Michael B. Oren: Why Israelis Care About Peace
[Michael B. Oren is Israel's ambassador to the United States and a trained historian.]
Imagine that you're a parent who sends her children off to school in the morning worrying whether their bus will become a target of suicide bombers.... Picture...that and you'll begin to understand what it is to be an Israeli. And you'll know why all Israelis desperately want peace.
Recent media reports, in Time magazine and elsewhere, have alleged that Israelis — who are currently experiencing economic growth and a relative lull in terrorism — may not care about peace. According to a poll cited, Israelis are more concerned about education, crime and poverty — issues that resonate with Americans — than about the peace process with the Palestinians. But such findings do not in any way indicate an indifference to peace, but rather the determination of Israelis to build normal, fruitful lives in the face of incredible adversity....
Given our experience of disappointment and trauma, it's astonishing that Israelis still support the peace process at all. Yet we do, and by an overwhelming majority....
Read entire article at LA Times
Imagine that you're a parent who sends her children off to school in the morning worrying whether their bus will become a target of suicide bombers.... Picture...that and you'll begin to understand what it is to be an Israeli. And you'll know why all Israelis desperately want peace.
Recent media reports, in Time magazine and elsewhere, have alleged that Israelis — who are currently experiencing economic growth and a relative lull in terrorism — may not care about peace. According to a poll cited, Israelis are more concerned about education, crime and poverty — issues that resonate with Americans — than about the peace process with the Palestinians. But such findings do not in any way indicate an indifference to peace, but rather the determination of Israelis to build normal, fruitful lives in the face of incredible adversity....
Given our experience of disappointment and trauma, it's astonishing that Israelis still support the peace process at all. Yet we do, and by an overwhelming majority....