A number of Bay Area residents returned from Israel this week with a firsthand view of the growing violence.
Visitors on a solidarity mission with the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation were horrified when a cafe close to their hotel was demolished by a suicide bomber who also took the lives of 11 civilians.
Local rabbis who were in Israel for a conference of the Reform movement’s Central Conference of American Rabbis witnessed the change of mood in the country. And they found themselves overwhelmed by a depression that all Israelis are feeling in the middle of warlike conditions.
The rest of us saw headlines and news reports detailing one violent incident after another. By the end of this week, it was almost impossible to keep track of the body count on either side.
Israelis on the left and those on the right rallied in the streets. The left wants to hand over the territories to the Palestinians. The right wants to escalate Israel Defense Force attacks against the Palestinians and remove their leader, Yasser Afrafat.
What the left and the right have in common — besides their love of the Jewish homeland — is their disillusionment with the Sharon government. Both feel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon should have done something to get Israel out of the predicament.
Sadly, there is no real plan for ending the saga. The Saudi Arabia peace plan for “normalization” offers little that is new, and a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and the “right of return” for all who left would presage the end of Israel as we know it.
Meanwhile, U.S. efforts to calm the situation hold little hope. Envoy Gen. Anthony Zinni has tried to get both sides to adopt a cease-fire, failing both times. And Vice President Dick Cheney is visiting the Mideast mostly to win support for a war against Iraq.
What’s needed is a creative plan to end the violence, even temporarily
Surely those of us who visit Israel frequently long for the days when we could go there and taste the milk and honey without bitter herbs.