September 7 UpFront: Enough already!

After 30 years during which my wife and I have raised our family, isn't it time to stop the infighting among ourselves?

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
letters 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
letters 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Enough already! Sir, - I, for one, am sick and tired of being tarred with the "settler" paintbrush. Yes, I live over the famous, and imaginary, "Green Line." I've done so for over 30 years. No, I do not subscribe to what David Forman calls a "religious settlers' messianic worldview" ("Sleeping with the enemy," August 31). After 30 years during which my wife and I have raised our children, and now our grandchildren, in this part of Israel, isn't it time to stop the infighting among ourselves? Isn't it time to recognize where the real threat to our existence as a Jewish entity lies? Forman certainly shows his belief in his closing phrase "thus hastening the ultimate demise of the third Jewish commonwealth." It seems he believes, like the Palestinians, that we are destined to disappear. I disagree. We do have a problem, along with the entire Western world, with what he calls Islamic fundamentalism. That movement is still calling for the destruction of Israel. In one form or another this call has been heard from the Arab side since before Israel became an independent state. We also have a problem with our own internal relations. When Forman paints a picture of doom and gloom because of a future Arab majority, is he telling us that we must therefore eliminate their physical presence? I hope not. One of the reasons for cloaking a political goal in religious terms is to eliminate options for compromise. War has been described as a continuation of politics by other means, and the term jihad fits nicely into this definition. Yet it, too, depends upon the acceptance of a body of supporters who are willing to subscribe to its goals. This means the key to their behavior starts with the nature of the education they receive. It has nothing to do with Jewish settlers' motivations - religious, messianic, or economic. As long as the Palestinian leaders, whether from Hamas or Fatah or any other group, continue to work toward the destruction of our country I see no reason to do them any favors. This includes supporting their schools in Jerusalem, where Hamas-sponsored textbooks claiming the lack of a future existence for our country are apparently being provided by our own Ministry of Education. Here, too, we should all be saying "Enough already!" ARYEH WETHERHORN Elazar Enjoying you Sir, - Friday's UpFront magazine is first-class journalism. There is not a week in which I do not enjoy and learn something new from its excellent articles. Thank you, and keep 'em coming. ILANA DRORI Rehovot