I’ll be honest: I may cause a stir with this column. Not because it’s wrong, but because it’s right. It’s honest, and I’m not sure that, in today’s environment, people really want to hear the truth.
I’m neither a Jew nor a Muslim. Neither am I a Palestinian nor an Israeli, and until Sept. 11, 2001, I had little interest in the area or the conflict there. To me, it seemed like a centuries-old conflict between people that just didn’t want to get along.
My interest in the region changed when 3,000 of our fellow Americans were unnecessarily and mercilessly slaughtered.
Since then, I have traveled to the Middle East often. I have been to Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, Egypt, Jordan and Sudan (which is not located in the Middle East, but has had a conflict that is connected, and similar). I’ve attempted to enter Saudi Arabia, but was denied entry. I have also been to Israel on nine separate occasions since 9/11.
I only mention this because I have found the reporting on the current situation in the Israel/Palestinian conflict so derelict that many reporters and their editors, in my opinion, should be fired.
I have met with politicians, terrorists, and regular folks on the street. I managed a sit-down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a restaurant and a few moments after we sat down, I thought we were about to be hit by a suicide bomber. Thankfully, the three young twenty-something men who drove up onto the sidewalk, pushing aside his security detail, were just over-zealous fans.
I have had numerous encounters with Hamas leaders and even Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade Terrorists, complete with guns in my back and threats to my life. I have spent days with the Israeli Defense Force soldiers. I interviewed the manager of a pizza parlor in Jerusalem that was bombed and heard the story of how he survived. I have talked with a terrorist who was about to become a “martyr,” and who, just a few days later achieved his goal and blew himself up. I have story, after story, after story.
I have been detained for hours in Egypt and was falsely accused of being a spy during the “Arab Spring.” I had a liberal minister of Parliament in England lie to authorities about me, based solely on a differing political opinion, and have been “Banned FOR LIFE” from ever entering those halls again.
So, when I tell you what has happened in that area of the world, I’ve been there and I’ve seen it.
I have no bias, although I will be accused of having one.
Can you handle the truth? I hope so. Here it is: When you speak to nearly anyone on either side, they will usually bring up the 1947 or 1967 borders. You hear stories of the United Nations, Temple Mount, and how Monica Lewinski was sent by the Jews to have sex with Bill Clinton, so the Jews could run America.(This, unfortunately, is a theory I’ve heard so often over there it’s no longer shocking or laugh-out-loud funny).
Anger on both sides runs very high, and it’s understandable. However, from what I have seen, one side has worked for peace, while the other side has taken advantage of the peace process. Each time, in my opinion, they have negotiated in bad faith, and by doing so have caused more harm to peace. Each time they cause more harm, the world community rewards them for their bad behavior.
It would take far too much space in this column to list every infraction the Palestinian side has caused. Yasser Arafat may have permanently devastated the Palestinians when he taught them to think of themselves as professional victims, rather than a people who could create something of their own.
Time and time again, Israel has given what they were asked for; land in exchange for peace. They have given the land, and yet their children continue to fear for their safety, because it’s never good enough to keep The Palestinians happy.
I clearly remember the buildup to the 2005 “Israeli Disengagement from Gaza.” Israel forced its own people to leave their private land and family homes in the Gaza Strip so the Palestinians would begin to live as peaceful neighbors, as promised.
As then-Israeli Prime Minister Arial Sharon was ordering Israelis out of their homes, the world cheered! Peace was near! The Palestinians were finally given what they had asked for and now would be able create their own land of Milk and Honey, full of peace and prosperity for all!
That didn’t happen. Why? Did Israel change its mind and attack? No. Even as the Israeli civilian population was being removed by Sharon, Hamas terrorists began to fire rockets. The barrage lasted for days, and when the smoke cleared, Hamas took credit for the Israeli evacuation, even though it had been planned for over a year. Then, as a thank you to Hamas, they were “democratically elected” to take over the political leadership in Gaza.
Since then, Hamas - the “Purveyors of Peace” – have used mosques, schools and apartment buildings as military bases, and then cried on TV when their children got caught up in the cross fire.The media falls for this line of B.S. time and time again. It never ceases to amaze me.
You can yell all you want about the “Israel military offensive” and the fact that their weapons work better, but if the Palestinians didn’t want war, they wouldn’t start one - nearly every summer.
It’s really not hard to see what is right and wrong.
So let me be honest and direct: HEY! Palestinians! When you kidnap people, you need to be held accountable.
When your leadership fires rockets from your schools, your children are going to get killed.<
When you elect terrorists to represent you and say that a people have no right to exist, you will never find peace.
Want to stop the killing and war?
Palestinians, you and your leadership need to stop it, that’s the truth.
Stop teaching your children to hate Jews and other groups of people.
Be happy with what you have, make it a better place, and then see about working things out to get more land.
Focus on creating, not destroying. Ever heard of a great Palestinian car, or Palestinian computer, or a new Palestinian product that the world is clamoring for? NO? Then make something other than just threats of war.
Being a professional victim only works out well for the leaders, like Arafat, Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. It rarely pays off for the people who follow them.
Palestinians need to stop being the bully that punches people in the nose at will, and then cries bloody murder when a tougher kid shows up and punches them back.
Firing rockets at civilians, just because you want to MUST STOP!
The killing has to stop!
Using your children as human shields, and props for press pictures, has to stop!
When your madness stops, then come back to us about your land issues.
Until then, the world should pay little or no attention to you or your complaints.
Until next time, this is The Rusty Humphries Rebellion.
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