Friday, May 7th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
Images of Israel – An Embedded Dream
by Jerry Waxman
Sderot Israel
It’s been difficult, but enlightening; trying to show Malka what I see in this place – why I came to Sderot – why I stay in Israel. To her, my home should be in America, where my family is.
On the surface there is nothing to make the case that I belong here – neither in Sderot nor in Israel. I knew nobody in this town when I came here. I hardly knew anybody in the country. I have not found a job,so there’s been no income. The prices on everything here are really high, especially with our financial straits.
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 In comparison to what Malka is used to, the people here are rude. Some are scary. And of course, there is always that constant danger looming at Israel’s borders. Malka’s images of Israel are not too complimentary.
Malka’s question begs an answer. It’s a good question. In a day when people worldwide are talking about boycotting Israel’s products, freezing Israel’s building, and generally using any reason to criticize Israel, I cannot blame Malka for not seeing what I see – images of the real Israel – glimpses of a 3300 year old dream. We have always said, “Next year in Israel.” Now that we are here, maybe we have the responsibility to our ancestors, to live the dream that they couldn’t.
Jerusalem Day is coming soon. Today I happened to see some “Life Magazine” photos of Israel in 1948.  There are pictures of people escaping the Arab Legion. There are pictures of Jewish refuges both from Jerusalem and frome Europe.
It’s an amazing story! We are part of it. WE – who feel a deep connection to the struggles of our own people. We cannot expect others to feel the same connection. It hasn’t been stamped in.
There are more photos of Israel in 1948. There is the destruction of Jerusalem when it was surrendered; how it burned; how the Arabs looted and destroyed homes where Jews had left. The Arabs came and conquered, but they never really had a connection to this land like we have.
Last night Malka told me that she is starting to like this place. She took a walk around some remote parts of Sderot, where it is even quieter than where we live.  And she said, “I feel like I’ve been here before.” Could Malka be awakening to a sense of coming home? Is Israel finally starting to grow on her like it did me several years ago? Maybe she is beginning to feel she is just aa much a part if this “image of Israel” as I am.
Keep a smile on your face and a dance in your feet.
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Thursday, June 4th, 2009 at 1:46 am
Open Letter To President Barack Obama in the Wake of His Address in Cairo on 4 June 2009
by Jerry Waxman
To the Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States of America
Dear Mr. President:
I'm writing to you from Sderot, where I live. You visited this town last year. In your speech in Cairo you referred indirectly to Sderot's unique disposition in the tragedy of "the roadmap." On the one hand I want to thank you - for speaking directly to the terrorists in front of a world audience, telling them that violence does them no good. On the other hand I want to tell you that you've let me down. You've let down the people of Sderot, where you talked about our right to defend ourselves.
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Your solutions to the problems which concern Israel are not solutions at all. They will not lead to a lasting peace. Logic, pragmatism, and lessons from history tell us so. I support your vision of a world at peace and harmony, and I respectfully have to tell you that the policy you have outlined does not represent change. It is the same as the policies of the two administrations before you. This does not lead to peace. |
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Mr. President, I want to tell you that I came to Sderot less than a year ago. I left a job and a pretty good and safe life to live here. I know of others who have come from different countries and different walks of life with similar stories. They left secure, comfortable lives to live in Israel. And although many of us here have nothing now - no jobs, no security, no homes, nothing - we are determined to stay in Israel - in Sderot and in every town, city, and village in the land of Israel. We are fulfilling an age old dream of our ancestors and ourselves to live in this land.
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I don't believe there is another people or nation on earth that has a dream like this. I don't believe there is one man or woman amongst the thousands of Palestinian refugees who would come to live in this land if they had more secure options elsewhere. Those who have shot rockets into Sderot have no claims to this town. They don't want to live here. A plan to carve out a piece of territory for people who really don't dream of living there is not a plan that will succeed, Mr. Obama.
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When you spoke at the university in Cairo, people applauded your comments when you spoke of restoring dignity to the Palestinian people. I wholeheartedly agree that the Palestinian people deserve to have the same freedoms and opportunities as all people deserve. But then when you admonished the extremists for shooting rockets into Jewish homes, there was no applause.
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How do you explain that, Mr. Obama? How do you explain that the one thing the Muslim world could do to shake off the stigmas and the stereotypes - to collectively and vocally denounce the few terrorists among them - they won't do it?
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Neither did your comments about recognizing Israel draw applause from your Cairo audience, even though Egypt's Anwar Sadat was the first leader of a major Muslim country to risk his life, and lose it, by reaching out to Israel.
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What does that tell you, Mr. Obama? If Egyptians show no pride in their country's historical peace agreement with Israel, can you expect other Arab and predominantly Muslim countries to open their skies to Israeli planes, and open their ports to Israeli goods, and open their minds to treating Jewish people with the same dignity and respect as all people deserve?
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There is no connection to Jewish settlements, Mr. Obama. Jews have lived in Hebron and Gush Etzion long before there were ever Palestinian refugees. If there are Palestinians who dream of living in the territories of Judea and Samaria, there should be no reason they couldn't live there in peace with the Jewish settlers. Your call to Israel to stop Jewish settlements to form a separate state for Palestinians is not a call for peace. It is a plan that has failed, and can only fail again. There is no chance that it will lead to peace and prosperity for anyone, Muslim, Christian, or Jew.
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That the Palestinian people have suffered there is no argument. That the Palestinian people deserve to have better lives, I totally agree. That much of their suffering began at the time that Jews declared Israel a state there is no denial of the correlation. But to suggest that Israel is the main cause of their suffering is to deny facts, and ignore truth. And to suggest a separate state for Palestinians is not a logical conclusion at all. As a peaceful solution to a problem, it doesn't merit consideration if only because it is not something the Palestinian people have ever struggled for or shown an interest in.
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While the comparisons are not exactly warranted, Mr. President, please consider the oppressed minorities in the United States. The African Americans don't have a separate state within U.S. borders. The Latin Americans have not demanded a separate state. Nor have the Asian Americans. What would be the policy of the United States were the Muslim Americans to make demands for a separate state within the borders of the U.S.?
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Mr. Obama, I do not join those Israelis who would respond to your speech with sarcasm or mockery. I do not join the Jewish activists who would use anger and invective against you as a way to thwart your goals. I am an American who supports you in your efforts to do what is in America's best interests. I am a friend who wants you to avoid doing things that are not in America's best interests and not in your best interests.
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The "roadmap" is such a thing. I had hopes, in my support for you as a world leader, that you would see that the roadmap does not provide a pragmatic solution to any legitimate concerns of anybody who lives in the region. I had hopes that you would be more imaginative and act with more intelligence than your predecessor on these issues. I had very high hopes that you would act as a true leader and speak the real truth, though it may fly in the face of what other leaders have said, and put this roadmap aside to work out more desirable, more feasible, and more attainable goals in cooperation with affected parties in the region.
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Until now, you have let me down. And while nobody may see it yet, you have let America down. Please consider these things that I have written, Mr. Obama, and be the true leader that Americans voted for. Distance yourself from failed agendas including the roadmap, and rely more on truth.
Respectfully,
Jerry Waxman
Sderot Israel |
