LIFE  AFTER  ARAFAT.

We are often asked by visitors to Israel and friends abroad how life here has changed since the death of Arafat.  In the Jewish tradition of answering a question with a question we usually reply, “What’s different?” Aren’t there any changes people wonder. Well, unlike Arafat, Abu Abbas dresses in European style er -um- um - .  No, let’s be honest the Palestinians have a new leader but their attitude has not altered one scrap.  We have no proof, as we had with Arafat, that Abbas actually signs orders for suicide bombings to be carried out against Israelis but on the other hand, he hasn’t succeeded in stopping them either.  Before you argue that until the Netanya suicide attack in July there had been 5 months of quiet, let us hasten to assure you that this was entirely due to Israel’s wonderful intelligence services, not a day passed in the so called ‘quiet’period when at least two, often as many as 7, attempted attacks were not thwarted, their would-be perpetrators being caught before they arrived at their targets inside Israel..  The firing of rockets  into the Jewish population centres in the Gaza Strip has continued with such regularity that it is only when they cause extensive damage or loss of life that they actually get a mention in the British press.  Minor structural damage and the daily necessity for people to be treated for shock goes unreported.

The recent horrifying suicide bombings in London have finally shown to many previously unconvinced Brits, what we living in Israel have always known, the terrifying level of hate that exists within some sections of Moslem society against, not only Jews and Israelis, but also the ‘Infidel,’ namely anyone who is not a Moslem.  Maybe it is politically incorrect to state this publicly but until the world wakes up to this fact it will have no understanding of the situation in Israel and the Middle East or the reason why, with or without Arafat as leader of the Palestinians, the situation will not change.  The giving back of land that the Palestinians claim to be theirs (albeit previously barren and uncultivated until made fertile by Israeli hard work and technology) the removing of the protective fence which has done so much to lessen terror attacks, and the check points, that also help to save many Israeli lives,  will have no effect other than that of weakening Israel and laying its citizens open to even more terror attacks.  After all, how much land have Londoners or those from the city of Leeds, from where the bombers came, stolen from their Moslem communities?  How many road blocks are there in London or Leeds to hinder the progress of Moslems across the cities?  In fact, have Londoners or the inhabitants of Leeds given their Moslem citizens any reason to hate them so much that some of them were willing to give up their own lives in order to murder them? 

As Prime Minister Tony Blair said in July in an open press conference in London to President Karzai of Afghanistan, “—The killers, the Jihadists, say it is in revenge or response to the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq yet 9/11 was before those wars;  the killers say it was because of the oppression of the west or the plight of the Palestinians                                             but it is a fact that they do not need these reasons, they will search for others.”

We have always been struck by the fact that the world only listens to what Arab leaders say when they speak in English to the Western media and never the to the words they speak in Arabic to their own people, these are not words of peace but threats of war and further destruction until they get what they believe to be their right, full control of a Middle East in which there is no Israel and no Jews.

“The attitude of Islam is not to accept a foreign state in this area.”

“Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas spokesman, 2003

“I swear by almighty God, we shall not leave a single Jew in Palestine.”

Abdel Aziz Rantizi, Hamas leader, June, 2003

Perhaps even more chilling :

“Stop murdering Israelis until we have an independent Palestinian state.”

Abu Mazen, Prime Minister, Palestinian Authority, February, 2003

No, nothing has changed since Arafat’s death but in very many ways, that is good  because life in Israel has so much that is desirable to offer its citizens.  The wonderful climate, especially in Jerusalem, where we live, the coastline with its beautiful beaches, the lush greenery of the north and the wonders of the under-sea aquarium in Eilat in the south, the amazing scenery on the way to the Dead Sea with its Bedouin encampments lining the road and the Dead Sea itself, the lowest place on earth, where the unique Botanical Garden at Ein Gedi Kibbutz, which must be the nearest place on this earth to the Garden of Eden, lies.  Special to us and something we hope will never change, is the stunning view we have over the whole of Jerusalem from our sitting room window.

In Jerusalem especially, there is so much to do, museums which always have a new exhibition to see.  The new Herzl Museum with its stunning audio-visual presentation and the newly modernised Yad Vashem.  Superb concerts and theatres, our monthly play-reading group, the Jerusalem English Speaking Theatre, (JEST) the Jerusalem Gilbert and Sullivan Society and so much more.  Of course it would be wonderful to have peace, a real peace, and to live in harmony with our Palestinian neighbours without fear of suicide attacks and shootings, but until that day we are determined to continue enjoying every minute of our lives in this wonderful country.  To live in constant fear would mean a victory for those who are working so hard for Israel’s destruction.

                                      Norman & Lola Cohen

With grateful acknowledgment for the quotations from speeches by Arab leaders, to the book, “Arabs Speak Frankly,” compiled by Naomi Comay.