A few blocks away stands a proper Middle Eastern bus station to service the town and provide a terminus for those wishing to visit and experience the unique falafel. Outside the bus station, there is a moderate amount of traffic, mostly comprised of buses arriving and departing. There are a few cars intermingled in the crowd of vehicles, as is usually the case in the middle of the day. No one notices any particular car, for in this town nothing is cause for concern. Concern is the domain of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Washington, and Cairo. These are bustling metropolises, world centres of power and prestige, places where decisions are made and deals concluded. But Afula is a quiet town bothering no one.
So no one notices a small blue car with Arab license plates driving down the main street. No one notices the scowl on the face of the driver. No one notices the cargo carried in the trunk and in the passenger seats. No one notices, that is, until the car suddenly explodes near a packed bus outside the bus station.
Soon, eight innocent Jewish people are lying dead on the street and forty-four more are injured and being rushed to hospitals in the area. Television cameras from around the world converge on this small town which no one ever paid much attention to except for falafel.
Suddenly, the scene shifts to a Buffalo, New York university where Eli Dayan is speaking. Mr. Dayan is the Labour party's Knesset faction chairman, the person charged with keeping the ruling coalition in order. A newscaster catches up with Dayan long enough to elicit his reaction to the bloodshed. After all, Mr. Dayan is a powerful politician in Israel, and eight innocent people for whom his government is responsible have just been killed in an act of blatant disregard for humanity and morality.
Mr. Dayan, obliging the reporter, explains to the camera with a matter-of-fact air that these eight people are merely "a part of the price Israel must pay for peace". Incredulous, the reporter asks whether Mr. Dayan cares for his people and grieves over their suffering. Dayan explains further that "just as you buy a crate of fruit, you must pay before you receive them. So we are paying before we receive peace."
Dear readers, eight of my brethren have been brutally slaughtered at the hands of a group of people to whom Jews are as important as a crate of fruit. It is now clear to all that the Israeli government feels this way also. I, for one, cannot agree.
When twenty-nine Arabs were killed by a Jewish madman, I grieved with the rest of the world. Eight Jews have been killed by an Arab group whose policy it is to kill Jews with disregard, and I grieve alone. Because, you see, dear readers, Afula is a small town in Israel, famous only for its falafel. The United Nations does not know that Afula exists, nor do they care. Yasser Arafat knows it exists, but he is happier now than Kach leaders were after Hebron. Bill Clinton is in Arkansas cheering for his hometown heros of the college basketball world.
There will be no United Nations condemnation of this atrocity. There will be no hopeful nudging from Clinton to "bring the parties back together", and there will be no move from the Rabin government to endanger the peace talks. Because, after all, this is only the price for peace. Once Israel is already paying the price, she should get the merchandise.
The problem here is that Israel is not getting the merchandise. Peace is farther from reality today than it was before the Oslo Accords were reached. Forty-Eight Jewish people have been killed since that fateful day in August when the agreement was announced. Still, Prime Minister Rabin and his cronies, ever the optimists, believe that peace is at hand.
I like optimists. I have often been accused of being one myself. But forty-eight Jewish people killed by Arabs, together with at least that number of Arabs killed by Arabs, is not peace. Murder is a crime. Multiple murder is a multiple crime. The Rabin government is negotiating peace with the most violent criminal alive in the entire world. Not surprisingly, the crime is increasing as a direct result.
I ask Mr. Dayan and others in his government: Would you pay an artificially inflated price for your crate of fruits? Would you then be satisfied if the fruits were rotten -- or not delivered at all? Forty-eight innocent Jews have been killed -- eight in one blow -- and hundreds injured. This is not peace, this is war. Israel is paying for war, not for peace.
The proper price for peace is peace. When the Arabs stop killing Jews, they can expect a reasonable response to other demands they have. Until that time, they should not be allowed to expect anything but defense, and even defensive aggression.
The Rabin government does not care for such logical equations. The Rabin government does not care whether its citizens live or die. They claim they do, and that by advancing peace they are helping to protect their innocent civilians. But no tears are being shed when these innocent civilians are killed and maimed. No effort is being made by the Rabin government to stem the flow of Jewish blood in the (heretofore) Jewish State. Instead, the Rabin government makes every effort to excuse, protect, and appease the very murderers of its own citizens.
When the Israeli government is again ready to protect its citizens, to offer them true peace instead of euphoric chimera, to force an end to bloodshed, only then will peace be possible. Until then, falafel never tasted so horrid.
Copyright 1994. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
