My Hopes for Israel's Future

I have shared a lot of information with you about the recent events in Israel politics and goings on, but no one knows what the future holds for the Middle East. Will the Jews remain in Israel or will the Muslims push them out? Only time will tell, but either way, everything will eventually work out. Hopefully, the Jews will remain in Israel and will not have to give up any more holy landmarks, and the fighting and endless deaths will end. With Obama's new ideas and the Pope involved, hopefully there will be a successful peace agreement that will bring an end to the Holy wars of the region. Also, I really hope that the Israeli situation with Iran does not heat up anymore than it already has. It would be a shame for Israel to fight on more fronts than it already has to. The fact is that it is a part of everyday life for Israelis to see suicide bombers and death. Hopefully this will not be the case as we move into the future. I will be sure to keep ya'll posted on any major events that occur in the peace negotiations with both the Palestinians and Iran, as well as any random events that occur!

The Pope Visits Israel

Yesterday, the Pope began his visit to Israel to work on Jewish/Catholic relations. Earlier this month, he visited the Arab world to work on Islamic/Catholic relations. While he was in Israel, he went to show his support of the fact that the Holocaust happened by visiting the Israeli national Holocaust museum, Yam Vashem. I think he felt the need to improve the Jewish view of him since he allowed the bishop back into power who was a Holocaust denier. Pope Benedict has already apologized for not researching the bishop better, but this was a way to show that he knows the Holocaust happened. Hopefully, he can help with the peace agreements between the Jews and Muslims. It would be nice to have a neutral person with a strong religious background to mediate these peace talks. Who knows, maybe the Pope could be the solution to the Middle East conflict. According to http://israelpolicyforum.ngphost.com/blog/pope-calls-palestinian-homeland, he too supports the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I still do not believe that this is the solution that will solve the problem, but maybe it really is the temporary solution that is needed.

Islamic Conference in Iran

A couple of days after the incident at the U.N. Anti-Racism conference, several Islamic countries met in Iran to discuss the issue with Israel. During this conference, they accussed Israel of war crimes in Gaza and crimes against humanity. The Iranian president has even called for an end of the Jewish state of Israel. Personally, it is ridiculous for Iran to be concerned with the goings on in Israel above the other issues that Iran faces. The Iranian president just wants to justify his future attacks in Israel by making these claims. I think he is also trying to pull all of the Islamic countries together to rally against Israel in different ways. He just wants an end to any Jewish homeland because he is so oppossed to Jews. He is criticizing others for things that past leaders of his own country have done to its own citizens. He is just being hypocritical and trying to hide his agenda of eliminating Israel from the map by saying that the IDF committed war crimes against the Palestinians in Gaza and humanity. Hopefully, this situation will not heat up anymore and a peace agreement can be reached between Israel and Iran, but I think that is a long shot!

U.N. Anti-Racism Conference

While many countries from around the world gathered to discuss the issue of racism in the world, countries such as the U.S., Australia, Canada, Germany, and Poland boycotted the conference. According to http://israelpolicyforum.ngphost.com/blog/un-human-rights-and-israel, Israel also boycotted the U.N. conferences in Geneva, Switzerland. The Iranian president took center stage with a speech he made at the conference in mis-April. He accussed Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians and being allowed to get away with it because of everything that has happened to the Jews in the past. His speech was so contoversial and several of the western nations who were at the conference got up and walked out. He accussed the western world of bringing to power "the most cruel and repressive racist regime in Palestine" according to http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/04/20/racism.conference/index.html. I beleive that it is wrong to compare what is happening with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the acts of genocide againat the Jews. It is not anything close to the situation the Jews were put in during the Holiocaust. There is not a bunch of merciless and uncalled for murders of Palestinians on the part of Israel. I think his speech shows why the western world does not like him and is weary of his actions. He seems like a very scary man who is trying to create problems and used the conference to get across his own agenda. It will be intersting to watch the situation unfold in the upcoming months.

