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MidEastTruth Forum Index   Gil Troy is an American academic. He received his undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees from Harvard University and is a professor of History at McGill University.
The author of eleven books, nine of which concern American presidential history, and one of which concerns his own and others' "Jewish identity," he contributes regularly to a variety of publications and appears frequently in the media as a commentator and analyst on subjects relating to history and politics. Twitter: @GilTroy. Website: www.giltroy.com.

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Posted by editor

  
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PostThu May 12, 2005 3:40 am     Israel at 57    


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Israel at 57

By Gil Troy
The Montreal Gazette
May 11, 2005

Israel celebrates 57 years of independence tomorrow mired in paradox.

What should be one of the Western world's great success stories is frequently treated as a pariah state. A democracy with a rollicking political culture, a fertile arts scene, a sophisticated economy, a tremendous infrastructure, a cutting edge scientific community, a young, growing, multicultural, multiracial, and multilingual population, is frequently caricatured as a fragile, dysfunctional, garrison state teetering on the edge of collapse.

By any objective standards, Israel is thriving - this has been a very good year. The high-tech sector has bounced back and the economy is beginning to soar again. Israel won its first Olympic gold medal last summer, and just months later won its first Nobel Prize in science for chemists who discovered cancer-busting proteins.

Moreover, while it is impolitic to say, Israel won the ugly war Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians unleashed in 2000. The cost was too high - more than 1,000 mostly civilian Israeli deaths, thousands maimed, and too many Palestinians killed in the fighting, too. But morale held, the people persevered, the army ultimately contained the situation.

Israel has proved democracies can defeat terror with a combination of effective fences, aggressive policing, active soldiering, vigilant citizens and creative leadership. Arafat's death, and the resulting outbreak of optimism on both sides, confirmed what Israelis had long maintained, that Europe's darling, that media-savvy manipulator, the world's first Nobel Peace Prize-winning terrorist, was an obstacle to peace who brought instability and misery to his own people as well as his enemies.

Nevertheless, the headlines focus on two existential threats that seem to hang over the Jewish state, one internal, one external. Internally, many politicians, activists, and reporters warn of a looming civil war over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's proposed disengagement plan to dismantle Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. Shrill, marginalized voices threatening violence drown out the discussions between the Israeli army and the settlers about rules of engagement for a peaceful anti-disengagement protest, including talk about banning weapons to avoid bloodshed.

Rather than risking a self-fulfilling prophecy by bracing for violence, Israelis, both left and right, should be preparing to welcome the uprooted settlers, acknowledging the trauma of leaving their homes, thanking them for first moving out to areas that the state encouraged them to settle, then for leaving peacefully when government policy changed.

Meanwhile, world leaders and the mass media should reassess their caricatures of Ariel Sharon, helping Israel manage the risks connected to this bold step. At the same time, the world should pressure the Palestinians to silence the extremists, disarm the terrorists, and build a functional political culture focused on building up their own society rather than terrorizing their neighbours.

The external existential threat is also much ballyhooed - and frequently exaggerated. Intellectual intifadists along with nihilistic Islamicists believe that if they call frequently enough and lustily enough for Israel's destruction, they will realize their hopes. Thus, despite Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas's calls for Palestinian moderation, jihadists throughout the Middle East continue to demand Israel's extermination.

The outrageous boycott that the British Association of University Teachers slapped last month on two Israeli universities is sadly typical of the armchair warriors who feed such rhetoric and, ultimately, encourage violence.

Closer to home, Israel's critics repeatedly violate their own core principles in their zeal to condemn the Jewish state. Professed pacifists rationalize suicide bombings, feminists and gay activists overlook Palestinian patriarchy or homophobia, and colleagues, even at McGill University, supposedly committed to accuracy, teach students that the name of the city in Israel's north is not Haifa, with too many spreading a one-sided narrative in classrooms, preferring politically correct caricature to complexity.

