The General's Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine Paperback – June 1, 2012

I will never be the same after reading this. Where do I even start?"Mine is the tale of an Israeli boy, a Zionist, who realized that his side of the story was not the only side and chose to cultivate hope in a situation most call impossible."This is about Miko Peled's journey. His father's influence. The death of his niece in a suicide bomb attack that only further strengthened his resolve. It is enlightening, moving, at times, almost too much to read.His father was the famous General Matti Peled. A hero for the Israelis for his military finesse and ruthlessness. A man who went on to become a peace activist. Who received death threats and hate from the very people he fought wars for. That right there should tell us everything about the VERY toxic Israeli mentality that goes with Zionism and Nationalism. Calling someone an "Arab lover" is an insult. Fraternizing with the "dirty, stinking, Arabs" is frowned upon. Two groups of people who live that close, and aren't allowed to intermingle."It wasn't long before friends stopped inviting him and my mother to social events. He became a political and social pariah"And let me clarify, his father was NOT against the Zionist state. He was ONLY against the continued oppression of the Palestinians and believed they deserved equal rights. THIS was the man other Israelis sent death threats to, THIS is why he was accused of treason."One point he came back to often was that the best thing America could do for Israel was to stop selling it weapons and giving it free money."It amazes me, that an ENTIRE population of Israelis, and people around the world, choose to blindly believe the propaganda they are told by ANY government, let alone the Israeli govt."Israeli citizens were led to believe that the Arab armies were coming to rape and murder them"Miko Peled talks about the days he was proud to wear the red beret and serve "his country", but how he was often uncomfortable with the orders.".. that if anyone so much as looked at us, we were to beat them, or as he put it, "Break every bone in their body." {{snip}} But soldiers do not ask questions; they follow orders."Where, oh where, have we ALL heard that before?I cannot say how much I admire Miko Peled and his sister, Nurit's, minds. After Nurit's daughter died in a suicide bomb attack. She did not blame the oppressed and desperate Palestinians."As she saw it, every Israeli politician who did not end the Israeli occupation and oppression of Palestinians was responsible for the deaths of Israelis and Palestinians. She reasoned, and still does, that this is not a question of policy or inability to reach an agreement but callousness, greed for land, a desire to rule, and a lack of will to end the conflict."The sheer amount of fact and history in this book is overwhelming. How he went around reading up on Israeli historians and academics who corroborated NOT what he had been told his entire life by his government, but the "other" side of the "conflict" (and books he has mentioned which I have every intention of reading, except for the ones in Hebrew.. which unfortunately I won't be able to.)"It opened the door to a discussion most Israelis are fiercely protective about - which is, what did the Zionist forces REALLY do in 1948?"And you know what kinda people are fiercely protective of certain topics? The ones they get defensive about? The ones they know deep down inside they won't like the answer to. And that makes it all SO much worse."The new state did not allow any of the Palestinians who left to return to their homes and land. They were to remain refugees forever."About halfway through the story, Peled talks about the first time he actually SOCIALIZES with the dreaded Palestinians. Admits his fear, the fear that had been instilled in him by his people. And overcomes it, slowly, but surely. And it was a wonderful thing to read in an otherwise harrowing story.It just made me realize HOW dehumanized the Palestinians are to most Israelis. No wonder they don't care, no wonder they call for Palestinian blood, and cheer for it. For generations they have been told that the Palestinians are no better than rabid dogs out for blood. They don't SEE the women, the children, the fathers, the grandparents. They CHOOSE not to see them. They have built an apartheid wall to separate them. They have no guilt."The ugly concrete structure was built around the city by Israel to separate Palestinians from lands that Israel wants to settle. {{snip}} You could also see work being done to expand the wall and tunnels to allow Israelis settlers to travel from Israel to the settlements in the West Bank without having to see or interact with Palestinians."He has been arrested numerous times by the Israelis, his own people, for things like making trips to the Occupied territories for peaceful protests, charity, taking supplies to those in need. (He recently got arrested once again for protesting for Palestine.)"My own people had arrested me for doing something good. My disillusion with Israel had sunk to a new low."The sheer cruelty of the Israelis was mind boggling. Honestly, I just had not imagined it could be that bad. And that's saying something when you see the pictures of devastation in Gaza. Miko Peled's account is nowhere near as graphic, nor written dramatically, but in it's quiet earnestness, it is just as effective."Gaza has essentially turned into an enormous concentration camp.""Since the early 1950s, Israeli commandos have conducted "punitive" operations against the people of Gaza - in spite of the fact that the people of Gaza never had an army and never posed a military threat."Facts like how, OF COURSE, Israel was a staunch ally of South Africa in the apartheid years. How it used ethnically based oppression for decades to achieve