My name is Yossi Patt. I am Jew. I was born in France and have been living in Israel since 1968.
I love my country. It's a nice, a holy, a great and a very successful country. So, let's imagine just a minute what would have been, what would be and what will be the same country minus war plus peace…
What are the real and profound reasons for the conflict? I can hear some answers: The Jihad vs The Chosen People (or at least the interpretation giving to these words by extremists of both sides). However, I think war is unavoidable only because people think it's unavoidable. As Abba Eban, a former Foreign Affair minister, said: "War is not unavoidable. Peace is unavoidable".
What History has taught us? It has taught us that:
- Every conflict comes to its end, but sometimes it takes more than 100 years (France-England in the Middle Age).
- Countries come and go but the people stay (even if the death of many of them is necessary to prove that)
- A country, which based its domination over other people, by the facts it always wins, its end is that it loses once, and when it loses its defeat is complete.
- There is no unsolvable conflict. For example, France and Germany are best friends now. However, the Alsace-Lorraine conflict leaded them to three bloody wars: 1870, 1914 and 1939.
- There are no hereditary enemy people, there are only stupid leaders. For example, Iran and Israel were best friends at the time of the Shah.
To sum up, I don't say that the conflict's resolution is easy. Just that it is possible and things look entirely different with a different state of mind. I hope it will be the case for our conflict and that the Abraham's sons will reconcile with each other.
Finally, let me quote the last sentence of the Kaddish, one of the more important if not most important Jewish prayer:
"He who creates peace in His celestial heights, may He create peace for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen."