BigJerr
09-15-2006, 05:35 PM
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Very good reading! This is the first of his essays I will post.
[I could not paste over the line #s.]
Day after day we watch the cycle of endless violence between Israelis and Palestinians play in front of our eyes. The suicide bombings and counter bombing, attacks and counter-attacks continue the incessant dance of death. Day after tragic day I have watched the carnage - angry, sad, and impotent, paralyzed by the unprecedented growing violence in the region.
The Israeli Right, like the Palestinian extremists seems to feed the flames; the Israeli Left, like their peace camp counterparts, appears hopelessly naïve and silent. The great and small powers of the world are rendered repetitive and simplistic, failing to grasp the depth of the differences and complexities of this conflict. Even the most reasonable say, "There is no solution." Israel and Palestine seem to be trapped in a deadly cycle, repeating horror after horror, around and around, faster and faster.
I served as an officer in the Israeli Army and was wounded in the war of 1973. Healing from the war injury was difficult. However much more difficult was recovering from the haunting memories of what I did and did not do in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Lebanon. The toll of the occupation weighs heavily on my soul and on the souls of many Israelis who have served in the Palestinian territories. The Jewish people are widely, and potentially violently, split and so even though Israel, with its mighty army may gain military victory over the Palestinians it likely may lose its soul.
Like the Vietnamese who fought off the Americans and the Afghanis who fought off the Soviets, the Palestinians realized with the recent withdrawal of the Israeli army from Southern Lebanon that Israel could no longer stomach the continuous human cost of occupation. Palestinians are also aware that Israel is gradually losing sympathy in the eyes of the international community and of many Jews abroad. They recognize that many Israelis are feeling dispirited, some army reservists are refusing to serve in the Occupied Territories and that other Israelis, like me, leave Israel for a moral reasons.
The daily reality of destruction, injury, hate, revenge and death between Israelis and Palestinians continues without an end in sight. Increasing numbers of young Palestinian men and women are willingly to blow themselves up for the cause of a Greater Palestine or driving the occupying forces out. Given the fact that memories in the Middle East stay for thousands of years, hope for peace seems to be generations away. Israel must act immediately to stop the daily carnage. Israel must impose a unilateral, forced separation by building a tall and wide wall between the two states.
Unilaterally building a 'cold' wall is not a very heart-warming solution in comparison to negotiated 'warm' peace. The Israeli Right is appropriately concerned about the future of the settlements which will end up, according to this proposal, on the other side of the wall. The Israeli Left naively still hopes to see true peace rather than a time out phase. However, history has taught us that walls or time-outs can effectively separate warring parties, reduce hostilities in the short run and bring peace in the long run. The Berlin Wall separated the two Germany's well and got dismantled when the time was right for reconciliation. China was protected well by the Great Wall and the Roman Empire was equally well protected from the barbarians by the Roman Limes. The wall between the Greeks and the Turks in Cyprus has also proven effective and so has the grim DMZ between North and South Korea. A little know fact is the effectiveness of the already in place security fence around parts of the Gaza Strip.
A 20-point plan for unilateral forced separation:
General principles:
The amount of hatred, spilled blood and distrust makes peace impossible in the foreseeable future.
Only a time out in a form of forced separation can stop the daily carnage in the region.
Israel will unilaterally implement a physical separation between itself and the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by constructing a wall and a security buffer zone.
This idea is not founded on trust or love of the Palestinians. It is based on the idea their hatred and despair towards Israel is so great at this point that peace is not possible.
The wall (with the accompanying high voltage electric fences, barbed wire, land mines, etc See #9 for details) will make it impossible for suicide bombers to simply cross the presently, barely marked border into Israel and blow themselves up.
Such separation will stop the daily violence and deadly altercations in the region, which occur between the Israeli Army in the occupied territories and the Palestinians, especially at checkpoints and around the settlements.
It will allow the Israelis and the Palestinians to cool off and allow a new generation to grow up without experiencing first hand the injuries, hatred, and fear of their neighbor. Then, and only then, will peace even be a possibility.
Further considerations:
This separation does not require lengthy negotiation, international summits and endless pre-conditions that have rendered such attempts useless. It does not require endorsement by the Palestinians, USA, Arab States, UN or the international community. Israel can implement it tomorrow.
The wall will be wide and tall. It will be augmented by high voltage electric, barbed wire and electronically monitored fences, strips of (clearly marked) land mines, booby traps, neutral zones and other electronic technology, explosives, satellites and available sophisticated devices.
The wall will be built as close as possible to the 1967 green line. It will divide Jerusalem again so East Jerusalem can become the capital of the new Palestinian state. It will go around the heavily populated Jewish areas around Jerusalem and the Palestinians will be compensated by land elsewhere.
