Note for the Middle East By J. Eric Harrington Look at your children. All of you. Now look at the world they are surrounded by and growing up in. Is this the world you *want* them to live in? It doesn't matter what "side" you're on. Your children are growing up in a world soaked in hate and death. If those things aren't the only thing they know, it won't be long before they are. And for what? What is the reason you're building this cage of horrors for your children? To "fulfill" the words in an ancient book? What good is that doing? What do you hope to accomplish? I see this business as a group of peoples - people who have been forced together by events that were often beyond their control - who say they want peace and stability, but don't seem able to find their way to that goal. One of these peoples are the Palestinians - Muslim people who lived for dozens of generations in the area of Palestine. In return for services during World War I, the Allied Powers assured the Palestinians of their independence after the dismanlting of the Ottoman Empire. In 1917, the Balfour Declaration put an end to that promise and started the influx of Jews to their proposed "homeland." After Worl War II, when the nation of Israel was created, the Palestinians saw that move as the final destruction of all they held dear. This was understandable. But was it wise to commit an entire people to the eradication of a nation that was created by international mandate and supported by the United States? After all these years, more than five generations after this whole matter started, is the goal any closer? But another issue, one that I doubt is considered by most Palestinians - particularly by those who are dedicated to fighting - is the future. If all the goals of such groups as Hamas and Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah were achieved, what would happen? There would be a land populated by a people who have known nothing but hate and struggle all their lives. Would they be able to participate in world civilization? Or would they be likely to turn around and search for other people to hate, other people to struggle against in order to give their lives a sense of meaning? Look at your children, Palestinians. Listen to the 7-year-old son who wants nothing but to grow big enough to fire a rifle and avenge his father's death at the hands of the Israeli security forces. Listen to the little girls who dream of growing up to be martyrs, who hope they can be found worthy to strap on a bomb and kill a dozen or so Jews. Listen and think about the future, because *a* future exists. Is the future these children are likely to grow up in worth it? On the other side, we see Israelis. Jewish people (mostly) who were promised a land they could call "home" after centuries of being scattered. When it became clear what the "Final Solution" of the single most powerful nation in the world had done to them, it was decided to create a nation - a "homeland" for Jews to live in so they could escape the persecution and hatred of other peoples. So they came to build a nation where they hoped to live peacefully in the home they had dreamed of for centuries. The problem arose when they found that building that home involved removing the people who didn't want to leave and didn't want to be part of a nation created for Jews. From the very beginning, this home was a center for fighting - bitter rivalries that revolved around the stories from ancient times that meant more to people than learning how to live together. From the start to this day, Israel has acted like it is more interested in fulfilling ancient predictions than being concerned with finding a way to live in peace with the people who were displaced. From the very beginning, the nation of Israel, being artifically supported by outside forces, used its might with impunity, beating down all who dared to threaten the peace that was desired. Little time if any was wasted in wondering if such people had legitimate grievances. Over the years, the threats have changed in nature, but the presence of threat has not changed. For over half a century, the leaders of Israel have tried to kill and arrest, torture and suppress their way to peace. The result has been to solidify the hatred of the disenfranchised, to make an entire nation of people live in conditions worse than any human should ever have to survive. Look around the land called Israel. In particular, look at the children. Little Israeli children are growing up thinking it's natural that one group of people should suppress and bully another group. They also are growing up being taught by example that the way to seek peace is by killing and arresting, sealing up and torturing. Is that what they need to learn? Look at yourselves, all you people of Palestine, Muslims and Jews. The only dream you both cherish, it seems, is living in the land that was promised to you with no interlopers to bother you. How long will it take you to realize that achieving that desire will require genocide? How long will it be before one side develops the nerve to carry through with a new "Final Solution"? Is that the sort of thing you want for your children? If it is, I think you'd better just get on with it and face the consequences. If not - then perhaps it's time to accept that fact and work on finding new ways to deal with the problem that has been at hand from the beginning. Obviously, the ways you've use to this point will not work.