Bridges to peace in Gaza

[Emit]

Bridges to peace in Gaza

Former Israeli parliament speaker Avraham Burg argues that wars cannot be the one and only solution in a modern world such as ours.

By Avraham Burg
January 11, 2009

Writing From Nataf, Israel -- Last week, the war in Gaza was served at my family's dinner table, as the main course.

"You don't understand, Dad" -- this is the opening sentence of most conversations in my home -- "when you were our age, there was a war every decade or so, alongside perpetual hope. I'm only 26 years old, and I already have personal memories of five wars. Every couple of years there is a war here, and more are on the way. Can you grasp the meaning of this?"

My daughter was crying as she asked this. Her husband, to whom she was married only three months ago, was just called up by the army -- to hurt others or, God forbid, to be hurt.

Yes, my beloved child, I do understand. I understand that the Six-Day War in 1967 was a singular event, and that ever since it has been impossible to win a victory of such scale. I understand that national traumas are cultivating fear and hatred on both sides, and this labyrinth is saturated with too much blood. I understand that my generation and I have failed to bring you peace. I understand that it is of absolutely no significance who started it, who was the first to draw the sword or who is responsible. A much more pressing question is the identity of the person who will bring a solution, who will bring a future that encompasses elements other than steel and death.

~snip~

Wars cannot be the one and only solution in a modern world such as ours. In Israel, as in Palestine, all the horizons have shut down; the anger and disbelief are so great that the eyes see only blood. I am confident that many Palestinians, religious as well as secular, yearn for a peaceful life. They too watch Barack Obama on TV and are inspired that anyone, even a person whose father was born in a small village in Kenya (or in Gaza) can end up at the top of the world.

I know many Israelis feel this way too. We are not all bloodthirsty; not all of us are willing to give in to despair and accept as a given the sorrow of our children. We too want happiness. This happiness is, despite the death, blood and horror that is so close to us today, within reach -- right around the corner, actually. For us and for them.

We must let go of the fundamentalists who have hijacked both nations and buried our hopes. We must speak to yesterday's terrifying enemy, about everything, and we must say to our children: "I understand. Do you?"

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-burg11-2009jan11,0,6397159.story

Avraham Burg, author of The Holocaust Is Over; We Must Rise From its Ashes