If living a full life were to be metaphorically represented
by a loaf of bread, what would you call a piece of crumb? Believe it or not, a
high representative in the government of Israel calls it a great Jewish life
worth celebrating.
That high Israeli official is the self-styled historian,
Michael B. Oren who used to be Israel 's
ambassador to the United States ,
but is now Israel 's
deputy minister for diplomacy in the prime minister's office. He wrote: “Israel 's
1967 Victory Is something to Celebrate,” an article that was published on June
5, 2017 in the New York Times.
If you ask: What exactly does he say is worth celebrating?
You'll find his response to be that the 1967 War “brought us peace with Egypt and Jordan
and a strategic alliance with the United States .” Further down the
article, he specifies that: “Israel
reconciled with Egypt in
1978 and, later, with Jordan
in 1994”.
To view those events in their proper perspective, it must be
noted that 1978 is 11 years away from 1967, and that 1994 is 27 years away from
it. As to how far they are from 1948 when Israel was formally established,
count them as 30 years and 46 years respectively. It doesn't take that long to
reconcile between two who are not Jews.
When you add to those realities the fact that an Arab
initiative has been on the table for more than a decade proposing full
recognition of Israel by all the Arab countries (replacing the existing cold
peace with two,) and that Israel
has rejected the initiative, you see that the Jews will kick a full loaf of
life to go for a piece of crumb, and when they get it, celebrate a great
victory. What can be more petty or more small-minded than that!
As if this were not enough to describe a mentality that is
mind boggling to the rest of us, Michael Oren takes the rest of the space to
explain that the dispute between the indigenous Palestinians and the Jewish
invaders (which he says made it impossible for the Jews to make the choices
that normal humans do) goes back not just to 1948, but further back to 1917.
Now you must add 31 more years to all those tallies.
But did the event of 1967 actually produce the
reconciliation with Egypt ,
which in turn brought about the one with Jordan , like says Michael Oren? If
an argument to that effect can be made – which Michael Oren is straining
himself to make – it is not one that leads to the conclusion there is something
here to celebrate. On the contrary, it is one that points to the Jewish
religion as being the impediment to the Jewish ability at joining the human
race in a social covenant for civilized coexistence.
In fact, that question is a complex one because on the one
hand it can be argued that the answer is no, the event of 1967 did not directly
lead to the reconciliation between Egypt
and Israel .
But on the other hand, it can also be argued that the answer might be yes
because the attack of 1967 started the 6-year war that led to the defeat of Israel in 1973
… and a whole new paradigm was set in.
To understand this part, we must recall that the history of
the Jews in Palestine from 1917 onward, has taught the Arabs that you do not
negotiate with the Jews when theirs is a strong hand, and yours a weak one.
They'll eat you alive and ask your loved ones to pay for the beverage they'll
use to wash you down. This is why right after 1967, when Israel proposed to discuss peace
with the Arabs; the latter said the famous 3 nos.
But four years after the Egyptian victory of 1973, President
Anwar Sadat made the magnanimous gesture of going to Israel and telling the Jews – using
different words – that they need to drop the behavior they read about in the
Jewish Old Testament, and adopt the one they should start reading about in the
Christian New Testament. In other words, stop trying to make crummy gains
pursuing belligerent behavior, and start making substantial gains pursuing
civilized interaction with the rest of humanity.
Alas, Sadat's words fell on deaf ears, and the proof is that
Israel
did not voluntarily withdraw from one inch of Arab land. However, like the
Sinai, liberation came to Gaza , the Eastern
Golan and South Lebanon because Israel
was militarily defeated in those places. As to the Western Golan and the West
Bank, Israel
still holds a strong hand in those areas, and no amount of negotiation has
produced the desired result.