Recent indiscriminate violence wreaked by Hamas must be understood in a context of response by displaced refugees who have suffered Israeli apartheid, deprivation and indiscriminate violence for more than 75 years. Predictably Israel — created against a background of European antisemitism, having had its contemporary bubble of overconfident hubris and invincibility breached — now feels more licensed than ever to continue and amplify its long-practiced state and settler terror and violence against Palestinians.

Both Israelis and Palestinians in the Holy Land — equal in numbers but vastly unequal in power and resources — have zealots espousing hatred and violence in the name of religious orthodoxy. But now is the moment for others (individuals, groups, nations) to resist support for revenge and/or dominance. Instead we must support making both Israelis and Palestinians equally whole.

Let’s remember that the root word for peace, in both the Arabic and Hebrew (linguistic cousins), means “whole” and thus carries a mutually important cultural message. Only through parties being individually (internally) whole can mutual peace be realized.

George Hudes

Tantalus

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