The Oct. 14 Daily editorial “Israeli actions are not conducive to progress” makes some claims that Israel is taking one-sided actions that are creating a barrier for peace. This is half right.
Israel is taking one-sided actions, but the obstacle for peace has long ago been put in place by the Palestinians and the Arab world. While Israel has made almost every consent possible to the Palestinians, the Palestinians have made no steps toward peace. Even though the road map plan has not completely been approved by the Israeli government, Israel agreed and took actions toward a compromise. Thousands of Palestinian terrorists were released from prisons and the Israeli Defense Forces pulled back a large part of its forces from the Palestinian territories.
Absolutely nothing was done on the Palestinian side. The terrorist organizations rearmed, and were given the freedom to plan more attacks, as carried out recently. The teaching of hate in the Palestinian schools continued, and the Palestinian leaders, while condemning the actions of the suicide bombers, have never condemned the terrorist themselves (they are still considered holy martyrs). Israel is building the wall because since the signing of the Oslo accord in the early 1990s, no action Israel has taken resulted in fewer terrorist attacks. After more than 10 years, Israelis are tired of dying.
Syria has been training terrorists for years, and supporting them worldwide. Syrians supported the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which is holding a few Israeli hostages and is responsible for many attacks on Israel and other nations over the years. Syria also occupies Lebanon, but the world couldn’t care less about the suffering of the people of Lebanon which started when Yasser Arafat was kicked out of Jordan for being a terrorist.
Israel has decided to finally show Syria it will be held responsible for its actions. These actions should have been taken in the early 1980s, but Israel only now has decided to hold Syria responsible for the actions against Israel.
Israel has made mistakes in the past, but unlike our neighbors our policy has never been to murder innocent people. Our neighbors teach their kids that death of Israelis is a positive thing and that can be seen in their school books.
Israelis are tired of dying and have noticed that the world really doesn’t care that bombs are exploding on our buses, in our restaurants and in night clubs. For that reason Israel is taking one-sided actions. We are slowly losing our confidence in peace and are becoming more worried about trying not to die.
Omri Fine is a recent University graduate who lives in Israel. Send comments to [email protected]
