Opinion OTHER VIEWS What Will Our Grandchildren Say? New York/ITA I n January, the Jewish Agency for Israel renovated some 300 bomb shelters in the south of Israel. With the increased range of rockets from Gaza hitting Ashdod and Beersheva — the first time these cities came under rocket attack since the 1948 War of Independence — it was time for some renovation. Visiting these refurbished bomb shel- ters or watching kids as they practice taking cover in them gives one a sense of deja vu. Today, the Jewish Agency is able to provide color TV and air conditioners in the shelters, an improvement over a transistor radio and a fan. But a bomb shelter is still a bomb shelter and a rocket still a rocket. Which makes me wonder: As Israel celebrates its 61st year of independence (Yom HaAtzmaut is April 29), what would my grandfather, Joseph Meyerhoff, think if he saw Israel now? As he sat huddled with David Ben- development towns built by Gurion in 1950 contemplating the Jewish Agency during how to get urgently needed our grandparents' heyday in capital into Israel — he subse- the 1950s and ( 60s, we are quently started Israel Bonds — my grandfather wouldn't have founding young communities built by college students in imagined driving today north of Tel Aviv to Israel's high-tech socioeconomically challenged areas of Israel. When they hub or inside Intel's micro-pro- aren't studying, members of cessing factory in Kiryat Gat. He these young communities are wouldn't have imagined Israel Richard boasting of 4,000 high-tech mentoring at-risk youth, vol- Pearlstone unteering at the local council companies and more than 100 Special and participating in projects venture-capital funds. Commentary to improve the area. These Nor would he have imagined students call themselves the that alongside this boom, a Zionist pioneers of the 21st century. growing socioeconomic divide and an unprecedented number of children were Would our grandparents have imag- ined that Jews would continue to find a living in poverty. haven in Israel in 2009 from countries It also would have been hard to think as diverse as Germany, Georgia and of the Jewish Agency partnering with Yemen? Would they have imagined the Cisco to offer a three-year course giving busloads and planeloads of Jewish youth high school students in underprivileged from all over the world coming to Israel areas a computer technician's certificate, so they can make their way into technical on Birthright or to study for a year on a Masa program? units in the army. Finally, if they believed Israel were to Today, instead of kibbutzim and reach its seventh decade, my grandfa- ther's generation would have assumed there would be quiet, if not peace, and that Israel would not at once be facing homemade Kassam rockets from Gaza and a nuclear threat from Iran. I don't think they would have envisioned us renovating bomb shelters in 2009. But the really interesting question is, what will Israel look like 60 years from now, when our grandchildren are where we are today? That's the unwritten part of the story; that's the part we are writing today. It's easy to lose sight of this amidst our daily lives, personal and communal turbu- lence, especially during these times of eco- nomic challenge. But if we keep on course, especially when it is difficult, come Israel's 120th Independence Day our grandchil- dren will look back with pride on what we did just as we look back on the generation that founded the state. E Richard Pearlstone is chairman of the board of governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel. Apartheid In Israel? Atlanta/JTA A few years ago, I began an ini- tiative at the Israeli Foreign Ministry aimed at opening a dialogue with Muslim communities in the West. When the first delegations of European and American Muslims started to arrive, they were amazed at the coexis- tence between Arabs and Jews in Israel. For many outside of Israel, their per- ception of the country has been framed by the international media. They have allowed their opinions to be shaped by a constant stream of pictures and articles with one main idea: Between Arabs and Jews there can be only hatred and vio- lence. With this mindset, the delegates trav- eled to Haifa, one of the most beautiful cities on Earth, a place where beauty is about more than geography. In Haifa, the Muslim delegations visited a major university with an Arab Muslim vice presi- dent and many Arab students. They went to markets and offices and observed Arabs and Jews peacefully going about their simple daily lives. The delegations heard the call to prayer of the muezzin. They visited the mosque of the Ahmadi Islamic sect, Muslims B2 April 23 • 2009 persecuted in many parts of the world who have flourished in Israel, and traveled near the world Baha'i religious center, a faith persecuted in Iran. They met some of the more than 100 Islamic family court judges and talked with the imams who provide religious services; both groups are paid by the Israeli government. In a regular Israeli parliament session, there is an average of 15 Arab members, some of whom are part of self-proclaimed Zionist parties. Israel has Arab members of parliament and in the Cabinet; it has Arab ambassadors and high-ranking Arab officers in the military. Yet despite examples of diversity like these, some critics persist in trying to apply the terrible adjective of apartheid to the State of Israel. The facts on the ground, however, show nothing even remotely close to a racist system. For while one can claim that Arabs in Israel do not receive enough government attention or invest- ment in their community, or one can argue that the situation for Israeli Arabs is sensitive as a minority in a country that has gone to war with its Arab neighbors, all of these issues are political and have nothing to do with race. There is no apartheid in Israel. Nor is there apartheid in Gaza and the West Bank. The territories came under Israeli control in 1967 following the Six-Day War, and over the next 20 years Israel controlled them with nearly no security mea- sures: almost no checkpoints, no fences and no controlled roads. However, during the first Palestinian uprising in 1987 and again during the 1990s, Israel was forced to toughen its security measures. The coun- try had to protect its citizens because the terrorists of Hamas made suicide bomb- ing their tactic of choice and shopping malls, nightclubs, schools and hotels their primary targets. Before the uprising began, more than 120,000 Palestinians worked in Israel. In every Palestinian household, there was at least one person who worked in Israel. The workers entered the country freely and their standard of living was among the highest in the Middle East. Only after 25 years of controlling the territories and having its citizens targeted by terror did Israel begin to institute the security measures that some are trying to call "apartheid!' That is why it has been so hard to make the charges stick. Israel, like any other country, is not perfect. The country and its diverse population still admittedly face political and security issues. But apartheid? You must be joking. Israel and the international community are ready for Palestinian freedom and independence. The question is, are the Palestinians? The greatest problem facing the Palestinians today is not Israel or illusion- ary "apartheid," but a lack of unified and visionary leadership. Palestinians need to understand that violent action will never yield the results they want and that serv- ing as a useful distraction for the regime in Tehran will never bring prosperity. The Palestinians need to produce their own Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi — a leader who will demonstrate to them that non- violence is a much more successful tool for freedom and coexistence. Reda Mansour is an Israeli Druze and current consul general of Israel to the Southeastern United States.