By Andrew L. Jaffee

There’s an old expression that, “No good deed goes unpunished.” This is especially true of decent, good-hearted Palestinians who dare to reach out to their Israeli-Jewish neighbors. I am not talking about the liars and murderers whom politically-correct Westerners want to believe will change their stripes to spots, like Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists — they will never agree to peace with Israel. I am talking about the real Palestinian peace-makers — those who are ignored by many in our “mainstream” media — like Wafaa Younis. She dared to try to teach Palestinian children to turn away from violence and channel their energies into music and making peace with Israel. Even “worse,” Younis dared expose her kids to the history of the Holocaust. Of course, she has been promptly punished by the Palestinian establishment. Martin Fletcher of MSNBC today revealed the sad story of Younis:

Wafaa Younis is a woman whose heart is in the right place; she is an Israeli Arab who has made a real effort to help Palestinian children in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank.

She started with the boys; she wanted them to put down their stones and learn the violin, in the hope that they would not grow up and pick up a gun. I first met her three years ago when she finally persuaded the Israelis to allow the Palestinian children to leave the West Bank and go to her home in the Israeli town of Ara for violin lessons. …

Then Younis had an idea; as part of Israel’s annual Good Deeds Week, she would arrange a little concert in Holon, near Tel Aviv. Her young musicians from the “Strings of Freedom” orchestra would entertain Holocaust survivors. They would play their favorite classics, and also some songs of peace; a way to bridge the divide between Palestinians and Israelis. …

At the concert last Wednesday, the group of 13 young musicians from Jenin played for about 30 Holocaust survivors and they even dedicated one song to Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who has been held prisoner by Hamas in Gaza for three years. …

But playing for the Holocaust survivors turned out to be bridge too far. Adnan Hindi, a Palestinian political leader in Jenin, was outraged by the concert. He called the Holocaust a political issue and said that the Palestinian children had been tricked. …

Younis is an Israeli Arab who tried to do a bit of good. For her pains, her apartment in Jenin has been boarded up and she is not allowed into the town anymore. Her orchestra has been disbanded. She said the Palestinian officials just want to take the money that she had raised for the children’s orchestra. …

Today she didn’t answer her phone.