Working for peace is a form of prayer
After a decade and a half in which fanatics on both sides ruined our lives, there's a change coming.
By Bradley Burston Tags: Bradley Burston Israel news PalestiniansClick here for more articles by Bradley Burston
It's been a decade and a half that fanatics on both sides have ruined our lives. But there's a change coming. Whether the extremists like it or not. The sign came on the eve of the Sukkot festival, when Israel freed a group of Palestinian women prisoners in exchange for a video of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, held by Hamas for well over three years.
The exchange was a quiet tectonic shift. The families of the Palestinian women told Israel television that they hoped that the Shalit family would soon be as happy as they were. A natural response, to be sure, but shocking in contrast to the tone of years past.
The exchange came about not because Ismail Haniyeh and Benjamin Netanyahu wanted it, and certainly not Avigdor Lieberman and Mahmoud Zahar. It came about because Palestinians and Israelis wanted it. They want to see their loved ones come home. And the result may well be a tectonic shift in the peace process, deriving from an issue of crucial importance to huge numbers of Israelis and Palestinians, one overshadowed in most accounts of the Mideast impasse, which is often portrayed as confined largely to questions of borders, holy sites, refugee repatriation and settler repatriation.
A prisoner exchange, in the context of a wider deal encompassing the Israeli siege on Gaza, rocket fire against Israel, and accompanied by Fatah-Hamas rapprochement and close Quartet involvement, could spark powerful, publicly supported momentum toward the establishment of Palestinian statehood and an eventual solution of the conflict.
There was something propitious about the timing of the release of the prisoners and of proof that Gilad Shalit was alive. Another sign may well come later this month. An unapologetically pro-peace and pro-Israel political convention may prove to be a landmark event in American Jewish history, and a turning point in the relationship between Israel and the largest Jewish community in the Diaspora.
The national conference of J Street will see an unprecedented North American gathering of activists seeking a Mideast future anchored by the co-existence of a safely independent Israel and a justly independent Palestine.
Then there is the matter of Sukkot, a time of deep gladness and imminent judgment. It is a time for leaving the armor of the comfort zone, for going out and setting up a vulnerable shelter which allows neighbors to come not only as guests, but as equals.
May we take the opportunity to forget, for the moment, to hate. May we take our stomped expectations, our crumpled wish lists, our boiling blood and our lanced dreams, and still have the vision to seek a future in which two curiously similar, wholly incompatible peoples can be themselves, both secure, both self-governing, both truly independent. Two states.
Do people outside of the Holy Land have the right to push for changes in the Israeli-Palestinian equation? Absolutely. There are more Palestinians living outside of Palestine than within it, and more Jews living outside of the Jewish state than within it. For those who feel it, Palestine and Israel are certainly part of them, a core of their identity.
But in a region which needs healing much more than it needs hatred, it is more important than ever that activism be oriented toward a goal that can work. God knows, there are enough well-financed extremists working on both sides for a one-state solution that disenfranchises the other. As the real common enemy of both sides, fanatics don't need more help. They are more than capable of delaying peace on their own. They're praying as hard as they can that the two-state solution fails.
Yet prayer can also arouse new awareness, recover lost hope, and broaden compassion, and that is what the two-state solution requires. If it is to succeed, this is the time. If it is to succeed, the groups mentioned below are some of the people who could make it happen. They'll need all the help, and prayers, they can get.
It's only fitting. Working for peace is itself a form of prayer. Bearing the taunts, the frustration, the abuse from your own side and the distrust of the other, and yet retaining the faith and the power to keep on, is worship at its core. Working for peace is doing God's work.
Especially now. Now that extremism has corrupted two of the world's great religions. It has distorted them, taken them over, driven them as tools and engines of fanaticism. It has taken the two religions most zealous in their opposition to idolatry, and commanded them to hold certain collections of stones, certain parcels of soil, sacred beyond human life.
It has taken two peoples descended from one man, and turned them into mortal enemies. It has taken two peoples schooled and skilled as no others in the art of bargaining, negotiation, and reaching agreements, and has forbidden compromise, openness, creativity, compassion, accommodation, as forms of treason and mortal sin. It has taken one God, and taught Jews that Allah is not their Almighty, and Muslims that Elohim is not their All Merciful.
