Well, This Is What I Think

Some olive trees live for what seems like forever, This one is over 1,500 years old. Which is almost as long as people have been fighting over the Holy Land.

I recommend you read this short but heartfelt article from a leading Jewish writer in the USA.

On the Palestinian olive harvest and the Talmud.

The article was originally posted on In My Head by Emily Huaser on November 2, 2012

OK, I freely confess that I don’t know what the hell is going on in Israel.

It has become received wisdom in the West that the Palestinians in general, and Hamas in particular, are perpetually violent, ornery, refuse to accept a settlement with the Israelis and so forth.

And yes, there is no doubt that the Israeli population has suffered egregious harm from militant attacks over the years, not to mention full-blown war being visited upon them by their neighbours.

And the tales of Israeli excesses in the occupied lands make regular and sad reading.

But when one reads this well-sourced article, it is hard not to feel that the lack of peace around the borders of Israel owes as much to the intransigence of the extremist settler population, their on-going cruelty to their Palestinian neighbours, and the complete failure of the IDF to act impartially to defend Palestinian rights.

When one reads an article like this, it is clear that more and more anger is being stored up, to be unleashed at some point in the future. From any perspective except that of the hardline religious right in Israel, this is surely madness.

Dear God Almighty, when will this ever end?