In an email I got today -
I heard a BBC interview yesterday in which a
member of Hamas, a PhD, was comparing what is going
on in Gaza to having two children locked in a room
with nothing but a small piece of bread - what else
could they do but begin to fight over the bread?
This is obvious. Eventually they will figure out
that they can share. Like the two children in the
story, we must give residents of Gaza time to sort
things out.
My parents, both Holocaust survivors, were
locked in bunkers with five people per sleeping
board and not even a crust to share among them.
They never did what those two fictional children
locked in a room see as the only thing to do.
Throughout the millennia, Jews have been locked in
ghettos and oppressed with hardly a slice of bread
between them, and they too used sticks and stones.
They used them to scratch letters on the floor to
teach their children to read. They took that crust
and found a seed on top that they could plant to
grow more wheat. Did you ever hear the old Jewish
tale, "Something From Nothing"?
To the Hamas PhD it is obvious that when two
children with nothing but a small piece of bread are
locked in a room, they will fight. And so the
population in Hamastan fights. And when they run
out of enemies to fight, they fight each other.
To Jews it is obvious that when two children
with nothing but a piece of bread are locked in a
room, they will ration the bread until they figure
out how to get more bread or get out of the locked
room.
To the members of Hamastan, it is obvious that
when you are left with the hothouses abandoned by
your enemies, you break it apart and loot and
destroy it to show your frustration with your
situation and erase anything that reminds you of
your enemies.
To the Jews it is obvious that when you find
parts and broken pieces, you try to fix them or use
them to build something useful.
To the members of Hamastan, it is obvious that
when you have a small, crowded, barren piece of land
with nothing to recommend it, you fight until the
world recognizes your plight. You bravely sacrifice
lives to destroy the neighboring enemies to make
room to expand into their land and their homes.
To Jews it is obvious that if all you have is
a small, crowded, barren piece of land, you drain
the swamps and make the desert bloom, sometimes
sacrificing lives to help build a future.
To the members of Hamstan it is obvious that
if you manage to get hold of resources or money, you
use them to bolster your leaders and buy weapons to
fight your enemies.
To Jews, it is obvious that if you manage to
get hold of resources or money, you feed your
children, build hospitals and schools, then
businesses that can generate more resources and
money.
One of us ended up with a country that in 60
years' time rivals countries many-fold its size and
many times its age.
One of us ended up with nothing but fear and
destruction, and blaming everyone else but
themselves for their situation.
Which type of people would you rather have as
a neighbor and a partner in this world?
