SPECIAL COMMENTARY
Letter From The Front
each other more, thus perpetuating
the cycle of violence. They wanted to
ear Friends:
send a message to their Palestinian
I had hoped that my first
friends that they care, that they are
mass letter to everyone
worried about them, and that they
would be filled with exciting
condemn the violence.
stories and interesting cultural analy-
As I sat with five of our brightest
sis. I wanted to speak of the discussion
kids who were composing their state-
that took place in my office, where
ment, I was abruptly called
Israeli and Palestinian boys
from the room. Asel Asleh
looked at a map of Jerusalem
was dead. Asel was one of
and constructively discussed
our brightest stars. An
solutions to an extremely
Arab-Israeli boy of 17, Asel
complex situation. I wanted
was shot critically in the
to tell you that I finally tasted
neck while watching a
the new Seeds of Peace Ben
demonstration in the
and Jerry's ice cream flavor.
Galilee town of Arrabe. A
Unfortunately, those stories
lover of politics, computers,
must be saved for another
and life, Asel would make
time because now I'm filled
JARED
us laugh, and think and
with nothing but sadness and
FISHMAN
hope.
fear. Today, 20 Israeli kids
Special to
The death count in this
came to the Seeds of Peace
the
Jewish News
ludicrous outbreak of vio-
Center for Co-Existence in
lence is too high. Fifty or
Jerusalem on their own
so; I really don't know the
accord to write a message
exact number. But I do know that
condemning the recent bloodshed.
Asel is gone. In the last four days, at
They said they were scared: for their
least five of my kids attended the pre-
friends, for themselves and for the
mature funerals of their close friends
future of the region.
or relatives. Another one of our kids
They despised how these violent
was shot in the leg. Fortunately, he is
confrontations only make people hate
recovering well.
Jared Fishman, 23, from Atlanta, is
Jerusalem
D
program coordinator at the Seeds of
Peace Center for Co-Existence in
Jerusalem. The center brings together
Arabs and Israelis from around the
Middle East to promote dialogue and
understanding.
Mutual Fault
I have always condemned violence. I
never believed that fighting would
solve any problems. The past few days
have only strengthened that belief. It
is easy to look at the situation and
point fingers. Palestinians (and some
Israelis) are quick to pin blame on
Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple
Mount. Israelis believe that the Pales-
tinian reaction was carefully calculated
and premeditated, and that Sharon's
visit was just an opportunity to revolt.
I truly believe that both sides are at
fault, and both are prolonging a battle
that will only cost more lives.
The Israelis are clearly using exces-
sive force. There are guns against
stones. Tanks, helicopters and anti-
tank missiles have been deployed. Kids
are being shot in the face, or in Asel's
case, the throat. Eighteen- and 19-
year-old Israeli boys are given the task
of "defending their country" and act
with fear. Barak stated, "No one
doubts who is stronger or more capa-
ble of sustaining a fight." That's
because his side has most of the
weapons.
But the Israelis are not the only
ones to blame. The Palestinians con-
tinue to use their children as pawns.
One of our Palestinian participants
told me that when he went to school,
the students were gathered in a room
and told to go throw stones. Buses
were provided. The radios keep play-
ing music calling people to take up
arms and praising the martyrs.
People are dying, and the Palestin-
ian leadership is on a whirlwind tour
trying to garner international support.
To Die In Vain
Rioting has spread. It is not only talc-
ing place in isolated West Bank and
Gaza areas. Israel's Arab population is
also taking up arms. I got calls from
Nazareth, Akko, Tira and Taibe saying
that there is now violence in their
neighborhoods. I don't think that
street violence of this kind has ever
taken place in, dare I say it, "peace-
time" Israel.
More children will die. Unfortu-
nately, their deaths most likely will be
in vain. Both sides are fed up with the
violence, though neither will condemn
it. What will happen in the next few
days? More children will die.
My job is constantly evolving. I am
no longer preparing a four-day Jordan
trip to bring kids together to celebrate
their friendships despite their differ-
ences. The trip is canceled. Instead, I
am calling kids to make sure they are
alive. I am consoling those who have
lost friends. Change that; I'm consol-
ing everyone, now We're all losing it
here.
The last four days have been a reali-
ty check and have made me really
think. In life, all we have are our
memories and our friends. I thank
every one of you for your love, and
the times I have shared with you. I am
far away, but I carry each of you close
to my heart.
May your laughs be hearty, may
your love be sincere and may your
days be productive. Think about what
you most cherish in life, and pursue it.
It was the way Asel lived his life.
Love, Jared
Palestinian Exuberance
Philadel hia
by now the campaign of
violence against Israel?
The Israeli explanation,
espoused by Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Barak and other
officials, blames [Palestinian Authority
Chairman] Yasser Arafat; he turned it
on and he can turn it off.
Why did he start the violence now?
Shlomo Ben-Ami, the acting foreign
minister, says Arafat wanted to distract
attention from American "bridging
proposals" intended to break the dead-
lock in his negotiations with Israel.
But this fails to account for all the
violence outside Arafat's control.
Hezbollah, the Lebanese Islamist
organization, captured three Israeli
Related stories begin on page 6
soldiers and
shelled Israeli
positions. Israeli
Arabs resorted to
unprecedented
violence. Hun-
dreds of thou-
sands of Egyp-
tians and Moroc-
cans
took to the
DANIEL PIPES
streets shouting
Special to
anti-Israel slo-
the Jewish IVews
gans. [Iraqi
leader] Saddam
Hussein promised to "put an end to
Zionism."
Focusing on the role of the Palestin-
ian Authority, in other words, misses the
larger point, which is that the violence
of the past two weeks results from a
growing mood of exuberance in the
Palestinian and Arabic-speaking "street."
Keeping Hope Alive
That mood has deep roots.
When the State of Israel was declared
in May 1948, Arabs widely assumed
they could quickly snuff out the nascent
Jewish country,. This confidence eroded
as the Arabs lost one war after another:
1948-49 and 1967 marked the worst
defeats; 1970 and 1982 were also bad;
and 1956 and 1973, though portrayed
as political victories, were widely recog-
nized as military disasters.
For Arabs, the lowest point came in
1991 with the defeat of Iraq and the dis-
solution of the Soviet Union. Victory
over Israel appeared very remote indeed.
Then, at its moment of greatest
power, instead of destroying the Pales-
tine Liberation Organization, Israel in
1993 magnanimously extended a
hand in friendship toward it. In what
became known as the Oslo process,
the Israeli government recognized
Arafat as a "partner for peace." It took
this step assuming that Palestinians
and their supporters had learned from
their 45 years of failure to destroy
Israel and that, sobered by this experi-
ence, they would now accept the per-
manent existence of a sovereign Jewish
state in the Middle East.
But, as every survey (plus m• -'- other
evidence) shows, most Palestinians as
well as their Arab and Muslim allies did
not give up on the hope to destroy
Israel. Instead, they put this ambition in
the freezer, to be thawed out at a future
date when again opportune.
That thaw began surprisingly
quickly. Acting from a sense of
strength, Israeli leaders, Labor and
Likud alike. encouraged a friendly
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