IN-AND-AROUND-ISRAEL: Sinai-Disappointments

IN-AND-AROUND-ISRAEL: Sinai-Disappointments

Ein Brief von 2070 - A letter from 2070

Wir befinden uns im Jahre 2070.
Ich bin gerade mal 50 Jahre alt und sehe aus wie 85.
Ich habe ein schweres Nierenleiden, weil ich nur sehr
wenig Wasser trinke.Ich glaube, dass ich nicht mehr
lange leben werde.

Heute bin ich die aelteste Person, die hier lebt

Damals waren die Frauen auf ihr schoenes Haar stolz.
Jetzt muessen wir unsere Koepfe kahl scheren,
um sie sauber zu halten, ohne Wasser zu verwenden

Damals wusch mein Vater sein Auto
mit Wasser, das aus einem Schlauch kam.
Heute koennen es unsere Kinder nicht glauben,
dass jemand jemals Wasser auf solche
Weise genutzt haben soll.

Ich erinnere mich, dass alles ganz anders war, als ich 5 Jahre alt war.
Es gab viele Baeume im Park,
rund um die Haeuser waren herrliche Gaerten,
ich konnte ausgiebig baden und mich duschen,
solange ich wollte.
Jetzt muessen wir uns mit oelgetraenkten Feuchttuechern reinigen.

Ich erninnere mich an die vielen Warnungen:
“VERSCHWENDET KEIN WASSER”
Aber niemand achtete darauf. Die Leute gingen davon aus,
dass es unendlich viel Wasser gibt.
Heute sind Fluesse, Daemme, Lagunen und Grundwasser
entweder fuer alle Zeiten verschmutzt oder vollkommen
ausgetrocknet.

Die Landschaft, die uns umgibt, hat sich in nichts
anderes als eine riesige Wueste verwandelt.

Die Industrie ist lahmgelegt, und die Arbeitslosenrate
ist dramatisch in die Hoehe geschnellt.
Entsalzungsanlagen sind die wichtigsten Arbeitgeber.
Sie geben den Leuten Trinkwasser statt einem Gehalt.

Menschen werden staendig in den vereinsamten Strassen
wegen einer Dose Wasser ausgeraubt...

Damals wurde empfohlen, mindestens 8 Glaeser Wasser pro Tag zu trinken.
Heute ist nur noch ein halbes Glas erlaubt.

Da wir unsere Kleidung nicht mehr waschen koennen, werfen wir sie weg.
Dadurch werden unsere Muellberge immer gewaltiger.
Wir muessen wieder Jauchegruben verwenden, wie im vorigen Jahrhundert,
weil die Abwassersysteme aufgrund des Wassermangels
nicht mehr funktionieren.

Die Menschen sehen furchterregend aus
und sind aufgrund ihres extremen ausgetrockneten
Zustandes schwach, und mit Wunden uebersaet,
denn die ultravioletten Strahlen koennen von der Atmosphaere
nicht laenger gefiltert werden, weil die Ozonschicht aufgebraucht ist.

Wegen ihrer ausgetrockneten Haut sieht eine 20-jaehrige
Frau heute aus wie 40.

Wissenschaftler forschen in allen Richtungen,
aber es ist keine Loesung in Sicht.
Wir koennen kein Wasser produzieren

Durch die fehlenden Baeume wird der Sauerstoffgehalt
noch mehr verringert, was eine Senkung des Intelligenzquotienten
der kommenden Generation mit sich bringt.

Die Zusammensetzung des Spermas vieler Maenner hat sich veraendert...
mit dem Resultat, dass Kinder mit allen moeglichen Maengeln,
Mutationen und Verformungen geboren werden.

Die Regierung hat uns sogar eine Steuer fuer die Luft, die wir atmen, auferlegt:
137 m3 pro Erwachsener pro Tag (31,102 Gallonen).

Diejenigen, die die Steuer nicht zahlen koennen,
werden von den “beluefteten Bereichen” ausgeschlossen,
die mit gigantischen mechanischen Lungen ausgestattet
sind, die durch Solarenergie angetrieben werden.

Die Luft, die in den “beluefteten Bereichen” zur
Verfuegung steht, hat keine gute Qualitaet, aber
wenigstens kann man dort atmen.
Das Durchschnittsalter betraegt 35 Jahre.

