim" every time it makes an error - after all, the behavior is encoded, right? Therefore, accountability is null.

Two, we are determining that such an entity cannot transcend, much less completely overcome, its ills. I sense that you are more optimistic than that, and I believe that Roi is too.

Perhaps, instead, the problem is not genetic. Perhaps, instead, it's post-traumatic. In the case of post-traumatic stress disorder (and complex post-traumatic stress disorder); one would still be weighted with painful memories; respond at times in ways that are not reasonable; relive the victim-perpetrator-rescuer role; have an unhealthy relationship with power, money, territory, body, boundaries -- but -- one can move beyond the initial symptoms and behaviors.

The question becomes, then, HOW Israel can harness its own resilience to maintain not just temples -- but a national consciousness that is not haunted by nightmares of horror but instead focused on moving from victim to dynamic survivorhood.

the fact that the u.s.' birth was brought about by the expulsion and genocide of the indigenous people, and in fact was far more violent than the founding of the state of israel, does not take away from the fact that israel must repair the damage it inflicted on another people.

what does the u.s. have to do with it? so nazi germany committed a genocide, and so did china and therefore israel can (which it did not) commit a genocide? i find it difficult to follow your line of reasoning. as a jew and an israeli, i uphold my country to its highest standards and don't get the line of reasoning which says 'so they did bad things, so now we can do them too'. that is hardly jewish.

regarding disengaging from gaza: after 40 years of occupation, israel realized that 8,000 settlers should not live in the mist of 1 million arabs and should stop controlling their water supplies and robbing privatley owned land (upon which many settelments were built) this is hardly a concession for peace. however, regarding its dismal failure i would point to two factors: 1. many gazans are indeed brainwashed by hamas and not prepared to live in peace with israel and 2. israel helped hamas by leaving unilateraly and not with a peace agreement. this idiotic move was done so that israel can insist that it has no peace partner although it had abbas who now was even weaker since he had nothing to deliver to his people. disengagment empowered hamas which told its people that if they can get israel to withdraw without an agreement, why should they stop their violence? they gain only more withdrawls by violence. as for your claims that the palestinian leaders are weak, of course they are, (how can moderate leaders of a population under occupation be strong when every day palestinian kids are killed and the population becomes radicalized?) but israel is doing everything in its power to make them even weaker.

yes, israel should celebrate 60 years but it should also finally sign an agreement with abbas and stop occupying another people and another land. if it continues its current policy of pretending that there is no one to talk to, abbas will soon be gone only to replaced by hamas and ultimatley a one state solution will be enacted by the international community in 10 years.

legitimacy?

" most israelis are too hurt, defensive and insecure to handle any
criticism which would challenge the legitimacy of their celebrations"

No, actually. We hear your criticism-- it's loud and clear. We simply
acknowledge that our legitimacy as a nation has no more reason to be
challenged than any other nation. Where are you, the United States? I
know that we all have short-term memories, but do you remember learning
about how the US was established? Blood, inflicting illness upon Native
Americans, etc? You seem awfully comfortable being where you are, now,
and unjustifiably challenging the independence of a state that was
established in accordance with "international law" (if you believe in
its existence).

As for us making concessions-- I actually recall doing that...
yes...vaguely...something in the summer of 2005? Ah, yes,
disengagement! We gave them land! What happened? Gaza became
Hamasistan, and not only are they killing each other in internal
conflicts, but they're also making life unlivable for Israelis that
live anywhere near Gaza and within the range of Kassam and Ketushya
rockets. As an established, independent state, the rational people in
this country are happy to lead negotiations and take a leadership role
in the process. Problem is, we have no one to negotiate with. There
is not a cohesive, Palestinian people that are serious about
establishing their own state that can live in harmony next to the State
of Israel. The majority (not all) want an independent state in ALL of
this land and they won't stop shooting rockets or blowing up civilians
until Israel no longer exists. As a legitimately established state, we
can't accept that.

Today is independence day, and we will celebrate. We will celebrate
60 years, yes. We will face our problems with courage and lamentations
alike, and those of us that do indeed support a two-state solution to
the current crisis will pray that the rockets stop flying and the
attempted/actual suicide bombings stop occurring, so that the Israeli
Air Force can stop destroying terrorist cells and the IDF can stop
restricting the movement of Palestinians. We will pray that they accept
our legitimate right to a state, as we accept theirs. Then, and only
then, will there be negotiations. Don't hold your breath, though.

In the meantime, Happy Birthday, Israel. You've come a long way, and your ideological opposition is weak.

Cori C

http://cori-c.blogspot.com

coriac@gmail.com

RaquelEvita,

I commend your wisdom and approach!

You know, today there's gene therapy... so even genetic problems can be cured.  

But the question, as you asked in your summary sentence, and as I stated in the title of my comment - the question is HOW...before it's too late...

Voices like yours, like Roi's and like many others - should never silence! Maybe, until not long ago in history, voices like yours could hardly create the right impact.  Maybe today we have the opportunity to impact and succeed in bringing this long waited cure. It's in our hands. Let's not miss it.

