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Maybe now you'll understand

I am a mother. I have 2 teenage children, a full time job, and the obligatory overdraft at the bank and I am Israeli. I was not always Israeli. I grew up in Britain. But to the British I was Jewish, and as Jewish, was open to and experienced first hand the hate directed upon minorities during the 70's resurrection of the Neo-Fascist Party. At school we were taunted, had knives pulled on us, tripped up in the corridor and on one occasion I was even beaten up and my clothes torn at a local park. I was only 13 years of age. So when it became possible, I came to live in the Jewish State, so mandated by the UN back in 1948 and so promised by the British before that.

In the 22 years that I have lived here I have had Muslim Arab friends, have been invited to their weddings, have studied with them, worked with them, entertained them in my home, shopped in their supermarkets and have had no reason to fear them. Until now. Living in this country in the past year has become a nightmare. Islamic fundamentalist terrorism has taken hold and I live in fear of my life. I don't live in the areas they dispute, I don't live in Jerusalem and I don't live on land that maybe belonged to an Arab 3000 years ago.

When did I start to notice the fear? My daughter started to refuse to go to school on the bus or to walk anywhere on her own and would only go if I took her. My sons' friends wouldn't come to visit because we lived in a town next to an Arab village. When the security checks on every public building became tiresome and unfortunately a way of life. When I had to close the window on the north side of the apartment for fear of stray bullets when, the victory party, celebrating another dead Jew in another part of the country fired thousands of bullets into the air. When I would not leave town because children from the village across the road had started to throw stones at passing cars. When a bus or train ride became a thing to fear. And this was in the north of the country far from any "occupied territories".

The suicide bombings are the worst. I drive along the road and my eyes are on the car coming up behind me and the one passing me. Their eyes are on me to see if I am a terrorist!!! As if we look into the eyes of a terrorist he won't dare blow us up, right? Where once there was relative safety in going to the supermarket, mall or car park, since there has been intensified security, now the crowd waiting to be checked by the security guard is a real and immediate danger. Wherever I drive my eyes are on the sides of the roads looking for hiding dangers or the glint of a rifle barrel. I have a friend who has even changed her glasses from glass to plastic lenses so that if she is injured in an attack she won't be permanently blinded. My children ask if these terrorists have no children of their own, have they no mothers that will miss them? How could a human being put his children on the frontline like that? Their disgust and pain are intensified with every passing attack. And it is not isolated attacks. In the foreign press you only hear about a few of the worst ones but these attacks are every day, sometimes 4-5 times a day, some are successfully foiled and some are not. I remember my mother in shock when I told her and her disbelief that the British press has not been reporting all the truth.

And what do I tell my children? I, the leftist, humanitarian, socialist and Zionist peace lover that I am. They are so full of fear and dread that I am at a loss for words. I too have become confused, angry and fearful. And then came the attack on the World Trade Centre and on the Pentagon. My children started to relax a bit. Wouldn't the world now see what we have been living through for the last year? Wouldn't the people of the world now feel our fear and understand that leopards do not change their spots and that words of peace are just words and nothing else. I have not signed this letter, as I do not want my family in the UK to realize what we have been going through. They have their own problems; which school to send the kids to, where to go on holiday this year, which hat to wear to synagogue during the High Holidays etc.

Name withheld at author's request
Netanya, Israel

How long will patriotic fervor last this time?

Our country suffered a tragedy on Sep 11th that absolutely nobody thought possible. The thought of my country being so violated has brought about a personal hurt that will last forever .... and I was fortunate not to loose someone in that tragedy as has been the case with thousands of others around the world. The fact that so many lives have been affected through death, loss of employment and a future that is so uncertain is almost unimaginable.

I love this country and served 22 years on active duty in the US Army. I appreciate the blessings God has so freely bestowed upon the United States. Although the incident of Sep 11 was this country's greatest terrorist tragedy, an even greater tragedy is the fact that it was necessary for such an event to cause Americans and our Washington politicians to come together and become patriots again. Only recently Washington refused to protect the American flag from being burned and desecrated ... now they gather to sing on the Capital steps and wave that flag. A week ago these politicians couldn't agree on a plan to cross the street, now they've come together as a loving family. These past few weeks Americans have gathered under this American banner of freedom to fly it for the sake of showing unity and strength. I wonder have ever done that before ...

I'm not trying to be critical of people who are sincere, but this same attitude "popped" up 10 years ago as I left for Desert Storm. I just wonder where it will be in two years from now.

Cal Hetzler
Denver, Colorado

Wakeup call for the sleeping giant

This is a confrontation between civilization, with all its limitations, and barbarism, with all of its atavistic, tribal attraction upon deranged minds and depraved cultures.