Einige Laender haben es geschafft, ein paar Inseln
mit Vegetation mit ihren eigenen Gewaessern zu erhalten.
Diese Gegenden werden streng von der Armee ueberwacht.

Wasser ist zu einem seltenen Rohstoff geworden, ein begehrtes
Gut, nachdem gejagt wird und unermesslich mehr wert als Gold
und Diamanten.

Hier jedoch gibt es kaum mehr Baeume, weil es fast nie regnet.
Und wenn es mal regnet, ist es saurer Regen der runter kommt.

Es gibt keine Jahreszeiten mehr. Klimatische Veraenderungen
wie der Treibhauseffekt und die Umweltverscmutzung, die wir im
20. Jahrhundert verursacht haben, haben dafuer gesorgt.

Wenn meine Tochter mich fraegt, wie es war, als ich jung war,
beschreibe ich ihr die Schoenheit der Waelder.
Ich erzehle ihr vom Regen, von den Blumen, wie herrlich es war,
zu baden, in den Fluessen und Seen zu fischen und soviel Waser
zu trinken, wie wir wollten.

Ich erzaehle ihr, wie gesund die Menschen damals waren.

Sie fraegt mich: Papa, wieso gibt es kein Wasser mehr?
Ich fuehle den Knoten in meinem Hals...

Ich fuehle mich schuldig, weil ich zu einer Generation gehoere,
die zur Zerstoerung unserer Umwelt beigetragen hat, weil wir
ganz einfach die Warrnungen nicht ernst genug genommen haben...
und es gab so viele davon!

Ich gehoere zur letzten Generation, die fuer einen Unterschied
haette sorgen koennen, die aber entschied, nichts zu tun.

Heute zahlen unsere Kinder einen bitteren Preis...


Ehrlich gesagt glaube ich, dass das Leben auf dieser Erde
in Kuerze nicht mehr moeglich sein wird, denn wir haben
einen Punkt erreicht, wo es keine Umkehr mehr gibt.

Wie sehr ich mir wuensche, wir koennten die Zeit noch
einmal zurueckdrehen und die Menschheit dazu bringen,
dies zu verstehen...
... zu einer Zeit, als es fuer uns noch moeglich war,
etwas zu unternehmen, um unseren Planeten, die Erde,
zu retten.


Schicke diesen Brief an alle Leute die ihr kennt, selbst wenn es sich nur um fluechtige Bekannte handelt.
Dies ist kein Spiel – es ist bereits zu unserer Realitaet geworden. Tue es fuer Deine Kinder, und wenn Du noch keine Kinder hast, tue es trotzdem, denn vielleicht wirst Du eines Tages Kinder haben.

Hinterlasse ihnen nicht die Hoelle als Erbe – schenke ihnen Leben!

Texte : Revue "Crónica de los Tiempos“, April 2002.
Fotos : Getty ImagesTraduction française “maison”: Eva Sagasti generationsfutures.net
Free German translation: Patricia Avnon, pavnon@gmail.com

IN-AND-AROUND-ISRAEL

IN-AND-AROUND-ISRAEL

Sinai 2006

Color Canyon 2006

Color Canyon, Sinai 2006

Sinai 2006

Michael and me

Sinai-Disappointments

This is my first blogger attempt to get some of my thoughts around the world this way. The trigger was an e-mail, I reveived from my long standing friend in, Egypt, who owns a beautiful small hotel in Northern Sinai.
His mail related to the present situation between Israel and Lebanon or perhaps I should say between Israel and the Hizbollah and what he wrote is the following:

Yes for me ,Israel is the one and only to be blamed

when you keep lands not belong to you ,

when you have the most powerful killing weapons

when you air strike buildings on mothers and children

when you consider all the arabs as leaders for terrorists

when you refuse all the intiatives to sit and talk and negotiate

when blood is like water, you are the only one to be blamed

Now I must add, that my friend is not exactly the average Muslim type filled with hatred against Israel and the Jews. Ok, we had lots of discussions throughout the years, whenever something happened in Israel or around Israel, and of course I knew his point of view although I didn't agree with him. Yet he always kept his doors and his heart open for Israeli visitors who as a matter of fact helped him for all those years to make a living and who even kept coming down to Sinai after the terrible terror attacks in 2005 and 2006. And now I received this bloody e-mail from him, and especially the last sentence got me really upset: "When blood is like water, you are the only ones to be blamed...."

