Celebrating 80 years ...

There is a definition of crazy as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Looking through the old issues of the Jewish Western Bulletin could lead us to believe that we are, indeed, well and truly crazy. As but one example, the June 8, 1956, issue carried a cover story with the headline: “Security Council gives in to Arab demand on Middle East peace move.” The article begins, “Arab representatives at the United Nations scored a victory this week – with the aid of the Soviet Union – when the Security Council adopted a British resolution on the Arab-Israel issue from which had been deleted a paragraph drawing attention to “the need to create conditions in which a peaceful settlement on a mutually acceptable basis of the dispute between the parties can be made.” The article notes that, with this deletion, “the representatives of the Arab nations made it clear that they did not want any ‘mutually acceptable’ peace with Israel.” Pretty much describes the situation today, both in the Middle East and at the United Nations – yet we keep hoping.