Prolog

This a short explanation of what each story is about so you can choose to read the ones that interest you the most.

Freedom and Terror is fictional story about what the old testament (Torah) has to say about the subject.

War is a fictional story contrasts the US invasion of Iraq with another invasion of Iraq, the

Muslim expansion that took place about 1500 years ago.
The Social Divide is based on a real incident I witnessed in a Latin American country.

Men, Women and Flowers is based on a real story that happened to me, it is about how men and women can think very differently about something simple.
The Rebel the Hajj is the real story of the life of my grandfather.

Home land and The refugee are stories about the al-Nakbah, the Jewish immigration to Palestine, and the Palestinian refugees

The refugee

Ahmad laid between the rocks on top of the hill, on his belly, spying down on the surrounding area, bellow there was a road and fence, the border erected two years ago by the Israeli army, separating Palestine from Lebanon, Patrol jeeps passed by, stirring dust on the dirt road, he would wait until the night, it is safer to slip under the cover of the night he thought, that was his mistake the first time, he tried crossing the border during the day, he got caught and was dumped back across the border. The twilight fell, then was replaced by the soft light of a half moon, he started to make his way down the hill, navigating his way around rocks and bushes, cautious not to cause any sound, not to unsettle any stones, or cause any slides that might alert solders, who might be lurking somewhere bellow, he reached the fence, climbed over it and jumped to the other side, and crossed the patrol road, there was a little scare as he heard a patrol jeep approaching, and saw it's light from the distance, he had to further him self from the road and find a hiding place quickly, after the jeep passed and its humming noise started fading away, he took a deep sigh, wiped the cold sweat of his forehead and temples, and allowed him self a minute rest, before continuing his descend to the foot of the hill, were a wide plain spread far into the horizon, not far away he could see the lights of the towns of Tarshiha, but that is not his destination, he was heading to Shefa-Amr his home town, where he was born and had lived all his life, except for the last two years, where he lived in refugee camp in Lebanon, his family still lived in Shefa-Amr, he was separated from them during the war, not knowing what was there fate, he joined flocks of refugees heading for Lebanon, they all though it would be a temporary thing and they would all go back to their homes when the war ends, they could not be more wrong, Israel won the war, closed the border, and did not allow anyone of them to come back, even ignoring a UN decision obliging them to do so.

After a few days walking he had reached the outskirts of Shefa-Amr, he had his head and most of his face covered with a Hata (The traditional Arabic head cover for men), it is better that he would not be recognized he thought, he walked thought the dirt road towards his house, which was at the outskirt of the town, walking as far away as possible from other passers, and avoiding looking them straight in the eye, it was afternoon, he saw his family, his father, his brothers and sisters, they were all outside, under one of the olive trees in front of the house, he knew it was the olive harvest season, he had seen many families on his way picking olives, a tradition he missed for the last two years, as he got closer, his family members one by one stopped what they were doing, looking to see who was coming, he could see from there face expression that they had yet to recognize him, giving him curious and suspecting looks, as he got very close he removed his Hata, exposing his face, there was a lot of excitement, screams, one of his sisters fainting, his father and mother sprang forward to hug him and kiss him, followed by the some of his brother and sisters, while the others were distractedly trying to help the fainted one, the harvest work stopped, and preparations for a feast started to take place, a sheep sacrificed for the purpose, and for the next few hours he had to tell his family his story of the last two years, and they filled him in on the news of the last two years, who died, who stayed , who became refugees, and who was betraying his people and already cooperating with the new state, they told about the population census, and that anyway who was not registered during the census will not be allowed to register later nor will be allowed to stay, he will have to stay in hiding for a while, until they figure out what to do.

A few weeks had passed, his family consulted a lawyer, and were advised not to try a court request to be allowed to stay, which will certainly be denied, and he would have to reveal him self to the authorities, which will use the opportunity to apprehend and deport him, he would have to continue to keep a low profile, but for how long ? he thought, well he did not have to wait long, one night there were knocks on the door, policemen entered and apprehended him, he knew what was coming next, the interrogations, the beatings, he had been through it before, how did he caught him ? somebody must have tipped the police, it must be one of those traitors, doing for money or to gain a favour from the state.

