One thing I’ve learned about the Jewish world (especially in Israel) is the power of memory. Jews aren’t supposed to forget things: the exodus from Egypt, that we were once strangers in a strange land, the widow and the orphan. And we keep days in the calendar on which we remember events such as the destruction of the Temples (Tisha B’Av), the Shoah, the soldiers and victims of terror who have fallen in Israel, the trees (Tu B’Shvat), our deliverance from destruction in Persia (Purim).
Memory is collective, but also more personal. I remember the bumper crop of Chabad kindergartners named Menachem Mendel about 5 years after the Lubavitcher Rebbe died. And last night at dinner Beans told us there is a new girl in her class. Her name is Shalhevet, and she lives in… I knew before the word was out of Beans’s mouth. Hevron. Because in the spring of 2001 (when the Cap’n and I were visiting Israel and I was pregnant with Beans) an Arab terrorist shot Shalhevet Pass, age 10 months, in her stroller as she was out with her family in their hometown of Hevron. She was one of the early victims of the Palestinian Terror War that stretched from Arafat’s refusal to end the conflict at Camp David in 2000 until 2006.
There is a feeling where I live that things are heating up again. There is a new solid wall going up next to the Tunnel Road into Jerusalem. Three Israeli policemen were killed in their vehicle near Hevron a couple of months ago. Four Israelis were murdered on the road to their village two nights ago, including a couple with six children (the mother was pregnant with their seventh); a newly wedded husband; and a wife and mother of a young daughter. And now, I read that two more Israelis have been wounded on the road. To remember the more than 1000 Israelis killed since the “peace process” began, the Efrat chat list has been carrying a conversation about establishing a memorial to the victims of terror, many of whom lived in Efrat.
I sometimes try to remember what it was like to forget. The daily reminders that there are no borders, no security, no peace, make living here a fatiguing experience. And yet I remember hearing about Sigmund Freud’s battle with cancer of the jaw. His doctor prescribed opiates for the pain (sort of like what living in America was for me), but when he tried to take them, it made his mind go fuzzy and numb. In the end, he chose to go without the drugs, preferring to remain clear-headed and to feel the full joy of life, dealing with the pain as best he could. I know if I were to go back to America to try to escape the sadness, the anxiety, the anger, I wouldn’t stay. I might enjoy a break of a few days, a week or two, and then want to be back on a plane again. The joy of living here, even with all of the sorrow, is too great. So we live with the memories, and the present, as best we can.
Perhaps some good will come of Netanyahu’s meeting with Abbas, though we all doubt it here. What matters most is that we’re here.
Shimshonit 
Don’t you think that, even if he doesn’t particularly like the Jews, Abbas is a pragmatic and might want peace? After all Fatah members are also shot by Hamas terrorists.
What about the three-state solution (Israel, Palestine and Gaza)? I think it is no surprise the violence comes from the West Bank; Hamas doesn’t want Abbas to seek a solution. After all there was no Palestine identity before the creation of Israel.
Looking forward to reading what you have to say on the topice.
Hi shimshonit, the death of this baby girl makes my blood boil. Even though this is my first time hearing this story, it just brings out the conservative side of me. There seems like so much hypocrisy going on that I see little room for peace because of it. I mean, Arabs should stop killing. I pretty sure Israel would step down their defensive posture and real peace might abound. However, I have a feeling that the Arabs love playing the victim at the cost of lives. For me, that is awful.
Anyway, Happy New Year too you and your family. Take Care
Ilana-Davita: I don’t hold out much hope for peace being made with Abbas. I have been reading Personal Witness by Abba Eban (which I can’t wait to review here when I’m finished) in which Eban shows the history Arabs have of doing things to spite Israel, to try to bring Israel down, even at the expense of themselves and their own interests. Indeed, after the four Israelis were murdered the other night, Abbas never condemned violence altogether; he merely stated that it’s against the Arabs’ interests at this time for it to happen. If you also comb the Web carefully, you’ll see that people who read the Arabic language news say that the P.A. referred to the murder as an “operation,” not an “attack,” and “terror” was never mentioned, though that is certainly what it was intended to be. The Palestinian Terror War was carried out by Fatah, and only ended about four years ago; what’s changed? Nothing as far as I can see, except Hamas has been trying to gain traction in the West Bank, and Abbas has overstayed his welcome by putting off elections to try to hold onto power. Arabs feud; that’s a fact. But it doesn’t mean that they don’t still consider their own interests as fellow Arabs above those of the Jews.
As for a three-state solution, unless Israel can be certain of secure borders and a final end to the conflict (both of which are mandated by Security Council Resolution 242), I don’t think that there will be more than one state. Gaza ruled by Hamas on one side and Fatah (which has never renounced its war on Israel either) on the other is a recipe for disaster. I don’t think the current situation is pleasant at all, but it would be suicidal for Israel to agree to a deal that’s supposed to mark the end of the conflict when it knows full well it isn’t the end.
I’m no expert on Palestinian Arabs, but from what I have read of the history of the region, I believe that the Arabs who came to Palestine (shortly after the Jews began arriving in the late 19th century) looking for better work than they had had in Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon, probably did not take long to feel at home here. If they were content to share this land with the Jews, I would be prepared to allow them the space for their own country. But since their explicitly stated goal from the beginning has been to drown the Jews in the Med and take over the whole thing (both Fatah and Hamas exist for this goal, and no other), I do not feel particularly well disposed toward them. And since a recent poll shows that only 13% of Palestinian Arabs believe violence is bad, the rest believing that it is either necessary or permissible, I despair of any short term solutions.
James: The death of Shalhevet Pass should put to rest any thoughts of humanity behind the violence. When babies under a year old are targeted as combatants in this conflict, it is clear to me that there is really no one on the other side we can talk to as human beings who value life and are willing to go the distance to find a workable solution. The Arabs have failed at all-out war with us; they’ve failed to bring us down through terrorism; their current strategy (with detours like these recent ones back into terrorism) is to play the victim, as you point out, and rally world opinion to them against us. They have been most successful with this last strategy in recent years, and it is disappointing to see how little skepticism exists in the rest of the world about their motives and methods.
Ilana-Davita, James, and all my very generous readers: May you and your families have a healthy, joyous, and prosperous New Year.
[…] A reader asked me recently whether Abbas might not prove to be a pragmatist after all, and see peace as within the interests of the Palestinian people. I replied that Abbas has not officially renounced violence against Israel, even calling last week’s Hamas-claimed murder of four Israelis (including the much-loved special ed. gan teacher whom I sometimes used to see when dropping Banana off at her gan next door last year) an “operation” rather than an “attack.” As long as violence is judged to be either in or not in the Palestinian people’s interests, and not morally wrong, I see little chance of an end to the conflict. To give away land for a nation of people sworn to our destruction without receiving any confirmation of their intention to respect our sovereignty, borders, and right to security, would be suicidal for Israel. Because once we do so, there is no going back for Israel, either. If we don’t get all the assurances of security up front, we can’t ask for them later. Eban also writes, “Whenever agreements are discussed between Israel and an Arab state, the question ‘Can they be trusted?’ always arises on our side. In such agreements Israel renounces concrete possession in return for behavioral assurances.” And those assurances have all too often been violated. […]