Sunday, March 3, 2013

Straddling the Fence by Thomas L. Friedman

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-L-Friedman-Reporting-Straddling/dp/B007Q91SDG/ Just reviewed a great video about The Wall in Israel by Thomas Friedman " Straddling The Fence " Review on Amazon.com This was a great piece of honest journalism showing both sides of the story as best as possible about the building of the Wall more or less along the green line. However , since the report , still when Yassir Arafat was alive , we now know that he started the intifada with its suicide bombings as revealed by his wife but known by all Israelis. Unfortunately, today, while suicide bombings in Israel are down , probably because of " The Wall" many places in the Arab world that supported suicide bombings against Israel now have suicide bombings themselves on an almost daily basis - Syria, Iraq , to name a few countries. Unfortunately , in his analysis of the situation , Friedman when talking about one man one vote forgets that the Arab and Bedouin and Druse population in Israel are citizens of the state of Israel, serve in the army if they want, and have the vote. So too Palestinians that choose to from Jerusalem. However, Israelis see the Palestinians as part of the greater Arab nation and as such, have to worry about a homeland for the Jewish people first. The only one among the many Arab states. For a viable Palestinian State that official Israel also supports, the two state solution is viable, however, other neighboring nations will have to help re-draw the Ottoman Empire map and also give back lands they were arbitrarily given too much of, for a Palestinian state. That is why there is probably no peace today, for a fear of having to donate lands to the Palestinian cause. Jordan made peace with Israel for this exact reason because she was afraid of the notion that is felt by many Israelis that "Jordan is Palestine", and Egypt did not want to incorporate Gaza into Egypt for a similar reason. On another note, America today is even more supportive of Israel strategically and politically, than since this report , not as Friedman predicted. Author of "Leaving Home Going Home Returning Home: A Hebrew American's Sojourn in the Land of Israel".

No comments: