The birds

If all the peoples of the earth were represented by birds, which would they
be? The US of course would be represented by the bald eagle. Britain would
be represented by the black crows, that inhabit the Tower of London. The
Jews would be the canaries, little yellow birds that mean no harm to anyone.
No, not because yellow canaries are known for "singing," but because when a
miner wants to find out if it is safe to go down a mine he takes a canary in
a cage down with him. If the canary keels over then he knows that the
odorless, colorless gas, methane, is present, and he gets out of there
quickly before he also expires or the mine explodes. The Jews have always
been the little indicator bird that tells if a society is safe to live in.
In his speeches in Europe during his recent tour Pres. Bush mentioned
several times that one test of a democracy is how it protects its
minorities. According to this test the US, British and French Governments
are doing Ok, although significant elements of their populations (say 20%)
are racist and anti-Semitic. But, what about the Palestinians in their
progress towards democracy and transparency. They are on the first rung of
the ladder towards democracy, with one election to their credit. Do they
have an independent judiciary, due process of law, independent media, etc.,
etc? Of course not! One thing they don't have is protection of any
minority. Jews still can't live amongst them for fear of being killed (and
this is true throughout the Muslim world).
I probably don't have to remind you that Israel has a 20% minority of Arabs,
mostly Muslims but also Christians, as well as some Druse. They live
perfectly freely here, they travel around freely, nobody bothers them, they
work in jobs everywhere, we see them on the buses and in the streets. Old
men tend to wear the traditional dress, keffiyeh (head dress) and gharbiyeh
(flowing robe), while women can be distinguished by the very tight head
scarves covering their hair or black robes (they do not wear the
all-enveloping burkas of the Afghans or Saudis). But, young men and often
women who dress in Western style are indistinguishable from their Israel
Jewish counterparts. I would not pretend that they are treated equally in
all respects in Israeli society, but they vote, they have representatives in
the Knesset, they are in all walks of life (garage mechanics, pharmacists,
lawyers, one of the Supreme Court judges is an Israeli Arab, etc. etc.)
I submit that even if Pres. Abbas is intent on democratizing the PA, and
even if the process of ceasefire and disengagement leads eventually to peace
negotiations, that the magic mantra of "Palestine and Israel, living
side-by-side in peace" invoked by hopeful politicians will not come about
until little Jewish canaries can breath the air of Palestine and not be
harmed.