By: Joseph Araman
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Bomb shelter disguised as a giant caterpillar for children
in Sderot, Israel.
(Cpr.org) |
Israel/Palestine, Israel and Palestine. These two terms have
very different meanings. Whatever side you align with, whatever your views may
be on the territorial or religious rights regarding this piece of Mediterranean
real estate do not matter. What truly matters is that there are people living
there currently. Regular people like you and me, going about their daily lives
as normally as possible. Unfortunately for Israelis, that is much easier said
than done. “Normal” is a universally used term, everyone thinks that they know
what normal means because everyone uses the term daily. What people don’t understand
is that normal is a term used subjectively. Everyone has their own definition
of normal. As a child growing up in the United States, normal meant going to
school, coming home and doing homework, spending time with friends and so
forth. As a person gets older, school gets harder, more adversity is thrown
your way in the form of responsibilities, decision making, relationships,
mistakes, failures and much more that cannot be listed in one post. For Israelis,
that definition works for the most part. They have a modern school system as
well as higher learning. They experience the delight of childhood as well as
the casual growing pains of adolescence into adulthood. However, as similar as
their experiences may be, they also experience something that people of the
U.S. haven’t since the early 60’s, the constant threat of attack.
 |
Detailed information on the "Qassam" rockets
commonly used by Hamas.
(Palestinianposterproject.org) |
Since the
creation of the state of Israel, its citizens have not been strangers to
declaration of war by its hostile neighbors as well as rocket fire from the Gaza
strip. My father recalls the day he heard sirens indicating an imminent attack
on the holiest day of the Jewish year, which initiated the start of the Yom Kippur
war. He does not like to talk about that day often. I learned not to ask about
it anymore since I have come to realize that he gets lost in the flashbacks of
that day. I imagine him hunkered down in a shelter not knowing whether he will
get word that it is safe to leave, or if the sound of enemy vehicles will cross
his ears. i doubt that this was the life he dreamed about when he emigrated to Israel from Lebanon. Israelis never really know if they are going to hear red-alert sirens
on their way back to work from their lunch break, or in the middle of the night
as they sleep. Yet somehow they manage to make it work. It seems that at this
point they are used to it, if that is even possible. This kind of experience has
embedded itself in the Israeli “normal” as the years went by. In response to
this constant threat, the Israeli government instituted a mandatory military
service for each citizen once they reach the age of 18. Quite different of a
coming of age ceremony than one would experience in the United States.
 |
Wreckage of a 1995 suicide bombing
in Tel Aviv that claimed the lives of
23 and injured another 46.
(Worldpressphoto.org) |
My father
served his mandatory military term and moved to the United States. Once I was
born he decided that it was time to head back to the country he grew up in and served in defense of
its liberty. As we were getting ready to leave, public buses started exploding
in Tel Aviv, one city over from where he grew up and where we were headed. The terrorism
in Israel had escalated yet again. My father decided that he had had enough,
and that he did not want to raise his family in a place where catastrophe can
strike unprovoked. We scrapped our plans to move and remained in the United States.
 |
Common Israeli bus stop that
doubles as a bomb shelter.
(Israelalways.com) |
While this post is primarily to convey my fathers experiences growing up in the
state of Israel, the underlying message is not necessarily that Israelis have
it tough and that everyone should have sympathy for them. The message I am
trying to send is that under all of this pressure and threat of terrorism, Israel
still manages to receive criticism due to the inability of both countries to reach a peace
agreement. My father states in our interview that the peace agreement
that Israel reached with Egypt has held strongly between the two countries and
that they have not had an issue ever since. The situation is different
regarding Palestine given the illegitimacy of the territory as it stands, and their
unwillingness to lay down their arms.
 |
Young "Fateh" militant.
(Palestinianposterproject.org) |
The Palestinians are making it very hard
for the Israelis to make peace with them since they keep sending rockets into
civilian populated areas. I personally would not trust someone who consistently
launches explosives into my country with the intent to wipe the Jews from the
face of the earth. I would not trust people that instill hatred murderous ideologies in their youth. I would not trust people that infiltrate our territory to
capture 3 innocent students and execute them in a manner reserved for the worst
of humankind. I would not trust people that travel across the border and murder
parents in front of their children’s eyes before murdering the children
themselves. Maybe you would, but I would not. When the Israeli military
responds to these crimes, they are ostracized and accused of genocide. The entire
system of provocation an reaction is miscalibrated immensely when it comes to
the topic of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
 |
Palestinian liberation
movement poster
emphasizing militaristic
intent.
(Palestinianposterprojcet.org) |
The Palestinians need to give the
Israeli government a show of faith that maybe we can trust that they have had
enough of the fighting and the death. They need to show us that they want
exactly what we want, and what we want is to live our lives without the constant
fear that my taxi driver might stab me to death, or the fear of boarding a
plane that might have a bomb on it. The Palestinians have shown no indication that they are willing to accept a peaceful existence between themselves and the Israelis. In fact, they have shown no indication of anything other than full belief in the idea that the state of Israel and the Jews as a people lack the right to exist. All we are asking them to do is to stop
murdering innocents. That should be the least difficult thing to do from a
human standpoint. It is a shame that in this day and age, something as barbaric
as this can still be taking place. This is supposed to be a time of tolerance,
and acceptance. However, it has proven to be anything but in the Middle-East.
Prime
Minister of Israel Bibi Netanyahu once said “The truth is that if Israel were
to put down its arms there would be no more Israel. If the Arabs were to put
down their arms there would be no more war.” I couldn’t agree more.
 |
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu
(Speakerpedia.com)
|
My name is Joseph Araman. I am a sophomore at Rutgers University. I have been wanting to write something like this on this topic for a while and I am glad that I have finally got my chance. As the son of an Israeli citizen I was raised with an appreciation for the state of Israel that some do not have. While that makes me biased in favor of Israel, I find it hard not to be, given the hostilities surrounding the country, both figuratively and literally. I know that there are going to be people that disagree with me for various reasons, and thats ok. However, I post this to at least try to tell our side of the story. Whether I did a good job on that or not is up to you to decide.
Email: Joseph.araman@Rutgers.edu
Image Sources:
http://www.cpr.org/news/story/colo-students-witnessed-israeli-palestinian-conflict-firsthand
http://www.israelalways.org/lifeshield.html
http://palestineposterproject.org
https://speakerpedia.com/speakers/benjamin-netanyahu
http://www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/photo/1995/spot-news/ziv-koren
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