After a fiery katyusha rocket was launched, and an innocent Israeli killed, over 100 Palestinians lost their lives last week. According to B'Tselem, 54 of the killed were not involved in hostilities and 25 were minors. Domestic pressure led Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to halt the peace talks.
That was not the end of it. A Palestinian gunman opened fire on an Israeli school, killing eight students. Peace talks were not halted by the Israeli government, however, but a plan to build more illegal settlements was approved last Sunday. And then there were more attacks in the West Bank just today, leaving four dead.
It seems like the two sides are far from any peace talks. Both the Israelis and the Palestinians are to blame. Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s uncontrollable behavior has only brought more bloodshed to the occupied territories; the Palestinians need to think again about what government they’re going to support.
Israel exists, period. And this is what is troubling many Palestinians. Across the occupied territories one will find many households clinging on to keys as part of the old tradition of keeping alive their history. Yes, Palestinians were robbed of their land. Will they gain it back? This is what many colleagues of mine bring up when the word Palestine or Israel is uttered. And this is the major problem our media needs to bring to light; that of what the Palestinians want.
Many a “leaders,” for the sake of leaving a legacy or otherwise, will hold fancy meetings clad with red carpets and golden couches in the middle of barren deserts all in the name of peace. Well, that tradition has been repeated numerous times since the inception of occupation: 1948.
However, it is dangerously imprudent to delve on all the latter just now, since many have talked about that for decades without any progress. The fact is that innocent Israelis and Palestinians are caught in the midst of this sham.
Peace and security, or an imitation of them, will never be tasted by the many Palestinians who’ve been caged up in this occupation unless some sacrifices are made. Security will never be felt by Israelis unless they, too, make some sacrifices.
Both Palestinian and Israeli terrorists need to be blamed when terrorist actions from both sides are committed.
For any kind of talk between the two entities, settlement building needs to be stopped in the occupied territories and the rockets need to stop terrorizing Israelis.
Below are a few steps to consider if any peace talks are to be maintained:
-Re-elections in the Gaza Strip
-Prisoner exchanges between Israel and Palestine
-A unified Gaza strip and West Bank
-Israel’s end to deadly, disproportional attacks
Besides the Palestinian and Israeli “To Do” list, people of conscience around the world need to hold their leaders accountable for their response, or lack of, to actions terrorizing Israelis and Palestinians.
To reiterate, both Palestinians and Israelis need to take a good long look at themselves and each other—they’re merely reflections of each other, their roots dating back to Abraham. This may seem too much to ask, but it is very possible. Only when we believe do we make the “impossible” alive and real as our very own selves.
1 comments:
I believe that what you say is correct, especially the points that must be met in order for peace talks to continue. The problem is two dozen rockets were launched yesterday into Israel in retaliation for the killing of 4 militants...two of which were top commanders. Is this next peace process going to do anything more than the last ones?
What I would hope to see is Hamas become more political and less ideological like Fatah. Fatah, who is now the best negotiating party Israel has in the Palestinian territories, was once their greatest enemy. Why can't the same be true for Hamas one day?
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