ISRAELI MOTHER REPORTS ON LIFE TODAY

 

Special Jerusalem Report #2 - FROM AN ISRAELI
Barbara Richmond
Apr 6, 2002

AN ISRAELI MOTHER OF THREE SHARES HER THOUGHTS

A few days ago I asked a good friend of mine in Jerusalem several questions about daily life in Israel at this time. Here is her response:

Hi Barbara
Your questions demand very long answers

1)We are not be able to go out anywhere......to cinemas,coffe shop,to sit with friends,to celebrate with family or to enjoy vacation. This is how we are forced to live!!!!! Our kids can't go to friends or to play outside. As a mother of 3 children I see them exposed to events and growing up in an environment full of terror and killing.... things which shouldnt be a part of childhood. All of us are affected by daily acts of terror. As hard as we try to shield our kids from these murderous acts, it's inpossible to do so, as each and every one of us is directly affected because we all know someone who has been murdered.

2) As for the future, this is a very difficult question to answer. We are wishing and praying for a miracle but Pesach the holiday of freedom did not bring us any miracles this year. We the israeli people know that only we safeguard our freedom,and with G-ds help,we shall win.

3) The IDF actions in the west bank will certainly not put an end to this hatred and terrorism, but in my opinion by not fighting back (since September 00) we have given the Palestinians the feeling that they could defeat us. Our biggest mistake is that we (in a democratic contry) tried to resolve this conflict by peaceful means, but to no avail. There is a proverb which says ''in Rome do as the Romans''. You cannot deal with people in a democratic way if they have no understanding of what true democracy means. Since the Palestinian leaders support terrorism we cannot stand by and let them continue murdering us...we must send in our army to control and do our best to cut off terror acts(or at least to reduce chances) Since the IDF has moved into Palestinians areas, it has found explosives , munitions,rockets,explosive belts and more... all of this in the building where the'' nobel peace prize'' recipient makes his headquarters!!!!!!!!! In our opinion, he does not want peace.

4) To exile Arafat to any other arab contry will not have any long term benefits, as the arab support in the world will help him quickly rebuild (as he did in before in Tunis and in Beirut) and it will be ''no time" before we are facing this enemy again by sending him into exile we would only be strengthening him and support for terror. I'm not personally in favor of transfer , which is an inpossibility in our situation, I feel that there is a place for our arab neighbors - those that WANT to live in peace next to us.

5) One question you neglected to ask which is so important is the issue of anty-semitic acts and terror support across all of Europe. We have seen attacks on Jews and synagogues and schools.....acts of hatred against jJws only because they are Jewish.

The UN and Kofi Annan recently (and always) demand that Israel can't ocuppy Palestinian cities I think that he (Annan)should be last to speak, as the UN organization he heads is responsible for the murder of 3 young Israeli soldiers, kidnapped and murdered with UNsoldiers help!!!!!!

Nobody has the right to dictate to us how to (or not to)protect ourselves!!!! Why didn't the UN call any urgent meetings or sessions when suicide bombers were killing hundreds of innocent people? Why were they silent then?

I have reached the conclusion that because we are surrounded by so many enemies , we may only count on G-d and ourselves. We deeply appreciate the American people's support for us. They are the only ones who can truly understand these horrific terror attacks.

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Sharon is the proprietor of a lovely shop on the Cardo in the Old City of Jerusalem. Her shop is called The Roman Arch and there is a link to her shop on our website under SHOP ISRAEL. She is a wonderful young mother of three children, as she said, struggling to survive along with the rest of Israel during this war. Please pray for her and her family....and when you have a few mintues, visit her shop via our website.

With the recent call up of so many reserves into active duty in the IDF, I now have a number of friends who are in uniform and serving in the West Bank in potentially very dangerous conditions. Please keep all the IDF soldiers in your prayers as you intercede for Israel.

Shalom,
Barbara
www.foryourglory.org