As I have said before, Israel is in a rough neighborhood. Israelis are sitting between a bunch of people who don’t really want them around, even though some are willing to tolerate them. Imagine having a neighbor living down the block that shoots rockets at your house. That neighbor is Hezbollah. Another neighbor is generally agreeable, but is close friends with the neighbor that hates you (Lebanon). They are really egged on by the guy up the block, Syria. At the end of the day though, it is their friend on the other side of town (Iran) that is giving them money and what they need to attack you. At the same time, the people you bought the house from are squatting in the basement and try to kill you and convince you to move out.
Israel is being constantly pushed by the United States and European nations to sit down with the Palestinians and sign a peace deal. However, the Palestinians are only willing to negotiate on their terms. The terms that the Palestinians are not willing to negotiate on are the ones that Israel is holding firm on as well. The Palestinians want Jerusalem cut in half and want to keep the Eastern half, including the Old City. They also want Israelis to return all territory captured in 1967, during a war prompted by an attack from every single one of Israel’s neighbors. They also want any descendant of a Palestinian who left Israel in 1948 to be able to return to their original home, many of which were legally sold or abandoned.
What about Israel’s rights? Those same people will not recognize that Israel has a right to existin the first place. They claim that no Jew should really be in Israel. Those who stay in a future state called “Palestine” would undergo the same horrible treatment that the Palestinians bestow on the rest of the dhimmi, the Palestinian Christians.
Both sides have made agreements in the past that have not been upheld. Oslo was a complete disaster, however, at least Israel upheld part of the agreement. At the same time, Yassir Arafatwas financing terrorist attacks against innocent Israelis in the intifadas.
So, right now, what is going on? Israelis will not put a limit on natural growth in Israeli town in Judea and Samaria. It is not right to tell people that they can’t have kids and those kids can’t live in the same city they grew up in. However, the Palestinians will not move forward until 100% of settlement growth is frozen.
President Barack Obama of the United States has tried to keep things moving, but he has lost the trust of most Israeli leaders. He has backed off of the settlement issue and is now working to have both sides sit down together and negotiate.
The United Nations just released a disgustingly biased report condemning Israeli actions in Gaza. It says little about what prompted Israel’s offensive: 10,000 rocket and mortar attacks from Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The West Bank is much calmer than it has been in years. Israelis are removing road blocks and are working to help build the Palestinian economy. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes, I also believe that no peaceful coexistence can ever take place until the Palestinians are brought out of impoverished conditions.
So, what is the real meaning of all of this rambling? Things are stuck. No one is really willing to budge and no progress is being made. However, no one is dying. At the present moment, terrorist attacks are at a low. (B”H) Only the occasional rocket attack from Gaza penetrates Israel’s borders. We are not getting along, but we are not fighting either. For the time being, I think that is a pretty good place to be. Yeah, the situation is not perfect, and never will be, but people are living their lives without the constant fear of attack. That is all we can ask for.
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