Another four Israelis were tragically killed by the Eli settlement. According to the United Nations, twenty-seven Israelis have been killed by Palestinians since the beginning of 2023. During the same period, Israeli army forces and settlers have killed 156 Palestinians, including 26 children. This is not new; Jews and Arabs have been killing each other for more than 100 years. Israelis and Palestinians have been at it since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. Any one of us Israelis and Palestinians could be the next in the line of fire. It doesn’t really matter where you live. You don’t have to be an Israeli soldier or a settler to be killed by Palestinians. Palestinians don’t have to be combatants or militants to be killed by Israelis. Not all of those killed were fighting against the other side. In my view, all of those killed lost their lives in vain. Their deaths did not accomplish anything for their people or their cause. In way too many of the cases, their deaths have led to more killing and violence and more and more Israelis and Palestinians seek revenge. But revenge will not bring their loved ones back and nothing will be gained by killing more people.
This is our collective tragic reality. Both sides perceive of themselves as victims and both sides believe wholeheartedly that they are fighting a just cause for the survival of their own people. There is symmetry in the subjective sense of justice for their own cause and people. There is also a sense of symmetry in the belief that God is on their side. These are perhaps the only matters of symmetry that exist between the two sides – Israel and Palestine. Israel is strong, Palestine is weak. Israel occupies, Palestine is occupied. Many more Palestinians are killed in this conflict than Israelis. It is all so sad and all so frustrating. Violence begets more violence. There is no victory for either side and there will be no surrender of either side. Both sides are literally fighting for their lives. When Israelis are killed by Palestinians almost all Israelis are saddened and feel solidarity with the families of the victims. When Palestinians are killed by Israelis, almost all Palestinians are saddened and feel solidarity with the families of the victims. Many Israelis and many Palestinians want their side to use even more force believing strongly that if forces does not achieve results than more force should be used. That is what is behind the calls of Ben Gvir and others for a major military operation against Palestinians in the West Bank. If that happens many more Palestinians will be killed and so will more Israelis. The conflict will not come to end. More people will hate more people on the other side and more people on both sides will be anxious and willing to pick up arms to make the other side pay a high price for their aggression.
Funeral in Jenin
Jenin is now the main center of violent activity. Israeli incursions into the area for the purpose of catching Palestinians suspected of militant activities against Israelis brings out Palestinian combatants who battle with the Israeli forces. In most cases the Palestinian suspects are killed or captured; very few surrender without a fight. Hawara has become another flash point because it is located in the center of many Israeli settlements, on the main road which crosses the West Bank north to south and with several large Palestinian urban centers in the vicinity. In the past years, I was a frequent visitor both to Jenin and to Hawara. I was a partner in building a solar energy system on the roof of one of the main hospitals in Jenin. I visited the city many times, walked the streets, sat in restaurants and cafes and enjoyed the warm and welcoming Palestinian hospitality. On my frequent trips to the north of the West Bank, to Nablus, Tubas and Jenin as well as many villages along the way, such as Deir Sharaf, Beit Dajan, Beit Furik and many other places, I would stop in Hawara for one of the best and cheapest falafel sandwiches in the land. I was almost always the only Israeli walking in these places. I was always with a Palestinian colleague. I was frequenbtly surprised by the many new businesses in Hawara that had signs in Hebrew – serving nearby settlers who would drive by every day. Sometimes we would travel in his car with Palestinian license plates and sometimes in my car with my yellow Israelis plates. Now Jenin and Hawara have becomes war zones once again.
For me it is 100 percent clear – no people will agree to be subjugated to a power that they perceive as foreign. People of every religion, nationality, ethnicity will fight and kill and even be willing to die for freedom and liberation. Israel will never defeat Palestine. Palestine will never defeat Israel. Israelis and Palestinians will continue to fight and to kill each other. But this does not have to go on forever. Someday leaders will emerge who will say enough. They will reach out to the other side and speak with compassion about the needless suffering of the other side. They will penetrate the hearts and minds of the other people and their own people and they will, with great difficulty, pave a path of peace that will one day even lead to reconciliation. This has happened in other intractable conflicts that people thought could never end, and it will happen in the Land of Israel/Palestine as well. The distances between now and then is leadership.
