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A few sunbeams filter through
IS all the news from Israel depressing, discouraging, pessimistic?
Aren't there any rainbows, any pleasant stories of friendly
relations with Arab neighbours?
We came up with the following items.
Ra'ami Mahamid, 17, an Arab, was standing at a bus stop near
the village of Umm al-Fahm. A bus filled with Jews was due
to stop there shortly.
Ra'ami's suspicions were aroused by a fellow Arab who carried
a suspicious-looking bag and he called the police on a cellular
phone. They arrived quickly and separated the terrorist from
the crowd, averting a major disaster.
When the explosion did occur, one policeman was killed and
Ra'ami himself was injured. The lad was given a cash reward
in recognition of his alertness.
Plans for the construction of the security fence to separate
Arab villages from Jewish areas, in one spot called for cutting
off a large old olive grove from the Arab village of Kafin.
The neighbouring kibbutz of Metzer thought this was unfair
and volunteered to relinquish a strip of its own land to enable
a change in the fence's line to preserve the Arab occupation
of their olive grove.
A new soccer outfit has made its appearance on the Israel
sport scene, bearing the name Selected Peace Team. One half
of its squad is composed of players from Arab cities in the
West Bank, and the other half of Israelis from various towns.
Security regulations and frequent curfews make practice sessions
difficult, but the team gets along well. Their first game
was against a team representing the Israel police force. The
Selected Peace side won, 6-3.
Nasur Nujeidat, an Arab bus driver, was on the busy main
highway alongside the Sea of Galilee when he observed what
looked like a strange bundle rolling along the road.
Upon coming closer he was shocked to discover that it was
a tiny child, less than two years old, toddling along. Cars
driving by barely missed it. Nujeidat stopped his bus, picked
up the little one, and after ascertaining that there was no
one else in the area, took it to the police station where,
some time later, the frantic parents came to claim their child.
During the period that Israel occupied areas in south Lebanon,
it laid pipes to provide a water supply from Israel's sources
to about a dozen villages. Even after Israel withdrew, the
water supply continued, since the villages had no other source.
Today, despite the dispute with Lebanon, which has been diverting
water which otherwise goes to the Sea of Galilee, Israel continues
to supply those Lebanese villages with water.
lSeventeen years ago, Omar al-Hatib, of East Jerusalem, was
sent by an Arab terrorist group to kill a Jew. David Blumenfeld,
an American tourist, was wounded in the attack, and Omar was
sent to prison.
During his stay behind bars he began a correspondence with
an American girl, a journalist, during which he expressed
deep remorse for his deed.
Only upon his recent release, granted in part because of
favourable testimony from the American girl, did he discover
that she was Blumenfeld's daughter. He has become an outspoken
foe of terror and an advocate of peace.
Late this October, an ailing Palestinian from the West Bank
was brought to an Israel army post. By error he had drunk
a large quantity of pesticide and had been badly poisoned.
A helicopter was called and the man was quickly transferred
to the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem where he was properly
treated.
As the result of a fire in a Gaza home, a two-year-old Palestinian
boy, Badar el-Mugrabi, sustained third degree burns on over
70 per cent of his body. For lack of adequate facilities to
care for him in Gaza, he was rushed to the Soroka Medical
Centre where every effort was being made at this time to bring
about full recovery.
An Arab from the Israeli village of Taiba fell ill during
a visit to Amman, Jordan. He was found to be suffering from
a massive internal haemorrhage and needed a drug unavailable
there.
The Laniado hospital in Netanya heard of the need, and in
a matter of hours the drug was sent to Jordan as a gift. He
is now recovering.
Oded Volak, 51, from Modiin, was a fervent advocate of the
Israeli peace camp. He was shot by Arab terrorists, and one
of his lungs was transplanted into the body of a 52-year-old
Arab from Umm al-Fahm.
Email
him at urigeller@compuserve.com
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