Hello and welcome,

The document you're about to read was sent originally in Hebrew, along with a cover letter, to senior Israeli government officials.

In the letter I suggested to prepare a booklet based on facts, detailing the relationship between the nation and its homeland in historical prism, the pogroms against the Jews over the years with a focus on the Holocaust, the factors leading to the establishment of Israel, the security constraints in the region, the uncompromising desire to achieve peace with our Arab neighbours, and to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At the same time, I wish to highlight the Jewish and Israeli contributions to science and to the international community.

I think that distributing a booklet as such in the world [it designed to be more comprehensive than the document below], including the Internet, will also allow people who are not well versed on the subject to get a more broad and balanced position, in front of the wave of growing anti-Semitism.

However, we, as individuals with a common concept, has the ability to express our opinion and influence, so if you also want to present the facts and prefer an agreed solution through peaceful means rather than violence and war, join us, copy the document updated below or attach the link and spread it to as many people as possible, while asking each of them to continue thus and so, and hopefully we will reach to maximum people who are interested in resolving the conflict and in good neighbourly relations.

If your native language is different from the languages in which the appendix was translated to date, and the level of your translation is professional, you are welcome to translate it according to the source and forward it to distribution, while pointing out that this is a translation and that the original text can be found in Hebrew and English.

Thank you sincerely for your cooperation in reading and distributing the document, and I wish that this will be our modest contribution to the peace process.

Ami Hasson

On Jews and Israelis, Palestinians and Arabs, and the Peace Between

The Jews are an ancient Semitic ethnic group. They’re characterised with Jewish religion, but Jewish belonging is not necessarily related to the existence of religious lifestyle. Archaeological discoveries and solid references associated with Jews living in Israel were discovered beginning in 1200 (Matzeget Israel Discoveries). Jewish Fathers mentioned in the Bible were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (the name of the fourth son of Jacob was Judah).

Most of the time the Jews lived under foreign occupation, ranging from the Assyrian Empire, to the rule of the British Mandate before the establishment of the state. Following the conquests, many Jews exiled to other countries. However, it should be noted that all the time and continuously, from the time of the fathers to the creation of Israel, Jews lived in the territory of the Land of Israel.

When the Jews reached their exile countries, they weren’t easily welcome.The range of possible professions for them was limited (eg, they were deprived of the possibility to own and work in agriculture), and many found themselves engaged in finance and services.

On the basis of foreign envy ,anti-Semitism, and religious bigotry, and sometimes just to steal Jewish property because it was the easiest and most comfortable, terrible blood libels were born and circulated. They claimed that the Jews use the blood of a Christian child to bake matzah on Passover. Sweeping denials and condemnations from popes and rulers were not enough, the issue gained momentum steadily despite every inquiry commissions and legal processes found no basis for the blood libels. Harms and many decrees fell on Jewish people throughout history, but without a doubt, the most brutal and difficult of all was the Holocaust. This planed and horrific process, aiming for the destruction of the entire Jewish people, and executed by the Nazis headed by Adolph Hitler, his subordinates and his allies. These Nazis created an oiled killing machine, and its sole purpose was committing mass murder of the Jewish people in a planned manner and cold-blooded.

Six million Jews perished, and when each person means the whole world, it is almost impossible to understand the meaning of the number. Six million Jews were murdered; entire Jewish people today is only about 14 million. The largest Jews concentrations outside of Israel are in the United States, Europe and South America.

To complete the picture, you have to tell a little bit about the Palestinians, the War of Independence, terrorism, and the prospects for peace.

Please note that the term Palestinians was not coined until after the creation of Israel. The name originates from the name of Assyria-Palestine, given to Israel in the 2nd century AD by the Romans, in order to change the name Kingdom of Judah. Also mentioned are the Philistines, who were redheaded seafarers who came late 12th century BC to the Land of Israel. Arabs originating from the Arabian Peninsula has no connection to the Philistines, even the records and the pre-state articles do not mention what the media calls today The Palestinian Nation.

As same as many Jews lived in Arab countries, so there were Arabs in Israel during certain periods, including before the establishment of the modern Israel. Though the Arabs built holy sites in Jerusalem, the holiest city for them is Mecca, while for the Jews, Jerusalem is the holiest city of all. Jews used to say "If I forget thee O Jerusalem, my right hand forget, my tongue cleave,” which means that any basic functions will disappear if we’ll get to the absurdity of abandoning Jerusalem.

