FROM THE HEART

NOTE: this is not a political analysis, this is just a lament and a cry...

In a conversations with a friend, I wrote:

Almost fifty years of occupation, terror, wars, bombs on buses, bombs from the sky, settlements that never end, peace talks that are a sham, leaders interested only in themselves, people on both sides afraid of peace, no moral high ground, no winners, regular folks dying while generals and presidents on all sides order more death, pretending there is no other way, killing in the name of God and Allah, in the name of peace and security, in the name of self determination and freedom, all a sham, so many opportunities lost,so much stupidity, so little courage, so much hate, so little understanding...it gets old and we are an old people, and WE, Jews, should know better than any others where all of this crap leads and how it deforms a people and disgraces a religion...all of this madness between two people's who in reality have so much in common....killing children and ending futures as if it is just how things are. Yes, I am sick of it...

And I am sick of those who pretend to speak in the name of the Jewish people who do nothing but embarrass us all, tarnish our history, and try to turn us into those we have always fought and resisted. They do not speak for me and they do not speak for my people. They speak only for themselves. They who claim to be the stalwart defenders of the State of Israel are leading Israel down a path which can only end in destruction and death. These are not Jews, these are not even Zionists, these are nothing but a pack of wolves enamored with their own power.

As a Jew and in the spirit of the prophets, I denounce them just as I denounce the evil men of Hamas. Let them all go far away and fight each other to the death and leave the rest of us, Jews, Muslims, Palestinians, Israelis alone.

I spent many years working for peace in the Middle East. I marched and demonstrated, I wrote and spoke, I organized in the Jewish community and worked with Palestinians and Israelis, years I spent...I KNOW these people can live together in peace and in friendship. I KNOW this is possible, if only the misleaders on both sides would just go far, far away.

But they won't and I have little hope for anything...the worst is yet to come...and someone should pay.

And I have met victims of occupation and victims of terror. I have been to Israel and i have helped to bring Israelis and Palestinians here to speak for peace.I have met men and women who have fought on both sides, I have literally spoken with Israeli generals and PLO members, peaceniks and politicians, poets and artists, bus drivers and villagers...these are real human beings, Israeli and Palestinian who have really experienced it all and who somehow came out of it willing to work together to find peace. All that has stopped them is the stupid leaders on both sides, and their hateful supporters who number far too many. And as for the American Presidents, they have done nothing but use us both. I do not believe for a minute that these Presidents have a clue, and few of them really give a damn about anything but their own power and glory and the next election. Parroting the government of Israel, of the likes of ""Bibi" is a farce. I am sorry but I don't trust the lives of my people or of the Palestinian people in these MEN'S hands...democrat or Republican...not really. Yes, I am bitter and this latest round of blood has me in a bad place and in much despair.