Jack Kemp sends his thoughts on the current Israeli leadership:

Then and Now in Israel...
 
In recent weeks, Prime Minister Olmert has once again offered to give up the Golan Heights to Syria http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56082 in exchange for some promises of no longer supporting terrorism and the Iranian regime. This feckless attitude, buttressed by the fact that no Israeli political faction will quit the ruling coalition and force a vote of no confidence and new prime ministerial elections, is the height of self-delusion.
 
When I was a young man, in 1970, I first went to Israel and worked and studied for a while on Kibbutz Gesher, just south of the Sea of Galilee on the Jordanian border. Many of the kibbutz front yards had metal sculptures made from exploded shells that landed in there. The kids communal television room was in a "former" underground shelter.
 
This was a leftist affiliated kibbutz and we had an elderly German-Jewish woman in charge of our general care. I cannot recall her name but still can recall her friendly face and gray hair. One day, all the members of our group piled into a truck and went on a tour of the Golan Heights with this same lady as our guide. We were shown the clear unobstructed views of the kibbutz farms on the south shore of the Sea of Galilee from the Heights. We were told of how farmers below us had to weld iron plates onto their tractors to protect them from the constant Syrian snipers and artillery up on the Heights. In fact, we were told that Syrian artillery emplacements were manned by soldiers whose officers literally shackled them to their positions so they wouldn't run away if and when the Israelis would advance on their positions. Although this was a "tour," it was also clearly a political lecture with examples and some obvious conclusions to be drawn about the Golan. Once again, this kibbutz had a more left leaning political affiliation.
 
The question I now ask is how come a leftist-affiliated German-Jewish grandmotherly woman then understood the strategic military importance of the Golan Heights more than the current "moderate centrist" Prime Minister of Israel? I guess part of it is that she lived though much upheaval in her life and was under no delusions as to what she could expect if things went wrong while "taking a risk for peace." I wonder if Kibbutz Gesher is still gives that tour - and maybe they can arrange for Prime Minister Olmert to take it.
 
Jack Kemp
(not the politician)

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