The News-Press printed a story about a local women’s visit to Palestine to protest the building of the anti-terrorist wall. Having just returned from two weeks of touring Israel for my nephews Bar Mitzvah I thought I should write for a look at the situation from an Israeli’s point of view.

Besides the fact that Jews have been living there since the time of Abraham, no one came to the aid of Jews while they were being killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust not even to bomb the rail road tracks to the concentration camps. During the 1948 War of Independence no one came to the Israel’s aid even while they were heavily outnumbered by the five Arab armies. The same was true for the wars in 1967 and 1973 and it goes on today. Jews have thus learned that the only people they can depend upon are themselves.

Since the early nineteen hundreds when Jews started arriving in the Middle East in larger numbers they have built a modern country. Israel had a thriving flower farm in the Gaza Strip. When they left the people living dug up all the bulbs and tore down the buildings. Jews have always valued education. There have been 105 Jewish Nobel Prize winners versus five Arabs. Jews value study and hard work. They also value the environment and human rights. Do you think what they do is malicious? No, it’s only for their security. Just think how much more they could be doing for their country if they didn’t have to spend so much on the defense budget. Why couldn’t the Palestinians have done the same thing?

It is the policy of any government to protect its people. When on the tour I joked to our guide that good fences make good neighbors (this of course is a cliché which means that it is a saying that is valid and thus has been repeated many times). He replied that no, good fences prevent terrorism. Since the fence has been built, there have been no terrorist attacks on Israelis from terrorists outside the fence. Here in the United States we too are building a fence to keep out illegal immigrants, though illegal immigrants aren’t as deadly as Qassam rockets. Also what were to happen if Mexico tried to reclaim Texas as theirs?

Upon graduation from high school, Israelis have to send their sons and daughters into the military. How do you think if feels to be sending your teenagers into situations where they may be killed. The U.S. has 300 million people while Israel only seven million so one Israel death is the equivalent of 40 Americans killed.

Here in the United States we too are building a fence to keep out illegal immigrants, though illegal immigrants aren’t as deadly as Qassam rockets.

Jerusalem is mentioned in the Old Testament many times. The Passover Seder ends with “Next Year In Jerusalem.” How many times is Jerusalem mentioned in the Koran? So why is it so important to the Palestinians?

The only reason with which I can come up for the Palestinians not doing the same things that the Israelis have done is because they want to remain in limbo so that they can be a cause for the elimination of the State of Israel. In other words as long as they are refugees the creation of the State of Israel can be in question. From past experience Israelis know that in event of another war there is neither a place to go nor anyone who will come and help them. Where would they go, Germany which murdered six million, or any of the Arab countries such as Iran, Iraq or Egypt which expelled their Jews. Remember that Israel has 1.2 million Israeli Arabs that haven’t been expelled. Therefore their strategy will always been to protect the security of Israel. Not until the Palestinians realize this and accept the creation of the State of Israel will there ever be peace there. From what they teach their children it is going to take at least one generation until Israel will have people they can deal with. The sooner this happens the sooner there will be peace.

I’ve always considered myself a liberal and politically correct. However I’m glad to see France take a stand on the burka. With the growth of their Muslim populations it won’t be long before both the United Kingdom and France are under Muslim law, Sharia. When that happens their citizens will be happy that they’ll have a country such as Israel to which to move. Israel actually already has a problem in which many people from overseas have bought apartments but don’t live in them. This has led to dead neighborhoods but it also shows that some people are prepared for the day they will have to move there.