Between the lines of peace

Hi all and welcome back to my humble site.

You know, being an Israeli in the US, I repeatedly find myself functioning as an unofficial ambassador. I’m not sure that the Prime Minister would approve of everything that I say. In fact, I’m pretty darn sure he’d fire me at once.

The most common thing I’m asked to comment on is, of course, “the conflict”. You know, that seemingly never-ending conflict of interests between the state of Israel and it’s neighbors, mainly the Palestinians.

So first of all, nothing from what I’m writing about today is the official government line, by any stretch of the term. And secondly, It is not my intention in this piece to start a “whose fault is it?” or a “Who started?” debate. I think this is done on plenty of other websites which, unlike this one, promote division and well… conflict. In addition, I don’t want to be part of the problem. I hope to be a humble part of the solution.

What’s my opinion about the conflict? I would dearly want it to end. Today. Right now if it’s convenient to everyone.

The point of today’s post is that, surprisingly enough (well, not to me. I knew this all along) – so do most of the people (and I’m talking about people here, not politicians) involved in this.

Last Friday, while reading an interesting column on an Israeli newspaper (LINK – It’s in Hebrew… sorry) I was pleasantly surprised to see that what I thought all along, is validated by some pretty interesting numbers. The columnist dedicated a good paragraph to a survey, conducted by researchers at The university of Maryland and presented at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, and highlighted some really important points.

Now, it’s a good thing that the writer had read through the whole survey, as statistics could be interpreted and manipulated so easily. One would read through this survey and get the feeling that all is lost, if one didn’t read between the lines – which the writer did.

Here are the points I wanted to bring up:

• 54% of Israelis and 41% of Palestinians expressed support of a defined agreement that was presented to them. This agreement is based on existing offers that are on the table. Nothing significantly different to what was discussed so far!
• When the people who disagreed with the above were asked for their support, assuming “the other side” accepts the deal, the Palestinian support rate jumped up by 18% and the Israeli by another 9%! Making it – 63% of Israelis and 59% of Palestinians!
• Past experience shows that the support of an agreement rises even further after signing, so we’re talking about roughly 2/3 of the population.

If you ask me – THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN.

So why is peace eluding the region?

No, Roger Waters, it’s not because Israel is Nazi Germany. It isn’t.

And no, Mr. Lieberman, it’s not because “The Arabs” don’t want peace. They do.

It’s plain as Yogurt, reading the above, or simply living in the middle east – PEOPLE want peace!

It’s because someone is making money off of our backs! Someone is pulling the strings that bind the politicians on every turn.

Now, we may look at this and do what we always do – nod our heads and say “well, so what?” it’s only a survey. Who’s going to read it?

What’s missing in this equation are leaders with “testicular fortitude”… Leaders who don’t think about the loud and violent minorities who object to a compromise. Leaders who’re willing to listen to the people. The people couldn’t say it any clearer – we want to live in peace with our neighbors.

Let your voice be heard! Spread the word that the people have spoken! Let the leaders know they’re elected to benefit the people.

Speak for peace.

Here’s the LINK to the survey – read for yourself.

Until next time.