This is the question?

For years I have received and I am still getting, from some of my good Arab and North African friends, or even from my home country, Tunisia, questions like, "Why don’t the Israelis want to make peace with the Palestinians? You, Jews, we love you, but not the Israelis." My answer has always been simple. The fact that they like the Jews, but not the Israelis is one of the biggest mistakes on the part of these people I know well. Honestly, I'm surprised, because I am ashamed to say that my friends, whom I hold in high esteem, do not understand. At least in consideration for my parents and in general for my ancestors, whom I love and respect , and who educated us that we are brothers and not enemies of our Arab, Berber or other co-citizens , what is happening today is far from these beautiful manners, unfortunately forgotten. Whether they are dead or alive does not change my sincere thoughts. And especially in regard to my personal friends, may they be Berbers, Arabs or others, that does not change my perception. Several members of my family were friends of Habib Bourguiba and they respected him for his sincerity and loyalty to his origins, which were not Arab, but were really Berber. That is to say, real Berbers, for whom the force of the sword could not change their opinions. They told me they are true Berbers, or if you want, Bedouins but not Arabs. There are millions who either by stupidity or by fear or lack of courage to say that they are not Arabs but Berbers, are intimidated. Some, who are rare, have the honesty to say that they are neither Arabs nor Muslims. One of them was the brave Habib Bourguiba. As to the question that I do not find wise, especially from people that I consider to have the courage and dignity to look the truth in the face, I think they should recognize that the Jewish people, called Israelis today, have always existed. Since the time of Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, the Jewish origin we know stems from Abraham, the son of Tirah and his wife Sarah. I always believed that the Arabs were brothers to the Jews, because they are also born of the same father, Abraham. The fact that the mother was Egyptian and worked at Abraham and Sarah’s should confirm that Ishmael was a brother of Isaac and be recognized by everyone. In addition, we have lived together for centuries, without holding grudges dating back thousands of years. Although in recent years the Arabs have expelled the Jews or made life bitter to the Jews who lived among them, keeping hatred is against all belief and does not advance a thing, it only causes destruction. We should remember though that the Arab countries kept the houses, businesses, factories, and wealth of the Jews they expelled. I am not against that these two brother peoples unite. Arabs and Jews could form an incredible force. The world would eventually get to respect them, including the Iranians, who currently threaten these two peoples. To begin with, the Israelis and Palestinians could live together as we lived among the Arabs and have never claimed that the country belonged to us, like the Palestinians claim Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). What became of Feisal’s proposal of 1919 ? Mr. Feisal, the last Sharif of Mecca, wrote to the Jews in 1919: "Indeed I think that neither can be really a success without the other. People less informed and less responsible than our leaders and yours, ignoring the need for co-operation of the Arabs and Jews, have been trying to exploit the local difficulties that must necessarily arise in Palestine in the early stages of our movement. Some of them have, I am afraid, misrepresented our common goals to Arabs as Jews, with the result that interested parties have been able to make capital of what they call our differences. I wish to give you my firm conviction that these differences are not on questions of principle but on matters of detail such as must inevitably occur in every contact of neighboring peoples, and are as easily adjusted by mutual goodwill. Indeed, nearly all of them will disappear with further knowledge. I look forward and my people with me look forward to a future in which we will help you and you will help us, so that the countries in which we are mutually interested may once again take their place in the community of civilized peoples of the world." Here's a wisdom that no one had considered. I think it was the British who have prevented this proposal from taking shape. In my opinion it is necessary to consider all possibilities, taking a look at Palestine as Feisal had planned or Palestine under the British, which extended from Jordan, the actual Palestine and Syria. Who is aware of this proposal and could clarify for me why it did not work? Yet it was a very reasonable proposal, and today there would be no friction between Israelis and Palestinians. Copyright 2014 Emile Tubiana