My reply to my Egyptian friend is the following:

Tel Aviv, ‏20.08.2006
Dear Friend,

Today I saw your e-mail and I must say, that there are no words to express my feelings.

I am sad, angry and sad again. First I was sad that the killings and terrorist attacks in Sinai for the last 2 years made it impossible for me to return to that beautiful and so much loved part of the world, but I took a chance and went back, and so did many other Israelis.

But now I feel that if even an educated person like you thinks of us the way you describe it in your mail, there is no reason what so ever to go to there again. If even you think like this , then who can guarantee my safety in your country? If all what you write is what you really think and believe, than you must truly dislike our country and us (because we are our country!). I made plans to come down end of August, now I won’t.

Yet I ask myself - why do you make business with Israelis? Why do you give them a feeling of being their friend? Why do you visit our country? Why do you shop in Eilat? Why do you care to show us Sinai and the underwater world of the Red Sea? Why do you obviously enjoy talking to us when we sit on your beach? Why don't I see you enjoying yourself so much with your Arab guests or with the Bedouins? Well, I hope you will find your own honest answers to my questions.

I want to tell you something "real funny" my dear friend: I have been in Germany for most of the time of this damned war between Israel and the Hizbolla, so I missed most of the action. But don't worry; I had lots of action in Germany, because even there, the fanatic Muslim terrorists don’t make a difference. To them it doesn't matter whether they attack and kill people in the Middle East, in Germany, in Indonesia, in Thailand, in the USA, in the UK, in Spain or in Kenya. Therefore I found myself on a train to Koblenz, which carried a bomb!
In addition to the bomb, German police found a plastic bag in the suitcase, carrying the name of a supermarket in Beirut. Yesterday, the final results of the police investigation where published on German TV - this bomb as well as the second one they found on that day on another train going to Cologne, where both placed by Arab terrorists and only due to a technical problem, they didn’t blow up. Otherwise they would have caused a huge disaster (to German people not to Israeli Jews!). Oh what irony and bitter laugh - here I was, coming from Israel and sitting on a German train that carries a bomb made by Arab terrorists!

No my dear friend - this has nothing to do with Israel! It has something to do with a war between the western world and the dark mediaeval fanatic world of the Islam and fanatic extremists who want to force their beliefs on all those who have different views of life
and different beliefs.
Israel is a western country and a weenie-teeny spot on the map of the whole huge Islamic Middle East (yes my friend, look at the map!). This is something that the Muslims obviously don't want - nothing Western should disturb the wonderful Islamic harmony of the surrounding countries who love and honor each other so much as we all know - again: bitter laugh....

BUT - interesting enough: Those fanatic Muslim extremists also don't want the rest of the western world and therefore attack it whenever possible. So my dear friend, who considers blood as water? The Jews? Or the Germans? Or the British? Or the Spanish? Do you know any Jews, who blow up airplanes or trains or twin towers? Do you know Germans who do it? Do you know any Jews or Europeans who blow themselves up and truly believe that they will be rewarded with 78 virgins "up there"??

In the city of Cologne itself exist 15 mosques, 3 others are being built at the time being.
How many churches or synagogues have been erected in Teheran, Baghdad, Cairo, or Damascus in exchange?? Hello, what would actually happen, if a lost Christian, somewhere in Teheran, would dare to lay the cornerstone of a church? With how many stones would he be killed immediately?

Speaking of water and blood - in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem or Haifa, we don't hang or shoot people whom we consider traitors. 20 minutes from the place where I live, in the lovely, romantic, peaceful city of Ramallah, people are being hanged or shot by the mob for being considered traitors!!! By the way, next time you come to visit Israel, I suggest you pay a visit to Ramallah too! You won't find any colors in this city, hardly a green tree or beautiful flowers in a garden, not to speak of the people, who mostly wear gray! I have been there many times until 6 years ago and saw it with my own eyes. No joy - in comparison to Tel Aviv, where people even go out and celebrate and try to be happy and strong while rockets are falling in the North!

