I am Israel

I am Israel.
I was born millennia before I was renamed Palestine by the conquering Romans
and before the U.N. decided to turn my eastern lands into Jordan.
My people, the Jews, maintained communities here for three thousand years
--that is until the Arabs decided to massacre those Jews in 1920 and 1929.
Hundreds of civilians were murdered, most of them women and children.
Meanwhile, their brother Arab states exiled one million Arabic Jews
ERASING THEIR HISTORY.

I am Israel.
I am Israel -- I've been attacked four times by five Arab armies in sixty years.
I am a survivor: I won every war they waged against me.
I told the Arabs who lived on my land that they were welcome to stay
but their brothers said, "leave temporarily while the Jews are taken care of."

I have been offering a message of peace since the day I was born
but my enemies answered only in bombs, bullets, and blood -- our own, and theirs.
Realizing they could not defeat me with arms, my enemies turned to lies.

I am Israel.
I am Israel -- time and time again my name is smeared.
Though like the Mohammad Al-Dura hoax, each lie is eventually disproved.
My enemies continue to claim that I am committing "genocide".
Tell me, is giving educational opportunities to Palestinian Arabs "genocide"?
Twenty percent of the students in Haifa University are Arabs.
If I exiled all the Arabs in 1948, why are twenty percent of my citizens Arabs who vote?

Why did I give up the entire Sinai and the Gaza strip
uprooting my own people from their homes, only for the HOPE of peace?
In combat ops, I risk the lives of my teenagers to minimize civilian casualties.
I make every attempt to target only fighters, often putting my soldiers in harm.
In war, I drop leaflets on areas to be attacked warning civilians to evacuate.
Has any other army in the history of mankind done this for its enemy?
I waited eight years to stop Hamas from its daily rocket attacks.
Some fell on my kindergartens. I am patient, but my patience is not infinite.

I am Israel
I am Israel -- I discover new medications to treat devastating diseases,
I've created technology such as Intel, anti-virus, and cell phones,
and I lead the world in scientific publications per capita.
I send humanitarian missions to developing countries, including Muslim countries.
I have absorbed hundreds of Muslim refugees who faced genocide in Darfur --
refugees no Muslim state would take.

I am Israel
I am Israel -- one of the smallest counties in the world,
and probably the most stubborn -- I refuse to give up hope for peace.
My friends support me not because of any lobby, but because they see the truth:
I am the heart of the Middle East, and the hope for its future.
My prophet said, "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation" and I will try ...and try,
and TRY until those words are true.
Because I am Israel.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
These words above are part of a video as shown on the Jewish television station, "Shalom TV".
I would say it's a little different that the official Al-Fatah and the official Hamas television videos promoting Palestinian children to become "martyrs for Allah" wouldn't you say?
- Joe Whitehead