Israeli armed forces will be categorically excluded from the Palestinian side of the wall.
Israel will initially retain minimal, necessary control over the entries along the Jordan River from Jordan into Palestine and along the Mediterranean Sea coastline for the sole purpose of preventing entrance of heavy arms into the Palestinian State. This monitoring responsibility will be transferred within a short period to a third party, such as the UN or other neutral entity.
The settlers presently living in the occupied territories will have to choose to move into Israel or take the grave risk of living under Palestinian control. Of course, this is one of the sorest points in the discussion of the wall. This solution will stop the confrontations resulting from the presence of 200,000 settlers residing in dozens of settlements all over the West Bank in the midst of more than two million Palestinians. It will prevent the escalation of conflict, bloodshed, and immense suffering on all sides resulting from their relentless pursuit of the "Greater Israel" dream.
The Palestinians will be able to focus on their newly established State's affairs. These internal affairs are likely to be complex, numerous and regretfully divisive and volatile but with support and financial assistance from the Arab nations and international community should stabilize.
The wall will have a few crossing points where Palestinian laborers under intense Israeli scrutiny, may cross into Israel. Suicide bombers will be detected by similar means used in airports. Goods will also be inspected and transported between the two states through these gates.
The Gaza Strip will be connected to the West Bank via a direct, non-stop, secured, fenced, suspended highway. A fast rail should also be considered, as it will provide hermetically secure rail cars for passengers and cargo.
If hostility is initiated from the Palestinian side (e.g. launching the Kasam home made rockets over the wall) Israel will respond the same way it would respond if Syria, Egypt, Jordan or Iraq had initiated such hostilities. It will do whatever is necessary to protect itself. Having one of the most powerful armies in the world, Israel is perfectly capable of protecting itself by military and other means.
In Summary:
In the short run, such a separation will stop the suicide bombers from entering Israel at will, reduce the volatile atmosphere in the region, and put an end to the role of Israelis as an occupation force.
This cooling off arrangement will enable healing, from the wounds of occupation and enmity to begin in the souls of Israeli and Palestinian citizens and soldiers, and in Jews and Arabs around the world.
Hopefully in the long run, this separation will translate into a stable, albeit, cautious co-existence and, ultimately, into real peace.
Very good reading! This is the first of his essays I will post.
[I could not paste over the line #s.]
Day after day we watch the cycle of endless violence between Israelis and Palestinians play in front of our eyes. The suicide bombings and counter bombing, attacks and counter-attacks continue the incessant dance of death. Day after tragic day I have watched the carnage - angry, sad, and impotent, paralyzed by the unprecedented growing violence in the region.
The Israeli Right, like the Palestinian extremists seems to feed the flames; the Israeli Left, like their peace camp counterparts, appears hopelessly naïve and silent. The great and small powers of the world are rendered repetitive and simplistic, failing to grasp the depth of the differences and complexities of this conflict. Even the most reasonable say, "There is no solution." Israel and Palestine seem to be trapped in a deadly cycle, repeating horror after horror, around and around, faster and faster.
I served as an officer in the Israeli Army and was wounded in the war of 1973. Healing from the war injury was difficult. However much more difficult was recovering from the haunting memories of what I did and did not do in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Lebanon. The toll of the occupation weighs heavily on my soul and on the souls of many Israelis who have served in the Palestinian territories. The Jewish people are widely, and potentially violently, split and so even though Israel, with its mighty army may gain military victory over the Palestinians it likely may lose its soul.
Like the Vietnamese who fought off the Americans and the Afghanis who fought off the Soviets, the Palestinians realized with the recent withdrawal of the Israeli army from Southern Lebanon that Israel could no longer stomach the continuous human cost of occupation. Palestinians are also aware that Israel is gradually losing sympathy in the eyes of the international community and of many Jews abroad. They recognize that many Israelis are feeling dispirited, some army reservists are refusing to serve in the Occupied Territories and that other Israelis, like me, leave Israel for a moral reasons.
The daily reality of destruction, injury, hate, revenge and death between Israelis and Palestinians continues without an end in sight. Increasing numbers of young Palestinian men and women are willingly to blow themselves up for the cause of a Greater Palestine or driving the occupying forces out. Given the fact that memories in the Middle East stay for thousands of years, hope for peace seems to be generations away. Israel must act immediately to stop the daily carnage. Israel must impose a unilateral, forced separation by building a tall and wide wall between the two states.