Working for peace is a form of reclaiming holiness lost. Like prayer, working for peace is a way of meeting, at long last, and often in surprise, our own hearts. The heart, that fist of muscle which appears from the outside to be in a continual fight with itself. Working for peace is a way to find out what that fight is really for.
[With thanks to Gershon Baskin, Kenneth Bob, Rabbi Miri Gold, and Ned Lazarus]
Among the many organizations working for a two-state solution are: AmeinuBrit Tzedek v'Shalom Combatants for PeaceGush Shalom Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information J Street Meretz USA Palestinian Peace Coalition Panorama Peace Now The Geneva Initiative Israel Policy Forum
Among the numerous groups working for reconciliation between Arabs and Jews, and for greater social justice in the Holy Land, are:
Alliance for Middle East Peace B'Tselem Just Vision Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and DevelopmentNew Israel Fund One VoiceThe Abraham Fund Initiatives The Parents' Circle- Family Forum Tikkun
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Previous Blogs:
The cowardice, the vanity, the sin of boycotting IsraelThe Gaza War 'victory' - Has Israel grown dependent on terror? Can there be such a thing as an Israeli hero? For Israel, a New Year, and a new leftThis Jewish New Year, let's put an end to hopeA straight's prayer for young Israelis shot for being gayMr. Obama, have a talk with these Israelis, and soonThe painful cost to Israel of its settler adventure
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The peacenik mantra: Give up principle for peace;Give up history for Peace;Give up your logical raison d'etre for Peace. GIVE UP..GIVE UP..GIVE UP - you'll be paid back in peace...the Pals will then love the Jews/Israelis will be their "pals"..The Arabs will then love the jews...The 1.57billion Muslims will then love the Jews...The euros will love the Jews..The Americans won't have to fight wars so the "progressive" liberals there will love the Jews..Even the sElf-hating Jews will love the Jews --SURE THEY ALL WILL--and GOD will laugh...Can anyone define NAIVETE,STUPIDITY,LIBERTY LOSS? ---yep everyone will have liberty UNTIL 'THEY" go after YOUR "RIGHTS" to be claimed only as "THEIR RIGHTS"-how? Because "THEY" will have usurped POWER in the U.N.. The plot :"I saw them come for the property-I did nothing but encourage it,I saw them come for the Jews -I did nothing but encourage it- I saw them finally come for ME--TOO LATE! Stay thirsty my friends! "THEY" have "RIGHTS"-YOU soon won't.
Right On, Bradley, !!!
"notice that there is no Palestinian Jewish charter ... " (anthony Bley) Presenting the part for the whole is the way of liars and propagandists. Hamas is not THE Palestinians, just the same as the Yesha Council is not Israel.
The Pals' mindset is the problem. Peace has to be wanted on both sides, you said. I guess I read you correctly. What chance is there, please tell us, for an occupied stateless people - whose land is disputed to them by foreign settlements protected by a foreign army - to want peace and co-exist with the occupier? Do enlight us. "A phenomenon noticeable throughout history, regardless of place or period, is the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests." "Persistence in error is the problem. There is always freedom of choice to change or desist from a counter-productive course if the policy-maker has the moral courage to exercise it. Yet to recognize error, to cut losses, to alter course, is the most repugnant option in government." Historian Barbara Tuchman, twice winner of the Pulitzer Price for General Non-Fiction, in her "March of Folly - From Troy to Vietnam", 1984.
I strongly resent and regard it as the height of idiocy to morally equate the actions of Jewish and Arab fanatical groups. Jewish fanaticism does NOT manifest itself as a blood-curdling inducement to commit murder, mayhem and genocide. The Palestinians on the other hand continue to abide by the slogan of how Palestine will be redeemed in blood and only through armed struggle.
notice that there is no Palestinian Jewish charter, that says:The time[of peace] will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him! This will
meanwhile the curse and the blessing exist we are all living in the hell because the curse people is always looking for destroy the blessing if we are not equal,that is the spirit of everyone,if justice is not now and here the curse is saying and doing everything to destroy the blessing.
Let International10 prominent psychologists and psychiatrists examine under Electron-microscope, the difference in the collective state of mind of those who pray for peace and those who pray for war, and other forms of violence. And the result will be...?!