After a couple of weeks of interrogations, beatings and being locked in a small cell, they decided to deport him, he was handed to the military, his hands were cuffed and he was put on a jeep, and driven towards the border, in the jeep were three solders, the driver, an officer setting next to the driver, and appeared to be the senior one, and a third young solder who sat with him in the back of the jeep, he could not help but listed to the conversation between the senior and the young solders, the senior one spoke fluent Hebrew, but he could notice the other younger solder struggled with his Hebrew, he had learned to speak Hebrew from his dealing with Jewish people in Haifa, the younger solder with the broken Hebrew, had a blondish hair, white skin and green eyes, he replied that he was from Romania when the first officer asked him, and that he had arrived two years ago, just after the state of Israel was established, and that some more of his family will be arriving soon, that he always felt like a refugee in Romania, but that now finally he feels at home here. when they arrived at the border he was taken down, and the two solders accompanied him to the other side, they removed the cuffs from his hands, the younger solder shoved him and he fell to the ground, the senior one then said, "I heard this is the second time you try to sneak back to the country, you better not try again", "Next time we dump your dead body here", said the younger solder, and added "Now get the hell away from here", as they turned away heading back to the border, Ahmad got up on his legs, stared at the two with look full disdain, "You have not seen the last of me yet", he said, when they were too far away to hear it, then he turned his back and walk the other way.

Home Land

David sat on the ground, leaning his back against a rock, he was resting at a hill on the outskirts the town of Lydda, the battle for the town was over, the Resistance was no match for them, and was quickly crushed, a curfew was imposed on the town, and now they were waiting for orders outlining there next move, as he sat there he started reflecting, how did he end up here, he used to live with his family in Germany, things started turning to the worst in 1933, he was ten then when Hitler came to power, and announced his dream, a Germany for the Germans, a Europe free of Jewish people, but the day his life changed forever was in 1938, kristallnacht the Nazi party called it, a night of violence against Jewish people in Germany, organized by the Nazi government, his father was killed, there business ransacked, there home burned and his elder brother arrested, his brother was latter released, under the condition that they leave Germany immediately, they left, with what little left of their possessions, they decided to go to Palastina, the promised land, eventually they made it, travelling secretly by boat, eluding the English checks, as the English were trying to restrict the Jewish immigration to Palastina. In Palastina he joined the Haganah, one of the Jewish military groups, were he got his military training, initially there task was to protect Jewish settlements and to fight against the Arab rebels, first cooperating with the English, latter fighting against the English as well, in order to drive them out of Palastina, then the big one came, the all out war between the Arabs and Jews in Palastina, the war that any one was descent wits could have predicted, and foreseen it's inevitability.

Others of his battalion were laying around relaxing, it has been an exhausting few days, operation Danny they called, an operation aimed and creating territorial continuity between Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem, under Jewish control, under the control of the newly announced state of Israel, his brigade, Kiryati, was one of the two brigades conducting the operation, in the distance he saw a jeep coming, when it arrived someone came down and asked for the commander, he was led to him, he must be carrying a message, maybe orders outlining there next task, a few minutes latter the commander ordered the groups to gather, they all gathered and stood in a tidy military formation or straight rows and columns, they were informed of their next task, to help with the evacuation of Lydda from its Arab residents, forty thousand of them, some murmuring was heard between the lines, but the commander firmly ordered them to be ready to move in half an hour, and they dispersed to get ready. David knew the commander personally, he was a good friend of him, as everybody was walking away, he headed forward towards Yosi, the commander, he asked if he could have a talk with him, are you sure about this, he asked him, Yosi replied this order came directly from Yitzhak Rabin and the prime minister David Ben-Gurion, what if people refuse to leave, then threaten them, tell them that they can either leave or die, tell them they will be massacred like in Dayr Yasin, what if threats don't work, then we shoot some to make it clear we are serious, the orders is to force them to leave, and we will execute the order. As they marched towards the town, the evacuation operation had already began, a column of residents marching out had formed, the first to be evacuated, in the distance they heard sporadic shooting, was it someone who refused to leave and was shoot, he wondered, as they got closer to the marching residents, he could see their faces, most of them looked scared, very scared, some women and kinds were crying, but a few others were angry and shouted curses at them, curses in Arabic that he could not understand, he was a bit unsettled, but he gathered him self, he can't allow empathy for them effect him, not if he wants to see his dream become reality, his dream of an Israel Israeli, for the Jewish people, free of Arabs.

