Jews had come to British controlled
Palestine by the
thousands, joining the Jews who had
always been there,
buying up land from absentee Turkish
land owners, and
they needed many workers to help them
build the land.
He married, raised a large family and
lived quietly.
I live in Haifa in Israel. In
1948 when Israel declared it's
independence, Arab armies from surrounding
states
attacked with the intention of destroying
the new state.
I was about 15 years old and remember
well the radio
broadcasts from Arab states telling
us to leave our homes
and move Eastward temporarily while
the advancing Arab
armies wiped out the Jews. They
told us we would then
return in triumph to our homes and
would have the joy of
taking over all the Jewish assets -
- - their homes, farms,
shops, cars and bank accounts.
My father, Ibrahim, was a very wise
man, a learned man,
and a man of peace. We had good
relationsips with our
neighbors, Christian, Jew and Muslim.
He gathered the
entire family and explained why he
did not believe it wise
to flee, that he did not believe the
Jews would mistreat us.
We stayed put. We are still here.
Today, I still live in my father's old
stone house with my wife
and the youngest of our eight children.
My older children
and my many grandchildren all live
nearby. We have never
been mistreated, and we are much better
off than those
Arabs who fled and who ended up in
miserable refugee camps
being supported by the UN and charities.
I want you to know what my life is like
as an Arab citizen of
Israel. I was educated in Israel
schools and universities. I
became a pharacist and worked in a
large pharmacy in Haifa.
I was paid the same salary, and received
the same benefits as
my Jewish colleagues.
Now, I'm retired. I receive two
pensions, one based on the
investment plan to which my company
and I contributed, the
other comes from the Israeli government
National Insurance
Plan. I have eight children.
Every month, I received child
allowance payments from the government
until each became
18. I know of no other country
where this happens - - certainly
not any Arab nation.
Our entire family is covered by the
National Health Plan which
provides good medical care. All
of my children were born in
hospital, my wife received excellent
ante and postnatal care.
All medical and surgical is covered
from the first shekel, from
birth to death, and when we die even
the cost of burial is
covered!
My children went to school with Jewish
children, they were
members of the same sports clubs and
the community]
center, and they all received university
educations - some
with state schollarships.
I pray in a mosque which was built on
land donated by the
Jewish National Fund. I am a
citizen, I have a passport, can
travel anywhere, anytime. I vote
in local and national elections
and we have a number of Arab members
of parliment.
I have a very good life and so has my
family. I feel for those
Arabs forced to live under Arafat for
they are being used
and abused badly. I long for
the day when Arafat is no more,
that a real peace truly can be negotiated
with Israel, so that
the Palestinian Arabs can have a better
life also. I long for
the day I can travel to visit cousins
in Ramallah without fear
of being called a collaborator and
executed.
I thank Allah my grandfather came here.
I thank Allah my
father did not leave in 1948.
I thank Allah my children were
raised her, in the only free country
in the Middle East. We are
very lucky Arabs.
(Name withheld for security reasons).
Editor's Note: Arafat was chased out of the region
by other Arabs (King Hussien
of Jordan) and exiled to Morrocco. But, he was
brought back by Bill Clinton to
head up the "Palestinian State". That was Clinton's
gift to "Middle East peace"