Ready When You Are

In December of 1987 my wife and I decided to visit a friend of ours who lives in a place called Tekoa. It is in the Judean hills between Jerusalem and Hebron. This was before Waze, and we really didn't know where we were going. All I did know was that it was near the ancient fortress of Herodium.  I followed signs in that direction, figuring as I got closer, I would see signs for Tekoa.

As we were driving, we went through a garbage dump and then an Arab village where the people were giving us the stink eye. when we finally reached our destination, I said to my friend, Bobby you know we went through this Arab village and a garbage dump. Is this how you go to work every day?

He looked at us and said, you took the garbage road? Nobody takes the garbage Road.

Not long after that was the start of the first intifada, and I guess in a lot of ways we were very lucky.

Last week we were invited to dinner at some friends in Kfar Adumim, also in the Judean Hills. This time we had Waze. It was during rush hour, so it took us in a direction that I normally would not have gone. As I was passing highway 6 (the way I normally would have gone) I realized that we may be traveling through some places that we had not intended.

Before I knew it, the yellow license plates, signifying Israeli cars, started becoming less and less prevalent, and the white license plates of Palestine began to appear in greater frequency

We were once again, metaphorically, on the garbage road.

I wasn't scared but I can't say that I wasn't nervous. We passed Israeli hilltop settlements with huge Israeli flags waving in the air like a big middle finger to the surrounding Arab villages.

I wondered what I would do if I suddenly had a flat tire or had to stop for any reason. The road also had a lot of curves, it was a bit difficult to drive on. Fortunately, unlike our trip in 1987 which was at night, this time we were driving during the day. I also admit it was very beautiful.

Once again when we arrived at our friends’ house, we told them how we went and their reaction was, why would you do that, nobody goes that way.

When I think about the road trip and my feelings at the time, I sometimes feel the situation here just seems hopeless. I'm not complaining on how we live in Israel. We enjoy that very much. But at some point, you must wonder if your grandchildren or great grandchildren will still have to go to the army to defend our Homeland.

Today I got an answer to that question. I was recently told to look at a YouTube channel produced by Corey Gill Schuster. It is called the ASK Project. He goes around asking questions about Israelis and Palestinians to both group and records their answers.

The first one I watched asked Palestinians If they would be willing to ever share the land with Israelis if there was peace. Not one of the Palestinians asked said that they were willing to do that. The most common answer was that the Jews had stolen their land and had no right to be there. Therefore, they would not be willing to share anything. Even when asked if there would be peace, and their children would no longer need to fight, the answer was the same.

The next video I watched was also question to Palestinians. Asking if they had ever heard of the massacre in Hebron in 1929. (this was when Arabs rioted throughout Palestine killing hundreds of Jews).

Not one of the Palestinians had.

Yet they all knew about Baruch Goldstein, who murdered 29 Palestinians in Hebron in 1994.

The next video asked Israelis if they were willing to do business and/or  have a dialogue with Palestinians. Most Israelis said yes to both questions. When the same question was asked of the Palestinians, almost all said they were willing to do business with Israelis but that they would not be willing to have any kind of dialogue whatsoever.

I think it is apparent that some of the people were scared to answer what they really thought. You can tell in the hesitation they had in giving their answers and the fact some said they would do whatever the Palestinian Authority would let them do

Unfortunately, most people did not hesitate at all.

There are very many other videos that ask many other interesting and provocative questions. I am not sure I will watch anymore because I think I can see how this goes.

It is very depressing

I'm not sure where this leads us. I certainly have no answers at all. I also can understand why most Palestinians feel the way they do. I don’t know if I would be any different if I was fed Generational Misinformation ( I just made that up I think) teaching the things these people have been taught for the last 70+ years.

Even worse, I do not think that I am alone when I say, that on a regular day I do not think of the Palestinian situation at all. What I got from the videos and from fellow Israelis I have spoken to, is that no one really cares about that anymore.

We have offered peace 7 times, from 1948 on, that have all been rejected, most of them with violence.

We have left Gaza only to see it become a terrorist enclave.

I feel that they have our number, and when they are ready to talk, they know who to call.

Unfortunately, based on the interviews I saw, that may be a long time in coming