The Rebel and the Hajj

This is the true story of my grandfather, whom I have little memories of him, I can hardly summon his image in my mind, because I was only six years old when he passed away in 1980, I don't know how old he was, and propably no one does, since at the time of his birth, no accurate birth records were kept. What I know about him, is from what my father told me about him, or from what I heard when other people talk about him, and I believe that these acounts of him are generally true, I never really showed that much curisiosity regarding his life, something I regret now, since there is so much details that I don't know, and now it is too late to ask my father as he passed away twelve years after my grandfather.

His name was Mustafa, but I never heard him ever being called by that name, he was called "El-Hajj 3asi", "El-Hajj" is a title like doctor, profesor or general, that is given to people who perform the religios ritual of El-Hajj, a ritual performed in Mekka in the Arabic peninsula, the second part of the name "3asi" means rebel in Arabic, I don't know why did he get the rebel nick name, but I do know that this rebelious spirit, still runs in the vains of the males of his familly, two generations down the road. He was also "Mokhtar El Hara", or the chosen leader of the neighberhood, it was common at those times to have wise respected man chosen to lead the people of the neighberhood, that specific neighberhood was called "El Hawara", one of the neighberhoolds of "Shafa 3amr", a small Palastinian town in the Galili. He was not a man of great physical build, but what he lacked in size he compensated with courage, he was also the first Hajj in town, something that brought him great honor among the people, how he achieved this is the interesing part.

I can only speculate on why no one else in town at that time (beginning of the twentieth century) had performed the Hajj, the only means of transport to Mekka then, would have been some kind of desert crossing caravan, maybe such trip was beyond the financial means of the town people, or maybe such adventure ws beyond their courage, or maybe some regional conflicts at the that time prevented people from performing the trip.

It all happened during the first world war, the town now part of Israel was under the rule of the Outmani empire (the Turks), and my grandfather was recruited to the Turkish army, I don't know if he did it of his own will or was forced to do it, I believe it is the latter, since the Arabic people held no sense of loyalty to that opressive impire, I don't know the details of the battles he fought during the war, but the result of the war is known to all of us, the English and their Arab Allies defeated the Turks, my grandfather was captured, and transfered to Saudi Arabia, and was held in a camp as a prisoner of war, after the end of the war, all the prisoners were released, and were allowed to go back to their home countries. My grandfather took advantage of the opportunity of being so close to Mekka, to perform the ritual of el-Hajj.

My grandfather life path took a big unexpected deviation, from a simple life of a farmer, to fighting wars in foreign countries, he went on a journey that he would propably not have taken of his own will, a dangerous journey that might have taken his life, but it did not, he came back alife, and with the honor of el-Hajj, and I believe he came wiser and more courages man than when he left, was chosen by the people to be "El-Mukhtar", and lived to die of old age. I believe that this is not such a isolated occurance, I believe that life is always trying to take us on unexpected journies, be it physical or spiritual in order to give us or teach us something.

Men, Women and Flowers

Marc was about to go on a date, his first date in more than a year, since he started his first job after university, he was very focused on his work for the last year, and he had no time for such things. His date was Sandra, a girl he met a friend's party, they had a nice conversation there, and they agreed to meet again, they were going to meet at the central plaza, then they would probably go to one of the nice cafes at the plaza. Marc studied computer science, and he worked at a high tech company, a bit of a geek, but never the less he had a sense for the romance, he decided he would stop at a flower shop on his way and buy Sandra some roses, there was an enormous choice of different roses and the shop, in the end he opted for white roses, he bought a bouquet, when he got to the plaza he parked his car, picked up the bouquet, and was about to leave, when he started thinking "what is she going to do with this bouquet once I give it her ? She is going to have to carry it around all the time", he decided that giving her one rose is a better idea, maybe even a moreromanticc one, he had seen it many time in movies, so he chose one rose out of the bouquet, the most perfect one, and dumped the rest in the trunk of the car.

He went towards the center of the plaza, and there he saw Sandra, he kept the flower behind his back as he got closer, and when he got there he kissed her on the cheek and handed her the rose, Sandra was delighted for the gift, she said it was beautiful, they decided on which cafe to go to, but as they were walking towards it Sandra looked preoccupied, "We have to put this rose in water soon, otherwise it will die", she said "maybe we can ask for an extra glass of water at the cafe to put this rose in", she added, "Sure, we can do that", Marc calmly replied, but in his mind he was thinking, "it is just a rose that is going to die eventually anyway", they got the cafe, she ordered some coffee and he ordered some tee, and they asked for a glass of water as well, where they placed the rose in, things went quite well, the stayed there for a couple of hours, they had a nice conversation and a few laughs, and they decided to meet again. As they were about to go their separate ways, Sandra thanked him for the rose again, "I am going to put this lovely rose in water as soon as I get home", she said, Marc smiled, "she really likes the gift, I guess that is a good thing", he thought, kissed her on the cheek and said goodbye.

