Yes, we’re wringing our hands here, hoping that President Biden’s trip to Israel will dissuade Israel from mounting a full-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip. Israel, through constant bombings and the denial of water, fuel, and humanitarian aid to Gazans — many of whom were, as of Oct. 17, still trapped at Egypt’s border — has seemingly exacted a good measure of retribution for Hamas’s recent invasion and its barbaric and indiscriminate murder of 1,400 of Israeli citizens.
We’re with you, President Biden, and with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, hoping — again hoping — that your efforts will result in a halt to the civilian bloodshed and widespread misery, to the return of the estimated 190 hostages, and, perhaps in time — with Hamas eventually gone from the scene, a worthy goal — to a new and more harmonious relationship between Israelis and Palestinians.
Is that too much to wish for? I don’t think so. There are already 1.6 million Palestinians living in Israel, almost as many as are living in Gaza, an indication, I would think, that, absent terrorist organizations like Hamas, coexistence is possible.
I am reminded in this regard of an exhibition the Israeli Tennis Centers, just about all of which were said to be located in underprivileged Israeli neighborhoods, gave a half-dozen years ago at the East Hampton Indoor Tennis Club that Scott Rubenstein manages. One of the exhibition-givers, Andy Ram, a three-time Grand Slam doubles champion, said the centers, open to all children, were an excellent example of what needed to be done to promote social harmony.
Shadi, a 16-year-old Bedouin, one of four highly ranked juniors who had accompanied Ram and Yoni Yair, the I.T.C.’s vice president for development, said of the Beersheba center, “We’re one big family. . . . I’m playing with a large group of Jewish kids, who have become very good friends. I feel closer to them than even my friends at school.”
“We teach much more than tennis,” Yair told me. “We teach life skills and help support families — 36 percent of Israel’s children live below the poverty line — and communities. The tennis centers are game-changers. They’re the flowers of their cities. . . .”
As for the future, Ram had said, “I’m an optimist, I’ve always been an optimistic person, and I remain optimistic. In the end, I think everything will be good. Though I don’t know when the end is.”
I want him in the end to be proved right.