Dear Amos Oz, How about the collective mind of huamnity? It is all in the collective mind. Isn't it? Extremism, as much as wisdom, are both but a polorized universal phenomenon. There are those positive and clean, and those negative and ... not so clean. The human mind is as polarized as the mind of a monkey, some are peaceful and some are wild and mad. Clash between the sane and the insane. between the creatve and the destructive, between opressive men and opressed women. Any act of perpetrated violence, whether physical, mental, emotional, or even spiritual, are symptom of demented minds where psychlogical treetment is absolitly nessesary... Happy Sukkot
.. that you expect only one side to compromise. But the reality is that BOTH sides need to compromise ... "...compromising with the Palestinians.."(Otto Rand)
...are in agreement. I hope there are many more of us on both sides and that we will ALL be prepared to make the necessary compromises based on pragmatism and an eye to the future ...
I agree with you, dear Tim. We have to look forward to the future. Without compromise, without forgetting and forgiving, we cannot reach a final solution to any long standing problem.Whatever the step comes forward with sincere efforts we have to welcome that. Children cannot be categorized. Wherever they are, in my opinion, they are same. And they are the lot who suffer much. So their future is the prime concern for us. If we think to solve a problem sincerely, I repeat sincerely, we can solve that problem. I still hope a better future for all in Israel and Palestine.
Such brevity, not a wasted word, and says so much.
1.At the end of a long sixth Genesis Day and after all the work of creating and teaching man, The One True God will only listen to the prayer He Himself taught. 2.If permanent peace is desired anywhere, the correct prayer is: The Our Father. 3.Any other prayer is an empty speech that is pleasing only to the ears of humans but not to The One True God. 4.Even in the midst of violent weather and climate change, God will continue to sleep until awakened by The Our Father. 5.And until The One True God wakes up, neither will there be a miracle wedding in Cana between two peoples, two nations and two religions nor will there be permanent peace. 6.Regards to hungry university students.
..you must understand that many of us feel that it's exactly the other way around than this bit of your comment: "Now the time is over for the Israeli attrocities and Palestinian reprisals"(Prem Nizar Hameed) We say that it is the Israelis who retaliate against Arab atrocities but so long as we (both sides) remain stuck in this groove, I don't think that anything will come of Bradley's prayers. So my suggestion is that we (both sides) should begin to look towards the future rather than the past. AND .... - We should both begin to at least try and understand the OTHER's point of view ... - Recognize that BOTH sides need to forgive and forget ... - Think of our children's future and try to build them a better world ... If we BOTH (the majority of decent people on BOTH sides) would do ALL of that, Bradley's prayers WILL be answered...
1.Here will be the greatest stumbling block to The Middle East Peace. 2.God and eternal peace will never be persuaded to dwell permanently in a two-state solution and a mutilated Jerusalem. 3.The God who leads the way to a two-state solution and a mutilated Jerusalem is either an imperfect God or may even be the opposite of God. 4.The peace process can neither move forward nor turn back and world leaders neither have the correct speech nor the correct formula for the hungry, weary, angry, violent, untrusting, fearful, cynical and difficult multitude. 5.HOWEVER, there is God-given solution that is perfect and which will arrive in the eleventh hour: leaders should find the small boy mahdi with the Moshiachs Meal of Five Loaves. The first loaf engineers the arrival of the Messiah and that is just the appetizer.
You are not being very balanced, or is that not what this is about.
years by the people involved in these peace promoting organizations Burston mentions. Rarely are they distinguished in the same breath with God, but we're certainly blessed that they're undeterred individuals and hope remains a constant despite the challenges. For some of us the conflict is a preoccupation of concern but these dedicated people really deserve to be listened to and tried.
When both sides realize that any harm they do to the other, either physical or mental, will eventually be felt by themselvesper the NDE experience things will change. Dr. Kenneth Ring's book 'LEESSONS FROM THE LIGHT' SHOULD BE TRANSLATED INTO HEBREW AND ARABIC to make this understanding possible.
In the Modern World of today there isn't a single person who is not living on top of the bones or the cremated remains of someone's ancestors.
