The Greatest Enemies of the Jews and the Palestinian problem -part one

Looking at the title of this entry , who do you think are the greatest most feroucious enemies of Jews ?

right you are : Jews' biggest enemies are... Jews. The Jewish people have always had this inner self destruction mechanism , that has caused a lot of damage both to Jews and the world . You will find Nazies with Jewish origins ,and extreme muslims who were born as Jews . There is this tendency to dislike anything Jewish, among Jewish people and it is quite common. Sometimes I meet Jewish people who seem to be extremely critical about Israel ,but scrap the surface and you will dicover that , it's not because they care and want to change things. they simply hate their own people- usually they live abroad,and from their comfortable safe spot ,they declare time and again how agressive Israel is towords Arabs ,and that sort of staff.

but today I want to talk about the Palestenians . I am a just an Israeli who was born in Israel ,lives here ,and waits for more peacefull times . I have never been a citizen of the world , or cosmopolitan . Israel is my only home . I represent only myself , though a few of my countrymen will nodd in agreement with what I am about to write

The so called Palestinian conflict is not about land or "injustice" as some people believe it to be. I'd like to present a few facets of it - they are different than what the media tells you :

• Jealousy . The avarage European media fails to tell you , that the western side of " Palestine" better known as the State of Israel was rather a barren land , with a few swamps here and there. The few wandering Arab tribes ,and farmers who lived here suffered from lousy crops and bad health.Please read about it in Mark Twein's report about Israel There were many looters and robbers among those Arabs . Jews have always lived in this country in small numbers . They mostly lived off money sent from Jewish people in other countries . Jewish people came and went - going through hazards .Around 1870-1880 Jewish people with means came to Israel .They brought with them progress , free economy and Eropean culture influences , and that meant that Arab people from what is today Jordan and Lebanon followed along . In less than 50 years there were institutions that never existed in this land .Such was the Kibbutz ,but also theaters , a bank , coffee shops as well as dental care (My grandmother who came to Israel in the late stage of 1924 was a dental surgeon). Many ackers of "cursed land" which weren't worth much ,were sold for a lot of money for those stupid Jews . But to people's surprise and dismay the land was good to us and it yielded good crops . Now , if you were an Arab wouldn't you be jealous and angry about the success of those damned Jews?

• Who's the Boss: The basic Arab premise is that a Jew should always be in the state of a protege'. .That is to say , Arabs got used to it , that Jews are at their mercy. In all the Arab countries , once in a while there would be a big or small riot aimed at the Jews, and - we , the Jews were used to it . This has changed when Jewish people from Europe , especially Eastern Europe arrived in the land of Israel . They weren't into being a nice guy , and when attcked ,they fought back . They started to guard fields and villages ,and they were not afraid to use guns - something they had learnt in Russia . Most Jewish men , by the way, didn't know how to use a gun up until the early 20th century.

• More than 1 million jewish refugees from Arab countries .Around the time in which the state of Israel was founded Jewish populations in Arab countries were in immediate and clear peril (aacept for few places , where conditions were still bearable) . To make a long story- short , in a period of twenty years (1948-1968) they were all "transphered" here to Israel , leaving behind them land and property that they would never see again. Unlike the Arab refugees in Gaza or in Jordan ,no one was really interrested in them ,and in returning them their lands , or giving them back their property ,and you know what? I think most of them have given it up . Let's take my mother for example . Her family left Lybia in the secret of the night. In those days (1946-1952) Jews , including women and children were slaughtered in day light . They left behind them , hundreds of ackers of land, that was their private property. I know they had their own house ,and also a two stories building that served as a supermarket . They had never been able to sell it ,because as I mentioned Jews' lives were in real and immidate danger , so they just locked up behind them and with a few suitcases, they left . From neighbours and friends who also came from North Africa , I learned that in other countries it was like that too. Jews had to escape Lebanon , Jordan , Syria , Egept and Iraq. You will not see peace activists talking to the lybian leader Quadafi about returning Jewish property or land . I wonder why? If you are a justice seaker why search for it only in one place and not in another?

• Fighting for your honor versus fighting for your life: The Jewish people is by definition a peace seaking people. It is a cultural matter. We pray for peace three times a day. In order to reach heaven according to the Jewish faith ,you don't have to accept Jesus or Islam . You have to be a good person . In 1948 all the sorrounding Arab countries (Iraq, Jordan , Syria , Lebanon , Egypt and Saudi-Arabia ) joined the Arabs that lived here in Israel in the effort to kill all the Jews in the region. Make no mistake , the only difference between the Nazies and the Arabs , was that the Arabs were terribly disorganized ,and in power struggles within themselves . The only reason we won that war , was because we , the Jews, were fighting for our lives , while the Arabs were fighting for their long lost honor . Ask my dad . he is 86 , and bearly talks . But when he did talk , he talked about Arab's cruelty .All Jewish men between the age of 17 and 53 participated in that war ,and some women had to fight too. Holocoust survivers had to fight that war ,and the losses were immense to the small Jewish population in those times . Read history . About one precent of the Israeli population was lost .

To summ up , Arabs terrorized Jews way before the "Palestinian conflict" . In 1929 they killed 67 Jewish citizen only in the city of Hebron. That was the end of the Jewish community there., Arabs did terrible things to women and children - I prefer not to write it ,but you can read about it in books. The main reason was jealousy at the quick success of the Jews , in the light of their own faliour , and there was also fundamental Islamic call that came out from the El Aktza mosque . Other pogroms took place in 1931 , 1936 and all through the beggining of the 20th century. One of the most prominent Arab leaders Haj Amin el Hussaini was kin supporter of Hitler . He was not the only one . Many Arab leaders , including the the late Egyptian president Anuar Saadat had admired the Fuhrer.