The Western legalistic mindset tends to treat the attack in New York as a criminal act, therefore the words: "to bring them to justice." Since we are a country of laws, any person who acts against the law should be brought to justice. In this case, I find this wrong. This was not a criminal act but an act of war, a war that has been imposed on us and that has to be answered with all the might of the U.S. The same legalistic mindset tends to focus on who did this, in order to give retribution, to punish, as in sending somebody to jail as a punishment. I find this wrong too. If the U.S. Congress is going to declare war, we should wage war not only against Osama bin Laden and his organization but against all terrorists organizations and all the countries that support and harbor them: Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the various Arab Liberation Fronts, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Destroying Osama bin Laden and his organization is not going to end terrorism. If the U.S. is going to declare and wage war, it should do it with the goal of freeing the world of this scourge, and this goal makes it necessary to hit all terrorists, wherever they may be.

This is a good opportunity for President Bush. He can go into History as the leader who liberated the world from terror, or he can stop short of the goal by limiting the U.S. effort to punish only those directly connected to the attack. He can now finish the Cold War and impose a Pax Americana on the world. His opportunity has been presented to him on a plate by a group of terrorists. Just like the Japanese in Pearl Harbor, they may have made a big mistake and Yamamoto’s words after the attack on Pearl Harbor: "we have awaken a sleeping giant" may still make sense. We’ll see if we still have what it takes.

Vladimir Dorta
Miami, Florida
val@dorta.com (Vladimir Dorta)

Madmen do not commit acts of war

If December 7 1941 was ‘a day which will live in infamy’, how much more so was September 11, 2001 — which struck innocent peace-loving citizens without warning.

If there was any doubt that the entire free world is in a war against terrorism the horrific assault on the United States should shake loose any lingering feelings of complacency and detachment. The attack in America is both by intent, and official commitment, an attack on the entire membership of NATO and the free world.

Until now we have all been dangerously lax in guarding against terrorists, perhaps now the realization that all citizens are at risk and it is only a matter of time before we are attacked on our own soil by foreign terrorists will galvanize our leadership and population for war. We have a duty to our principles, our allies, and our way of life to stand up for what is right and declare a serious battle on terrorism with all of the concomitant recruiting, spending and risks that it entails.

Above all, we must realize that the statement by the European Union’s External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten that this is an “Act of war by madmen” is horrifyingly incorrect. Madmen are irrational — an act of war is by definition a rational calculated act and it’s time we started acting in a similarly rational, methodical way to protect our citizens.

Adam Aptowitzer
Toronto, Ontario Canada
adamapt@pobox.mondenet.com

A dose of Middle Eastern daily reality for Americans

Perhaps now world leaders will wake up and realize that one cannot reason with people who no longer respect the value of human life and have lost all their dignity.

Today Americans understand the kind of psychological terror and vulnerability these sudden and seemingly random attacks can instill. This is life as usual for many Israelis. That is, Christian, Arab, Armenian and Jewish Israelis. Perhaps it is easy to imagine the militaristic action that evolves from such vulnerability as paranoia or overreaction as one sits comfortably in one's living room in a country that has never really had the experience of invasion by an enemy from without.

The closure of buildings, bridges, tunnels, highways and airports today reveals the kind of desperation one undergoes in the midst of such terror. While Palestinians are dancing with joy in the streets today, I have images of people jumping from the World Trade Center to their deaths. After the plane hit, people in flames leapt out of windows. How many lingered in the trade center after the initial attack, bewildered, but in the hope of rescue, only to meet their deaths in a horrific manner as the buildings crumpled like a paper carton to the ground?

On an individual level, I hope those who are suffering because of today's acts can find ways of getting in touch with their humanity and nourishing it in practical ways by caring about one another and learning to do so even under the worst of conditions.

I am moved to tears at how many people today rushed to give blood in New York's hospitals amidst their own distress. Such acts continue to give me hope about the good in people and make me extremely appreciative that I live in a country that was not built on hatred and violence.

Meira Leah Scott
New York, New York
MaeraLeah@aol.com

Justice, not revenge

As George W. Bush has said, our country should hunt down the perpetrators of the attack on the United States and bring them to justice.

However, we must be careful that we do not do so in a spirit hardened by anger. We must forgive. We must bring the evil people to justice, but forgive.

If we do not forgive, we hand victory to the terrorists whose aim is to create fear, anger, and hatred in their enemies. When the succeed, they justify their own acts.

We must also know that this was an act of evil, not of madness. Evil can only be conquered by good, not by more evil. We must work very hard to avoid generalizing to all Arabs, Arab-Americans, and Muslims the evil of a few.

Evil is rampant in the middle east, otherwise one would not find not just adults, but young children so filled with hate that they willingly take up stones and even machine guns to kill. One would not find young men with lives of promise destroy themselves to take out their enemy. Despite the teaching of many Muslim clerics, this is not the way of God, but of the evil one. I pray that God will forgive them, soften their hearts and lead them to the truth.

We must also try to find ways of lessening the evil that breeds such acts. The Arabs and the Palestinians have legitmate complaints which must be addressed in an even-handed manner. Of course, they may not like that approach, but that is their choice.

Michael Bauman
Attica, Kansas

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