Israel at 60

[kaima]

The award-winning picture was taken by Karen Gillerman-Harel. The picture won the contest "Israel Sixtieth Birthday Flag". Ms Gillerman-Harel wrote: "I am proud and happy to have this opportunity to deliver the message of hope & optimism of our future via my photograph.
The old lady's hand is my best grandmother's childhood friend Yaeli. Dora Dreiblatt was born 1922 in Poland and is an Aushwitz Holocaust survivor. The baby's hand is her great grandaughter Daniella who is the 4th generation in their family. they are a very special and close family to me."

[pieter]

Jun 17, 2008 13:03:52 GMT -7 kaima said:

The award-winning picture was taken by Karen Gillerman-Harel. The picture won the contest "Israel Sixtieth Birthday Flag". Ms Gillerman-Harel wrote: "I am proud and happy to have this opportunity to deliver the message of hope & optimism of our future via my photograph.
The old lady's hand is my best grandmother's childhood friend Yaeli. Dora Dreiblatt was born 1922 in Poland and is an Aushwitz Holocaust survivor. The baby's hand is her great grandaughter Daniella who is the 4th generation in their family. they are a very special and close family to me."

Kaima,

Good that these people have their land too! I am in New York city, by some called Yew York city in a predominantly Jewish or mixed neighbourhood (the Upper eastside, 94th street, Broadway). I see and here a lot of Jewish New Yorkers here, who are very visible with their Yarmulke's, Black hates and white ropes of textile hanging from their trousers.
Next to that I hear a lot of (New) Hebrew from the Israeli's that are here and the Russian on the streets of the Sovjet & Russian jews that came here before and after 1989. They are normal people here. I am both happy and sad about the 60th celebration of the state of Israel. Happy for the Jewish people that thy have their own state, finaly their own home land, their own Patriotism or Nationalism (Zionism), like we Dutch, the Poles and the Americans had for a longer time. From the other side I am sad about the situation in the Middle-east, the fact that the existance of Israel is a disaster for the Palestinians, or the Arabs of Palestine, who call it the Naqba. I am sad of the many wars Israel had to go through, and the many people that died after attacks with knives, guns and rifles and later on the suicide bombings.
I am sad that Israel can not live in peace with it's Arab and Persian neighbours, and is hated by many other people in the world. Also in America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
I am sad about the mental and psychological dammage the Palestinian children, elderly, mothers and Christians have to through because of the doubble opression of the Israeli occupation and curfews, and the Palestinian infighting, corruption and opression of their own people. I think that the Israeli's have no idea how strong they made Palestinian Nationalism and the sense of the Palestinians of being a nation and a people. The Palestinians are very critical towards other Arabs too, who do not support them in their view. The Palestinians destinct themselves from other Arabs. Palestinians are seen as differant by the Arabs from other Arab nations. We in the West don't know that Palestinians are not always that popular in other Arab states. Why? Because they were and ore often the henchmen of the Arab totalitarian regimes. Often the Palestinians were in the opressing secret services of Syria, Iraq, Egypt and other states. In Lebanon the seperatist Palestinian fractions often opressed Shia and Christian Lebanese locals and therefor were disliked. They were kicked out of Iraq or feld the country, because of the retaliations and hatred and persecution against them by the Shia population and militia that hate them as Palestinians and Sunni supporters and Bath party functionairies and members. They remembered that the Palestinians supported Saddam Hussein. I think actually that the Palestinians stangly learned a lot of Zionism, they were expelled to, formed a Palestinian diaspora, and also were eager to study, trade and get good positions abroad. I know that a lot of Palestinians studied Zionism as a subject, for instance the present Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas studied it in Moscow in Sovjet times.

Today I do not understand the strong relationship between Israel and Poland. I know that Poland buy's Israeli militairy technology and equipment, but I don't understand the good diplomatic and political relationship? Are there a lot of Polish jews in Israel? Is Poland interested in Polish-Jewish history? Does Poland miss the jews? I also do not understand the Jewish cultural revival in Poland? The Polish (Catholic) - Jewish relationship was never that good. No European country in the past was really Pro-Jewish (Philosemitic), because Europe (like the USA) has a past of anti-semitism or indifferance towards Judaism. That indifferance or distance to Jewish matters stil exist today. People only know about the Jewish past, and nothing about Judaism today.

Pieter

[pieter]

I am glad that Ms Gillerman-Harel survided and that threw here many new generations could bring new life
to the Jewish people. It is in itself a victory over the Nazi barbarians who wanted them to be whiped out of
the face of the earth. I am pro the existance of Israel between the 1967 borders, and hope that the state
will find a way to coexist with it's Arab neigbours, because only in a shared future lies the possibility of the
survival of the Jewish state. And in my view the key to that survival is the fact that Israel has 800.000 or
more Arab jews, who know the Arab culture, language and customs!

Maybe not many people in the US know that many Palestinians speak, read, write and understand hebrew.
In my view it would be good if the Israeli kids would learn the language of their neighbours on their basic
and high schools. A lot of Jewish scholars, scientists and philosophers wrote in Arab in the past, like the
most famous of them Moses Maimonides (March 30, 1135 Córdoba, Spain – December 13, 1204 Fostat, Egypt).

Pieter

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maimonides