OTHER VIEWS
Family History's Worth
I
n my first letter to my 11-year-old
granddaughter, Kayla, at her first
entire season stay at Camp Tamarack
in Ortonville, I told her that my own first-
time, one-month stay away from home
was at age 18 when
I left home and
family to go to basic
training, called
tironoot in Hebrew.
It happened in July
of 1957 exactly 51
years ago.
I asked Kayla to
tell me about her
new home in camp
Rachel Kapen
and her new friends
Community
while
telling her
View
that my new home
was a long wooden
barrack with 40
cots, 20 on each side, which were covered
with dark gray, standard army blankets
and which we were to make every morn-
ing, sometimes before dawn, in a certain
way and in record time.
This went also for the high-laced shoes
we had to wear, the big guns we had to
take apart, put back together and clean
daily to keep in excellent shape and many
Camaraderie in the barracks at BAHAD 12, the women's army base at Tzrifin, in
July 1957. Rachel is third from left.
other army routines we had to abide by
that were diametrically opposed to our
previous lives at home.
I told her of the importance of receiv-
ing letters from home when you are away,
which is why I am writing to her and will
continue writing until our Israeli trip later
in the month.
I also told her how good it was to
receive parcels of homemade goodies from
home, something we tried to share with all
the other girls. I remember how my own
mother's — Kayla's great-savta Sarah's
— Magen David-shaped cookies, which
she baked in a most primitive way com-
pared to today by putting a small portable
oven on top of her kerosene cooker, were
a big hit.
I also told her how I volunteered to
write and also performed in the tironoot
customary operetta, which turned out to
be a great hit and earned ine a compli-
ment and warm handshake from an Israeli
hero, General Moshe Dayan, who was the
chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces.
His daughter Yael commanded the compa-
ny in the barrack next to ours and because
of her we were honored with his participa-
tion in our graduation from tironoot.
I also told her how, only a few years
after, her saba was an intern in the Assaf
Harofeh and Government Hospital at
Tzrifin, a chain of army bases between Tel
Aviv and Jerusalem, a stone's throw from
the base; it was there that her Uncle Gilead
was born.
It is a lot to absorb for an 11 year old.
Fifty-one years is too much to grasp at this
age, but it is important to tell our children
about family history so that they will not
think that the world began with them. ❑
Rachel Kapen is a West Bloomfield resident.
No Time For A Palestinian State
New York
T
here are people who argue that
there must be a Palestinian
state, that such a state would live
peacefully alongside Israel and that this
outcome is the key to ending Palestinian
extremism and
terrorism. Yet it
should be obvious
— but is rarely if
ever remarked upon
— that there is no
prospect of a peace-
ful Palestinian state,
especially while
Hamas controls
Gaza.
Dr. Daniel
llamas is an
Mandel
Islamist terror
Special
group that calls
Commentary
in its charter for
the murder of
Jews (Article 7), the destruction of Israel
(Article 15), describes Jews as Nazis
(Article 20) and believes there is a world-
wide conspiracy against Muslims led by
Jews, citing in support the classic anti-
Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders
of Zion (Article 32).
llamas has matched these words with
deeds, murdering more than 500 Israelis
since September 2000
in scores of suicide
bombings, sniper and
other attacks. When
it ejected Fatah from
control of the Gaza
Strip last year, it did
so waging bloody gun
battles and throwing
Fatah personnel off the
top of buildings. Since
then, it has increased
the incessant bom-
bardment of rockets upon Israel's cities
and towns and smuggled in unprecedent-
ed amounts of offensive weaponry.
If Israel were to permit the creation of
a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria
under Palestinian Authority (PA) presi-
dent Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah, the situation
would look similar to Gaza under llamas.
Why? Because the only thing preventing
Judea and Samaria looking the same as
Gaza already is the presence of the Israel
Defense Forces (IDF) in much of the ter-
ritory — and creating a Palestinian state
would involve the speedy withdrawal of
IDF troops.
Yet, let's suppose,
despite the absence of
any ground for think-
ing so, that somehow
Judea and Samaria
would remain rela-
tively peaceful if the
IDF withdrew (only
relatively — there are
dozens of terror alerts
emerging there every
week, most of which
the IDF, by its presence, is able to thwart).
Any Palestinian state that is created would
necessarily include Gaza, which the PA
and the world regard as part of the terri-
tory for a Palestinian state. In short, unless
llamas is granted sovereignty in Gaza, no
Palestinian state under Abbas and Fatah
which includes Gaza can even be set up
— so why is the Bush Administration
There's no prospect
of a peaceful
Palestinian state
while Hamas
controls Gaza.
pressing for this outcome?
Flawed Thinking
Moreover, even if the Gaza issue is put
aside, creating a Palestinian state under
Abbas is still a terrible idea. Since the PA
was established in 1994, Palestinian Arab
society has been educated for terrorism,
war and the destruction of Israel. This
builds on history. Palestinians turned
down proposals for statehood in 1937,
1947 and 2000. Ceasing terror could lead
quickly to a Palestinian state, but terror
persists — because Palestinians continue
to pursue Israel's elimination.
Unsurprisingly, the PA has met none
of the basic conditions President Bush
himself laid out for Palestinian statehood
in his June 24, 2002, speech on the subject.
Bush called for Palestinian Arabs to elect
new leaders "not compromised by terror"
– but instead they voted in the 2006 leg-
islative elections for llamas. Bush called
for the Palestinian Arabs to "engage in a
sustained fight against the terrorists and
No Time on page A32
July 17 • 2008
A31