Your entire thesis is based on the official Israeli propaganda that blinds you and others to see the truth. Jews had teo states in the Land of Israel; the last collapsed 2000 years ago. Arabs have a continuous presence in the land for 1600 years and probably before that when the Canaanites co-inhabited the Land with Judeans. You cannot dismiss either. But remember, that the State of Israel was founded on the basis of UN resolution which also called for a Palestinian state. Even though the Arabs in 1947 rejected the resolution it does not diminish their rights on the land they inhabited. Every subsequent UN resolution reiterated the right of the Arab population to their state. Historical events are important for national identity and pathos but are not in themselves a factor in international law. No matter whom the Palestinians choose as their leader, the people are now interested in a peaceful settlement. Even Haniya stated that he would not oppose a Jewish state in the 1967 borders.
...there is no more a "cult of hate" in Palestine than there is in Israel. Read the Likud Charter. It's not certain that Hamas would win an election, but they are a political force with a humanitarian and military wing that are very likely to stay viable for the long-term, I'm afraid everyone will have to get used to it. J-Street is not antisemitic, Turn off Fox News or wherever you get such nonsense and try MJ Rosenberg or Philip Weiss for some balance. Palestinians know of Jewish history that Jews came and took their land. If you want to teach anything, take responsibility for that fact. Denying that Palestinians exist is nonsense and destroys your credibility. Arafat is dead, internalize that. And understand that it is Israel working against peace; it wants the land and resources but not the Palestinians. Therefore, it's war.
- (tzipi livni can have the security portofolio & gabi ashkenazi defense - there's a limit to what poets can be entrusted).
or becoming a spiritual warrior in the tradition of Buddha and/or Ghandi. No rewards, no recognition or gratefullness beyond and afterward. Only distrust, suspicision, treason, deception and hostileness while keeping faith and fighting despair. Thank you Bradley Burston for showing me I am prejudist, wrong and arrogant in thought and feeling about praying people, always thinking they pray for the downfall and destruction of their enemies and/or holy war, whether called Jihad, Armaggedon or Mog and the other opposite Mog. As a lesson for meself I will try very very hard a true prayer with open heart for peace in the ME and the holy land, adressing maybe the universe or the collective human sexual energy field or gravity itself or the green ants dreaming somewhere in the Australian dessert. It does not matter, because it ain't not what you do but the way that you do it. That's what makes results. Thanks again.
Hi. This is for Bradley #19.I hope you nor he takes offence by it. Just a thought. Abram(Abraham)had a wife named Sarai(Sarah)and she bore him a son Isaac. Abraham also had a wife name Hager,the maidservant of Sarah and she bore him a son Ishmael. God promised the land Israel to Abraham's descendants,Ishmael is also Abraham's descendant.Whom God said would wander in the wilderness, but have a country of their own to live in.What if the Palestinians are Ishmael's descendants,if I can think of this why can't the Jewish people.It comes from their own writings and history of the story of the Jewish people.Should not the same laws apply that protects the citizens of Israel, apply to the Palestinians.Even if it might be a little true. Would God like it if the Jewish people,hurt Gods chosen people.Even if they are not Jewish. Sorry but he was talking about history.
When are we going to realize the Arab leaders can not afford peace. Without the struggle between the Pal. and Israel their country men would start asking questios about health care. education workingconditions womans right. The people would ask about their leaders behavior drinkibg dancing and the hidden bank accounts.in Europe.
ist with israel. They have been immersed in a cult of hate and even today probably would vote in Hamas. They need to accept internally the right of israel since most Jews accept the right of them. J street is a new lobby that is backed by groups who are anti-Israel so I don't see how this group can be counted as impartial.Peace has to be wanted on both sides and if only one side wants peace than it won't be real.Why don't you push for the Pals to learn Jewish history and that the Jews haave a 3000 year history there.That there never was a Palestinian arab before 48 and their leadership like their first leader, nazi inspired Arafat who was an immigrant from Egypt never took care of them then as Hamas/PA doesn't do now.If their mindset changes peace can come.But for only the left and anti israeli jews to want peace and nothing on the Pals side-it doesn't make sense.If it is not fair and 2 sided then how can it be a true peace
Dear Mr Burston. What you wrote about peace as a form of prayer is to me pure poetry. Thank you. Peace of mind. Peace is a state of mind. But you need a mind. To want peace. by B.J.Deveau
Dear Mr Burston. What you wrote about peace is a form of prayer. Was pure poetry. Thank you.
But if you pray at the Kotel that the arabs will be peaceful, you really are talking to a wall.
