Shaul Amir

August 23, 2014 

Frustrated with raw nerve ends, this is how I feel.

I guess that if I will be able to poll the citizens of Israel, regardless where they live, I would get a very high percent of people who identify.

It is Shabbat now, a day of rest, supposedly, my “color red” application doesn’t stop sounding the alert. Does it have to become part of our life???

I corresponded with my old friend at my old kibbutz, was worried about him, we just heard about the 4 years old kid who was killed in one of the Kibbutzim on the North Gaza Border. He told me that unfortunately it was in “our” Kibbutz. A few hours later, another mortar bomb hit the dining room at the kibbutz, nobody hurt this time.

I asked him if by any chance I know the parents or grandparents of the kid, Daniel, and his sad reply was, no, they were new to the Kibbutz, they came as part of the move from the City to the countryside to give their kids quality of life, better education and free of stress of living in the big city.

Daniel will not grow old in the Kibbutz, he will not be able to walk his kids and grand kids in the paved trails of the Kibbutz. Daniel will not hear the birds singing nor will he enjoy the open space of the green lawns of the Kibbutz. The people of the Kibbutz left only a very small skeleton of people in the kibbutz to take care of the animals, milk the cows and feed the chickens. The rest left for a safer place, to rest from the constant shelling.

The kids in neighboring Gaza will keep on playing in the ruins of their homes and parents on both sides will keep on burying their children.

Where does all this madness lead to? The first reaction one has is rage, revenge and anger. We cannot destroy Gaza, they cannot uproot us from our rightful homeland.

It looks like the only solution will have to be diplomatic, political or any other solution which is not brute force. It looks like the world will need to unite for a change to solve the problem once and for all instead of helping perpetuate the problem by creating a special agency to deal with the Palestinian refugees, UNRWA that only exacerbated the situation rather than solve it.

At long last the world will have to truly and honestly recognize Israel’s right to exist in security and act upon it. The alternative is more of the same, death, bereavement and no hope.

Today was not a good day for me, maybe tomorrow I will be more optimistic, a new day with new hopes.

Signing out,

Shaul

In order to end the cycle of death and destruction in our area, the futile death of the innocents and the trauma inflicted on so many, on both sides of the border, we suggest the following:

1) The Palestinians get a seaport and Airport
2) The Borders between Israel and its neighbors in Gaza and the West Bank will be open for free movement of people and merchandise.
3) Israel and the international community with rebuild Gaza’s homes and industry, build a water desalination plants to make sure they have enough drinking and agriculture water.
4) The border between Egypt and Gaza will become the main crossing border for the Gazans and will be open and monitored by appointed and trained personnel (accepted by both sides)
5) In return, Israel and the international community will disarm and demilitarize Gaza
6) Appointed international observers (accepted by both sides) will monitor any movement of goods to the Gaza strip to make sure it remains weapon and explosives free.
7) The Palestinians will declare the acceptance of the State of Israel, its right to exist in security with discussion over the territorial land exchange which will involve Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinians and Israel.