(To be continued )

My trip to England

Four years ago , in the summer of 2006, I went to England.

I had a plan , or I thought I did. I got in contact with a sweet lady who lived on a remote island , north of Scotland . She needed volunteers to help her shear sheep. This would solve the problem of where to stay. We spoke on the phone .

My mother was restless and worried . I could see she was in a conflict. Her will to set me free ,and let me , at the not so young age of 36 to see the world was conflicted with her fears ,that the world is a dangerous place for a Jew ...

The name of the island was North Ronaldsay.

The sheep of North Ronaldsay are wild sheep .They roam free and feed on sea weed.

In my mind's eye , I was walking the shores of this small island , chasing the wild sheep in order to shear them ,and in my free time I simply wrote , or thought about life and the world ,and lofty things..

I bought a ticket for three weeks, but just to make sure , 2 days before my departure I told my plan to Mrs Friedman. Mrs Friedman is a friend. She is originally from a Jewish neighbourhood in London ,but has been living in Jerusalem for quite a few dacades. she is Ultra-orthodox , looks fragile and small ,but she is a mother of 11 children , and a grandmother of many more .

I think she was shocked ,but you can't see that on the phone. She gave me the address of her brother who lives in the Jewish neigbourhood of London ,and told me that , come what may I should go there before anything. Since I arrived in the airport late at night , I thought it would be a good idea to spend the night there. I had prepared in advance candles for lighting on Friday afternoon, lot's of food for kosher reasons : A jar of Mionese , those dreadfull cookies from Passover , that some people chocke on , 30(!) Pitta breads and a Salami sausage . Now why did I do that ???? I don't even like Salami.

As I landed, it turned out that the Mio exploded on the plain , so I had to throw one of my bags. I don't know if my readers (or should I say reader?) understand the fear of buying a ticket and going on a bus in a foreign land alone ,but it is the equivalent of going , let's say to the forests of Brazil for a regular person. To my surprise ,and in spite of my mother's warnings , I was not kidnapped by terrorists or attacked by drunk English men , nor was I pickpocketed or anything of the sort. And as for being a Jew , no one asked me about it , but sometimes Indians spoke to me Sanscrete assuming I was Indian...

It was only the next morning that I learned that England is a bit larger than Israel , so I would need a 12 hours bus ride in order to get to the city of Aberdeen where I would need to take another bus to the port , then a fairy to one island , from which I would need to wait for a plain, that goes once a day to North Ronaldsay - but not incase of rain and storm ,which are quite common... Then going back I would have to make the trip back , making sure not to miss my flight . Unlike in Israel , in England travel fair changes in the summer . The bus compeny does not respect Israeli credit cards. If you book in advance you can get a ticket for reasonable prices ,but I couldn't have known that , and in any case I could not have booked tickets from Israel , and so it was getting more and more complicated to get there .

I did get to Glasgow(about 9 hours trip form London) ,but decided to return.

My hosts , Mrs Friedman's brother and his wife thought it was crazy, but they had young friends who had three small daughters ,and they could use a helping hand.

To make a long story short , I ended up babysitting three cute girls in the afternoons and evenings . In the mornings I went to the city of London , or to a nice peacefull park called Kenwood. It was only on my last three days in that London suburb that I realised that I took the wrong bus to the city of London , so instead of a 20 minutes ride , it took me 2 hourse.

The young couple was Jewish , so there was no problem of kosher food. I was happy to get rid of the chockable Passover coockies , which they liked , as well as the chocolate , and the Salami and all the rest .

London was hot and humid like Tel Aviv ,but thinking I was going to work on the muddy shores of North Ronaldsay , I had brought all sorts of winter cloths, and so , I spent my traveling fair ,buying myself summer clothes and English books for my students and for the children I'll have when the Almighty decides to spare my soul .My spiritual journey of thinking about life and the world turned to be a materialistic shopping journey. I tried on clothes of Eve Saint Lauren on Bond street just for fun, and I saw the palace , where the queen lives . I was amused . One day a woman made a pass at me . She was a nice lady , and I like chatting with people ,but just to make sure I said I have a boyfriend (I do , I just haven't met him yet) It was a fun trip , accept for one thing that shaded over it .The usual thing :

Four days after arriving in London I learned that the second Lebanon war broke . The first two weeks of the trip , I sort of ignored it . Somewhere in the back of my mind , I just couldn't face it. I didn't go to synagogue during my stay in London until my last Shabbat (Saturday ) when I finally  went . After the service, the Rebi spoke . Now, here is the difference between Israel and London. In Israel on a service a rebi would have never spoken of what is  painful and sad - because one does not talk about sad things on Shabbat  , but back then in London the Rebi spoke of , a young officer named Roi klein . He saved his troops by jumping on a granade , and it cost him his life . He left a wife and two boys. Hearing that was like landing from Lala land back to Earth . Tears started rolling down my cheecks ,and I felt imbaressed . I went to the ladies room and in the privecy of the toilette cried my eyes out . I think I cried for a bout half an hour ,and only after washing my face ,making sure I looked normal and Shabastic again, I went out of the synagogue . Mourning is forbidden on a Shabbat . Some say it is forbidden to cry too.

Two days later I flew back to Israel.

The next Shabbat , Friday night as we were dining , a bomb shell exploded somewhere in my region. My mother got up and stood under a door , as had been shown on T.V, but my father and I continued sitting and eating . My father because he could barely move anyway ,and myself ,because I didn't care. It was rather a funny scene.

I wonder if one of these days I will end up sheep shearing in a small island north of England.