Wasted History

Thank you Edith,

Standing before a possible historic breakthrough by finally achieving peace for Israel, let's put things in perspective and shortly recapitulate the past.The vast territories of the Ottoman Empire were conquered with a lot of blood by the Allies, who then created the borders of Arab countries - some of them not even existing before. Only the Jews were forgotten. Almost forgotten, because the Holocaust reminded them, that though the Arab problem was solved - the Jewish problem was not.

I escaped the Nazi-camp and arrived with 500 survivors on a 300 ton boat, the coast of Palestine. The name of the land was Palestine, the rulers were the Britons, the population consisted of Arabs and Jews. We kissed the ground and joined the Allies in their fight against the all-time champion of evil. The Great Mufti of Jerusalem, Yassir Arafat's uncle moved to Berlin and assisted Hitler in his fight against the Allies. The Allies were victorious again and awarded the Arabs freedom from colonial rule. And again - the Jews were forgotten. Almost forgotten. The necessity and right for the Jewish people for a homeland had been proven and internationally recognized. But the Arab people, believing to be sole owner of the land, opposed to any people they considered to be strange. They tried to annihilate the legal home-comers, survivors of Exile and Holocaust. Some Arabs recognized in their wisdom early - like King Abdullah of Jordan - and some later, like President Sadaat of Egypt the right for a Jewish State and had to pay with their life. The Arabs - who are excellent in PR came to realize, that a denial of land, smaller than 1 ten- thousands of theirs, would be hard to justify. So the Arabs living in Palestine declared themselves as Palestinians, who could stand now against Israel as one on one, downsized to appear as helpless victims. And in playing this role, they became Palestinians.

It would be wonderful, if the newly created Palestinians could develop also positive feelings towards their ancient relatives, children of Abraham. From all the monotheistic holy books, the word mercy appears predominantly in the Koran. But the Arabs neither feel nor have mercy for the Jews. And if they don't feel mercy, they should at least understand that there is no label on a piece of land. The earth belongs to God and he alone can divide it mercifully unto the people they have least of it and need it most. Justice can not be demanded only for its own interest. If justice for others doesn't count - there is no justice. And if even true justice does not count, logic and reality has to be taken as last resort.

It should have been taken as first resort. But it was not. It should have been taken before the Arabs started to shoot, before they created the refugees, before almost 60,000 humans were killed. "Most of them Palestinians," as it is reported today almost daily. 20,000 Jews - protecting their land, 40,000 in attacks on the dwarf-sized country. Additional achievements were 100,000nds maimed, sick, homeless and poor.

I heard the opinions, that it is actually not a war between Israelis and Palestinians but between Islam and Jews. Jews have no part in fighting any other religious believers. Jews have learned to live with their religionin harmony with every nation. They succeeded in their faith because of their spirit alone.

The Palestinians should accept Israel's best offer as payment in full and not as down payment till new demands open the next Intifada. The price paid so far was horrendous and if no agreement follows, the price will rise much more. It is time for the Palestinians to take the finger off the trigger. After 70 years, the lesson should have been learned - Israel is here to stay. It is in Arab hands to make peace - for their and Israel's benefit. If not, they will have wasted another great moment in history.