A daily commentary by the Swans

June 4, 1996

---

Perception

by Frank Wycoff

---

Recently I was listening to a BBC radio newscast on life in the neutral zone between Israel and Palestine. One Palestinian women commented on how we Americans perceive the neutral zone between her country and Israel was a no mans land, it is not, many villages and towns are inside the neutral zone. We Americans also perceive, we were told, that anyone living in the neutral zone, is seen as terrorist and takes their chances at being shot or bombed by either side. Many Palestinian women interviewed, were telling us (me) how I (we) perceived the struggle in their country and wanting (quote)" the American people to tell, our president and our congress, to tell the Israeli's, to stop killing innocent Palestinians." end quote.

I wish to respond to these women on my perception of their homeland and their problems with Israel. I perceive that land has more value to you and the Israeli people than life. I perceive that you and the Israeli's have been at war over land, and your right to live on it, for as long as there has been written history, maybe longer. I perceive that war and death are a part of your life by choice. I perceive that the American government wants your two countries at war, for the cowboy comes to the rescue perception it gives the rest of the world, when the oil stops flowing out of the Mideast.

I know that my perception of your homeland is skewed in many ways, as is yours of the people who live in America. My perception is as numb to your plight as the violence I read about everyday. I hope one day that you and all your people live in peace, though changing my perception or that of those that govern me will not change anything. You the grandmothers, aunts, sisters, mothers and wives must change your perception of life and the value of the dirt you live on.

As a side note, this author's neighbor to the west took over a portion of land that belongs to him and has claimed it in perpetuity. Should I go to war, can I count on your support and the right perception?

Copyright © 1996, Frank Wycoff.