Opinion
Tradition trumps diplomacy
Dan Calic
Published: 25.05.11, 23:51
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37 Talkbacks for this article
1. Excellent
Jeremy   (05.26.11)
How easy the problem is to understand when you speak the simple truth.
2. Sad.
Jules   (05.26.11)
I am very saddened by the fact that such article didn't appear 20 years ago, BEFORE the "Oslo agreements". So many lives could have been saved...
3. like it or not, Israel was created on stolen land.
Moise   (05.26.11)
live thanks to western generosity, reminding the world of their victimhood. so please stop the travesty. The world support the Palestinian quest for dignity and statehood and their right are reestablished.
4. you are talking about yourself!
Jamal ,   Jordan   (05.26.11)
This article talks half the facts and doesn’t mention the other side of the story. Jews who wanted to stay in Palestine committed crimes and massacres against civilians, which no one can deny, what do you expect from Arabs to react to you? When the Jews lived side by side with Palestinians during the Ottoman rule and the British mandate, did anyone complain and denied them their right to exist? What about the tradition of Israelis? Most if not all, believe that this land given by God! Israelis wants to deny Palestinians their identity being the original inhabitants of this land, so what does that leave for diplomacy? Can you deny how many homes were confiscated or demolished because the land owner doesn’t have a license! Do you deny that Israel uses excessive force when they fight land liberators? Can you deny the massacres that occurred in the history, if you can deny it please erase from people's heads and take off Wikipedia!
5. Peace
Mary A Airey ,   Bermuda   (05.26.11)
It is a sad day when humans choose to act like barbarians, because they think that they have it altogether. I love the God of the Jews, and like Ruth with Naomi, your God is my God and His people are my people. God bless the State of Israel which is the State of the Jews.
6. The best article ever written about Arabs/Jews conflict
Ram ,   New York, NY   (05.26.11)
It is very sad to see the arabs people suffer while their politician and rulers keep live their luxery life. People should know that despite the conflict Israeli Arabs enjoy freedom and prosperity. When the arab street will wake up?
7. Tradition Trumps
Lawrence Gelman ,   McAllen, Texas U.S.A   (05.26.11)
That's it exactly.
8. The best article ever
Dan Kelso   (05.26.11)
Plain and simple the best article ever. PalMediaWatch has also been documening the Arabs incitement and glorification to kill Jews and denial of Jewish history.
9. While this article is true and valid...
Lobo ,   USA   (05.26.11)
It won't matter to the rest of the world. The Arabs know the world is scared of them. As long as Arabs have oil, they will have the power.
10. world contributions
IRV ,   USA   (05.26.11)
Perhaps the last sentence of the article was a typo and should have been when arabs move from DESTRUCTION to PRODUCTION ect. Other wise the article was spot on showing the true difference between the Jews of Israel and the pals.
11. Excellent Article ...
SE ,   USA   (05.26.11)
Great op-ed. However I don't believe that author intended to say at the end: "However, until such time that the Arab focus shifts from production to destruction we should not be surprised that peace remains nowhere in sight." I believe that it should read "destruction to production."
12. Rapproachment is never going to happen
StevieT ,   USA   (05.26.11)
Even given the hopeful, youthful nature of this Arab Spring thing, the hatreds driven into them during their early, formative years are going to be too much too for them to overcome. Depressing, but unfortunately true.
13. Clinging to the tradition of victimhood
Tomek ,   Poland   (05.26.11)
is a Jewish specialty.
14. Victims of Hate and Violence
Alex   (05.26.11)
I thought that was the mantra of the Israelis, to justify their illegal occupation and persecution of the Palestinians.
15. this article should be printed by our computer
Jrodstein ,   Basalt, Colorado   (05.26.11)
printers and spread in public places like coffee shops for people to learn the plane and simple truth. Bibi speech was also powerful for stating the truth.
16. Some Jewish Cities & Tech. Were Already Built PRIOR To 1947!
Ed ,   Dorneyville, U S A !   (05.26.11)
At the 1939 New York's "World's Fair", Israel's accomplishments, technological & agricultural were on full display at the "Jewish Palestine Pavilion" - art deco edifice building & all! This article, though good/well-intentioned is a bit misleading when it infers that 'modern Israel' (after the 1947 U.N. resolution for partition & subsequently being attacked/war) ..."went to work setting up communities, building roads, power plants, electrical grids, water and irrigation systems, cultivating land and so on." - This totally negates the IMMENSE progress that Jewish muscle & brains accomplished prior to partition & gives the impression that progress was made only after the 1948 War of Independence by a group of then recent Jewish immigrants/refugees to Eretz Yisrael.
17. So simple and so true!
JEW1 ,   ASH & IL   (05.26.11)
You nailed it right on spot! Simple and brillently explained! I agree with the last sentence that until their focus will not shift from destruction to production, we will not see peace in horizon. As Golda Meir said that we will not have peace with Arabs until they start loving their own children more than they hate us!
18. #14
Eli ,   Yerushalayim   (05.26.11)
Errare humanum.
19. It says it all.
Eli ,   Yerushalayim   (05.26.11)
20. # You're not paying attention!!!!
