a terrorist attack! I understand individual suffering because first I understand my individual suffering and that of my people. From that body of knowledge I understand and empathize with the individual suffering of the individual Palestinian and the Palestinian people. However, I do not understand why it is my place as a Jew to place the suffering of the Palestinian people above my own. Nor do I understand why I need to punish myself by assuming that I am somehow to blame for their ills. Finally I do not understand why Mr. Kaniuk feels a need to personally be the voice of the Palestinian people...that is presumptuous and supersillious! It insults everyone Jew and Palestinian alike!

They came to kill us and they lost their lives in the process. I am not happy for them being dead but certainly I prefer them dead than us. Better their children dead than ours and better their widows than ours, better them in refugee camps than us drowning in the sea. They still want to kill us hence they do not deserve my respect and I spit on their graves and hope for a final Nakba when we reposes our country completely without enemies from within, and that includes you Mr. Kaniuk

I completely agree with you sir. I told my son when he left the US to move to Israel and join the IDF (he became a Staff Sargent in the 101 Paratrooper Scout Unit), 2 things. The first remember what the famous WW2 Gen. George Patton once said the idea in war is to make the other bastard die for his country and second that has respect for your ememy in battle. Turn your swords into Plowshares and embrass your former ememy. The world will once again respect Israel.

he author of this article has no understanding of what Jerusalem means to Jews. Giving the Arabs a state on the Land of Israel will bring peace. It will bring war and destruction.

Hey Cameron, ever hear of "Tarleton's quarter?" That's what they'll get.

Maybe those Nakbas should also be taught in Israeli Schools - so we can respect our enemies' narrative

Yoram Kaniuk understands history and is trying to show magnanimity in victory towards the Palestinian Arabs of this land. This is synonymous with self confidence and acceptance of the other. An army can be defeated but a people never will. He is to be commended for that. This does not apply to the arrogant lot (almost all of the respondents) who do not understand the meaning of magnanimity and certainly do not have the self confidence of a victor. Their sentiments are simply barbaric and reflect fear and uncertainty about the future.

When the Arabs were no longer 'Syrians". So tell us how you remember this.

Your media and public opinion polls indicate otherwise. "Shahids are to be honored on most high" "Arabs are supreme and Jews are our dogs" "Jews were never here and the Temple they claim was only a building" Perhaps your memories are a bit lacking. You forgot the part when you took part in a planned genocide of hundreds of thousands of Jews, and squatted on land belong to an absent owner after sneaking in from Iraq, Jordan, and Egypt.

If Patton believed in respecting his enemy and embracing them as former enemies....what would be his reaction if while trying to embrace his former enemies, they turned around and attacked Patton....claiming proudly that they do not accept defeat, will always be the enemy, and won't stop until every American is dead or speaking German..... Understand this question, and you'll understand the situation in Israel all the more, as your son apparently does now.

Saying that we are victors is fine and correct, however the action your asking for only works if the other side admits defeat and the war is over. This hasn't happened since 1920. The war is still on and, according to Arabs, it will end only with the destruction of Israel and when every last Jews is forced out. I'm sorry you feel us talkbackers are arrogant but until the other side realizes they DID lose and there is no where to go EXCEPT to respect the other side....we will remain vigilant and ready to survive. For sure, once the other side gives up their eternal fight and their fantasy narrative, they will be embraced as brothers...as so many Israelis have tried in the past and paid for it dearly.

Let me see if I get you correct: 1) Israel won a war started by her enemies; 2) her enemies lost but fought well; so 3) Israel should show her losing enemies respect by giving up the won land back to them. Absolutely amazing! You've got to be the biggest MORON I have ever met; and I've met plenty in this upside-down world! IDIOT

Read some history, Shaalan! The arabs before 1948 and even until 1967 considered themselves ARABS, even Syrian. Arab nationalism was always to part of a greater pan-arab federation. The only Palestinians were the Jews. The Jews didn't steal the land, moron. They bought it, desert swamp and crap and turned into a garden while the likes of you were too busy shovelling camel shit and thinking up ways to kill the Jews. You're right, history is solid. Solidly against the bullshit of you and Nour. and even now you refuse to face the truth and still try to drive the Jews into the sea. The article is a hugh joke and comes from someone who is a self-hating Israeli leftist ignoramus. The fact that Nour likes it so much is proof that its just a turgid vomit-inducing drivel!

Check out the current Pali textbooks and TV. With that type of education it will never be the "Peace of the Brave" but the peace of the grave!

