Israel ’s wars with its neighbors brought about events, that seem to be taken out of the world of fantasy, for whoever did not undergo such experiences in the Middle-East, and knows that almost everything is possible in it.  

In the first Sinai War, in l956 (Mivza Kadesh) Israel took thousands of

Egyptian prisoners of war.  Officers and other ranks.  

I visited an Officers Prisoners of War Camp, and met an Egyptian Captain.  I suggested he came with me, dressed in civilian clothes and stay in my home for several days.  During these days he’ll be taken to visit several places in Israel , and will form his own impressions on Israel and what it is all about.  Such a plan was offered to some other Egyptian Officers, and they seemed to accept these invitations willingly.

The Egyptian Officer spoke fluent English as he was a graduate of an English Military School , and had visited foreign countries before.  

My lovely daughter, too young to understand the concept of ”my friend the enemy”, welcomed the guest as she would welcome any newly found uncle.  His friendliness, and the fact he himself was father to several small children, helped strengthen such an impression.  Our conversations flowed smoothly.  The next evening I invited over one of the celebrated American Military Correspondents, a retired General, to meet some officers in my house, without letting him know that one of them will be an Egyptian prisoner of war.  

He was known for his fondness of alcohol, but that night he could be heard mumbling:  “I haven’t had a real drink today yet, and what fantasies am I witnessing here”, after listening to the Egyptian describing a certain battle quite differently from the others.  It took some time until he realized that he was listening to two sides of the same battle.  He really started drinking then.  

The days passed quickly.  The Egyptian returned to the camp in time for the exchange of prisoners: Five thousand officers and soldiers for …eight Israelies.  

Eleven years had gone by.  The Second Sinai War (Six day War) broke.  Again the Prisoners of War Camps were opened to accommodate thousands of officers and soldiers. I , by then in a completely different sort of job, got a message from the commander of the Officers Camp, that an Egyptian Colonel wishes to speak to me urgently.  

The guest of l956 had returned.  By now he became a colonel.  Some white hair mixed with the black hair and he seemed to have gained quite a lot of weight.  He seemed honestly happy to see me, and when we were alone in my car he even showed it.  It was obvious to him that he was going to be my guest again.  

My older daughter who by now became a grown teenager, and knew the story by heart was very happy to see “the uncle” again.  My little daughter, who had by then joined the family, loudly asked “if he’s such a nice uncle, how does it happen that he comes only once in ten years?’  Nobody answered.

By this time our guest had heard of the celebrated medical service we have in Israel , and extended his interest to that service, asking whether it would be possible to take the opportunity and be operated here, for some ill that had afflicted him.  It could be arranged, and it was, and he was very grateful and thankful.  

On this visit, for the first time, we discussed the Jewish People and the fact that the State of Israel is an inseparable part of it.  On his last day he revealed that he was very hopeful to be transferred to the Egyptian General Staff Headquarters, as he would very much like to get away from   the  hateful Palestinians and get out of “this damned desert”.  He was hoping that when there, he would be let to raise conclusions he came to about the future relations between Israel and Egypt , based not on emotions but on necessity and willingness. As he himself came to the conclusion that if it’s all the Jewish people they are confronting; that fourteen million people see themselves responsible for the State of Israel and its existence, Egypt should update her initial assessment of Israel as a state of three million people.  It means that fourteen million educated, industrious, and full of faith and belief in the just existence of Israel are confronting them.  

After the repeated exchange of prisoners on the model of 1956, I came to two conclusions resulting from my own meetings with the Egyptian Officer.

The first, that there are no inherent feelings of hatred between the two peoples; that the Egyptians are carrying the load of the Palestinians on their backs not with a great enthusiasm, and their pressing for peace came from the necessity of getting rid of this problem, no less than from economic and political  reasons, as continuing in this manner chained Egypt down, and prevented her from achieving aims of the utmost economic and political importance.

The second, that the Egyptian Officer was impressed most of all by the close relations between Israel and the Jewish Diasporas, even more  than from anything else he witnessed in Israel on his two visits.  He seemed to have reached the conclusion that the survivability of Israel became a historical and eternal fact, and Egypt should take this into strategic account.  Statistically these facts may be meaningless, but evidence showed that these people are eternal; that the spirit of the eternal Jewish People enhanced all the joint projects seen around the country and hovered over the numerous cemetaries of Jewish people from all over the world. “All the jewish People are responsible for each other”.