View from the Window
by Jerry Waxman
In response to the article in:
The New Republic, April 15, 2009 edition
Washington Diarist: At The Window by Leon Wieseltier
Here are a few excerpts from Wieseltier’s article:
“Of three or four in a room
there is always one who stands at
the window.
He must see the injustice among the
thorns
and the fires on the hill.”
Yehuda Amichai, 1958
“. . . . . .Perhaps the most troubling development in Israel now is the collapse of its diplomatic imagination. Its faith in itself seems almost entirely a faith in its force. This is itself a strategic failure. The most perfect representative of this hopelessness is Benjamin Netanyahu, who cannot bring himself to say a good word about a two-state solution, which is the sole solution there can be, now or ever. . . . “
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.
Here is my response:
(You might read the whole article to fully comprehend this response.)
(from a window in Sderot)
“He must see the injustice among the thorns and the fires on the hill.”
There’s a kindergarten across from my window. The children there play like other children anywhere in the world until, suddenly, there is a “Code Red” alert. They run to a shelter and wait for the sounds of the rockets exploding near and far. Sometimes they scream, as do the children in the nearby elementary school, when the blast is nearby. And sometimes when it’s over, they emerge to see smoke rising from a neighborhood that is familiar to them.
Is this the injustice that Yehuda Amichai wrote of? Is this the injustice that Leon Wieseltier sees? That children live everyday in fear that their houses may be destroyed, or their family or friends may be hurt or killed? That all the residents of this town and other nearby communities must accept the fact that people want to kill us – men, women, and children? We know how the Gazaites celebrate when they succeed in destroying a life here. And we know how most of the world ignores these events, and how much of the media quietly doesn’t care. Is that an injustice that Leon Wieseltier can fathom?
Probably not. He recognizes that “Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Islamic Republic of Iran are sworn enemies of Israel’s existence,” but doesn’t acknowledge that Fatah (Wieseltier’s “real partner it had all along in Ramallah” has been responsible for more terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians than Hamas.), Egypt, Syria, and the Arab league are also against the existence of a Jewish state. The entire “peace” process proposed by the Saudis is merely a way to make more land free of Jews – judenrein. And this is the roadmap – a “two-state solution” that Wieseltier, in his own demise of “diplomatic imagination” sees as “the sole solution there can be, now or ever.”
Perhaps the “rascist rabbis” in Israel have better solutions? Perhaps there is much that Wieseltier doesn’t see from his window, clouded as it is by Wieseltier’s own prejudices. One truth is, “The settlements are not the obstacle to peace.” In fact they are not “an” obstacle to peace. They do not “defy reason.” They are a very practical movement toward security and peace in the region.
The only obstacle that the settlements represent is an obstacle to the current “peace process” which is a misnomer. Insofar as the current “peace process” is only a process for ridding the land of Jews, then obviously Jewish settlements are an obstacle to that process. But if there is to be real peace in the region, then the Arabs must accept that Jews live here, as Jews accept that Arabs also have their own communities.
Unfortunately, Wieseltier expresses the sentiments of a great many people who also lack knowledge and “diplomatic imagination.” So as the world presses down on Israel to appease its enemies, to let imprisoned terrorists and murderers free, to allow terrorist elements freer movement within its borders, and to refrain from military solutions to terrorism, the view from my window is, perhaps, more discouraging. There may be no hope for the children in the kindergarten, not from the global community, not from political leaders, and definitely not from under-knowledgeable and prejudiced journalists.
Fortunately, we have learned NOT to turn to politicians, journalists, and the global community for hope. The children in the kindergarten are actually happy. And that may be because their parents and teachers pay less attention to politicians and journalists, and more to their rabbis, may their matzo bring them health.
Happy Passover from Sderot
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I will appeciate your comments. Thank you.