This article is absurd due to the inacceptable comparison of the Nakba to the Shoah. The question of Jerusalem is not the core issue. The Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Arab Conflict are the consequences of the Russian Tsarist antisemitism, of the European Antisemitism and directly of the Sykes-Picot secret agreements i 1916 which preceded the Balfour Declaration. Thus this Protracted war against the Staye of Israel and the Jews is the consequence odf Religious Christian Fanatism, Tsarist antiselmitism , NAZI RACISM culminating with the extermination of 6 millions of Jews, European Colonialism. When The palestinians will teach that to their children and not the hatred of jews and the same holds true in all arab counties including those in PEACE with Israël, The Government and the nation of Israël will start to belive that Peace is not a dream. OF course, for any rational mind Two states is the solution; Of course the Mosques of Jerusalem must be ruled by Muslims and The Churches by Christians. It is already the case...........for 19 years no Jew could go to the KOTEL With palestinian people and a unified leadership really accepting a Jewish state and acting rationally , There is no problem for establishing a palestinian state, even with A palestinian capital adjacent to the Jewish Jerusalem including The KOTEL . That Palestinian state MUST be demilitarized. LEBANON knows what means a Military presence of Palestinians on its territory until now. The author is sincere . I Respect him. He wants peace. He does not know what DE GAULLE SAID; THE SWORD IS THE AXIS OF THE WORLD. The Autor has forgotten or does not know that the HELL IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS Marc Mordekhaï

having visited the place a number of times. The negative picture that Mr. Kaniuk draws says more, much more about the author and his attitude towards this bastion of democracy in our region - Israel - than about the Knesset. How sad, how sad indeed that a person is so blinded. Oh, and the "nakba", "catastrophe" which stands in Arab eyes for the very proclamation of Israel, thus incidentally is the annual date of commemoration which also coincide with the day on which five Arab armies initiated their attack of extermination against the Jewish state just proclaimed based on UN decisions, and defeated, thus another reason for a "catastrophe".

I do believe that Israelis as a whole should learn about Arabic culture. I also believe that all Israelis should speak arabic fluently. After all this is the middle East. In order to one day have a decent relationship with all people in the middle east everyone should learn about each others cultures. I am not sure that arabs will learn much but at least the Israelis should. Now that this is said, the Nakba should never be celebrated in Israel. By celbrating the Nakba, arabs will never be able to feel fully israeli and in 300 years arabs will still be lamenting themselves. Despite tons of migrations throughout history, there is no Nakba anywhere else because it is against integration and it is insulting to the other's culture (even if we care less about the other one because they won but it is still insulting and doing so you will iritate them, therefore not help integration).

If you wish to disrespect those who blow up buses filled with women and children, then recall the Stern Gang and the Irgun, who were the first to plant bombs aboard buses filled with women and children, along with bombs in cafes, restaurants, and hotels.

Oh, really? Please document your claims. I know of no instance where the Stern Gang or the Irgun blew up buses with innocent civilians. You fool. Even when the English military headquarters in the King David Hotel were blown up, a warning call was made, 45 minutes in advance. What kind of bullsh*t are you trying to peddle here? It isn't going to work -- the FACTS are against you.

Israel disbanded Stern Gang and Irgun over 60 years ago. Would you be so cavalier if terrorists were blowing up San Francisco buses and restaurants? Or would you respect them?

I did not read a single word about the jewish Naqba, which left 900,000 Jews from the arab world homeless, after being pogromed, stripped and expelled by their local dictators. This is the genuine Naqba denial. This carefully silenced exodus definitely delegitimizes the Pals' "right of return", whatever fake argument they might fancy to justify it.

this is to all the racists on this site. denying the Nakba is like the iranian president denying the holocaust. They both happened. The Palestinian people have existed for thousands of years just like the jews. The jews and palestinians have both had very tragic histories, and unless they promote peace , understanding and tolerance they are only going to write a worse future for themselves. No jewish mother wants her son or daughter to get on a bus only to be killed by a bomb, and no palestinian mother wants to burry her family due to Israeli bombing. Burry the hatchet people and get on with your lives, personally im tired of hearing Jews complain about how bad they have it. Trust me the Pali's have it worse. And no country wants to give the Pali's money only to have it stolen by their leaders.

We are not the same, we are diametric opposites. We have nothing in common. We know who we are. You invented a ficticious bogus history and expropriated from our history. This is the truth that needs to be told.