Writing: Speeches
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict 3 – letter to S. NYC. 2009
… I see you are a real Israeli ! Tough to argue with ! haha...
Well, that’s exactly the problem. That in Israel there are what, 6-7 million people, and there are 6-7 million opinions... this can go on for ever. From the perspective of my 'old' age, and living in that part of the world for 4 decades, I have seen military operations, wars, negotiations, and all kinds of other means in between. And none of them ever seem to work. Never. It’s the same, EXACTLY as it was when my mother was born in Israel in 1933, and then when I was born in 1968, and then when I left in 2000. Pretty much exactly the same. I didn’t say that military operations are not necessary. Of course they are. And giving blows to terror works temporarily. But what I meant was that in the long run, fighting terror is a useless cause, and it can go on forever, UNLESS some territorial / economical / national compensations are being made. It’s like fighting all the bees around you, and trying to kill them all, when you happen to get caught in the area of a beehive. This ‘terror’ might not kill you, but it's still painful, and it will continue on and on. That’s MY own private opinion and impression.†
So of course bettering the Palestinian economy, UNDER international supervision which will make sure the money doesn’t go to Hamas, won’t do any good if you don’t give them some national 'candies', i.e. a state. In fact, a state should come first, and then a normal economy second. How to exactly do it ? I don’t know. Again, we need a lot of international supervision and interference. But, this is one thing we haven’t really tried yet. Wars / military operations - we have. Many of them. And it seems like when operating within an international community, a country has to succumb to international pressure. Otherwise, the result of that can be SERIOUS. The stings of the bees might not kill you. But international embargo might as well do !
Anyhow, all that was done so far was good, and might help. What should be done from now on – that’s a good question. All these BiBi and Shmibi (and Barak and Shmarak…) had their chances in the past, and basically blew it. They again use the same old patterns of thought and fixations. As much as the Palestinians need a new leadership, we need such as well. Someone fresh, who was not a†general in the army, for a change, and who will approach this conflict with 21st century global economics and politics world view... who is that ? I don't know... how about you ? When are you running for Israeli politics ? You sound like a good candidate !
So of course bettering the Palestinian economy, UNDER international supervision which will make sure the money doesn’t go to Hamas, won’t do any good if you don’t give them some national 'candies', i.e. a state. In fact, a state should come first, and then a normal economy second. How to exactly do it ? I don’t know. Again, we need a lot of international supervision and interference. But, this is one thing we haven’t really tried yet. Wars / military operations - we have. Many of them. And it seems like when operating within an international community, a country has to succumb to international pressure. Otherwise, the result of that can be SERIOUS. The stings of the bees might not kill you. But international embargo might as well do !
Anyhow, all that was done so far was good, and might help. What should be done from now on – that’s a good question. All these BiBi and Shmibi (and Barak and Shmarak…) had their chances in the past, and basically blew it. They again use the same old patterns of thought and fixations. As much as the Palestinians need a new leadership, we need such as well. Someone fresh, who was not a†general in the army, for a change, and who will approach this conflict with 21st century global economics and politics world view... who is that ? I don't know... how about you ? When are you running for Israeli politics ? You sound like a good candidate !
