| Yom HaAtzmout or Al Nakba – Miracle or Catastrophe? |
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| Written by David Ha'Ivri | |
| Apr 26, 2007 at 04:32 AM | |
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Today as Israelis and Jews world over celebrate for the 59th time the
great miracle of the re-establishment of an independent Jewish State in
our historic homeland after nearly 2000 years of exile, Arabs and those
who call themselves "Palestinians" mark "Al Nakba" – "the catastrophe." Can't something be done so everyone is happy? Maybe not. The Talmud tells us that Rome and Jerusalem can not both be standing in their glory (Rome representing the empire that took down the Judaic commonwealth in Israel). The Halachic rule is that one should drink on Purim until he cannot distinguish between the verses "cursed is Haman" and "blessed is Mordechai." Rabbi Meir Kahane hy"d explained that the point is not to curse Mordechai and bless Haman but rather for us to reach the understanding that there is no difference between blessing the good and cursing the bad. Our joy and their sorrow are two sides of the same coin. The "Alnakba" website claims that a million Palestinians were deported as result of the establishment of the State of Israel. Granted that the numbers that they present are incredibly exaggerated and not forgetting that for the most part they willingly deserted their homes on the advice of their own leaders who promised their safe return after the Arab armies finished the chore of throwing the Jews into the sea. The fact remands that many "Arabs" who lived in pre-Israel Palestine mandate found themselves homeless refugees after the war. Should we morn for their loss for 60 years? I don't think so. Rabbi Kahane was known to say "if you go to war and you lose, YOU LOSE". They went to war against us. They hoped to finish the work of the Nazis and throw us in to the sea. And they lost the war, too bad. The truth is that we are celebrating their downfall just as much as we are celebrating our victory, the two are one in the same. Let's not forget that the Zionist establishment accepted the UN petition plan allotting a much smaller area to the Jewish State, and that it was the Arabs who were intent on rejecting even that and who declared their determination to: "throw the Jews in the sea". Also we will remember that it has been the Arab states and their leaders who have maintained the "Palestinians" as refugees for nearly 60 years. More than 800,000 Jews, who were forced out of their homes in Muslim countries with no more then the shirts on their backs after the establishment of the Jewish state, were never recognized by the UN as refugees. But what is more important is that they where all intergrated into their new homeland and there is no Jewish refugee problem from that time. Although I think that it was a mistake to begin with, the Zionist and Israeli leadership have done everything in their power to make the "Israeli"-Arabs an equal part of the Israeli society. The Israeli government has paved their roads, piped water into their villages and sent their children to university. The standard of living of the "Israeli-Arab" is greatly superior to that of his counterpart in any of the neighboring Arab countries. In return for our hospitality we are rewarded with "Israeli-Arab" members of Knesset (Israel's parliament) such as the likes of Azmi Bashara, who recently defected after being suspected by the Mossad of spying for Syria during the Second Lebanon War, and "Israeli-Arab" Muslim clergy like Raeid Salach, who openly calls for an intifada uprising in order to keep the Jews off of the Temple Mount. The bottom line is that there are two people who claim this land as their own. Both parties can not and will not be happy with any kind of compromise. It is our duty and national responsibility to see to it that our historical dream does not turn into the nightmare that the Arabs wish upon us. We will continue to celebrate our miraculous victory and independence, and I suggest that our neighbors get over their grief. We are here to stay - and nothing they can do will make us go away. So as I wave my Israeli flag I'll wish you a happy Alnakba because their catastrophe is our miracle and I for one am glad it is like that and not the other way around. |
