A Promise From the Past

August 27, 2006 - 10:40 PM by

Many years ago — about 30? was it during the Yom Kippur War? I’m only 34, so I’m not sure — there was a popular song in Israel in which a father talks with his daughter about war going on. The chorus went “I promise you, my little girl, that this will be the last war.” Of course the irony was that it wasn’t the last war, not by far, and pretty much everyone singing it knew it wasn’t. It was a hope, a prayer, one which has been repeated often ever since — explaining how I am familiar with it. I sing it myself, often.

WestBankMama has translated into English an opinion piece from the right-wing newspaper Makor Rishon. In it, writer Orly Goldkling expresses anger at the Left Wing who wished for peace so badly that they believed it was already here. I’m posting it on Israelity because I think there is an element to the piece that is representative, right now, of the Center and Center-Left: the sense that there is a difference between wanting peace and working for it, and not fully defending oneself when a war is thrust upon one . . . and that perhaps the current Israeli government does not understand that difference. (Of course, I cannot speak for everyone, and welcome comments about this from Israelis and others on all ends of the political spectrum.)

It’s a hard read.

You promised me that this would be the last war . . . .

To be honest, to my little girl’s mind, I was a bit surprised by your promises. A warrior is supposed to promise me protection, to watch over me around the clock, to fight for me always, in this war and in the next. But you gave me a loving and forgiving smile, as if you wanted to say: what do you understand, you are just a little girl.

Afterwards another war broke out, and another. And it didn’t matter to me at all that you made me promises. Because this wasn’t a song that I wrote. You wrote it in my name. That is what adults like you do for little girls like me who don’t understand. Write protest songs in their name, and teach them about peace and doves with olive branches in their mouths. And you love to be embarrassed for the fighters that didn’t keep their promises.

But now I am not a little girl anymore, and the words of your songs from thirty years ago play in my mind, and suddenly I am furious. How did you dare to promise me that there wouldn’t be another war? Where did you get the nerve? How did you turn the heroes of the tanks and the paratroopers who wanted to protect me into an “army of peace” right in the middle of a war?

I have a little girl of my own now, and she even has a red dress and two braids. But when she asks “why?” and all of the characters of your imagination stand pale-faced and mute, I know the answer. You don’t have to be a security expert to understand it, and you don’t need to be a fan of Bibi to recognize the truth of what Netanyahu says: “If the Arabs put down their weapons, there won’t be another war. If Israel puts down their weapons, there won’t be an Israel anymore”.

. . . . I see the tank soldiers, the pilots and the paratroopers that came back from the battles, and the Golani brigades that your generation didn’t even notice and I ask, no demand, that you will promise both me and my little girl, that when there is another war you will always go out and fight it. Promise her that you still remember the reason why we are gathered here on this injured land; promise her that you still know what you have to do to ensure her safety; promise her that there won’t be any more questioning songs, but only ones with clear answers; promise her that you will open your beautiful and tired eyes and see the horizon that you saw at one time, before the dust of delusion blurred your vision, and promise that you will fight for her, so that she, before anyone else, will live in peace.

You can read the translation of the full text here.

Tags: • Category: A New Reality 

Comments

2 Comments on A Promise From the Past

  1. Yael on Mon, Aug 28th 2006 11:46 AM

    2. Wow, what an excellent post. It sums my feelings up exactly!

  2. Yerimoth Bailey on Tue, Aug 29th 2006 1:42 PM

    3. Heh, this is really good and sums up the real world and not the world as seen through rose coloured specticals. The world also does not understand what is happening but one day very soon they will awake to find that this same enemy is also atacking them, and most will not believe and hide and surrender to their fate.

Leave a Comment





© 2012 ISRAELITY | Sitemap