it's goal of creating a Jewish majority in Palestine.I, of course, especially loved how Israel claims the same bulls*** over and over again for decades, and the world still sits silently by."To make things worse, Israel claimed that notices were given to the local population that the attack was imminent and that people should leave areas that were going to be bombed. One can only imagine a mother or father sitting for days anticipating the onslaught, yet knowing full well that there was no escaping it."Borders closed, no bomb shelter luxuries that the Israelis boast (for those pesky Hamas rockets), nowhere to hide themselves or their children. And sitting there waiting. While the Israelis sit at the border and view the bombing as if it were a display of beautiful fireworks.".. was a continuation of an ongoing war, a war that aims to complete the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. I heard stories of people who drove to the Gaza border to sit on lawn chairs and view the bombing."The searing hypocrisy of the Israeli military and police even when they were trying to arrest him shocked me."Look, he is an Israeli citizen and he has rights. It's not a Palestinian that I can just beat up and throw in prison."There is an entire population of people. Who act like that. Think like that. Justify their heinous crimes like that. Do EXACTLY what was done to their ancestors.The Holocaust lasted for 4 years (1941-45, the systematic genocide of the Jewish people), they had been persecuted since 1933 before that. The world is still reeling from the atrocities committed. The Palestinians have been enduring their holocaust for decades more. Will the future ring with the screams of the dying innocents for centuries to come? Or will history turn a blind eye to this as the world is doing now? Will we be telling our children that there once were Palestinians who lived on Palestinian land? Who had their own culture and identity? But are no more? Will we all continue treating Israelis as EQUAL victims? As bizarre and ridiculous and illogical as that is?Miko Peled is way more hopeful than I about a resolution to this. I see no light at the end of this dark and bloody tunnel. I see no way the world will EVER be able to make up for ignoring the plight of the Palestinian people. I see no way that most Israelis, who deliberately do NOT want to educate themselves on facts, will ever see the truth.But I find a glimmer of hope in the stories of the hundreds of Israelis who have searched for the truth themselves, and not trusted their ruling class (like none of us should).. the groups of Jews who condemn the "state" of Israel. The ones who realize that Palestinians are their fellow human beings. And there is no greater reason to NOT kill them.This book is a MUST read for anyone who wants a harsh, but real, look at the situation. Miko Peled, and MANY Israelis after and before him who spoke of similar things, have NO reason to lie. And have always backed up their information with facts. The blind to the truth Zionists can condemn them as traitors and liars. But the truth is, they have NO reason to do so. And EVERY reason to share the truth with the world. It made me cry more times than I can count. But I would read it all over again just to educate myself. And to realize that this, unlike what our politicians tell us, is NOT a complicated issue. It is simple. It is straightforward. And it comes down to the world condoning the massacre of innocents. That is it. That is all.I stand with Palestine. (even though I will probably never have the strength of heart that they do, to continue going on and making a life for themselves from the rubble and debris and blood soaked streets the Israeli occupiers leave behind.)

Last night I completed reading The General's Son for the third time. I read it first in two days when I first received it last December. I read it again early this year. And I read it the third time after meeting Miko Peled and his son Eitan at the University of California, Irvine, earlier this month. I was able to spend a few casual moments chatting with Miko before his speech at UCI. He was friendly, relaxed, and engaging - in short the same person I had encountered in his book. Miko graciously signed my copy of his book.I have made five trips to Israel/Palestine and have lived altogether five months in Jerusalem. I began my visits as a Christian Zionist believing in the right of Jews to return in peace to their ancestral land, but ignoring the plight of the Palestinians. Living in the Holy Land began to change my perspective. Peacemaking Christian Palestinians like Father Elias Chacour (now Archbishop of Galilee for the Melkite Church) showed me that the policies and practices of the government of the state of Israel have often been unjust and cruel to Palestinian residents of the land. In 2011 my wife and I had to wait over three hours not knowing when we would be allowed to pass through the checkpoint in Bethlehem to return to Israel. We saw at first hands the humiliation and suffering that the state of Israel inflicts now on Palestinians.However it wasn't until I read Miko's fascinating book that I began to fully appreciate how destructive Zionism has been not only to Palestinians, but to Jews as well. Coming from a prominent Zionist family and the son of a famous general, Miko is in a unique position to relate how he was transformed from being an unquestioning Zionist to an advocate for a one truly democratic state where all residents would live in peace with justice. Miko's deeply personal journey from Zionist to peacemaker is both touching and surprisingly hopeful.I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the history of Israel and the possibility of a peaceful future for the residents of the Holy Land. I have read many books about Israel/Palestine. This is the best I have read.