something about Gaza
I support the pullout from Gaza. We should not have stayed there this long (or at all) anyway. Unfortunately, Sharon does not have a grand plan to show what will happen the day after the pullout (aside from the Palestinians declaring victory.) But, it’s a step in the right direction as far as my views are concerned. People should stop needlessly perishing there, from both sides. Let’s hope good comes of it.
For my international readers, I’d like to point out an excerpt from an Ha’aretz article titled “Don’t let the settlers fool you“:
A stranger from Mars who read the newspapers, listened to the radio and saw the television could conclude that the pullout from Gaza had been carried out under unconceivable duress by a heartless army of conquest that fell on an innocent group of people and dragged them from their homes - without preparation, without warning, without compensation, without assistance - and sentenced them to cruel exile with only the shirts on their backs.
The settlers have the knack of turning themselves into “the robbed Cossack.” They will always present themselves as the ones who have been wronged, the hapless who have been maltreated, the trampled-on minority - even though the truth is the exact opposite. They complain about everything - that “no solution” was prepared for them, that the temporary housing is not suitable, that the double-wide trailer is too small, that the hotels are too full and the babies have no Materna and no pacifiers.
Please read the whole article (in Hebrew) to get a better perspective that you would not get anywhere else outside of Israel.
August 24th, 2005 at 8:35 am
Saar this article is pure HATE and contains as much truth as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Seriously, this is what you see the “settlers” as ? Maybe you should spend a lot more time with “them”, until you can see “them”, as “us”.
This is a real hack job.
Where is all the Ha’Aretz sympathy and concern for human rights when it comes to their fellow citizens ?
Oh wait…
http://www.israpundit.com/archives/2005/08/a_powerful_indi.php#more
How about …
“All of the experts say that moving from one’s home is considered one of the major traumas a person can endure.
Yesterday I walked into one of the Jerusalem hotels housing refugees from Gush Katif. The people I observed looked shattered. I couldn’t establish eye contact, and I didn’t want to invade their private grief. They were at the post-trauma stage during which they needed some time to re-gather their energies in order to decide how to proceed with their lives. The person in charge told me that I could interview the youth gathered for an activity, but when I tried to ask the kids, they looked at me blankly, with dead eyes. ….”
http://www.theraphi.com/medad/reflections.html
Maybe some people in Tel-Aviv should be thrown out of their homes by thousands of soldiers and then see how they feel about exchanging their nice condo for a trailer.
This lack of empathy and compassion is anything but Jewish SHAME ON YOU HA’ARETZ.
Seriously I would consider removing this trash lest your friends get the idea that this is what “settlers” are like.
The reality is that these “settlers” are REAL people, some are amazing and wonderful, others are not as cool. To label them with titles like “extremist” and “ulra-anything” is to equate them with the Arab terrorists that try to kill them everyday. All it does is make the Left in Israel look like extremist-moonbats who only have a heart when it suits them. Is compassion saved only for non-Jews ?
These people valued their homes more than “money”. Maybe the secular people in Israel cannot see anything as more important than money ? Is that what is going on here ? “Don’t complain, you whiners, I mean the government promised to PAY you didn’t they ?” The only people helping to re-locate, temporarily house, and offer comfort to these new refugees (where are you UN) are their fellow religious jews. Shame on you secular Israel.
Saar, please tell me this article doesn’t represent your thoughts on this matter….
August 24th, 2005 at 10:17 am
Dear Mike,
Thanks for your input. I’ve written a long response to your comment, but decided not to post it. I linked this article for perspective and it seems like you got it. My suggestion to you is to keep on reading things that do not align with your current view.
Hope all is well in Silicon Valley and that no soldiers/terrorists ever visit your peaceful Campbell home.
August 24th, 2005 at 3:01 pm
Saar, I read many things that do not align with my view. The point is that after researching a topic we feel that we have come up with a justified true belief which is a necessary condition for deciding on how to act to a given situation. Having researched many arguments on this issue, My response to that writer in Ha’Aretz is: “Get A Clue” or better yet: “Get A Grip On Reality” or even more to the point, “Get A Heart”.
These people have been throughly demonized and enough is enough.
Shame
You are more than welcome to send your long response to my private email.
I haven’t seen any terrorists lately but they did nab a few in So. Cal.
Kol Tuv,
M
August 24th, 2005 at 4:07 pm
For a FAR better view:
http://www.nationalreview.com/script/printpage.p?ref=/comment/wurmser200508240819.asp
August 24th, 2005 at 8:55 pm
There is no doubt that settlers are experiencing grief - even if they are handsomely recompensed by the government.
But there is enough rhetoric to go around as this article illustrates. Thanks for sharing it with us, Saar, we can believe whatever we want and try to find our own judgement.
For one I find the comparisons to Nazis abhorrent, as do religious Jews I know. But I may not be in a suitable position to judge - I served in Zahal in the 80’s and vividly remember ‘Rav’ Levinger (sp?) harassing us in Hebron and calling us similar to ‘Nazis’. We were there to frankly protect the local Arabs from these nutcases. (As a former ‘Kibbutznik’ I typically have a soft spot for settlers of any stripe.)
August 24th, 2005 at 9:40 pm
We’ll see if the government even pays or pays even a fraction.
August 25th, 2005 at 6:42 am
Mike,
“Better” is very subjective. Thanks for the link.
I hope they get what they deserve, no more and no less.
Stuart,
The settlers greet(ed) the soldiers who are(were) there to protect them with name calling (”Nazis” or “Yudenrat” are very popular to this day) and excrements. Then continued by treating them like slaves. Hardly welcoming. Although I can say not all behave in such manner and the generalizations are perhaps due to the extremests. I had my own experiences during my time with these folk, and they were not pleasant.
August 25th, 2005 at 11:58 am
As a non-Israeli, non-Arab citizen of this world I welcome Sharon’s action. I think this shows his braveness (I refer anyone who has doubts about Sharon’s characteristics to read Moshe Dayan’s memories writtenm decades ago where he praises Sharon’s braveness and wisdom over and over again). I hope that his government (as well as the Palestinian moderates) play the rest of the game wisely so that the terrorists do not steal the momentum and claim a victory (I hate to hear them saying “Hey we kicked out Israel by our terrorist acts”.
PS: I feel for all the people who had to leave their homes behind however I believe in the cruel law that “one can not make an omelette without breaking some eggs”