What a world

Submitted by Rebecca Moulds (United States), Oct 15, 2008 at 14:30

In the summer of 2007 I went to Israel for the first time. Although I had lived in Egypt for ten years prior to that trip, I hadn't visited Israel because I thought it would have been to difficult to go there from Egypt. However, I was wrong. There is a direct flight from Cairo - Tel Aviv on Air Sinai. In one hour the plane touches down at Ben Gurion airport. Easy, you say.

But the fun and games began in Cairo before the flight. Our luggage had been dumped on the tarmac, and all passengers had to identify their bags. This took some time, and finally we boarded for the very short flight. Before leaving Israel, I had read that passengers should arrive at least three hours prior to their flight. I had wisely taken that advice, as I was grilled thoroughly by the authorities, even though I am an American citizen with a US passport. Now my passport has an Israeli stamp in it, which means that there are certain Middle Eastern countries that I cannot visit because I have been to Israel. To be punished because I chose to not be ashamed that I have been to Israel is a crime in itself.

But just imagine the situation with Mithal al-Alusi: This brave and unusual man stood up against his enemies, even though they killed his sons, plus he attended a conference of the American Jewish Committee in 2005. Daniel Pipes asks "When will the Muslim world come to terms with the existence of Israel?" Yes, I too ask "When?" but until the world wakes up that there are huge problems in the Muslim world because many Muslims refuse to condemn radical Islam, that many Muslims and non-Muslims despise the Jews and hate Israel, and the main problem of good vs. evil------then Israel will remain the target of terrorism, the bane of Islamists, a nation that elicits jealousy as much as it elicits admiration and love. Not only is Iraq frozen in its past, but most of the Middle East has yet to come into the 21st Century.

For Arab and Middle Eastern countries to accept Israel seems to be impossible now, so Israel will continue to fortify its walls against its oppressors as it has done for thousands of years, because this is not a political problem but one of accepting diverse religions, stemming from what one believes to be the truth; out of this bud grows the flower of dissention and hatred, but ultimately it will be up to God to sort everything out.

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