The Pains of Conflict and the Promise of Peace

I have been asked, as an Israeli, to write this article for Scene48 —an independent online media platform led by Palestinian women. The next issue of the journal is titled “Palestine: A Future in Question.” I accepted the challenge because in my identity I have always understood that my security, my liberty, my well-being as an individual and as part of the Jewish people are inextricably linked to the security, liberty, and well-being of the Palestinian people. 

I will not get into the argument or narrative bashing regarding our histories. As Palestinian scholar Rashid Khalidi wrote in his book The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine (I am paraphrasing): 

The Palestinian people will never be able to justify Zionism or accept its legitimacy, but we must come to terms with the existence of Israel and the millions of Israelis who are not leaving the land that they believe is rightfully theirs. They exist and we as Palestinians cannot continue to imagine a reality in which Israel will evaporate or be destroyed by the Palestinian armed struggle. 

In this regard, I think that the biggest challenge the Palestinian people face today is that Hamas has proven beyond any doubt that there is no viable strategy of an armed struggle that will liberate Palestine. The October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel has led to a bigger trauma to Palestinians than even the Nakba. It is time for the Palestinian people to hold Hamas responsible for crimes against the Palestinian people.  I know as an Israeli, that Israel must also be held responsible for crimes against the Palestinian people, but that is not the subject of this article. 

My friend, Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, who comes from Khan Yunis and lives in the USA from the age of fifteen, describes himself as living in exile because of Hamas. More than 30 members of Ahmed’s family were killed by Israel during the war in Gaza. His childhood home was destroyed by Israel.  He surely holds Israel responsible for crimes against the Palestinian people, but he also clearly places direct responsibility and blame on Hamas. For years, Ahmed has been a strong advocate of genuine peace with Israel on the basis of the two-state solution. He has struggled against Palestinians and so-called supporters of Palestine who hold the slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be Free” in recognition that Palestine will never be free without genuine peace between the Palestinian people and the Israeli people. During this war, Ahmed Alkhatib published the slogan: “from the river to the sea, only peace will set us free.”  I think Ahmed got it 100% right. 

My Palestinian partner, Samer Sinijlawi, a leading Fatah activist from Jerusalem in opposition to Mahmoud Abbas, often tells Israeli audiences that we as Palestinians, as Muslims, have to recognize the Jewish connection to the land of Israel. How is it even possible to deny this – as Muslims – it is in our Holy Quran, he says. But he tells the Jews that he speaks with, we have to remind you, the Jews, that you were never on this land alone.  There were always others on the land, and we Palestinians are the others. This kind of message coming from a Palestinian opens the hearts and the minds of the Jewish listeners. Samer has been engaging with Israeli audiences and the Israeli media for decades. He tells his Israeli listeners that he knows Israelis better than Israelis know themselves, because while he speaks to all Israelis regardless of their political position, Israelis don’t speak to each other.Samer’s message is my message to the Palestinian people. It is time to get a better understanding of Israelis if you want to achieve your freedom and liberation and an end to the occupation. Violence and pressure don’t work on convincing Israelis to end the occupation. Violence and pressure strengthen the anti-Palestinian forces in Israeli society. I believe that a majority of Israelis and Palestinians actually want to live in peace, but both sides believe that there is no partner for peace on the other side. Unfortunately, our history of the past decades provides sufficient evidence to prove that the belief that there are no peace partners on the other side is correct. This is what we must change. 

Even when advocates of peace from both sides meet through peace organizations (Israeli, Palestinian, joint or international) they do it behind closed doors using ‘Chatham House’ rules so that no names or pictures or public statements can be made to try to influence public opinion in Israel and Palestine. There was a time, perhaps when these kind of closed room meetings were important and necessary. But now is the time to find the courage and go public. We can no longer hide behind closed doors in secret meetings if we want to try to influence our publics that Israeli-Palestinian peace is the only viable option if we truly want to end the death and destruction and the suffering of our two peoples. 

Both of us have a responsibility to find new leaders who will move us in a new direction. The leaders in Israel and in Palestine that have been ruling us for decades have to go. They bear direct responsibility for where we are and we have to hold them responsible. We need to join forces and to work together to demonstrate real partnership for peace and to serve as models for our peoples of the kind of mutual respect and understanding that mirrors the relationship that must exist between the State of Israel and the State of Palestine and the Israeli and Palestinian peoples. This has been the challenge in front of me for many years and I put out that challenge to all of my Palestinian neighbors and call for us to work together as partners committed to our mutual existences so that the future generations of our people will not have to know the pains of conflict and will be able to enjoy the promise of peace.