Greeting residents of the Jenin refugee camp which has become a terrorist hub, those who are not involved in terrorism. Seeing what you have had to endure, is painful. You live mere minutes from the 1967 border with Israel. We do not take pleasure in your trials and tribulations and would prefer to have neighbors who are content in their jobs, education, economic growth and industry. We cannot rejoice when our neighbors have made the industry of death the foundation of their identity.
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Take note, Jenin refugee camp residents. You who are not involved in terrorism. The unified command of the terror factions, established bases in three areas of your camp, two of them, UNRWA facilities and one a school. They knew what they were doing. They wanted the IDF to strike those sites, in order to win points in the sphere of public opinion and increase the perception that Palestinians are victims.
Do you want that too? UNRWA provides you with food and education. How would you benefit from your schools or other servicing facilities being destroyed? You would be the victims of such a scenario. Is it not advisable to think of a change of course? Once you consider your own benefits, you would see who your real enemies are and we would both benefit from that.
You have representatives speaking on your behalf around the world, who tell themselves, their audiences and even you, that justice is on your side. You are "fighting the foreign occupiers," they say. But they are wrong. Have you ever considered taking real stock of your situation? Have you asked yourselves what it is that you are seeking? Opportunities to end the occupation were presented to you over and over again but your leaders have always rejected them. Those alleged advocates are part and parcel of your tragedy. Rather than leading you to safety, and a better life, they nurture the illusions of justice under the rule of evil, foolishness and lethal weapons.
Your fight, we know well, is not against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. You would do well to realize that you have become pawns in the hands of the international jihad and Iran. They are pulling the strings. Have they helped you at all? Quite on the contrary. Where ever jihad has taken hold, death and destruction soon followed.
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A Palestinian woman walks by homes destroyed in the IDF offensive in the Jenin refugee camp
(Photo: AP)
This has nothing to do with Israel. Lebanon has suffered from it for decades and continues to be a failed state. Over 80% of Lebanese live below the poverty line because of Iran, not Israel. Tehran has hundreds of millions of dollars invested in the industry of death and the production of more and more missiles and to what end? To fulfill the dream of destroying Israel.
Lebanon has the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group and Jenin has the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Yemen has been subjected to the same. Iran intervened in the internal conflict, flooding the Houthi rebels with weapons, creating nearly a million new refugees, killing nearly 400,000 people and causing widespread hunger. Your Nakba is a walk in the park compared to what the people of Yemen have been subjected to. So don't say Israel and the occupation are to blame for your wows. Your fate will be to mirror Yemen and that will not be a source of pleasure for us.
It is only a matter of time, sometimes hours, sometimes a couple or three days after Israel launches a military offensive before international public opinion will turn in your favor. Despite the fact that Israel is fighting terrorists, not civilians, you are still seen as victims of the military. But that should not be a source of pleasure because it will not result in any improvement in your life. The UN Human Rights Council will vote on a resolution to condemn Israel, and if you are lucky, some left-wing anti-Semites will organize protests in your support. Even in Israel, protesters have come out to condemn the military operation.
We see your streets celebrating and sweets offered to all after Jews are murdered in terror strikes. There will always be the idiot among us who will justify your conduct and post a tired of abuse against the IDF. He will tell you that your resistance against Israel is inspiring or that the military overlooks the fact that civilians are targeted in their operations and that that is horrendous. And it is. But no weekly anti-occupation protest will change that.
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People handing out sweets in celebration in Jenin after a deadly terror attack outside the settlement of Eli last month
You regard such demonstrations as a sign of Israeli weakness, but they are a sign of a vibrant democracy that can withstand criticism and even malicious propaganda. The day you allow expressions of support for peace and condemnation of terror, without the speakers being killed in no time, will be a happy day that may indicate that change is coming.
But even now, after everything that has happened and despite it all, most Israelis extend their hands to you in peace, if only you would choose prosperity over terrorism. You are right that peace has been evaded for decades but for your sake as much as ours, let us hope it is achieved.