Marc completely forgot about the other rose in the trunk, until a few days later when he had to put something in the trunk, and he found the roses there, all dead, he grabbed them and threw them away in the trash , "You served your purpose", he said as he did that, he and Sandra already went on a second date and were going to meet again. A couple of weeks later, Sandra invited him to her apartment, and as he entered, he saw it, the rose, it was setting in a glass of water next to the window, still in a perfect condition, "I put next to the window, so it gets some sun", said Sandra when she noticed Marc staring at the flower, "that is really great, it still looks good", Marc replied, "But it might be wise not to mention the fate of the other roses to her", he thought, as they held each other and their lips came together.

The Social Divide

Maria was walking down the street with her two younger sisters, she is 8 years old, her younger sister Alejandra is 6, and the little one Jantet was only 3, she had to watch over her two sisters for the afternoon, they past by a Mangos , a restaurant part of a chain that sells fast food, ice cream and other deserts, mainly cratering for children, she knew it had some kind of play section for children, so she decided to take her sisters there, the play ground was on the second floor, and when they got there they found many other children playing, there was a big cage full of small balls, a small slider, a few miniature cars that kids can sit in and push with there feet and a maze with ladders, nets and sliders, Alejandra opted to play in one of those miniature cars, while Maria helped her little sister into the cage, were she played with other children, rolling over the balls and throwing all around, Maria was content to watch her little sister and the other children, every once in a while she would throw a ball at her little sister, who would laugh and try to the throw the ball back at her only to fall short. Once the little one was tired of the ball cage, they moved to the small slider, Maria helped her get up the ladder and watched her while she slid down, a little boy who was trying to get up the ladder of the slider fell down, and Maria went to help get up, but when she turned around she saw her little sister, trying to reach for a peace of cake on a plate on one of the tables, that someone had left there, she hurried to hold her back, "no es nuestro Janet" (that is not ours), she looked around to see where her other sister was and she saw her entering the toilet, and then she heard somebody talking to her from behind, "Done estan tus padres ?" (Where are your parents ?), he said, she turned around, it was the security guard.

Maria's father was at work and he would not be coming home until late, he worked as a bus driver, while her mother has a food cart selling popcorn, and she works during the afternoon and evening at the main plaza, and even if her parents were with them, they would not have brought them to this place, it was beyond there financial means. "Estan solas ?" (are you alone), he asked, Maria nodded, the guard told her that this playground is for the customers of the place, and that they had to leave, she asked for a minute so she can look for her other sister, she hurried to the toilets door, and knocked on the door, it took a while until the door open, "Apura te, tenemos que irnos" (hurry up we have to go), she told Alejandra, they went back to get the little one, the guard was getting agitated, "vamos ya" (lets go), he said in a angry voice, Kamila one of the waitresses intervened, she gently helped them lift the little one, "tienen que irse ahora" (you have to go now), she said, and accompanied them until the stairs, the guard followed them until the front door to make sure they left the restaurant.

Maria felt a bit embarrassed by the last part, but then she quite quickly recovered from it, she had ventured into a world that was not hers, or was not supposed to be hers, and she liked it, she enjoyed it, and her sisters were quite happy playing there as well, she would like to do it again, but she can't come back to this place, she had been caught, and they know her now, she would have to go somewhere else tomorrow, maybe that McDonald a couple of blocks down the road.

War

For the Wallaces breakfast today was not the usual affair, it was going to be the last meal for the father Timothy with his family before he reports to duty, he is Colonel in the US army, and his brigade was being sent to Iraq, to provide extra security during the upcoming Iraqi elections, he had already fought during the Iraq war, but was then sent home as part of the rotation of the forces, the other members of his family were his wife Jenny and his 10 year old sun Jim. There was a pleasant atmosphere during breakfast, but at the same time a bit sad, the mission in north of Iraq will last for six month, at least that is what they were officially told, but it was not unlikely for such missions to be extended indefinitely, somehow the subject of the war arose during the discussion, and he felt the need to explain why the war was justified, specially to his son, Tim was a big supporter of the war, he argued that his mission is helping bring democracy to a country who lived under oppressive dictatorship for almost 25 years, that now that Saddam Hussein and his regime were removed from power, the Iraqi people are free to embrace democracy.