Be good Jews. When Hamas slaps you on the cheek, offer the other cheek to be slapped by Hezbollah. Israel is in the state that it is in because it has lost self respect. Post zionists and biblical minimalists infect Israel like a retrovirus, obfuscating that the Palestinian identity is based upon the destruction of Israel. Asking the Palestinians to make peace with Israel is asking them to give up their identity. Despite the fact that they dont have a long national heritage, unlike the Jews, they do have pride, unlike the contributors to this blogsite

Ah, Eyal, yes there is gene therapy. Expensive, bioethically questionable to some, and don't get me started on stem cell politics! :)

This IS in our hands. And we have people to look up to in our journey: 

Some of the greatest agents of change have worked for social justice by challenging the status quo within their own communities. From Gandhi (who said that to replace a white oligarchy with a brown one was not progress because, well, it's still an oligarchy) to contemporaries like Deeyah, Agents of Moral Courage get that dissent within one's OWN community is the way to bring the kind of cure you mention.

It's easy to get defensive and trash the other side  - you know "your people" will stand up and cheer. Much harder and much more courageous it is to face the hard truths about our own communities -- and to risk unpopularity by dissenting. Just as Roi has done.

Roi has already been smeared by some of his fellow faithful. The words against him are juvenile, but par for the course when it comes to making real change; not to mention symptomatic of a much larger problem. Thankfully, Roi is not deterred by this counterproductive tribalism.

I'd dare say that the deadlier than "terror" is complacency. If we can't recognize that the violence our own communities perpetrate is unconditionally unacceptable, we might as well be throwing the rocks (or much worse) ourselves. It's enabling.

Check it out - Roi's been called an Agent of Moral Courage by none other than Irshad Manji! The story is here. Looks like Roi won't be silenced any time soon.

Congratulations, Roi. Keep the moral courage coming. As a faithful Muslim, I'm inspired by you, an Israeli.

Beautiful letter.  But it belongs to a world long gone.  A world killed by explosive belts and kassams.  Land for peace is no longer a viable axiom.  

The Kassam’s are the product of the fact that the (illegal) occupation is still in full force – either directly (West Bank) or via remote control (Gaza). Contrary to what you think, Israel never ended the occupation. Imagine for a second that an entity occupied all of Israel - One day that entity decides that it will remove itself from Haifa. Yet as it does this, it continues to strengthen its hold on the rest of country (facts on the ground!). Would you call that an end to the occupation? Would you not expect the citizens of Haifa to fight for those in Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem, and Hadera? So I think that you are wrong to assume that what happened in Gaza is proof that land for peace is a bankrupt formula. For Palestinians, Gaza and the West Bank are one entity (Palestine). And as the article above makes clear, if Israel does not leave Palestine, then Palestine will not leave Israel.

One has to be an arrogant fool or a victim of delusion to think that Israel has the power to "give them a state". With only the 13.7 billion dollars supplied by UNWRA since 1950, they could have built the basic structures of a civil society but have produced only terror in their culture of hatred. Israel assimilated the 800,000 Jews expelled from Arab lands, unlike the Arab's who kept their brothers festering in refugee camps as a weapon in their jihad to keep Jews from occupying any speck of land in their dar-al-islam. Fourteen million Hindus and Muslims were dispossessed when Pakistan was created, millions of Germans were forcibly uprooted from their ancestral homes after WWII as were Turks and Greeks in 1923. Only the Arabs of Palestine, who for the most part fled their villages so that the 5 Arab armies attacking the nascent Hebrew state could drive the Jews into the sea, demand repossession of the land in which Jews have greater historical and political rights and for which Israel fought victoriously. Since the 1920's they have rejected every opportunity to have a state because their only raison d'etre is the destruction of Israel. Unfortunately, too many oldtimers like you have bought into the Big Lie and would give away our land and heritage in the hope that the Arabs and the rest of the world will like us.

A letter written to Raquel Evita Saraswati who has given her support of your letter:  

Raquel, Will you have the "moral courage" to publish my thoughts?

***

I am Pro Palestinian. 

With all my heart I want the Palestinian people to succeed economically, socially, academically ...and in every other way within a just and compassionate society.  The purpose of life is to be kind to one another and this is what I wish for all people.

After more than 60 years and BILLIONS of dollars have poured into the Palestinian Territories, many people still don’t have running water. Their leaders drive luxury cars and live behind wrought iron gates inside mansions. These leaders have given their people nothing but a diet of hate and the promise of paradise when strapped with explosives. 

Why do people who claim to be “pro-Palestinians” ignore the evil of Hamas, Hezb’allah, and the bombings ALL over the world in the name of Allah.  Why do self-proclaimed "peace keepers" all but ignore Islamic intolerance, Islamic slavery, Islamic censorship and Islamic abuse and oppression of their people?

In most of the 57 Islamic countries there is oppression and the many self-proclaimed “peacekeepers” focus blame on the only true democracy in the Middle East.

I am PRO PALESTIAN and I advocate peace.

Teach ALL children tolerance, acceptance and respect.

* * *

West Bank and Gaza, 1,586,512 refugees are administered by UNRWA. The Palestinian Authority has done nothing to improve the living conditions of the refugees. During the 1970s, The PLO threatened and killed those who tried to escape the camps.

And when when Israel tried to improve the living conditions and housing of Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the West Bank around the same time, it was blocked by the PLO and the United Nations in a series of UN General Assembly resolutions denouncing Israel's humanitarian actions.

Sources: "Paul Garwood and Maggie Michael, "Palestinian refugees: championed by Arab World yet treated like outcasts," Associated Press, December 31, 2003.

United Nations, www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2003/gaspd274.doc.htm. Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Report, 2000, www.arts,mcgill.ca/PRRN/hammarberg.html.

Why are these facts ignored?