On my recent trip to Israel and Palestine, I read a book by Julie Orringer. In the beginning of The Invisible Bridge, the main character, Andras, expresses doubts about his ability to fulfill the expectations placed upon him as he embarks to study in Paris on a scholarship. He speaks to his father about his doubt. Orringer writes, "At best, he told his father, he was the beneficiary of misplaced faith; at worst, a simple fraud." He asks his father, "And what if I fail?'' His father's answer is succinct: "Ah! Then you'll have a story to tell!"
On being a fraud
I really appreciate the desire of the author to be on the side of social justice and all, but the real fraud here is in pretending that all the evil is coming from the Israeli side of things.
Factually, the 1949 line was not the line that Israel agreed to...it was an armistice line left over from a war that never really ended. Neither side agreed to it as a border. It is hard for me to see what principle of justice there is in insisting that the Israelis have to honor a border that the Palestinians themselves have never accepted.
It is true that there are injustices to the Palestianians created by the wall. It is also true that the wall has saved the lives of 1000's of would be Israeli victims of Palestinian terror, and prevented hundreds of thousands of acts of theft and property damage, all to some extent sponsored or condoned by the Palestinian authority. How does one seek the true justice where we Israelis can protect ourselves, and yet honor the rights of the Palestinians, who for the most part do not hate us?
Part of the answer is certainly in protesting the injustices. But part of the answer is in the Palestinians themselves taking responsibility for their actions towards Israel. To the extent that they will act in peace towards us, they will only gain good will in return.
mgspan