I?ve got a plan? and they aren?t going to like it.
Some people don?t like SUVs; others don?t like small cars. My father remembers a horrible car we owned when I was 8 years old and to this day, he reminds us how awful that car was. I?m not really an expert on cars, and often have trouble telling the difference between manufacturers and models, but there are two kinds of cars that I can?t stand, and I see them too often in Israel.
Generally, I?m a careful driver, but when I see these cars, I have an urge to cut in front of them or maneuver my car next to them and shake my hand in anger, give them a dirty look - do anything to convey my disgust.
The first type of car that upsets me comes in all shades and many models. The manufacturers vary and the locations change. But the large black letters that say ?UN? infuriate me. Many of these cars belong to UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. They are here to monitor the refugee situation, yet in the past two years, UNRWA has introduced 58 new textbooks, which ignore the State of Israel, rule out peace agreements, and actually glorify the hatred of Israel and Israelis.
In July, 2002, Nidal Nazal, an UNRWA ambulance driver, was arrested and admitted that his ambulance was used to ferry ammunition between terror cells. At least 57 Israelis have been murdered in the last few years by suicide bombers that came out of UN-sponsored refugee camps. When I see the ?UN? on the car, I think of the hypocrisy of the organization that has put these people here.
The second kind of car infuriates me even more because their very existence is a contradiction to what the people who drive them claim they want to accomplish. Today, for the first time, I had the opportunity to address the occupants of such a vehicle and I asked politely if I might ask them a question. One of the men smiled and said, ?Only one??
I smiled back? and then asked, ?Doesn?t it seem a little hypocritical for you to put the large ?TV? on your car so that you don?t get stoned??
He walked away without answering, while the second person looked curiously to the Heavens as if some divine intervention was about to occur. The third journalist looked at me and said, ?Well, if you want to travel safely in the territories??
And so I responded, ?First of all, I travel safely in the territories all the time. I live there. Secondly, don?t you think it?s just wrong to say, ?Hey, I?m the press so treat me differently than you would someone else. Don?t stone me, stone them???
In a last ditch effort to mollify me, the man offered this piece of advice before he too went off to join his friends, ?Nothing is stopping you from putting ?TV? on your car.?
In a recent article, Channel Two?s Arab Affairs reporter, Yoram Binur, bemoaned the dangers faced by journalists attempting to report on Palestinian affairs. As quoted in Kol HaZman, Binur said, ?The fact that Israeli journalists, along with academic researchers dealing with the Palestinian issue, are being threatened is very frightening?. it is a very serious situation that must not be tolerated?. They have shown us more than once just what they are capable of.?
Well, clearly, Binur is worried about the safety of the journalists, but shouldn?t violence be denounced regardless of who the intended target might be? Where is Binur?s outcry each time Palestinians attack Israeli cars that aren?t so carefully marked with the scarlet letters of cowardice?
Just as doctors are expected to hold themselves to a high standard of service, shouldn?t journalists also hold themselves to the highest standards in their quest for the truth? If these people want to monitor what it is really like to live in Israel during these days of random terror, I challenge them to travel among us bravely. Stop hiding behind the TV letters. Drive randomly on the road. You might be ambushed. You might be shot. You might be stoned or your car may drive over an explosive device. But it will be the truest form of journalism, because you might actually see, from the victim?s point of view, what it is like to experience indiscriminate terror when you are not hidden behind the protective shields of the ?TV? marking.
As I drove back into the seemingly dangerous territories, to a city that has known no terror, has almost no crime and offers majestic mountain views that leave me in awe, I thought back to the words of the journalist, ?Nothing is stopping you from putting ?TV? on your car.?
Part of me wanted to tell the TV man that I am not a coward and that I don't believe in pointing to others and saying, "Don't stone me, stone them." Another part of me thought of what an incredible irony it would be if tomorrow morning, every Israeli took some black tape and put the letters "TV" on their cars. Or, for that matter, perhaps we could divide ourselves up and let half the nation put "TV" on their cars and the other half put "UN."
So, that?s my plan. I call on all Israelis to cover their cars with the letters TV or UN. Put it on the windows and on the side doors. I doubt it will stop the Palestinians from stoning and shooting at our cars, but perhaps it will give the journalists a true glimpse of what it means to drive into the unknown, to be truly indistinguishable and therefore as much a target as the rest of us.
In 1963, John F. Kennedy Jr. traveled to Berlin to stand with the people of Germany against the Berlin Wall. He turned to the people of Germany and said, "All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words Ich bin ein Berliner." I am a Berliner, he said. What you suffer, I suffer. I stand among you, as one of you.
In 2003, the people of the United Nations and the media turn to the Palestinians and say, "Don't stone me, stone them."
--------------------------------------------------------
Paula R. Stern is the Founder and Documentation Manager of WritePoint, a technical writing company.
