Unspoken Law
Dear Friends,
Thank you very much for sending me the issue "Women in the
Conflict" of your Journal. I read it with great interest.
Permit me, however, to take exception to a paragraph in your book
review "The Limits of Dialogue" by Rolly Rosen, p. 96.
She writes about the relationship between a relative of hers and
her "Palestinian cleaning lady," saying: "I asked my relative
whether they ever discussed politics." "No," she said, "They never
do." It has been a sort of unspoken law between them.
I am sorry, I just can't stand this kind of attitude, and my late
husband and I have brought up our son and his children to have Arab
(Israeli and Palestinian) friends, not doing odd jobs for them, but
meeting them at family celebrations on both sides.
With best wishes,
Dr. Miriam Halevy
Ramat Gan
Reaping What We Have Sown
Dear Sirs,
The painful events which recently took place, and are still taking
place in our country, are proof of the hatred that still separates
Palestinians and Israelis. It is hard to imagine that such
unspeakable acts of terror and violence can take place in the 20th
century.
The Israeli retaliatory measures of collective punishment against
the Palestinian population, in spite of Palestinian condemnation
and demonstrations rejecting acts of violence by Hamas suicide
bombers, are suppressive, racist and unjust. No father or mother
would ask a son to go kill or, much less, get killed. But
protracted closures and blowing up of houses are only fuelling
further hatred among Palestinians against Israelis, because these
measures are discriminatory. Why is it that Israelis do not suffer
collective punishment under similar circum¬stances? Why, for
example, wasn't Baruch Goldstein's house sealed when he
mas¬sacred 29 Palestinians in the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron,
or why at least wasn't a closure imposed on Kiryat Arba? Why wasn't
Yigal Amir's house - Rabin's con¬fessed assassin - blown up?
Or his parents punished? Yet, the West Bank and Gaza had a closure
imposed in the wake of the murder.
A peace agreement was signed between Palestinians and Israelis, but
so far it seems to exist only on paper. Palestinians are still
subject to harsh Israeli con¬straints breeding desperation and
thoughts of revenge. These naturally are exploited by extremists to
achieve their aims.
As a young Palestinian girl, I wonder: Can there be no end to the
bloodbath? Cannot Palestinians and Israelis stop, before it is too
late, and take stock of what each side is doing to the other? Can't
we arrive at mutual understanding?
After each painful incident, cries of "Death to the Arabs" are
raised by Israelis. Is getting rid of Palestinians the only
solution? Such slogans will not put an end to violence. On the
contrary, violence breeds violence. Death will not end the
conflict, for mutual annihilation is not possible; nor are we
engaged here in the "survival of the fittest."
To break this protracted and painful vicious cycle, we have to look
upon each other as human beings, equal in every respect. We have to
look for the humanity in each of us. We have to reeducate our
children. We have led a painful and difficult existence; why should
we impose it on our children? Why should we poison their young
minds with animosity and thoughts of revenge? Let them live their
innocent childhood, and let them succeed where we have failed. We
have got ourselves to thank for whatever is happening today. We are
reaping what we have sown.
Maybe the calamitous events which we are witnessing can be turned
into a les¬son for the future. Maybe the cries raised by most
Palestinians and Israelis against violence, terrorism and bloodshed
will draw both peoples together and put an end to extremism on both
sides.
Amneh Ma'bad
Jerusalem