U.S.-Israeli Relations

I went to Israel last summer when we knew which candidates were running for U.S. president. Every where we went, it became more evident that the Israeli's were not in favor of Obama becoming president. Before going to Israel, I thought that he was the right choice for the presidency, but after hearing their opinions, I began to re-think my opinion. They felt that Obama would be in favor of helping the Arab world against Israel and would not be a fair peace negotiator. In the end, I still felt that he was the better option for president, but I felt a little wary towards his foreign policy because I want the U.S. to continue to support Israel. After reading some of the articles about U.S. relations with Israel so far, I think it is safe to say that Obama will not end the U.S.'s support of Israel. It is a little bit scary that his stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to create a two-state solution though. The Israelis clearly voted against this solution when they elected Netanyahu over Livni. Something else that is a little scary is the fact that http://israelpolicyforum.ngphost.com/blog/ipf-welcomes-subtle-shift-american-policy-toward-hamas says that Obama is shifting his policies toward Hamas. This brings up the memories of what several Israelis told us while we were in Israel last summer. I hope that the two countries can continue to work together and find a solution to the conflict in the region. Both countries need to remain open-minded to working on this problem together, and hopefully, there won't be a problem.

U.S. Meets with Israeli Government Officials

U.S. Envoy George Mitchell visited Israel for the third time in mid-April. He met with several of the country's government officials, including the president and foreign minister. Mitchell talked about the peace negotiations with the Palestinians and with Iran. Apparently, the U.S.'s stance on the issue with the Palestinians is the two-state solution that was being discussed in the peace negotiations in Egypt according to http://israelpolicyforum.ngphost.com/blog/george-mitchell-ramallah-two-state-solution-only-solution. Israel feels that there will not be peace in the region until the threat of Iran is gone, and they are pushing for peace talks with the Iranian governement as well according to http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/16/mitchell.mideast/index.html. Israeli officials are also pushing the idea of stong, continued support from the international community, including the U.S. Personally, I feel that no matter what happens with the peace negotiations with the Iranians and the Palestinians, there will never be a continued and ever-lasting peace in the Middle East. Historically, most of the peace agreements do not completely stop the terrorist groups in other Middle East countries from attacking Israel, nor do they last more than a couple of years. The people of Israel know that the threat of attacks from terrorist groups and other countries is a persistent threat and have learned to live with it. It would be amazing if one day, a peace agreement in the region would stick, but I'm not holding my breath that this will happen anytime soon.

Foreign Minister Lieberman

Lieberman was one of the other candidates in the recent Israeli elections. He came in third in the elecetion according to http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/04/02/lieberman.israel/index.html. At the begining of April he was questioned for seven hours over whether or not he recieved a bribery under the cover of his daughter's business. Apparently Lieberman is a very controversial figure as he has been investigated by the police for thirteen years for other illegal business acts such as bribary and corruption (http://israelpolicyforum.ngphost.com/blog/lieberman-interrogated-allegations-corruption-and-bribery). I think it is horrible when politicians use their power to get ahead in their business adventures. Just because you are a law maker or a political figure does not mean that it is okay for you to break the laws of your country. I feel it is even worse than when company presidents and CEOs launder money and commit fraud. Both types of people should know better than to do such things, yet both still do them to get ahead and make more money. People need to learn that money isn't everything, but an abuse of power is wrong on all fronts. The people who cheat the system tend to be wealthy or well-off already and don't really need the money they steal. When will people learn that dignity and trustworthyness are so much more important than the material things in life?

Two State Resolution?

