By Jonathan Feldstein
May 11, 2005
Good morning from Jerusalem.
It is a sad day here, Yom Hazikaron, Memorial Day, for Israel's fallen soldiers. Since 1947, some 21,000 Israeli soldiers have been killed in defense of our country. As on Yom Hashoah a week ago, regular TV and radio programming went silent or was replaced by programs that are appropriate to the day. Restaurants and entertainment closed. And a siren sounded last night marking the beginning of Yom Hazikaron observance, which will be sound again at 11:00 AM for two minutes, give pause during which the country will come to a stop as people reflect on those lost.
Most Israelis still have a personal connection to one or more fallen soldiers, and certainly to the many thousands more terror victims since Israel's founding. Being a new immigrant, I do not have that connection (yet), so wanted and needed to try to put the number of dead into a perspective that I could get. Israel has lost 21,000 soldiers out of a population, on the eve of Independence Day, of 6.9 million.
Proportionally, it is as if the Unites States had lost 840,000 soldiers, only in the last 57 years. I am sure that there were not that many American soldiers killed in the last 57 years, and possibly not in all the US history going back to 1776 and including its Independence War, Civil War, WW I and WW II, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf, Iraq, and other wars and conflicts. For that reason, it stands that comparison is unfathomable.
This of course does not diminish the loss of one soldier, but it does highlight the fact that in less than 60 years, and even still today with 169 more soldiers killed in the last year alone, that Israel is, and always has been, a country in a state of war. Israel has never known a day of peace, (ironically that?s almost 21,000 days of consecutive state of war) and it is hard for Americans, or anyone else in the world for that matter, to comprehend this.
And yet Israel mourns its loss. We look inward. We turn to God for comfort and understanding, and the hope that these will be the last to die, hoping that one day there will really be peace. I am reminded of Golda Meir's famous words to Egypt that, "we can forgive you for killing our sons but we cannot forgive you for making our sons killers." This sums up the general tone of Israel as it relates to war, peace and survival I think even today.
I look at my six year old son and wonder what will be in 12 years when he puts on a green Tzahal uniform. Feelings of pride, fear and awe fill me as we go about raising this amazing little boy who is too innocent to know anything but peace, yet for whom the realities and responsibilities of adulthood will likely come much earlier than had he been raised in America. Today is a day especially on which we hope that he and all Israeli children hereafter will have the blessing of innocence and peace.
Making the sorrow of Yom Hazikaron more vivid, Israel turns on a dime tonight and celebrates Yom Haatzmaut, Independence Day, immediately the day following Yom Hazikaron. The two days are intricately linked both on the calendar and in meaning because without the sacrifice and sorrow of those who fell defending this land, we would not have the joy and pride in our independence.
Yom Haatzmaut is always celebrated on the 5th of Iyar, the day on the Jewish calendar that corresponds to the day in May 1948 when Israel's independence was declared. Because the 5th of Iyar falls on Shabbat this year, we observe it two days earlier. Yet, this year, Israel's Independence Day falls out almost to the day on the both secular and Jewish calendar.
And in a little reported news item here, I am sure a non-news item in the US and the rest of the world, I awoke to find the following report of how the Palestinian Authority will observe what they call the Nakba -- the catastrophe -- of Israel's establishment. As reported in the Jerusalem Post, the Palestinian Authority will twist Israel's use of a siren, and use the same means not to mourn their own losses, not the lack of having a state of their own, not the grief that their sons have turned into walking bombs killing and maiming others, and not years of victimization at the hands of other Arab states and leaders who have used their cause only as a tool against Israel but never to do anything to help their plight that they claim to support.
How will the Palestinians mark Israel's birth? Not in reflection, not in prayer but by blaming Israel and "protesting" its establishment. It is important to note that this official protest is being run under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority, the governing and administrative body of the Palestinians. This is the same Authority with which Israel is asked -- and in many cases pushed -- to make sacrifices for peace.
It is true, one can only make peace with an enemy. But as long as the Palestinian leadership, and especially the official elected leadership, continues to spend more time blaming Israel for all their troubles and underscoring their status as an enemy rather than taking personal responsibility, how will it ever be possible for Israel to make peace with them, or anyone. Logic demands that on the eve of potential and unprecedented concessions from Israel that the Palestinians would get smart and work within the process rather than against it. But then again, it has always been said that the Palestinians have "never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity."
Even the most left of Israeli doves must pause to think that something is not right with this picture if we are making sacrifices and offering concessions, and yet the Palestinian leadership only looks to point a finger and blame rather than take responsibility and work toward a productive and peaceful future.
As we are about to pause in silent reflection on the 21,000 young Israelis sacrifices in defending this country, and on the eve of celebrating Israel's Independence as the Jewish homeland, I cannot help but feel that with neighbors like these we'll be in the same place a year from now. I am not a harsh right wing ideologue, but when it comes to Israel's safety, security and existence, news as vivid and stupid as this from the Palestinians is neither encouraging, hopeful, nor makes me think that we should continue to make sacrifices for a peace that may never come. 21,000 is enough.
For the sake of my son, all Israeli children, and even the Palestinians, let us hope that I am wrong and that Israel's 57th year will be one not of "catastrophe," but of hope and even peace.
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