After dropping her son at school, Jenny drove on to her work, on the way she reflected back on that breakfast discussion, unlike her husband she was not such a big supporter of the war, the carnage of the war shocked her, news of more civilian deaths made her feel indignated, but she felt that it was not the time to start a argument over that, not when it was going to be the last time she would see her husband for a while. Jenny worked was a researcher in Arabic studies in the university of Florida, her current project was translating the works of a rather anonymous Arabic poet, Ahmad ibn Zayad, he was from what is considers to be modern day Syria, he lived in the 7th century during the rule of Umar ibn al-Khattab, at that time poetry was the main form literature in the Arabic world, the Koran, the holy book of Islam, being the exception. She started working on translating a new poem today, ibn Zayad wrote his poem as he was about to go on Jihad, he was to join the armies of Khalid ibn al-Walid, considered one of the greatest general in history, on a mission to spread Islam to what is considered today north Iraq, in this poem he bids farewell to his son and wife, and explains to them his motives for joining the Jihad, that through Jihad, Islam was brought to their lives, that before that they did not know about the one God, did not know good from bad, and that it is his duty now to bring Islam to other people, people who's ruler worship statues of stones that he calls gods, people who are afraid to adapt Islam in fear of reprisal from their ruler, and that by defeating and removing this infidel king, those people will be free to adapt Islam.

After Jenny finished a draft translating the poem, she reflected for a while : "arguably democracy is an improvement over Islam", she thought, "but did the human race really progress that much in the last millennium, or maybe it is always going to be men's nature to adapt some kind of religion, and go on holly wars in the name of that religion".

Freedom and Terror

Manor is seven years old, he is a Jewish boy living in Tel Aviv, today was an unusual day for him, first there was suicide bombing that was reported in the morning news, that took place in a bus in Tel Aviv not far from where he lived, then at school, Mr Tikva the math teacher did not attend the class, instead a replacement teacher showed up, he explained to them that Mr Tikva could not attend, because his son has been killed in the suicide bombing. This of course was the topic of the discussion with his class mates during the school recesses, there he found out that it was Mr Tikvas first born son Avi, who until a year ago studied in the same school.

After school at home, he talked to his mother about it, but it was his father who he was really eager to tell about the events of the day. His father Moshe Bronshtein, was a religious Jew, but not orthodox, it means he respected the Shabat, eat only kosher food and he wore a Kipa on his head, he worked for hi-tech company, and sometimes he arrived quite late because he had to work extra hours, it is a usual practice for hi-tech companies to ask their employees to work extra hours, that night was one of those nights where he came back late, despite his mother insistence, Manor decided to stay awake and wait for his father, although he consented to laying in bed.

When Moshe arrived home he decided to go check on his son, and he found him still awake, Manor told his father about the events of the day, "Why are the Palestinian people doing this father?", he asked, "Son, these people really hate us, they want us gone, they are very bad people that won't stop at killing innocent people, even children, but you need to go to sleep now, it is already past your bed time, how about if I tell you a bed time story ?", "Yes , Yes, please dad".

"This the story of Moses and the freeing of the Israeli people from Egypt. The Jewish people were having a good life in Egypt until a new Pharaoh came to power, and he enslaved the Jewish people, God then send Moses with a message to Pharaoh, to free the Jewish people or face the wrath of God, Pharaoh refused, God brought down nine strikes on Egypt, first he turned water into blood, then there were frogs, gnats, livestock,plague, boils, hail, locusts and then profound darkness, but all this did not persuade Pharaoh to release the Jewish people, then God brought down his final and most painful strike, he killed each first born child of every Egyptian family in Egypt, including the son of Pharaoh, the Jewish families were spared because they left a blood mark on there front doors, after this Pharaoh consented to release the Jewish people, and God opened a free passage through which the Jewish people passed, but Pharaoh had regretted his decision and came after the Jewish people, but God closed the sea back on Pharaoh and his armies and the Jewish People were free, now go to sleep, good night". He kissed his son on the forehead and left the room.