At the end of March, when Netanyahu was sworn into office, he talked about the situation of making peace with the Palestinians. He said that he extended the olive branch to the Palestinian leaders, but they did not extend their peace symbol in return. According to http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/31/israel.new.prime.minister/index.html, the Palestinian leaders feel that the Israelis need to accept the two-state settlement and the other demands of the Arabs. Personally, I feel that the two state system could be a good solution if the two countries would not fight over which land each country will recieve. Also, if there are conflicts over which landmarks each nation wants, these fights may be just as bad as the ones they are currently having. Netanyahu also wants it to be known that he intends for the Palestinians to rule themselves and their own land once they show that they can do so properly. Hopefully, the Palestinians will gain control over their own land soon and that will help end the feuds that have been going on for the past 60 years. Only time will tell how this situation will play out.

U.N. Responds to the Fighting in Gaza

The article http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/23/israel.gaza.un.report/index.html talks about how the U.N. human rights council is investigating the IDF for actions that happened during the fighting in Gaza. The U.N. claims that the IDF violated laws of fighting by killing people for no reason and in front of their families. The IDF made counter claims that they weren't doing anything wrong and only shot at people who fired at them. The IDF was also accused of destroying properties that is not allowed by international law, including hospitals and school. The U.N. felt that the IDF unjustly killed innocent people like women and children. The Israeli governement claimed that the U.N. was more critical of them than other countries. Sometimes I feel that people are much more critical of Israel because they do not understand the plight of the Jews and how bad the situation actually is in Israel. The Jews have never had a land to call their own, yet everyone else does not want us to live in their countries. So once the opportunity openned up for Israel to become the nation of the Jews, the other countries jumped at the chance to rid themselves of the Jews. Now, however, they try to cut Israel down and criticize it more than other counties for its antics. It seems really unfair to me!

Israel Denies Misconduct

According to the main general of the IDF, he does not believe that there was any misconduct of his soldiers in Gaza. He feels that it should be investigated further though just to be on the safe side. I hope that he is telling the truth because I would be hurt to know that one of the best armies in the world was misusing its power. The general said that the reports he had seen and the ones that were printed in the paper were all reviewed, and he felt that the soldiers who made the claim to the newspaper were incorrect in their conclusions. This makes me feel better because I really do think that the IDF is doing the best they can to protect the Israeli citizens and solve the conflict with Hamas. Hopefully the rest of the world will not turn against the Israeli army because of this potential situation. Israel needs all of the allies it can get because it is surround by countries that do not approve of its existence.

Random Car Bombs

A fact of every day life for many people in Israel is the threat of car bombs going off and killing them. On March 22nd, one was discovered at a mall in the city of Haifa before it exploded. Usually, people in Israel are not lucky enough to escape a car bomb, but this one was discovered early enough and disabled before it could do too much damage. Another major threat that Israelis live with every day of their lives is the threat of suicide bombers. You take your life into your own hands ever time you use public transportation in some areas of Israel. When I was there last summer, there was a suicide bombing, but we were no where near it. I understand better now how people can live with that threat every day of their lives. Once you are actually there, it is not hard to put the thought out of your mind. It is actually harder to understand the realities of living in Israel before you visit it. I did not feel unsafe or uncomfortable once while I was in Israel. I was definitely more scared before I went there though.

Misconduct By the IDF?

I read this article and found it very upsetting and disturbing http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/19/israel.gaza.idf/index.html. I never like to hear of the army mistreating civilians of the population they are fighting against, whether they are terrorists like Hamas or members of the Israeli Defense Force. We are always taught about how terrorists go into places and kill innocent civilians for no apparent reason. Even if it is the military doing so, it is still an act of terrorism to kill innocent people. We are constantly criticizing Hamas members for killing innocent Israelis, but that does not give us the right to kill innocent Palestinians either. Two wrongs still do not make a right. In my opinion, if these stories are true, the IDF has a lot of explaining to do. Killing an innocent elderly woman is not okay just because she is in enemy territory.