Unilaterally building a 'cold' wall is not a very heart-warming solution in comparison to negotiated 'warm' peace. The Israeli Right is appropriately concerned about the future of the settlements which will end up, according to this proposal, on the other side of the wall. The Israeli Left naively still hopes to see true peace rather than a time out phase. However, history has taught us that walls or time-outs can effectively separate warring parties, reduce hostilities in the short run and bring peace in the long run. The Berlin Wall separated the two Germany's well and got dismantled when the time was right for reconciliation. China was protected well by the Great Wall and the Roman Empire was equally well protected from the barbarians by the Roman Limes. The wall between the Greeks and the Turks in Cyprus has also proven effective and so has the grim DMZ between North and South Korea. A little know fact is the effectiveness of the already in place security fence around parts of the Gaza Strip.
A 20-point plan for unilateral forced separation:
General principles:
The amount of hatred, spilled blood and distrust makes peace impossible in the foreseeable future.
Only a time out in a form of forced separation can stop the daily carnage in the region.
Israel will unilaterally implement a physical separation between itself and the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by constructing a wall and a security buffer zone.
This idea is not founded on trust or love of the Palestinians. It is based on the idea their hatred and despair towards Israel is so great at this point that peace is not possible.
The wall (with the accompanying high voltage electric fences, barbed wire, land mines, etc See #9 for details) will make it impossible for suicide bombers to simply cross the presently, barely marked border into Israel and blow themselves up.
Such separation will stop the daily violence and deadly altercations in the region, which occur between the Israeli Army in the occupied territories and the Palestinians, especially at checkpoints and around the settlements.
It will allow the Israelis and the Palestinians to cool off and allow a new generation to grow up without experiencing first hand the injuries, hatred, and fear of their neighbor. Then, and only then, will peace even be a possibility.
Further considerations:
This separation does not require lengthy negotiation, international summits and endless pre-conditions that have rendered such attempts useless. It does not require endorsement by the Palestinians, USA, Arab States, UN or the international community. Israel can implement it tomorrow.
The wall will be wide and tall. It will be augmented by high voltage electric, barbed wire and electronically monitored fences, strips of (clearly marked) land mines, booby traps, neutral zones and other electronic technology, explosives, satellites and available sophisticated devices.
The wall will be built as close as possible to the 1967 green line. It will divide Jerusalem again so East Jerusalem can become the capital of the new Palestinian state. It will go around the heavily populated Jewish areas around Jerusalem and the Palestinians will be compensated by land elsewhere.
Israeli armed forces will be categorically excluded from the Palestinian side of the wall.
Israel will initially retain minimal, necessary control over the entries along the Jordan River from Jordan into Palestine and along the Mediterranean Sea coastline for the sole purpose of preventing entrance of heavy arms into the Palestinian State. This monitoring responsibility will be transferred within a short period to a third party, such as the UN or other neutral entity.
The settlers presently living in the occupied territories will have to choose to move into Israel or take the grave risk of living under Palestinian control. Of course, this is one of the sorest points in the discussion of the wall. This solution will stop the confrontations resulting from the presence of 200,000 settlers residing in dozens of settlements all over the West Bank in the midst of more than two million Palestinians. It will prevent the escalation of conflict, bloodshed, and immense suffering on all sides resulting from their relentless pursuit of the "Greater Israel" dream.
The Palestinians will be able to focus on their newly established State's affairs. These internal affairs are likely to be complex, numerous and regretfully divisive and volatile but with support and financial assistance from the Arab nations and international community should stabilize.
The wall will have a few crossing points where Palestinian laborers under intense Israeli scrutiny, may cross into Israel. Suicide bombers will be detected by similar means used in airports. Goods will also be inspected and transported between the two states through these gates.
The Gaza Strip will be connected to the West Bank via a direct, non-stop, secured, fenced, suspended highway. A fast rail should also be considered, as it will provide hermetically secure rail cars for passengers and cargo.
If hostility is initiated from the Palestinian side (e.g. launching the Kasam home made rockets over the wall) Israel will respond the same way it would respond if Syria, Egypt, Jordan or Iraq had initiated such hostilities. It will do whatever is necessary to protect itself. Having one of the most powerful armies in the world, Israel is perfectly capable of protecting itself by military and other means.
In Summary:
In the short run, such a separation will stop the suicide bombers from entering Israel at will, reduce the volatile atmosphere in the region, and put an end to the role of Israelis as an occupation force.
This cooling off arrangement will enable healing, from the wounds of occupation and enmity to begin in the souls of Israeli and Palestinian citizens and soldiers, and in Jews and Arabs around the world.
Hopefully in the long run, this separation will translate into a stable, albeit, cautious co-existence and, ultimately, into real peace.