A fantasy on the Golan

By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO—Having read about Palestinian demonstrators’ plans for massing along Syria’s border with Israel,  I had a fantasy about what Israel could have done….

Instead of shooting tear gas, rubber bullets and in some cases live ammunition, soldiers in my fantasy would have pulled back the gates and as the Palestinian crowd rushed into Israel they’d find themselves streaming toward a very large tent.  The Palestinians would have heard music being played inside the tent.  They’d  have smelled all manner of wonderful foods.

“You are welcome to enter!” the Israeli soldiers would have smiled.  “Simply pass through this explosives detector first.”

“Is it a prison?” a demonstrator might have asked.

“How many prisons do you know that serve shashlich, felafel, pita, hummus, good strong coffee, and halvah?”  the soldiers would have replied.  “How many prisons would guarantee you that you have the right to return to Syria at any time?”

Once the visitors were inside the large tent, Israeli hosts would have invited them to fill their plates, and even to take some food in boxes for their return trip home later.  Arabic speaking Israelis would introduce themselves to each one of the visitors, stressing that Israelis wish to be good hosts.   “You are in our home and we welcome you!” would have been the Israeli message.

“This is not your land!” some of the  demonstrators would probably yell.   “We don’t want your food, your singing, your friendship.  We want our land back!”

“For many years, we suffered when Syrians occupied these Golan Heights,” the Israelis might reply.  “Syrian soldiers on these heights fired down into our villages in the valley.  That was bad enough, but in 1967 when Syria’s army attacked us from the north in coordination with Egypt’s, which attacked us from the south, we had to act. We won the Six Day War.  Syria lost.   But please, let us not squander this unique opportunity by rehashing 44-year-old history.  We have done that time and again in the halls of the United Nations, and on the western news shows.   Now we have a chance to meet each other face-to-face, and to learn that we are not so different.”

“Not different?  You Zionists hate Arabs. You kill us any chance that you get.  And I’m not worried about the Syrians, who keep us in camps.  You Israelis  drove my great-grandparents from Palestine.”

“Or maybe they simply left on their own will  on the advice of Arab leaders, who promised to drive us into the sea.  Now look what’s going on in Syria.   All that killing that goes on there is because their ruling regime is trying to keep itself in power.  To divert the world’s attention from what they’re doing to their own people, they’re trying to whip up your hatred against us—the old standby.  Syria is willing to fight Israel right down to the last Palestinian.  This business about us hating Arabs and wanting to kill them is nothing but ugly propaganda.  Did you know that we have Arab members in our Knesset?  That freedom of worship for every religion is guaranteed in Israel?  Are you aware that the Arabs in Israel have a higher standard of living than the Arabs almost anywhere else in the world?  Did you know that Arabs occupy high positions in our universities and in our diplomatic corps?  That they have full political rights?”

“Lies.  And if all this were true, why do you exclude me and my family from our native homeland?  Why can’t we come back to our ancestral lands?  Isn’t that the right that you Jews claimed for yourself?”

“We have no objection to your returning to the future State of Palestine, which will be comprised of the Gaza Strip and areas now administered by the Palestinian Authority.  As for Israel proper,  we want it to remain both a democracy and a Jewish state– the one place in the world where Jews can rule themselves.  There are many Arab States in which Arabs can live–many of them where Jews once lived and are no longer allowed.  Someday, perhaps, the Jews of Israel and the Arabs of Palestine will have good neighborly  relations, even living in each other’s lands as permanent residents.  There will be cross-border visits and  cooperative projects, but first  the two separate states need to demonstrate that they can live in peace side by side.”

“You live in a fantasy world.  Our people will never be friends.  Not while we both seek to live on the same land!”

“I hope you are wrong.  At least  listen to the speeches of welcome.  They will be made by Israelis of different faiths, different languages, different national backgrounds.  Some of the speakers will be Arabs.”

“Traitors!”

“No, not traitors.  They are simply people like you who believe that everyone is entitled to the opportunity to make something of his life– regardless of his religion or language or racial characteristics.  Perhaps you are not going to change your mind about us on the very first time you visit Israel.  But, please, at least, keep an open mind.  And, please, there is something else.”

“What is that?”

“Have something to eat, I beg you.  If I let you go away hungry, my mother would kill me!”

“Hah! Hah!  You have a mother like mine!”

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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World.  He may be contacted at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com