Hamas Terrorists

A couple of days after the peace negotiations with Hamas fell apart when Hamas hardened their side of the negotiations for the release of Shalit, some members of Hamas illegally crossed the border into Israel and were arrested. This in no way helped with the continuing negotiations for the release of Shalit. The men that were arrested were expected of being terrorists. Hamas officials claimed that the negotiations fell apart due to the Israeli's unwillingness to compromise according to http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/19/israel.hamas.arrests/index.html. I feel that unless you are one of the few people immediately involved in the situation, you will never know exactly what is going on. It is too heated of a conflict and too biased of a situation to get the facts without any influence toward one side or the other. Unfortunately, I do not think that this conflict will ever end between Hamas and Israel.

Peace Talks Collapse

The soldier that I mentioned earlier, Shalit was part of the peace negotiations that were taking place in Cairo, Egypt. Around the middle of March, the peace negotiations fell apart when Hamas tried to up the ante before agreeing to release Shalit. Israel was already willing to free several Hamas terrorists in hopes of getting Shalit freed. According to http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/17/israel.soldier/index.html, Shalit was captured by Hamas back in 2006 when Hamas snuck across the border undetected. It is sad that this peace talk failed to get Shalit released. It is known that he is still alive and being tortured which is why people across the country were protesting to convince the prime minister to negotiate his freedom. I really hoped that these peace talks would be successful, but unfortunately they weren't. Maybe there will be another peace agreement soon that will open the door for his release. I continue to pray for his safe return, and hope that his parents don't lose faith that he will be returned safely.

My Hope for the Peace Talk

I really hope that these peace talks will be successful in bringing about some sort of peace to the area. It does not help that Israel does not have any alliances in the area to help back them up. Plus now with the growing threat of Iran looming over Israel, it would be nice to know that they will not be trying to fight on two fronts. They already have army posts at all borders throughout Israel to help protect them from unexpected attacks. When I was in Israel last summer, I got to see the Israeli border with Lebanon. It was so pretty. It is such a shame that the land is going to waste. Anyways, the men that were there told us that they are expecting an attack in the next couple of years on this front too. It would be amazing if the peace talks worked this time!

The Difference Between Israelis and Hamas

One of the main problems with the conflict between Hamas and Israel is the fact that from a young age, the children of Hamas members are taught that in order to please their family, they need to kill Jews. While this is not a normal act for most children, the children of Hamas members are taught from the begining that it is a good thing to kill themselves for the cause. This is a different type of antisemitism than most of us our used to, it is still antisemitism in my eyes. Also, it is a really scary reality for people living in Israel that anyone around them may be a suicide bomber. In recent months, it has not been as bad as in the past, but it is still a reality of life in Israel. Israeli citizens are required to be in the army once they turn 18 in order to try to counteract these terrorists. Requiring young adults to protect their country is very different from Hamas instilling the need to kill in their children. Children who blow themselves up for the cause are taught that they are doing the right thing and will end up in their equivalent of heaven. Personally, it is both sad and scary to think that children are being taught to do this, however, their parents apparently have different views on this issue.

Do We Have a Cease Fire?

Back in January, Hamas and Israel decided to have a cease fire in the Gaza area. Even though there was a cease fire, Hamas continued to fire rockets over the border into Israeli territory. Hamas is one of the Muslim terrorist organizations in the Middle East. So at the begining of March, when there were rockets fired at Israel from Gaza, the Israeli army retaliated by firing rockets back. All of the Israeli rockets hit their targets which included a weaponry according to http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/07/gaza.airstrikes/index.html. This came as a bit of a surprise since Hamas and Israel were in the midst of a peace agreement taking place in Cairo, Egypt. One of Israel's requests in the peace talks centered around getting back a captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shilat. I think that it is important for these peace talks to go well because it has been a long time since there has been peace in the area. I think it is also important for the country to get their soldier back from the enemy. He was captured a long time ago, so they want to know if he is alive and well.