Yours is precisely the attitude that prevents peace. No, the world is not full of antisemites and anti-Israelis. Your view is totally distorted. The Saudi initiative and the relentless work of the Obama administration are edging toward a positive goal. Your complex of persecution bordering on paranoia will not allow any meaningful concessions on the part of Israel, since you see them as weakening Israel. Is Israel with the entire world criticizing it and its army incapable of fighting an unconventional warfare without killing hundreds of innocent civilians, a sign of strength? A sign of strength would be territorial concessions and implementing equal justice towards all the inhabitants of Israel, Jewish and non-Jewish, compromising with the Palestinians and gaining friends in the world. Bradley is right.
You completely ignore the reality that there are millions of people who believe in equal human rights for all persons. We bitterly oppose the occupation and the settlements, but do not advocate or desire the destruction of Israel within its internationally recognized borders - the 1967 borders. If Israel commplied with the Geneva Conventions - which it signed - stopped the occupation and either dismantled the settlements or traded other land for them, we would no longer oppose Israel. The vast majority of WB Palestinians have never harmed an Israeli, but every one of them is daily harassed, threatened, abused and disrupted so maliciously that you have to see it to believe it. Though I opposed the occupation, I never dreamed the IDF treated ordinary Palestinians as badly as they do. I had to see it to believe it. Thre is no way their conduct is legitimate defense of anything. All you got to do is treat Palestinians as equal human beings.
Most Israeli jews of voting age have, in fact, individually hurt the palestinian people. In perpetuating the occupation through your votes you are occupying and suppressing another people. In most of the civilized world, colonialism died in the 50's. In Israel it is kept up.
"They kick sand in their eyes and complain they cannot see". How can one even think of talking peace with armed factions who have announced that a "two-state solution" is just a byway on the road to a single, that is to say Arabized, state? The best we can hope for is a sort of armed truce, punctuated by periods of extreme violence. Very much like Ulster and Ireland.
Assertions about incompatibility are not compatible with prayers. They stand in the path of peace like angels with flaming swords. Prayers for peace should emphasize that the enemy is like the self. That's hard when there's a wall in between, hiding the "monstrous" other. But underneath it all, people everywhere want the same things, starting with a future for their children.
Working for peace is a form of prayer. Peace, however, doesn't have a prayer.
Fanatics of the Third Side There is no other state in the whole history of mankind that had more enemies than the State of Israel. Anti-Semites, Neo-Nazis, Leftists, Arabs, Muslims, Palestinian terrorists daily attack Israel for all possible and imaginable sins. An important place in this endless list occupy the Israeli Fifth Column. They do everything in their power to weaken Israel and provide its obvious enemies with negative information about the Jewish state. Their fanatism knows of no boundaries. They're an incredible minority among the Israelis and nearly non-existent among the American Jews. Unfortunately for Israel, the Israeli Fifth Column has no Arab counterparts, there is no Fourth Side.
2 questions jump out- 1) does pre-1948 history to any substantial degree justify the "wholly incompatible" character of two peoples described here? 2). What actions of force were required to put one of those peoples in a position to negotiate, and what alternative means of placing pressure on the Israeli government could those people have used instead?
Peace or war are not determined by individuals, but by group dynamics. However cheery those 20 Palestinian mothers are, their society (and ours) is growing more bellicose, to the point where structurally, peace is very distant. All these nice exchanges between individual citizens is just the deep breath before the storm--like the notes of friendship between Tsar Nikolas and Kaiser Wilhelm before WW1.
Mr Burston is as always superb and a credit to humanity
When I see that conference happening right here in Israel, between Palestinians and Israelis who want peace more than they want anything else, I'll know that my prayers weren't in vain.
From your mouth to God's Ear! Let the Rishon L'Zion, Rabbi Amar join hands with the Mufti on the Temple mount and recite psalms, holy to both relgions. Let then call out to their own communities to recognise the humanity of the other which transcends the holiness of place and let them call for peace and reconciliation. Let them use their religious authority to unify and make peace, not instill hostility, arrogance, triumphalism and superiority of one over the other. Let Amar state that the temple will not be built by human hands at this time and to recognise that there is noidolatry, as recognised by either jews or Muslims, on the Temple Mount. Put down the stones, take out the military strutting and let the Word of Ged break through it all. What they are now fighting over has become a charnel house not a house of prayer for all peoples.