These absurdities embarrass the critics, not the criticized. This Yom Ha'atzmaut - Israel Independence Day - like every day, in countless ways, 6 million Israeli Jews - and Arabs -- will mock those critics by living good lives in a stable, thriving, democracy. Academics and jihadists can ignore the truth but they lack the power to negate it.

Israel remains, like all countries, like all human endeavours, imperfect. But given what it has endured, given the quality of life of so many of its citizens, given the many life-changing pharmaceutical, medicinal and technological wonders emanating from there, given the symphonies and universities, the newspapers and bookstores, the full cafes and the booming businesses, the delicious mix of old traditions and new ideas, the warm, effusive, sometimes dyspeptic citizenry, it remains one of the 20th century's great accomplishments.

Israel also represents one of the great hopes of the 21st century, especially if it can find its way toward a stable, mutual peace in its tough but - we can hope - evolving neighbourhood.

Gil Troy teaches history at McGill University.


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Posted by grantman

  
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PostFri May 13, 2005 3:57 am     Haifa?    


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Great article (as usual) but I missed this reference:

[quote]and colleagues, even at McGill University, supposedly committed to accuracy, teach students that the name of the city in Israel's north is not Haifa,[/quote]

Can anyone explain what that's about?


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Posted by grantman

  
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PostFri May 13, 2005 4:00 am     Quoting text...    


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...and, um, can anyone teach me how to use the quote function?


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Posted by shimonzk

  
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PostFri May 13, 2005 7:03 am     Israel is not as rosy as the author claims    


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The article does contain some truths but disregards the reality of living in Israel. There is a certain amount of romanticism in the article that Israeli Society is ideal.

Citizens are subjected to one of the highest tax loads in the world. Some of the taxes are justifiable for Israel's defense, but much is not. Much of Israeli society is aggressive, rude and quick-tempered. The lack of manners on the roads is part of the problem and has resulted in fatalities that could have been avoided. There is a general lack of common courtesy in just about all walks of life.

The youth are unfortunately not what they used to be. Vandalism is rife and damage to public and private property, whether it is a new car or a park bench as well as litter is common place. Youth crime is on the increase and the police is incapable of doing anything about it. Night clubs have become violent and many tragic deaths have resulted because of stabbings. Educational standards have dropped as the government is involved in budget cuts. The classes are overcrowded and noisy. Erosion of salaries and workers being underpaid is widespread. There is a lot of "jobs for pals" depending on whether one is a member of a ruling political party or not.

Foreign workers are ill treated as many of them live under the most shocking conditions and have hardly any civil rights at all.

Israel is moving in a direction that is worrying. The law courts are overburdened and inefficient. All is not well in Israel and painting a rosy picture could not be further from reality.


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The Middle East arouses emotions on all sides. The path to a settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli problem is recognition of both sides' right to exist in secure boundaries each in his own state in dignity.

 

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Posted by grantman

  
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PostFri May 13, 2005 10:55 am        


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[quote]The path to a settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli problem is recognition of both sides' right to exist in secure boundaries each in his own state in dignity.[/quote]

Um, dignity might not be the best word here. Even without romanticizing Israel, there is little dignity I've seen from the Palestinian side since Oslo.

Until there is total transformation of the Palestinian society, I don't think that there will be dignity on their side. Simply giving them a state - for which they have shown no aptitude for responsible government - won't achieve that.

The path to a settlement requires much more than dignity.

(And previewing, I still can't seem to get the quote function to work properly...sorry)


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Posted by Shanks

  
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PostSun May 15, 2005 5:13 pm        


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Quote:
The article does contain some truths but disregards the reality of living in Israel.


Welcome to the modern world of 2005. Thanks goodness that this is Israel, progressive and forward looking with all the traits of a modern Western civilized democracy with every aspect of the good, the bad and the ugly. It is so refreshing to be pulled back once in a while and be reminded that there is a whole country out there, with all its glory and its faults, other than the terrorism and suicide bombers that dominate the landscape painted by the media. I congratulate Gil Troy for his well overdue article.


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