Empty Space

There were no major events tha occurred in Israel between the end of the elections and the second week of March, so I thought I would just give you some of my opinions on things. Throughout the past 60 years, there have been several off and on conflicts between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Because the Muslims and the Jews have similar origins, these two groups fight over who has the right to the land. The Palestinians feel that because in the more recent history, they were the last ones on the land, that they have the rights to it. The Israelis use the fact that they were the first monotheistic religion and therfore since they existed first, they have the right to the land. Throughout the several conflicts in the recent years, several of the peace talks have included negotiations over land. In some ofthe more recent peace talks, the Palestinians have asked for the area known as Golan. It would be a tragedy for Israel to lose this land as it is a historic area for the Jews, as well as good land for making wine.

Netanyahu Wins the Election!

In the end, the people of Israel chose to elect Netanyahu as Prime Minister with the hopes that his differing view will help bring an end to the conflict with other Middle Eastern nations. Shortly after his election, Barak Obama visited with him and opened up the idea that the two of them are not very different. According to Obama, they both started out as strongly polarized candidates but as time went on truly became moderates in their beliefs. Netanyahu has a good understanding if the background of the conflict with the Palestinians as he was one of the people who worked with Yasir Arafat to come up with a peace agreement in the mid-late 1990s. i believe that he will be a good choice for Israel, and hopefully he can work to bring some peace to the region.

The Election Intensifies

About two weeks after Livni proposed a joint coalition government, she started to rethink her decision. She decided that the two parties were too opposite on several issues, one of which is the conflict with the Palestinians. As many of you probably already know, there is a long-running and extremely intense conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Livni believes that peace talks will be helpful in ending the long running feud. Netanyahu believes that the answer lies in improving the Palestinian way of life by improving their institutions and economy, according to http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/world/middleeast/20israel.html?_r=1&scp=22&sq=israeli%20elections&st=cse. Peace talks have never been close to a permanant solution in the past, and I don't believe anything is different now. I'm not sure if helping the Palestinians achieve a better way of life is the solutiuon either, however it is a tactic that hasn't been tried yet. I don't understand why the people of Israel would support a person who is pushing for something that has been proven to fail over and over again throughout Israel's short history.

It's Been Awhile

Since I have not been online for awhile, I am going to catch ya'll up on the events that have happened over the last couple of months. Back around the time that I started this blog, Israel was in the midst of a very controversial election after the previous prime minister, Ehud Olmert, stepped down from office. The election was between Tzipi Livni and Benjamin Netanyahu. Livni is a member of the Kadima party which is the more moderate party in the Israeli government, whereas Netanyahu is a member of the more rightist party. The main issue for Israel, according to the video http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/02/12/schneider.iran.mixed.mandate.cnn?iref=videosearch, is security above any other issue that they face. Israel feels that they have no alliances over in the Middle East and that it is important to them to see what Iran is planning on doing in the upcoming months. Livni wanted to create a coalition government due to the fact that both of their parties essentially tied in the unofficial election. Netanyahu felt that because the vote showed that people's views were swinging closer to his party that he did not want to form a coalition governement. Personally, I feel that it is important to represent the people in the best possible way. However, that rarely takes the form of multiple leaders running a country. I believe that if Israel were to have two prime ministers, it would create more caos than they currently have. Too many opinions on an issue will make it harder for important issues to get solved, especially since the two parties have such opposite views.

I am a 22-year-old Jewish girl living in College Station, Texas with an interest in teaching math. You might be asking yourself why I would have an interest in Israeli events. Truth be told, it's not just because I am Jewish, although that is a significant factor. This past summer, I visited Israel, and it gave me a different perspective of the fighting between the Israelis and the Arabs. It also made me realize that things aren't always the way they are portrayed by the western media. Along with the historical significance that is wrapped up in Israel, there are so many beautiful sights that are worth preserving. The near constant fighting that occurs in the region is destroying some of these gorgeous areas. Israel really is like no other country in the world, and I feel that it is important to keep it the way it is. It was also very interesting to see how differently the Israeli people view the fighting and constant wars as opposed to other Jews around the world. Through this blog, I hope to share with you my insight into Israel. Talk to ya'll soon!