I'm not worried about the past. I'm worried about getting a phone call or an e-mail that one of my realtives living on a kibbutz in Nir David, or one of my freinds studying in one of the yeshivas in Israel was murdered by a terrorist. And even though I don't let on, I worry about this almost every day. Because each and every one of them is considered to be a terrorist target.
And it's not just me - many of my fellow Jews are in the same situation. I know people who had friends and relatives killed by terrorists in Israel, and I've seen their pain and grief with my own eyes. We're a small people, and when one of us is killed because of who we are, it affects all of us.
I lost a lot of my family in the Holocaust to one pack of monsters. I don't want to lose any more to another pack. And it'll be different this time, because these will be people that I know very well and I am very close to.
Yasser Arafat is a terrorist - whatever diplomatic status he has now does not change that. I have no reason to believe he regrets his past or feels remorse for his victims and the victims of those he has inspired, or for the Palestinian people whose innocent bystanders are caught in the crossfire when Israelis hunt down real terrorists.
I hope and pray for peace and for the cycle of violence to end, and for there to be an Israeli and Palestinian state side by side if that's what it takes. But I can't feel anything but anger towards Arafat himself, after what he's done and inspired others to do, and for not taking stpes that could have prevented so many deaths on either side. He's brought pain and suffering to my people and his own, and I can't forgive him for that. Not yet, anyway.
Last edited by Darknight613; 2004-11-05 6:17 AM.
