Turning the other cheek

Israel, a small country with a proportionately large population, probably ranks well in acreage allocated to parklands. Moreover, there is a growing awareness of the need to increase the number of parks, nature reserves and greenbelts.

Quarry reclamation projects, though smaller in area, are nevertheless an important addition to the list of pleasant places to visit and enjoy.

An increasing number of exhausted stone, gravel and sand quarries, once abandoned and left as gaping scars in the landscape are being reclaimed and turned into recreational parks.

There are of course a number of commercial sites offering sports, entertainment and recreational facilities.

Utopia Park is yet another type of pleasing-to-the-eye reserve, albeit small with just ten acres of botanical gardens, dedicated mainly to orchid cultivation. There are approximately 20,000 orchids in the park, including tens of different species, some of which are quite rare. A few man-made waterfalls, pools stocked with "ornamental" fish, various species of birds and tens of thousands of tropical plants.

This little Garden of Eden is located in Kibbutz Bachan near Netanya.

Perhaps Paradise Park would have been a more appropriate name for this place. However, a small crowded Arab town and municipal authority bears a similar name. Faradis is situated on the coast south of Haifa and some people claim the name is derived from an Arabic word meaning little Garden of Eden.

In turn this is derived from an Old Persian word with the same meaning, which also entered the English language as 'paradise' from the same source via French.

On Saturday we visited the little paradise called Utopia Park and spent a few enjoyable hours there. The occasion was a family gathering for the purpose of celebrating my wife's birthday.

Engrossed in this min-paradise of orchids, waterfalls, peacocks, tropical birds and ornamental fish it was easy to forget that the world outside is less idyllic. For a few hours we forgot about Haiti and when we did remember we had good reason to be proud. Unfortunately the opinion columns in our local news media weren’t so kind. A random and incomplete survey I made of articles relating to the disaster in Haiti and Israel’s response, yielded a fair amount of self-flagellation.

“Israel's compassion in Haiti can't hide our ugly face in Gaza” was the title of Akiva Eldar's column in Ha’aretz.

“Who said we are shut up inside our Tel Aviv bubble? How many small nations surrounded by enemies set up field hospitals on the other side of the world? Give us an earthquake in Haiti, a tsunami in Thailand or a terror attack in Kenya, and the IDF Spokesman's Office will triumph. A cargo plane can always be found to fly in military journalists to report on our fine young men from the Home Front Command.” Commented Eldar making no attempt to veil his cynicism before turning to a closer to home responsibility, one we have been shirking:
“Indifference to the ongoing suffering of the people of Gaza. Only a little more than an hour's drive from the offices of Israel's major newspapers, 1.5 million people have been besieged on a desert island for two and a half years.”

“What about Gaza?” asked Sever Plocker in Yediot Ahronot and suggested
“Instead of a needless Haiti mission, Israel should establish a Gaza field hospital.”
He too was cynical. ”It’s hard to get rid of the feeling that the desire to ‘make an impression’ played a key role in the Israeli government’s decision to dispatch hundreds of aid workers to Haiti.”

Gershon Baskin who is a co-CEO of the Israel-Palestine Centre for Research and Information, wrote in a similar vein, but devoid of cynicism, in an article that appeared in the Jerusalem Post:

“Humanitarian disasters around the world bring out the best in Israel and in Israelis. The horrific devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti and the scenes of unbearable human suffering brought about an immediate enlistment of both civilian and public efforts to come to the aid of the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere.

The sight of the El Al jet laden with medical aid and more than 200 IDF and civilian personnel brought pride to each and every Israeli and to Jews all over the world. Israel is on the ground in the heart of the disaster and we are making a difference. Our experience and capabilities in providing the world's best humanitarian aid in times of real crisis is something that we can certainly be proud of.”

