Spring Break
A path to peace
Rita Gochberg
Issue date: 2/16/09 Section: Opinion
These last weeks I've been watching the Israeli crisis with the rest of the world. On Dec. 27 Israel launched a military operation in Gaza in response to 329 rockets and mortar shells that were fired into Israel in the preceding six months and about 6,000 rockets over the last five years that targeted Israel's civilian population.
I'm an Israeli citizen, served in the Israeli army and followed my country through its ups and downs. I praised it, criticized it and was proud and ashamed of it, but I always loved it. Living in a true democracy makes it possible to feel and express those emotions freely. Criticizing and questioning should be the right and obligation of every person living in every country.
Many people asked me how I felt about the recent developments in the situation, and my response is that in order to really understand what it's like, you need to be Israeli.
To be Israeli is to turn on your television and find out that another terror attack took place. It is to hope that no one you know was there, to be happy you don't and then ashamed that you were happy. It is to understand that when they say on TV that "there are casualties," they really mean "there are dead people" and that "critically wounded" means "fighting for their lives." To be an Israeli is to say "This could not keep going on like that," but be afraid it will.
Several accusations were made in the media about Israel that I would like to address. The first one is that Israel attacked with a disproportional force causing the number of casualties on the Palestinian side to be greater than on the Israeli side.
The question everyone should ask is what number of dead Israelis will be sufficient? When does Israel get to say enough? Or do we wait until more of our women and children are dead to justify self-defense? Hamas lives by the dogma that says, "If you don't like your neighbors, kill them and terrorize them until you dominate them."
The second claim is that Israel prevents aid from entering Gaza. If you look past the propaganda, there is monitored data. During the Israeli operation in Gaza, 37,159 tons of humanitarian aid on 1,503 trucks were transferred into Gaza; 1,535,750 liters of heavy-duty diesel for the Gaza power station; 234 tons of gas for domestic use; 3,896 tons of grain; 30 ambulances - and the list goes on.
On Feb. 3 and 5, Hamas militants stole, at gunpoint, 10 truckloads of food and rice, 3,500 blankets and over 400 food parcels from a United Nations distribution center, causing a UN response that it will stop the flow of aid into Gaza.
I believe the Palestinians deserve to live in peace - I believe that Hamas, the government they elected, is doing them a disservice to get there. Hamas is standing in their way to get to peace.
To be Israeli is something to be proud of. Israel is my home, not because I have no other, but because it is my home!
Rita Gochberg is a senior interior design major and guest columnist for the Daily Kent Stater.
I'm an Israeli citizen, served in the Israeli army and followed my country through its ups and downs. I praised it, criticized it and was proud and ashamed of it, but I always loved it. Living in a true democracy makes it possible to feel and express those emotions freely. Criticizing and questioning should be the right and obligation of every person living in every country.
Many people asked me how I felt about the recent developments in the situation, and my response is that in order to really understand what it's like, you need to be Israeli.
To be Israeli is to turn on your television and find out that another terror attack took place. It is to hope that no one you know was there, to be happy you don't and then ashamed that you were happy. It is to understand that when they say on TV that "there are casualties," they really mean "there are dead people" and that "critically wounded" means "fighting for their lives." To be an Israeli is to say "This could not keep going on like that," but be afraid it will.
Several accusations were made in the media about Israel that I would like to address. The first one is that Israel attacked with a disproportional force causing the number of casualties on the Palestinian side to be greater than on the Israeli side.
The question everyone should ask is what number of dead Israelis will be sufficient? When does Israel get to say enough? Or do we wait until more of our women and children are dead to justify self-defense? Hamas lives by the dogma that says, "If you don't like your neighbors, kill them and terrorize them until you dominate them."
The second claim is that Israel prevents aid from entering Gaza. If you look past the propaganda, there is monitored data. During the Israeli operation in Gaza, 37,159 tons of humanitarian aid on 1,503 trucks were transferred into Gaza; 1,535,750 liters of heavy-duty diesel for the Gaza power station; 234 tons of gas for domestic use; 3,896 tons of grain; 30 ambulances - and the list goes on.
On Feb. 3 and 5, Hamas militants stole, at gunpoint, 10 truckloads of food and rice, 3,500 blankets and over 400 food parcels from a United Nations distribution center, causing a UN response that it will stop the flow of aid into Gaza.
I believe the Palestinians deserve to live in peace - I believe that Hamas, the government they elected, is doing them a disservice to get there. Hamas is standing in their way to get to peace.
To be Israeli is something to be proud of. Israel is my home, not because I have no other, but because it is my home!
Rita Gochberg is a senior interior design major and guest columnist for the Daily Kent Stater.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 78
Mike
posted 2/16/09 @ 8:25 AM EST
Bravo to Rita and the Stater for keeping this important story in the minds of readers. May the victims of terrorism and war across the globe find peace soon!
Rachel Neuwirth
posted 2/16/09 @ 9:54 AM EST
No other nation in history has treated the people of a country that was committing armed aggression against their own with the kindness, compassion, humanity and forbearance that Israel has lavished upon the people of Gaza. (Continued…)
Richard
posted 2/16/09 @ 10:46 AM EST
Questions for discussion:
Do you really believe that a movement like Hamas can be eradicated through violence, particularly violence that includes amongst the victims innocent women and children?
Do you think that their is any legitimate motive at all to the Hamas rocket-fire, or is it simply more irrational violence from Muslim extremists?
Do you think it is significant that Hamas has agreed to a long-standing truce on condition that they are given a state in loose accordance with the 1967 borders? Do you think it is significant that Israel and the U. (Continued…)
Richard
posted 2/16/09 @ 10:52 AM EST
Examining Big Media's 'Israeli-Centric Perspectives'
02/06/2009 by Gabriel Voiles
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs' Michael Gillespie (1-2/09) saw Alison Weir of If Americans Knew speak about her group's "look at a category that would be universally accepted as significant and quantifiable" to examine U. (Continued…)
Dr. Assad Pino
posted 2/16/09 @ 10:52 AM EST
The defense of Israel is the apologia of the thief: "Your Honor, sure, I broke into their home and stole their house and land and trees and water, but I let them keep the basement to live in didn't I? Yes, I beat up the children, but it couldn't have been too bad, because they're still alive aren't they? And, I don't let them feed themselves, but they do get gift parcels from their friends and relatives once in a while. (Continued…)
Thomas Noland
posted 2/16/09 @ 12:35 PM EST
If you would do some homework without depending on Allison Weir, you would know that 80% of historic Palestine is take up by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. (Continued…)
Inquisitive Mind
posted 2/16/09 @ 3:07 PM EST
Seems that the Hamas "warriors" should stop hiding behind the hijab of Palestinian women and the ribbons of Palestinian children! It might also help if Egypt were to secure it's border with the Gaza. (Continued…)
Dr. Assad Pino
posted 2/16/09 @ 6:24 PM EST
Wnot listen to Ghandi instead? "Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs. (Continued…)
Mary Jo
posted 2/16/09 @ 9:26 PM EST
Who made up the title of this opinion? I was looking for a Path to Peace and found a flag flying oped instead. How does this article lead to peace?
Do you have any ideas for a path to peace?
Richard
posted 2/17/09 @ 12:34 AM EST
The nameless coward avoided having to answer a question and instead inquired: "Do Leftists really believe that jihadists like Hamas can be appeased through non-violence, particularly non-violence that does nothing to relieve the suffering of innocent women and children victims (on both sides) of Hamas' murderous jihad? "
Yes, they do. (Continued…)
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