Current Events: The Hasbara Angle
Israel Wants Nothing More than Peace
Dec 16, 2011
By: Jonah Remz & Aaron Leven
The following article was published originally on September 23 in the Emory University student newspaper, the Emory Wheel. The authors are Hasbara Fellows who competed in Hasbara Fellowships' semester-long op-ed challenge. Students from around the country submitted pro-Israel op-eds for the chance to win the challenge. Out of dozens of entries and 10 finalists, this article won the third place prize. The second and first place op-eds will be posted here at the Angle next week.
In light of the Palestinian Authority’s bid for statehood in the United Nations, there has been a strong emphasis on the seemingly never-ending peace process between the Palestinians and the Israelis. It is important to remember that Israel, above all else, simply wants peace.
In its Proclamation of Independence, Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion stated that the new state of Israel would extend its “hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace.”
The next day, Israel was invaded by five neighboring Arab armies. The declaration of war stated the intent to create a Palestinian state in place of the world’s only Jewish state.
Since 1948, Israel has fought seven wars and suffered through countless terrorist attacks. All of these disputes were, at their core, a struggle of self-defense. Yet despite the violence and the immense toll it has taken on innocent life, Israelis have repeatedly extended their collective hand for peace — even when they have received acts of violence in return.
This month, the Palestinian Authority plans to try to declare independence by going through the United Nations, bypassing a negotiated peace settlement with Israel. They hope the world will tell Israel to do more for peace by forcing an external settlement. But a lasting peace will be difficult to achieve without direct negotiations. In exchange for peace and normalized relations with Egypt, Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula, which it had captured in the defensive Six-Day War. However, lax Egyptian security in recent years has allowed Palestinian terrorists to smuggle rockets into the region. Since this past summer, they have launched hundreds of rockets into Israeli cities, killing dozens of civilians.
In 2005, Israel evacuated all its citizens from Gaza, part of its historic homeland, in hopes of creating good will and laying the groundwork for an independent Palestinian state. Israel asked for nothing in return. They received offensive rocket fire from Iranian-backed terror groups in Southern Lebanon and Gaza. Beyond land, Israelis have consistently shown an eagerness to extend an outstretched arm to those in need. Israeli non-profits have saved lives around the world. Save a Child’s Heart Foundation, which has provided life-saving cardiac surgeries for over 2,600 children from impoverished countries — hundreds of them from the Palestinian Authority — is seldom mentioned in the media. And Israeli rescue teams are often the first responders in the wake of devastating natural disasters.
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address to the U.S. Congress earlier this year, “All six Israeli prime ministers since the signing of the Oslo accords agreed to establish a Palestinian state, myself included.” Indeed, polls show that Israelis support a two-state solution. In a recent OneVoice Movement poll, 78 percent of Israelis indicated they would be willing to accept a Palestinian state if it led to peace.
No people long for peace more than the people of Israel. Every Israeli man and woman has mandatory army service at age 18. In the southern city of Sderot, residents have grown accustomed to living with missiles landing near their schools, homes and playgrounds. And only a few years ago, during the Palestinian intifada, public buses were blown up sometimes multiple times per week in major Israeli cities, a threat that has been curbed but still exists. Israelis will continue extending their hand for peace, because it’s what they’ve done since their independence and because they know it’s the only future they want for their children. After thousands of years praying for a return to their homeland, Jewish and non-Jewish Israelis alike are ready to finally live in that land in peace.
So while the world grows restless for a solution, maybe it’s time the Palestinian Authority stops playing politics and comes to the table with an outstretched arm of their own.
Jonah Remz is a College sophomore from Newton, Mass. Aaron Leven is a College junior from Los Angeles, Calif.
In its Proclamation of Independence, Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion stated that the new state of Israel would extend its “hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace.”
The next day, Israel was invaded by five neighboring Arab armies. The declaration of war stated the intent to create a Palestinian state in place of the world’s only Jewish state.
Since 1948, Israel has fought seven wars and suffered through countless terrorist attacks. All of these disputes were, at their core, a struggle of self-defense. Yet despite the violence and the immense toll it has taken on innocent life, Israelis have repeatedly extended their collective hand for peace — even when they have received acts of violence in return.
This month, the Palestinian Authority plans to try to declare independence by going through the United Nations, bypassing a negotiated peace settlement with Israel. They hope the world will tell Israel to do more for peace by forcing an external settlement. But a lasting peace will be difficult to achieve without direct negotiations. In exchange for peace and normalized relations with Egypt, Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula, which it had captured in the defensive Six-Day War. However, lax Egyptian security in recent years has allowed Palestinian terrorists to smuggle rockets into the region. Since this past summer, they have launched hundreds of rockets into Israeli cities, killing dozens of civilians.
In 2005, Israel evacuated all its citizens from Gaza, part of its historic homeland, in hopes of creating good will and laying the groundwork for an independent Palestinian state. Israel asked for nothing in return. They received offensive rocket fire from Iranian-backed terror groups in Southern Lebanon and Gaza. Beyond land, Israelis have consistently shown an eagerness to extend an outstretched arm to those in need. Israeli non-profits have saved lives around the world. Save a Child’s Heart Foundation, which has provided life-saving cardiac surgeries for over 2,600 children from impoverished countries — hundreds of them from the Palestinian Authority — is seldom mentioned in the media. And Israeli rescue teams are often the first responders in the wake of devastating natural disasters.
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address to the U.S. Congress earlier this year, “All six Israeli prime ministers since the signing of the Oslo accords agreed to establish a Palestinian state, myself included.” Indeed, polls show that Israelis support a two-state solution. In a recent OneVoice Movement poll, 78 percent of Israelis indicated they would be willing to accept a Palestinian state if it led to peace.
No people long for peace more than the people of Israel. Every Israeli man and woman has mandatory army service at age 18. In the southern city of Sderot, residents have grown accustomed to living with missiles landing near their schools, homes and playgrounds. And only a few years ago, during the Palestinian intifada, public buses were blown up sometimes multiple times per week in major Israeli cities, a threat that has been curbed but still exists. Israelis will continue extending their hand for peace, because it’s what they’ve done since their independence and because they know it’s the only future they want for their children. After thousands of years praying for a return to their homeland, Jewish and non-Jewish Israelis alike are ready to finally live in that land in peace.
So while the world grows restless for a solution, maybe it’s time the Palestinian Authority stops playing politics and comes to the table with an outstretched arm of their own.
Jonah Remz is a College sophomore from Newton, Mass. Aaron Leven is a College junior from Los Angeles, Calif.
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