Kerry’s pretension in saving the world is unnecessary, because the world does not want to be saved. Neither the Jews, nor the Arabs, want to participate in this party, because they know they will not benefit from it.

By Karni Eldad

In American movies, there is usually good and evil and a clear end. More than that; American directors give so little credit to their viewers, that they instruct the composers of the soundtrack to prepare us for each scenario: If something is about to be scary or funny or romantic – we will know in advance.

US Secretary of State John Kerry at the Munich Security Conference in Germany – Photo: REUTERS

Secretary of State John Kerry is trying to intensify the drama and pressure us in any way possible, and he scares us with background music for the end of the Jewish state (because we will be outnumbered by the Arabs if we don’t give them a separate state). He tells the violins to screech when he talks of an economic boycott that will choke us, and instructs the woodwinds and kettledrums to roar when he tells us that the end time is near if we don’t sign here, here, and here.

Kerry warned that if the talks fail, things will end badly. We will suffer from isolation and economic collapse and will witness radicalization and violent reactions from the Arabs. There are a few problems with these threats: Firstly, they are only hypotheses. And they are hypotheses from the administration of a country that hasn’t done all that well with regard to intelligence assessments. Is the assessment that the Palestinians are planning a third intifada based on intelligence? Is he sure that there will be a European boycott of products made in Israel?

Of course not. There are voices calling for a boycott of Israel, and by the way, there will also be calls for a boycott even if we give up Jerusalem. There is anti-Semitism in Europe, we know, thanks. The time when there was the least anti-Semitism (or at least when it was felt the least) was during the 1967 Six Day War and the Israeli hostage rescue operation in Entebbe, Uganda. Then we were strong, sovereign, and admirable. The more we bend and fold, our enemies flourish. Whether they speak Arabic, English, or German.

The second problem with Kerry’s soundtrack is the fact that the largest democracy in the world doesn’t give a damn about democracy. It tries, by means of intimidation and arm-twisting, to force its opinion on another sovereign and democratic state, that has its own separate and distinct government mechanisms. There is no additional star on the flag of the United States, frustrating as it may sound.

Moreover, the pretension of saving the world is unnecessary in this case, because the world does not want to be saved, at least not under these conditions. Neither the Jews, nor the Arabs, want to participate in this party, because they know they will not benefit from it. At this party, only the organizers are celebrating. The Jews don’t want a peace agreement which destroys communities and brings terrorism closer to Tel Aviv, and the Arabs don’t want us to leave the territories.

What? Really? The Arabs do not want us to leave? Yes, the Arabs, the Palestinian people, the ones that we, the settlers, have working relations with and trade with, prefer us to any other authority. True, it’s not ideal. True, they have something to strive for. But no Palestinian in Judea and Samaria, who is not part of the regime of Mahmoud Abbas, wants to be like his brothers in Gaza, even if it means having self-determination, or even their own country.

The teeny weeny fact that not a single Arab living in Israel or Judea and Samaria emigrated into the Jew-free territory in Gaza, this little fact has evaded the American radar. The Americans are sure that only once the land has been divided, and the Arabs are given a place without Israeli rule, they will be satisfied. They impose their views and beliefs on a region that works very differently.

In the Palestinian Authority, nobody talks about the civil rights of the Palestinian individual. And the Arab looks at the “peace process” exactly as we do: The secular elite in Ramallah does business with the secular elite in Tel Aviv, regardless of land, regardless of the will of the people, regardless of reality.

So do not frighten us with “there’s no option.” There always is. If so many people oppose the concept of land for peace, and their arguments are well-founded and compelling, maybe it’s time to try looking at things in a new light, instead of continuing to play the same scary music. It is simply not convincing.

View original i24News publication at: http://www.i24news.tv/en/opinion/140203-stop-trying-to-save-us-mr-kerry-we-re-not-interested

Karni Eldad

Karni Eldad is a musician, married, a mother of two, a resident of Tekoa (West Bank). She has a graduate degree in composing movie soundtracks