Jewish Miracles

Mr Islam,

The Jewish people are beset with problems, and blessed by miracles. Here is another example of your Islamic brethren facing this reality.

21st May 2006 - Kassams in Sderot, Israel: School Classroom Hit while Students waiting outside

''3 Gaza-fired rockets hit the Negev city of Sderot this morning. One hit an empty classroom while the students were praying in a different room, and another caused two women to go into shock. The first rocket was fired by Palestinian terrorists from northern Gaza shortly after 7:30 AM, landing at the Gevim Junction just south of Sderot. Two women were treated at the site for shock.

Shortly afterwards, the Red Dawn early-warning alarm system sounded, giving the residents some 20-30 seconds to run for cover. Within minutes, it was learned that a rocket had in fact hit - in a classroom in the center of town. "The students were on their way to the classroom after finishing morning prayers," one person who arrived on the scene told Arutz-7, "and the classroom was still locked. Some students were waiting outside, and the teacher was on his way up - and that's when all of a sudden the rocket crashed in, hitting the teacher's chair. The teacher was very emotional, seeing that it had crashed exactly where he would have been sitting minutes later."

One person was treated for shock."By miracle," one local woman told Arutz-7, "no one was hurt - but how long can we rely on these miracles, merely because of our leaders' foolish decisions enabling the terrorists to shoot at us? Today and Tuesday are market days here in Sderot, just two blocks away from the school, and the hesder yeshiva is two blocks to the other side - it could have landed anywhere and killed people. How long can this go on?"

I will tell you how long it will go on for... until people realise there can be no peace through violence, that targetting innocent people will be rebuffed by the Lord. It is bad enough when innocents get caught in cross fire, but it is deplorable to target them.

We are approaching the festival of Shavuout when the Jews received the Torah on Mount Sinai. This is the annual festival to remind us that God is with us no matter what. As long as we do what is expected of us (to be responsible and God fearing Jews) then he will assist and protect.

Shalom and Hope for a peaceful future

Mr Jewish

Lets Blame Moderate Arab States

Mr Islam,

I struggle to understand the levels of impact and interaction between Arab States and the Israeli / Palestinian issue.

I keep asking myself, why has there been so little progress in reaching some form of peace? For the answer, I look not just to the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships, but to all other governments in the region which have been neither receptive nor helpful to reaching a lasting peace.

While the roles of the Middle East's arguably two most radical regimes, Syria and Iran (the latter having recently promised $50m in aid to the Palestinian government(although yet to pay)) are usually at the centre of the problem. Both these regimes consistently weigh in with inflammatory remarks and little action. How do these (and other) dictatorships benefit from an unstable region? Why would they not act proactively to end the problem one way or the other? If they want peace they could force the Palestinians to the table and if they want war, well they could attack!

Why also is little attention given to the policies of the other "moderate" regional governments." Such as Jordan and Egypt, Turkey and UAE? Are they merely afraid? Do they have too much to lose from confrontation?
"Ensuring peace requires more than tactical steps or occasional moderation by Arab governments that fail to bring freedom and peace to a region that is in dire need of both. The lack of reform in the Arab world has only fuelled the fire of the Islamists. At the present moment, even Hamas's defeat in government will not be the magic solution that brings peace.

Peace requires that a new culture of openness be nurtured and supported by moderate liberal orientations throughout the region.

It requires moving further for constructive change and not settling for the false stability of the status quo. While it is easy to blame democracy for bringing Hamas to power and halting the so-called "road map to peace", it is hard to ignore the fact that the policy of "stability" over reform has failed to achieve any progress towards peace."

Perhaps we need, or perhaps the Arab nations should / want an open and honest policy of 'instability' in order to move towards peace…

Shalom
Mr Jewish

Differeing Democracies

Dear Mr Islam,

I urged Israels new prime minister, Mr. Ehud Olmert, to seize this historic opportunity and secure the existence of the State of Israel for many centuries to come. I urge him to seek this bi-laterally, however I offer 100% support of his predecessors unilateral policy.

Hamas have now been in office for almost 2 months and Israels new Kadima party for almost 1 week. I expected a slow start towards whatever the future holds and we appear to be having it.

There has been no bloodshed by Hamas since they seem to busy with their own internal power struggle with Fatah.

There has been no hasty unilateral moves by Kadima as policy is still being set in the troubled face of coalition building.

These are the wide spectrums of democracy, two powers merely meteres apart and yet the democracy of Israel is weakened by its fracticious nature and the democracy of the Palestinians is weakened by the resorting to violence to secure an outcome.

Lets hope Mr Islam that the people that voted in these two governments also have the strength and the voice to ensure peace is secured in the region.

Shalom Mr Islam