Talula ,   Israel   (05.26.11)
It's the ARABS who decided NOT to live side by side with Israelis. Why do you insist in rewriting history that is so far removed from the truth? When the Arabs declared war on Israel, what did you expect us to do? Clearly you thought we'd pack up and leave, but that didn't happen. And, the Arab world was shocked to its core when my small little country took on every hostile Arab nation that attacked it.... and won. War is ugly, and innocence die, but that was a choice the Arabs made when they refused to live side by side with us. Not sure why you get yourself so bent out of shape about Israel, when really the Palestinian Arabs do have a homeland, and that's Jordan – this has been documented time and time again. Furthermore, you also forget that many Arabs fled Israel, but also, many stayed and are living a relatively peaceful coexistence with Israelis in the same towns and villages. I'm treated very nicely and with respect when I go into a Arab towns to buy things from time to time. It's not all doom and gloom, and I think it's time you moved on and leave us alone to live a peaceful and quiet life.
21. jamel get your history right
adam ,   netanya   (05.26.11)
yes true that their was several violant attcks on the arabs in palestine (the name given by the romans not becouse of a palestin people)by certain jewish groups HOWEVER they where only a hand full ,have never reoccured and the group was denounced and dismanteld by the jewish leadership. all this was done before 49 . now lest look at your side the arabs have always coused trouble and death to the jews since 1200 in the walls of jerusalem . jews were always dispite all the majority of jerusalem . the first attack of arabs againts a jewish settelment was in 1889 a year after patach tikva was created .WHY? was it yours it was bought from a sultan in cash legally making it ours .and since then you have been making up stories such as tel aviv is an arab vilage . get your history right couse i can go on and on with facts and all you can do is cry about lechis actions that happened 60 odd years ago
22. #20 is directed at #4
Talula ,   Isrel   (05.26.11)
23. Arab Leadership is the Very Disaster
Abdel Karim Salim ,   Jerusalem   (05.26.11)
We,arabs and Palestinians, were all the time cheated and deceived,betrayed and misguided by our so-called leaders who ranged from Nasser of Egypt to the PLO.Nasser hypnotized us into dreaming of going back to liberated Palestine especially when he made clear his intention to destroy Israel barely one week before the outbreak of the 1967 Six-Day War. The PLO all the time made us believe it was an organization of freedom fighters whose main goal was bringing back our usurped land ! It was not until Nasser was dealt a stunning defeat in 1967 and until the PLO was finally besieged for three months in Beirut and then expelled from Lebanon and sent to distant exile in north Africa in 1982 that the PLO was reduced to its real,miniature size which made it weak and helpless.Palestinians in general are much disliked in Jordan and Lebanon because of the much-confused and deliberately-deviant policies of the PLO ! But in the end Sadat of Egypt recognized Israel and the peace he made with Israel became an accomplished fact- fait accompli- whether the rest of the arabs liked it or not . Yes the rest of the arabs did not like it but they find it impossible to ignore and hence from this reality the arab mind has started to change radically but positively in general in the sense that most arabs and Palestinians are now ready,in principle at least,to accept Israel's existence and to live in coexistence with Israel . Of course the PA and HAMAS still use wild rhetoric (and violence) but it is for local consumption only to make them still appear nationalistic ! One big curse we,Palestinians, still suffer from is that we are denied freedom of expression, and any independent mind acting outside the die-hard PLO is ,without surprise, called a traitor ,as if only the PLO monopolized nationalistic feelings and only the PLO knew best what is best for the Palestinian people !
24. #3 Moise
Albrecht Klein ,   Germany   (05.26.11)
Israel was created on stolen land? Interesting. And from whom? As far as I know there has never been an Arab state or nation called "Palestine" in the Middle East. Israel has been created (like Lebanon, Jordan etc.) from the remnants of the Ottoman Empire. So get over it and stop whining.
25. typo at end of piece
Dan Calic   (05.26.11)
There was a typo in the last sentence which has now been changed.
26. Deonunced?
Jamal ,   Jordan   (05.26.11)
Go read about Sabra and shatila massacre counted 3000-5000 civilian lives direct responsibility Ariel Sharon the ex prime minister of Israel, was he prosecuted, trialed? once labeled by intelligent George Bush 'the man of peace!' You are brainwashed and you dont like to read others version of the history, just like this article framing Arabs who ruled this region for 1200 years and provided shelter to Jews who were facing regular hostility in Europe and now wants to tell the world that Israelis are so great and Arabs are the opposite!
27. But without victimhood, hatered and violence
StoutViking ,   Midgaard   (05.26.11)
they will lose their identity.
28. Martydom is a Christian theological invention
Smith ,   TA, Israel   (05.26.11)
:(
29. No. 4 Jamal
NYC Girl   (05.26.11)
You obviously know very little about Israel or Israelis if you believe that "most, if not all" believe the land was given by God. In fact, for most Israelis, God has nothing to do with it. Not only that, but all of this was documented in a study done many years ago, the result of which showed that after South Korean Buddhists, God played the least role in the lives of Israeli Jews. And here's something else that might surprise you. While not all Jews are atheists, most atheists are Jews...and that includes Israelis.
30. #3
(05.26.11)
you're crazy
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