Give Peace A Chance

I grew up in a religious society, where our lives ran around Shabbat, kosher, and the belief that Israel is the Jewish Homeland and we offered a part to the Arabs in 1948 and they said no, then they attacked us and lost, so now it is entirely ours and they dont get any. This all made perfect sense to me. Then, around the same time i questioned everything else, I started wondering about this Israel thing. I wondered what the Arabs had to say. After all, it seemed pretty clear cut to me that Israel is ours so what could they possibly have to say. I took a few books out of the library written by Arabs about their "struggle" against the Israeli "agressor." (This was actually pretty risky cuz this was in the same school that suspended me for Teen People magazine-I wonder what the punishment for pro-Arab literature is?) In these books they talked about how their families had lives in Jericho and Jaffa (next to Tel Aviv) for generations. Then slowly, throughout the beginning of the 20th century, Jews started coming. At first they welcomed the Jews for bringing them more commerce and wealth, but after awhile they got pretty pissed off that the jews were taking over their cities. But, with the exception of a few trouble makers they did nothing. Then in 1948 they were told to leave their homes cuz there was going to be a war, but after they can come back. So they went to relatives in Rammala or Shechem or Jordan. Then the Arabs lost the war. Now all these poor guys want is to go home and the Israelis wont let them. And worse, the Zionists took their cities over and gutted them and turned them into Jewish homes. The point is that the average Arab guy had a peaceful life next to his orange grove and because of Arab extremists and Jewish aggresors they are stuck in a refugee camp. Their children have all been brought upl, like I was, with the belief that Israel (or Palestine) is their homeland, its been taken away for now, but someday they will get it back. There was one quote from these books that I'll never forget. "There is nothing more precious then to see our Palestinian children standing up to the mighty Israeli Army with a few pitiful rocks." At the time, that line made no sense. I would say there is nothing more stupid then to stand up to an army of guns with a rock.
I came to Israel fully believing that this is the Jewish Homeland and we have to kick the Arabs out. I attended many Kahane rallies and bought the t-shirts and flags, etc. Then I went to the army. I learned a lot in the army that changed many of my views. But it was while standing guard duty in an Arab village that I realized something. Calling Arabs murderers is like any other stereotype. The old man walking his donkey down the dirt road is no more a terrorist then I am a thieving Jew. And yet, if I didnt stop him at gunpoint and make him pick up his shirt and show me his ID, then an actual terrorist would come there and blow me up.
Another thing I saw was a major catch-22. When little kids would go to school, if they walked past my post they had to stop and open their bag. If they didnt stop I would yell at them to stop and point my gun at them. If I didnt do that, then a terrorist would easily be able to put a bomb in their bags and blow them up at my post. But because I stopped them at gunpoint and made them open their bags, they learned to hate the Israelis. From this kids perspective, he just wants ot go to school but I, the evil Israeli, point my gun at home and dont let him. Of course his role model is going to be the terrorist who is going to one day "free" him of this scary guy. So its damned if you do, damned if you dont. At that point I realized that the status quo is not good enough. Something has to change. We cant stay in their villages, cuz then that just breeds more terrorists. And we cant leave their villages cuz then the terorists will have a free hand to run around and do evil. The only other idea I thought of was expulsion.
There are many problems with expulsion. Firslty, nobody wants them. Secondly, they dont want to go anywhere. And I have a moral problem with forcing an entire nation to leave cuz some of them are terrorists. Just cause Russians and Iranians and everyone else have done it doesnt mean its right. People say that we have a Biblical right to kick them out. I think thats wrong. When the jews first entered Israel with Joshua, he didnt kick out all the nations living there, and G-d told him that he was going to have to deal with them there, cuz he lost his chance to kill or expel them.
Also, while nobody likes ot mention this, the Messiah hasnt come. We can still be kicked out of Israel and be at the mercy o the world. G-d forbid, but it could happen. If he wants, he can put us in the hands of these same Palestinians. How much would that suck. Right there is a reason not to piss them off.
I still dont know of any good plan. but I now understand the Arab kid standing up to the army with a rock. He does it because he believes in his cause. He knows he cant win. But he also knows that as long as he and his friends keep standing up to us, we cant win either. and he's right. We cant win them by fighting. We've tried it for over 50 years and its not going anywhere. They believe in their rights to Israel as much as we do.
I have many problems with the current plan of expelling the Gazan Jews and unilaterally giving away Gaza-but no one is offering an alternative. More about the Gazan Jews later. For now I say, give peace a chance. It's the only thing left we havent tried