With the UN Declaration on the Establishment of the State of Israel, began the War of Independence which the Arabs call The ’48 War. The Arab countries announced they would not accept the UN resolution on the establishment of the state and began military operations and battles to undermine the fragile foundations of the newly established state. At first, there were local military moves, then they participated in organised battles, and later took part with Arab armies, in an organised war.

The War of Independence was difficult and bloody, The Israeli military that was just being established, was still in organising phase, with missing equipment. Casualties among Israelis were very high, abut a percentage of the population (including children, elders, and women).

There’s no doubt that during the War of Independence the Jewish settlement in Eretz Israel was unstable, and the entire idea of safe home for each and every Jew, a home that will guard them from another Holocaust, was compromised.

Today, objectively, the situation is different. The Israeli army is one of the best armies in the world, and is equipped with modern weapons and technology designed for the protection of the state. Unlike in the past, when there was tremendous and absolute significance to the size of the physical strength (number of soldiers), today the focus is on the technological edge.

Unfortunately, there are destructive weapons in the world, with nuclear capabilities and such, which may be used as a weapon of mass destruction. This is why you have to do everything not to allow the presence of such weapons in the hands of countries governed by rulers aiming to destroy another country, because it is also a real threat to the existence of the whole world. If we believe to foreign publications, Israel has every necessary weapon of self defence, but there will never be an Israeli leader who calls for the destruction of another state.

The Israelis are peace-loving and they wish for peace. The quantity of peace songs written in Israel is unparalleled anywhere else in the world.

Any person that will examine the history, and is willing to examine the issue objectively, will understand that if there were no acts of war and terrorism against Israel, this area of the Middle East could have been heaven on earth. But, unfortunately, because of the existing and ongoing incitement against Israel, and because of the size of the Arab population (and some of the Muslim population), demonstrations held in various countries, combined with organised provocations against Israel. These provocations were in the spotlight again and again, and while doing so, they are used as fuel and stage to the extremists, and contribute indirectly to the state of unrest in the region. It is also clear that an Israeli soldier with a gun at a checkpoint in front of the group of citizens does not photographed well, the separation wall in the middle of an Arab community photographed even worse and interfere the normal life, but did someone looked at how we got into this situation? How many innocent Israeli victims were killed before the occurrence of this situation?

Terrorists in Gaza and the West Bank, whose only desire is stirring up and perpetuation of the conflict, are setting up their base, shoot ,and shelling from within Palestinian civilian population, knowing that every counter act of the Israeli army is also examined by the level of not targeting civilians

This topic deserves a few more words to say: As there are extremists on both sides, the Jews do not organise military training camps, and camps for military explosive for young children, as Arab extremists does. Jews do not brainwash children age zero, and instil the belief that the goal and purpose in life is to explode and kill as many Jews as possible. Jews do not hijack and/or blow up airplanes, they do not murderer athletes at the Olympics, and they don’t shell civilian population centres deliberately. No Jewish or Israeli leader will call for the destruction of any Arab country. No Jewish leader will call to a war of jihad (religious orders) against the infidels. It will be clear to anyone who will look into the issue openly and objectively that neither Jews nor Israelis are guilty of the violence in the Middle East, and that if Arab extremists will end the incitement, and their leaders will want real peace, surely there will be peace in the region.

We are convinced that the pain of a mother, father, brother and sister, Israelis or Palestinians, is the same pain, and we are convinced that we can all enjoy the fruits of peace. Imagine what will happen when peace comes to the region and a real collaboration between all parties will be created.

People talk much about the Jewish brain, and as an example, we’ll compare the data regarding Nobel Prize winners. According to the data, by the end of 2013, 850 people won Nobel Prizes, out of which, 193 were Jews (including those whom their father was Jewish), out of their proportion in the general population which is only 0.2%. By the way, most of the winning Jews were awarded in physics and medicine. There is no doubt that with the arrival of peace, most energy and the best minds of Arab and Jewish will concentrate on promoting education and solutions that are in favour of the quality of human life everywhere.

True, it’s not easy to make peace, the issue is explosive, the interests are conflicted, there are things that one cannot give, and the problems are unbearable, but peace will come, and as sooner as better. We must not be afraid of the peace process, it is proper and agreed that any peace agreement to be presented by the leaders will be submitted to a referendum. The initial arrangement toward real peace should include long adaptation period, of decades even, in which the parties will agree to international supervision by the powers, in order to end the Arab incitement, to establish good neighbourly relations, and to create detailed shared economic projects in agriculture, hotel industry, commerce, industry, science, education and more. The joint operations described above will result in evaporation of the hostility, and the beginning of a new era – an era of peace.

* Thank you for forwarding this document to as many people as possible