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Barry Shaw made Aliyah from England in the 1970s, is manager of Netanya Real Estate, and founder of the Netanya Terror Victims Fund. He is the author of "The View from Here" series of commentaries from Israel.
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By Barry Shaw
August 15, 2005
Tell me of a nation that has been shot at, vilified, and persecuted, as much as Israel.
Tell me of a nation that has risen so brightly and brilliantly above the hatred, the scorn, and the vindictiveness as Israel.
You will talk to me of occupation.
I will tell you how a fledgling sliver of fragile earth was trampled on by invading Arab armies and hordes of fanatical Islamic terrorists and murderers.
You will talk to me of oppression.
I will tell you how Israel rose above the heavy and bloody weight of murderous intent to develop one of the most modern and democratic nations on earth.
There are those who claim the Oslo Accords as opening the door to a future peace.
Others will see this as opening the gates of the Jewish state to allow the Trojan Horse of an Arafat-led Jihad into the region.
There are those who say the uprooting of Jewish settlers from parts of the Promised Land is a defiance of a religious and historic legacy.
Others will claim that the few who acted on a dream of a Greater Israel delayed the potential for a peaceful resolution of the crisis in our region.
Tell me of a nation that was attacked in its weakness by surrounding nations, still determined on its eradication, yet offers up a slender piece of its territory on the altar of compromise.
You may repeatedly condemn and insult this tiny nation. Yet, she will continue to be a beacon
for the future.
The dangers that Israel faced yesterday are your new threats today.
The solution that Israel is taking today you will adopt tomorrow.
For you have been slow to realise that what threatens us Jews today will devour you tomorrow.
Thus has been history repeatedly.
But today, Israel has the strength, the intelligence, and the will, to suppress the external dangers while offering the olive branch of peace.
Today, Israel is in the painful spasms of shedding an ancient historic heritage and dream.
Those who have developed the land are being uprooted, like fledgling olive trees.
Yet these same settlers will continue their important pioneering spirit. They will yet contribute to the splendour and heritage of the Jewish state.
Olive trees grow in rugged and infertile soil, yet flourish into character and beauty.
So it is with Israel.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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