Some people don?t like SUVs; others don?t like small cars. My father remembers a horrible car we owned when I was 8 years old and to this day, he reminds us how awful that car was. I?m not really an expert on cars, and often have trouble telling the difference between manufacturers and models, but there are two kinds of cars that I can?t stand, and I see them too often in Israel.
Generally, I?m a careful driver, but when I see these cars, I have an urge to cut in front of them or maneuver my car next to them and shake my hand in anger, give them a dirty look - do anything to convey my disgust.
The first type of car that upsets me comes in all shades and many models. The manufacturers vary and the locations change. But the large black letters that say ?UN? infuriate me. Many of these cars belong to UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. They are here to monitor the refugee situation, yet in the past two years, UNRWA has introduced 58 new textbooks, which ignore the State of Israel, rule out peace agreements, and actually glorify the hatred of Israel and Israelis.
In July, 2002, Nidal Nazal, an UNRWA ambulance driver, was arrested and admitted that his ambulance was used to ferry ammunition between terror cells. At least 57 Israelis have been murdered in the last few years by suicide bombers that came out of UN-sponsored refugee camps. When I see the ?UN? on the car, I think of the hypocrisy of the organization that has put these people here.
The second kind of car infuriates me even more because their very existence is a contradiction to what the people who drive them claim they want to accomplish. Today, for the first time, I had the opportunity to address the occupants of such a vehicle and I asked politely if I might ask them a question. One of the men smiled and said, ?Only one??
I smiled back? and then asked, ?Doesn?t it seem a little hypocritical for you to put the large ?TV? on your car so that you don?t get stoned??
He walked away without answering, while the second person looked curiously to the Heavens as if some divine intervention was about to occur. The third journalist looked at me and said, ?Well, if you want to travel safely in the territories??
And so I responded, ?First of all, I travel safely in the territories all the time. I live there. Secondly, don?t you think it?s just wrong to say, ?Hey, I?m the press so treat me differently than you would someone else. Don?t stone me, stone them???
In a last ditch effort to mollify me, the man offered this piece of advice before he too went off to join his friends, ?Nothing is stopping you from putting ?TV? on your car.?
In a recent article, Channel Two?s Arab Affairs reporter, Yoram Binur, bemoaned the dangers faced by journalists attempting to report on Palestinian affairs. As quoted in Kol HaZman, Binur said, ?The fact that Israeli journalists, along with academic researchers dealing with the Palestinian issue, are being threatened is very frightening?. it is a very serious situation that must not be tolerated?. They have shown us more than once just what they are capable of.?
Well, clearly, Binur is worried about the safety of the journalists, but shouldn?t violence be denounced regardless of who the intended target might be? Where is Binur?s outcry each time Palestinians attack Israeli cars that aren?t so carefully marked with the scarlet letters of cowardice?
Just as doctors are expected to hold themselves to a high standard of service, shouldn?t journalists also hold themselves to the highest standards in their quest for the truth? If these people want to monitor what it is really like to live in Israel during these days of random terror, I challenge them to travel among us bravely. Stop hiding behind the TV letters. Drive randomly on the road. You might be ambushed. You might be shot. You might be stoned or your car may drive over an explosive device. But it will be the truest form of journalism, because you might actually see, from the victim?s point of view, what it is like to experience indiscriminate terror when you are not hidden behind the protective shields of the ?TV? marking.
As I drove back into the seemingly dangerous territories, to a city that has known no terror, has almost no crime and offers majestic mountain views that leave me in awe, I thought back to the words of the journalist, ?Nothing is stopping you from putting ?TV? on your car.?
Part of me wanted to tell the TV man that I am not a coward and that I don't believe in pointing to others and saying, "Don't stone me, stone them." Another part of me thought of what an incredible irony it would be if tomorrow morning, every Israeli took some black tape and put the letters "TV" on their cars. Or, for that matter, perhaps we could divide ourselves up and let half the nation put "TV" on their cars and the other half put "UN."
So, that?s my plan. I call on all Israelis to cover their cars with the letters TV or UN. Put it on the windows and on the side doors. I doubt it will stop the Palestinians from stoning and shooting at our cars, but perhaps it will give the journalists a true glimpse of what it means to drive into the unknown, to be truly indistinguishable and therefore as much a target as the rest of us.
In 1963, John F. Kennedy Jr. traveled to Berlin to stand with the people of Germany against the Berlin Wall. He turned to the people of Germany and said, "All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words Ich bin ein Berliner." I am a Berliner, he said. What you suffer, I suffer. I stand among you, as one of you.
In 2003, the people of the United Nations and the media turn to the Palestinians and say, "Don't stone me, stone them."
--------------------------------------------------------
Paula R. Stern is the Founder and Documentation Manager of WritePoint, a technical writing company.