I remember a teacher friend when I first began to teach in an Elizabeth, N.J. Junior High School.  He had a very successful (it seemed to me at the time) way of dealing with “Tyrone”, a very acting out and very handsome spoiled boy.  Now Tyrone normally demanded attention but my friend would, at some point, tell Tyrone that – “That was it, Tyrone - you no longer exist.” From that time until the end of the day Tyrone was ignored.  I admired the two protagonists in their persistence and found that I particularly enjoyed Tyrone who rose to the bait and fumed and fruitlessly ground his teeth in the face of non-recognition.  Actually, he was recognized for the needy person he was.

I have tried to reorganize the characters and the tactics of this story into the very real and very dangerous game played out by the neighbors living in close quarters in very small countries.  The game is non-recognition.  It is played by the players who attack Jews living in Israel and around the world and by extension their protector, the United States and all other countries where Jews are recognized as contributing members of the human race.

My point is simply this:  The “Palestinian” entity, whether in Gaza, the West Bank or in Lebanon have expressed the desire to unify a Palestine country in the neighborhood of Israel.  They have several different leaders differing in fundamental ways but all agreeing that Israel does not exist on the maps they teach their children in school.  They all agree in one degree or another that Israel will one day be driven into the sea for their 50 plus year old country was enforced on the area by the European and American victors in World War II.  The “Palestinians” who were urged to flee from their homes have been magnified to an indigenous population that if given the right to return would quickly achieve pushing the smaller Israeli population out of the way of their right to live where their ancestors were supposed to be as many as the grains of sand in the sea.

If you look at it one way you see obduracy and refusal to use common sense, that war in this region and over this small land is just plain wrong.  Non-recognition is really recognition or why have so many been killed and maimed over the existence of Israel and its success as a productive “Western” nation with world-wide admiration for its achievements?

Non-recognition of Israel by the Palestinians and their backers is tantamount to recognition.  It is time for them to see the illogicality of their position and the waste of human lives while they cling to recognizing an enemy they constantly battle. Tyrone, too, never won his battle for recognition of his temper tantrums.