Wednesday, April 28, 2004
"Happy Independence Day, Despite It All", by Hirsh Goodman
Living in Israel makes it almost impossible to write about Israel. By the time you have finished reading the morning papers you are exhausted, your energies drowned in a sea of headlines, one usually worse than the next. You go out for coffee or a meal with friends and you come back distraught, depressed, moods are so dark and the feeling of hopelessness so strong...
It’s not that all is great over here, but overall, considering that Israel at 56 is a work in progress that has to still sort out fundamental questions, I would say that the glass is more than half-full. We do not seem to be able to come to terms with rational Palestinians at this point, so we're consolidating. The fence is one aspect of that, the withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank is another. The unilateral withdrawal issue is contentious, as is the question of where the fence will actually go, but the mechanisms for resolving these disputes democratically are in place and in the end it is the will of the people that will decide.
What is worthy of praise this Independence Day is that Israel has finally matured to a point where it will not let its enemies dictate its agenda, and that Israel now understands that in order to survive demographically and democratically it must take its destiny into its own hands, which is exactly what it is doing. Yasser Arafat can prattle on about the Palestinian women's wombs being his people’s most effective weapon for as long as he likes. If Israel soon withdraws from Gaza, they'll have a lot more birthing to do to become effective again.
I feel very optimistic this Independence Day despite the knowledge that the security service has some 50 "hot warnings" on suicide bombers trying to get into Israel as I write. There is something about the way and the dignity with which Israel has responded to the challenges of the past three years that makes me proud. Society has come together. The immigrants from the former Soviet Union and the ultra-Orthodox have become more part of the mainstream. The country has functioned admirably. And no matter what the criticism abroad, it has behaved with integrity and decency under the most difficult of challenges.
Happy Birthday Israel, and don't let this or that detract from the overall greatness of the achievements made to date.
Archives
September 2003
October 2003
January 2004
February 2004
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
October 2007
November 2007
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
