What might have been

As I heard this weekend about Israel's ceasefire, I wondered what might have been if Israel had kept fighting until Hamas was forced to work for PEACE. I wondered how the people of Israel must be feeling when their stated goals, of no more rockets fired into their homes, was imminantly achievable. And then I wondered about the families of Gaza, who were almost released from the murderous grip of terrorist Hamas.

It seems others have been thinking about "what might have been," albeit with a slightly different focus.

The following is up on Monkey in the Middle, and gave me much to think about:

What Might Have Been

When looking at Gaza the world sees only the images that Hamas and Pallywood allow out. There are images that don't convey a sense of hopelessness or despair, but these are not allowed. What the world sees is destruction and misery. But this did not have to be. David Suissa writes a about a different vision of Gaza. A vision of hope, change and nation. Originally published in the Jewish Journal, I bring it to you in its entirety.
The Gaza Riviera
by David Suissa

In the advertising business, clients pay us to dream. To dream means not to be too embedded with reality, to be unshackled from any inconvenient fact that might interfere with the dreaming process, to be, like they say in self-help seminars, appropriately unreasonable.

The price you pay for dreaming is to expose yourself to abuse and ridicule. In a tough world, you never want to be accused of being naïve. The expression, "Are you dreaming?" didn't develop by accident.

What you can gain by dreaming, though, is significant. Dreaming is only limited by your imagination, so it can lead you to wild and breakthrough ideas. At the very least, it can give you a new way of looking at old problems.

Why am I telling you all this? Because the other day, as my mind was numb from yet another report from the Gaza war zone, I saw something that made me go off on a wild dream. It started with the sight of two Israeli soldiers as they drove into Gaza in an armored personnel carrier, and as I watched the soldiers, I recalled how much Israelis love to go to the beach.

As if I was hallucinating, I then imagined the same two soldiers in their beach clothes, in a convertible roadster, with a surf board sticking out and the music blasting, and instead of going to war, they were going to meet their buddies for a day of partying on the beach.

They were going to the jetsetters' newest fun spot: the Gaza Riviera....

What if this could all be more than a dream? Go and read the rest of Mr Suissa's thoughtful piece here.