Fri May 18, 2012
Ready for fighting or ready for peace?
Israelis Want Peaceful Coexistence
By Yaffa Shira Fredrick, New Jersey – August 2007
Envision a world in which fear takes over your life. It dissuades you from using public transportation – it prevents you from meeting a friend for coffee and it dictates where you can go on vacation.
Welcome to the world of Malkie Ziegler, 17 year-old resident of Elazar, an Israeli settlement 11 miles south of Jerusalem in the West Bank.
Ziegler, a American immigrant to Israel, though aware of the daily terror of bombings and bomb threats, refuses to capitulate to fear. She refuses to be labeled a “victim of terror.”
Ziegler believes the real victims of fear and terror are Palestinian children who are indoctrinated with images and messages of hate from the time they begin to speak.
Such sentiment is shared by many Israelis who feel the root of terrorism lies in the misleading Palestinian educational system, which preaches hate before love and death -before life.
Tal Ben-Shahar, a former Harvard psychology professor who recently moved back to Israel, says that Israelis, however frustrated they may be with Arab academia, still strive towards communication, and ultimately peace, with the Palestinian people.
Israelis long for the days of yesteryear, in which they could enter the Arab markets in Ramallah and Nablus, and buy succulent citrus fruits, delectable shish kabobs and titillating falafel platters. They long for the days when the Israeli army was not forced to go door to door in Palestinian villages and refugee camps searching for terrorist leaders and their followers, in an effort to protect innocent Israeli civilians from losing their lives on their way home from work or school.
They long for, what Ben-Shahar refers to as the “utopian ideal,” a state of harmonious unity between two groups that share a common love for a land rich in religious history.
And, according to Ziegler, Israelis are more than willing to make the necessary concessions in order to ensure such a utopia. “The Israelis even offered to train the Palestinian army. Now which other country would offer to train their enemy’s army?”
Despite the Israeli army’s offer, the Palestinian government, currently in the hands of Hamas, a recognized terrorist organization, continues to reject any steps towards peaceful coexistence. Such rejection results in what Ziegler calls, “a complete loss of Israeli sympathy for the Arab people and their supposed plight.”
In fact Ziegler notes a little known truth: Many Palestinians are actually paid to stay in the refugee camps by the Arab leadership. And the refugee camps are few and far between. Indeed, most Palestinians live in cities, towns and villages, whose upkeep is dependent upon their leadership, not Israel’s.
Ziegler notes a time she visited Ramallah, one of the major Palestinian cities in the West Bank, while on a tour. She describes the area as exquisite- the ideal Mediterranean landscape complete with palm trees and open air markets. Unfortunately, Ziegler says the Palestinian leadership allows the press to only videotape and photograph the preserved isolated slums to perpetuate the myth that all the Palestinian people are of an oppressed class.
In reality, Ziegler explains, “They have gorgeous cities; they now have the Gaza Strip. [And if they don’t like it here] they have other Muslim countries in which they can reside. We only have one Israel, one Jewish state- so why should we feel bad?”
Indeed, it was that Zionistic belief system that brought Malkie to the land of Israel. For her, a young Jewish girl on the cusp of independence, Israel is the only country in the world where she can still be Malkie, a teenager with an affinity for chocolate and the Orthodox Jewish tradition. Now why would she sacrifice such freedom?
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