Some years ago I tried to do some business with influential business people from Ramallah and Jericho. Sometimes we met in Ramallah and sometimes in my home. Then I flew to Germany with them. We signed contracts and had good hopes. Until the second Intifada started and everything just collapsed. One of my Arab business partners (he used to call me "achoti" - my sister) almost cried and asked me over and over again: "When can we have peace"?
And I answered him: "The minute you speak up that you want to have peace". You know what his answer was? "I want to do this. But if I do it, you will read in the newspaper that they found a body in a ditch in Ramallah..."

Peace demonstrations: Ever heard about one in an Arab country? Did you hear about the one 2 weeks ago in Tel Aviv? And about all the others during all those recent years?
Hate demonstrations : Ever heard about one in Tel Aviv? Did you hear about all those organized by Muslims, taking place daily now in Europe and the rest of the world against Israel and the Jews??

We consider all Arab leaders as terrorists? No, of course not! Don't you remember, that Mister Arafat was invited for tea and cookies in Lea and Yitzchak Rabin's home in Ramat Aviv at the time being? Well don't we all know what Arafat did with this cup of tea and the huge amounts of money he received from the western world in order to keep his path of peace?
We almost forgot about Gadaffi, Sadam Hussein and the new mad man Ahmadinejad in Iran who officially announces that he wants to wipe us out! By the way, he wants to do this with the "most powerful weapons" you claim us to use!!!

We certainly respect leaders like King Abdullah II of Jordan, because he is an open minded and highly educated partner for discussions. We also respect the Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, although my personal feeling is, that he is not really too fond of us, and I wouldn’t really want to rely on his frozen smile.

We refuse to negotiate and sit and talk? Excuse me? Would you please do some homework and read some history? Does Oslo ring a bell to you? Camp David? If this is too far behind, try to go back only 1 year: We pulled out of Gaza and what happened shortly after? Ah! You forgot? The Hamas kept firing rockets at the city of Sderot! Day by day dozens and then hundreds. When we pulled out of Lebanon 6 years ago, part of the UN-agreement was that the Hizbollah would be disarmed. Did this happen? No! Instead, they received tons of deadly weapons from Iran and Syria they now use against us.
We are supposed to sit quiet and to shut up? Just let them kill us?
WHY????
Would you do it?

Do you seriously think that Israel considers those gang leaders of the Hamas and Hizbollah as partners for peace discussions? How about Christian Prime Minister Seniora as such a partner?
Oh, he can't?
WHY?
Because he has nothing to say, as the Hizbollah, who is fed and supported by Iran, has overgrown in his own country and turned him into a “nothing”?

So you want to blame Israel and only Israel yes? Because even this time we started the war, right? That is what you believe? This is by the way what's written on all those demo-sheets being spread and distributed by Palestinian demonstrators in Europe:
Israel started all the wars – again: Bitter laugh...
Just because 2 soldiers where imprisoned, the whole thing started.... Excuse me? Weren’t they rather kidnapped from our soil???

Well, it won't take too long before even those naive western Europeans will understand that the Islamic Fundamentalists have moved right into their own ranks. This summer the two trains in Germany didn't blow up, and the nine airplanes didn't drop from London’s sky.
But soon they will, and then Europe will wake up and understand and hopefully act before it’s too late.

You write that we air strike mothers and children. Yes you are right and you know why?
Because the Hizbollah chose to live amongst innocent people. Our air force distributed flyers, warned the population, and asked them to leave. Trust me, Israel could have caused much bigger destruction, but they didn’t! You know that we had an open dispute here because our soldiers, who were out of water supply, took water bottles from a Lebanese supermarket?
Wars are always inhuman dear friend, yet they can be fought in one way or another.

My friend - you come from a highly intellectual family and should know better. Instead of blaming Israel and pointing your finger at us, you should turn the fact that you have so many Israeli friends into something good and fruitful. You have the huge benefit of knowing us, you spoke to us, you discussed politics with us, you have been visiting our country, you often where a guest in Israeli homes, you are loved by many of us - including me!
Most Arabs don't have a clue, who and how we really are. They only believe what they see and hear through the media and from their fanatic hate-loaded religious leaders. But you know us! You know that we are happy, life- and peace loving people and that LIFE means much for us. Don’t’you dare to tell me that all of a sudden you have forgotten all this!

Don’t let the media and the pictures of “Palliwood” influence you – use your common sense before you judge and point a finger at us! Use what you know about us personally in order to explain to your people that their neighbors are human beings who want nothing than quiet and peace.

Shalom - Salam