Hidden amongst the current round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians and ignored by biased reporting of the international media, there is a question that demands to be answered. Just what are the Palestinians rejecting? Beyond the standard hatred and vitriol of both sides, what do they object to?

The issue is critical. And three stories yesterday encouraged me to demand a deeper understanding of what is happening.

Remember, Sunday 11th October was a day when:

• A female from near Jericho tried to drive to Jerusalem with a car carrying a gas canister. By chance she was caught at a check point and severely injured as she tried to detonate the bomb.
• In retaliation for yet more rockets launched from Gaza, the Israeli air force attacked a Hamas installation.   A women and child were killed as a nearby building unexpectedly collapsed.
• Dozens of Gazans stormed the border fence with Israel.
• An Israel Arab ran down and stabbed at will four people near Kibbutz Gan Shmuel.
• Etc

And now add in the following facts: –

1. That same female was taken immediately to a hospital in Jerusalem. As per the seriousness of her injuries, she was prioritised treatment, which was offered by whichever team happened to be on duty at the time. All patients and staff are seen as equals, whatever their religious or political background.
2. One of the first on the scene at Gan Shmuel was the senior police commander of the region, deputy commissioner Jamal Hachrush, an Arab from Kfar Kana. That town was also in the news yesterday, as teenagers rioted and blocked roads. Jamal is highly respected amongst his colleagues.
3. And while the BBC refers to alleged stabbings in Jerusalem by alleged terrorists, almost inevitably the first people on the scene at such terror incidents are the paramedics from Magen David Adom, Israel’s equivalent of the ambulance brigade. There is a fascinating feature in today’s newspaper, featuring one such team; a Muslim, an ultraorthodox Jew, and a Jew who until recently lived in what is often termed an illegal settlement. That is correct. They operate together, as a team.

I have to ask myself another question. Where else in the Arab world, across North Africa and the Middle East, would you find such open pluralism? Why are the Palestinians so intent on rejecting Israel?

As the commentator, Robert Festenstein, surmised this week, if you were to ask most of these protestors what they thought about the racists of the Ku Klux Klan or the English Defence League, they would assuredly be horrified. The same can be argued of the supporters of the BDS movement, who nevertheless: –

embrace or excuse organisations such as Hamas which openly seek the death of the Jews. This is the same organization, which oppresses women, kills gays and incidentally any journalist who dares to publish the truth about their loathsome conduct and tactics. They would …..happily line up alongside Hamas and other Jew hating organisations because they are just that, Jew haters, ……..but they just don’t see it.

And thus, Israel for whatever it stands for and whatever good it does…………Israel, the one democratic society in the Middle East…….has to go.

I do not believe that all Arabs hate Israel. Peace can be achieved. However, is it not strange that many of the issues that Israel has had to face in the past few years, such as homicide bombers and the need for fenced borders, how these same issues are now on the agendas of politicians in Europe?

No, Israelis are not giving up. And I would encourage outsiders and analysts to wake up as to why they need Israel.