“But what about the humanitarian disaster in our own backyard caused in a large part by our own doing? What about Gaza? More than 1.5 million people are living in total poverty, without sanitary drinking water, under an economic and physical siege, locked in what could easily be called the world's largest prison. While we ask to see in all of the gory details, all of the destruction including hundreds of corpses on the streets of Port-au-Prince, we wish to see none of the human suffering of our Palestinian neighbours in Gaza where we literally hold the keys to the end of their suffering.

Not only don't we see their suffering, we simply don't care. Doesn't the concept of tikkun olam extend to our enemies? (Not all of Gaza's 1.5 million people are enemies; many of them, perhaps even most of them would like to live in peace with us.)

Our high level of morality demonstrated in Haiti will not cover up our immorality in Gaza nor will it postpone the collision course that we are on with the rest of the world. Only real movement toward real peace, which is the morally right thing to do and also serves our interests, will place Israel where it needs to be and where it can easily be - as a welcome member of the community of nations and even perhaps, as a light unto nations. “

Perhaps my news media scan was too selective; however I found little or nothing to really counterbalance these guilt ridden diatribes.

The following extract from a lead article in one of the media watches attempts to lessen our guilt load by sharing it with Egypt.

“For years now almost all the news media when writing about the 'siege' of Gaza has referred to it as the Israeli blockade. This term is misleading, not because there is no Israeli blockade, but because it gives the impression that it is only Israel which prevents the free flow of goods in and out of the territory. Israel imposed the blockade after Hamas took control of Gaza, and tightened it when thousands more rockets were fired into Israel leading to the ‘Operation Cast Lead.. Cairo does not allow goods to pass into Gaza through Rafah because it does not want to recognise the authority of Hamas.

Now the Egyptians, with US assistance, are building a formidable underground steel barrier along the 8 mile border to prevent the rampant smuggling through tunnels. All manner of goods are smuggled into Gaza this way, as well as weapons and terrorists. It is Gaza's lifeline to the outside world.

The steel wall will extend almost 60 feet underground. The Egyptians, knowing that Hamas will attempt to cut through it are fitting it with sensors capable of pinpointing any breach.”

Referring to the blockade a foreign ministry spokesman stated that Israel hasn’t hermetically sealed off the Gaza Strip from the outside world. Last year alone Israel allowed 703, 224 tons of humanitarian aid and 105,600,128 litres of fuel to be delivered to the Gaza Strip.

I’m not sure whether I should jump on the Eldar –Plocker- Baskin bandwagon or toe the line with people who advocate yielding no quarter on the Gaza blockade.

I too was a peace activist and still support the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. I regret my enthusiasm and ardour for peace has been dampened by Palestinian intransigency. I could conveniently blame the impasse we have arrived at on the present Israeli government. However, previous governments have tried without success to reach a peace accord with the Palestinians. It has been said that the bargaining power of each of the negotiating sides is manacled by its respective extremists.

For example, today Netanyahu has his right-wing coalition partners to contend with and Mahmoud Abbas has to face Hamas and the Palestinians in exile.

The latter are unyielding regarding any compromise on territory and the return of Palestinian refugees.

I don’t think placing an Israeli field hospital at the gates of Gaza and lifting the blockade will make the people of Gaza hate us less or love us more.

We tend to forget that the Hamas government was elected by a majority of the people who are suffering there today. Admittedly they were sick of Fatah corruption but they also knew that Hamas’ declared goal was to destroy Israel. Operation Cast Lead was a justified response to the rocket barrages from Gaza. If they are suffering they brought it on themselves. I find it hard to feel empathy for the people who want to destroy us. Maybe there are people in Gaza who would prefer to live in peace with Israel. I doubt if Gershon Baskin’s claim that the majority would prefer to do so is correct. The majority voted for Hamas.

This is not the time to make more than minimal humanitarian gestures. Let’s wait till the Gaza Strip is really sealed off. Once the Egyptian barrier in the south is completed and an Israeli “Iron Dome” unit is deployed to counter rocket attacks.

Have a good weekend.

Beni 22^nd of January,2010.