The leopard does not change his spots. Israel is not done with it's expansion and it's ethnic cleansing. Peace and good will ain't about to break out.
What about working for the liberation of the Palestinian people? That will work as well whether extremists like it or not
I'm not sure there is such a place as "Hell", but I'm sure that if there is such a place, there's a special place there for all of those who insist on drawing moral equivilency and condemn "both sides" for the sake of political correctness. You need to write that which is right, not what is "correct"
You are wrong Mr. Burston. The choice is not between "well-financed extremists working on both sides for a one-state solution that disenfranchises the other", and partitioners who want to live with segregation. This is nothing to pray for because it will not bring peace. United you will stand and divided you are falling.
"Courage is fear that has said its prayers". "My greatest weapon is mute prayer".
All the Jewish leftists in the world working toward Palestinian and Jewish states won't make a difference if the Palestinian people AND Palestinian leadership don't want it. Show us in the Arab newspapers and websites that peace to the Arabs means a Palestinian state and an Israel with a Jewish majority. It's not there and it's very rarely here. What does it take to bring the Arabs on board? They will have to tell us and they are usually silent on the issue. It's mostly Jews arguing with each other over peace and Arab sympathizers criticizing the Zionist state.
Many of them returned to terror. Comparing conditions in which Shalit has been kept to the pal terrorists conditions and calling it "exchange" points to 2 things: Cutire Burston grovels for pals Cutie Burston is a racist ,encouraging view 1 (one)Israeli for 1000 pals is an "equivalence". Not contraditctory for Israeli Lefties ,thinking pals a "noble savages" ,they ,the enlightened Israelis need to cherish and nourish
Both sides are as stubborn as humans are capable of being. Neither will sacrifice for the other, EVER!
"worship at its core". After Ishmael and Isaac buried their father Abraham a lot has happened, but the God of their our father Abraham never changes, His promises to the children of Abraham remain- whether given through the left or right hand. The Spirit of God remains the same. Today there is no clear-cut revelation as to God's judgment between the two sons of Abraham nor is there between north and south. Israel in terms of favor- When Judah is laughing at Israel he also finds himself in the mud and vice versa. The promise of God is today for all who search Him in truth and spirit and here comes the relevance long awaited. Agreement , forgiveness and prayer, a people willing to go through what it takes to bring peace. Call humility stupidity that is what we are willing to do for the return of the Messiah.
whenever it looks as if things are going to get started again, the rejectionist nutcases ramp up the hoi polloi...esp as (1) the PA dropped oppo to the Goldstone report and (2) the Arab world isn't getting excited about it either and (3) they're more worried about Iran, which pushes them our way and (4) BHO is trying to score a few points
I fully agree with your article as we should not miss any chance which we can utilize to take any long standing disputes to a negotiating table. To learn lessons from the mistakes is the good lesson. For that there is another lesson: to find what the mistakes are. The policy makers who are sitting in the ivory tower can have only a bird?s view. The lawmakers have to ponder and be close to the common people. Fanaticism is being fostered by the vested interests from both sides. This is an important point to be noted by the common people.A collective forum in association with good hearted people from both Israeli and Palastinian sides should work out for creating an amicable atmosphere.They must enlighten both sides to live in the real world where hatred is replaced by co-existence, love, compromise, forgiveness etc. Gandhiji's non-violence is the best weapon to use in any freedom struggle. Now the time is over for the Israeli attrocities and Palestinian reprisals. The present scenario of the world is not in favour of any war mongers. As you put it: prayer means peace. This is a positive thought which we should cherish.
Most individual Jews have never hurt an Arab and most Arabs have never individually hurt a Jew. So most of us Jews and Arabs have never done a single thing to each other. We're not necessarily perfect Human Beings but nevertheless, harm that's done is usually done by some disgruntled Postal Workers or by some stupid leaders. Charles Manson was a leader. We don't know if he himself ever killed somebody but he sure as hell was responsible for sending some wacked out drug addicted kids to do his bidding. Anyway, there's more reasons for Arabs and Jews to be friends than there are for being enemies. The majorities of people in both camps never hurt each other's fleas or dated each other's sisters. LOL! But basically, this is the truth. Shalom and Salaam.