It’s Past Time to End the War in Gaza
Every Palestinian life and every Jewish life is precious.
The issues surrounding Israel and the Palestinians are complex. People of good will hold conflicting opinions about the situation. The Jewish people and the Palestinian people both have long, painful histories. Both have legitimate fears, grievances, resentments, and hurts.
There is no military solution
Warfare is not in the interests of either people. There is no military solution that will lead to a just and lasting peace. Leaders on both sides of the conflict have made decisions that are not in the best interests of their people. Polls show that a majority of Israelis want the fighting to stop and do not support the actions of their current government. There are literally scores of Palestinian-Israeli peace organizations with thousands of people working together for reconciliation, understanding, human rights, and peace.
More death and destruction since ceasefire ended
Yet, today the horror in Gaza continues. The Israeli government ended a ceasefire in mid-March, and the Israeli military is again killing Palestinians, including women and children. Bombing of hospitals, schools, and shelters continues. Desperately needed food and water are being blockaded by the Israeli forces. Since Oct 7, 2023, the death toll now is over 50,000 Palestinians killed (roughly a third of those children). The initial attack on Israel by Hamas killed roughly 1200 Israelis and an additional 500 have been killed during the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
We must resist authoritarianism in the U.S. and not turn away from the Palestinian people
There are so many other struggles in the United States right now. Resistance to the rise of authoritarianism rightly demands our time, energy and attention. However, I don’t think we can turn away from what is happening to the Palestinian people — especially when our own government continues to fund and supply weapons for the attacks, and is providing political support for the elimination of Palestinians in Gaza altogether.
Choose both peoples
I am not writing to urge you to pick one side or the other in this conflict. I am writing to urge the exact opposite. I think it is vital that we choose both peoples; that we decide that every Palestinian life and every Jewish life is precious. It’s not obvious what this position will lead to or how a lasting solution can be achieved. But right now, if we are for both peoples, we must insist that the killing, starvation, and destruction of homes in Gaza by the Israeli military stop immediately. The flow of offensive arms from the United States to Israel ($17.9 billion during the Biden presidency and $12 billion more since Trump was inaugurated) must stop now, as must the Trump/MAGA political support for eliminating the Palestinians.
Major portions of the MAGA movement believe that certain people — mostly white, Christian, heterosexual, cis-gender men — should rule and dominate everyone else. Their vision of a well-ordered society includes the subjugation and subordination or exclusion of people of color, women, gays, immigrants, transgender, the disabled, etc. I think we need to stand up against this everywhere it rears its ugly head. Everybody, everywhere, matters. We can choose to stand with everyone, and that includes both Palestinians and Jews.
Trump/MAGA seeking to eliminate Palestinians
Why do I say that the Trump regime supports the elimination of the Palestinians? Trump himself has repeatedly suggested that all Palestinians be removed from Gaza. His ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, when asked about the Palestinians, said they “don’t exist”. He has also justified the Israeli blockade of food, water, and humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. The International Criminal Court has said this denial of food and water to the civilian population is a war crime. Trump supported Israel’s recent resumption of violence, ending the cease-fire. He has also removed U.S. sanctions opposing the increased violence against Palestinians and land grabs by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
We can advocate now for important steps
Currently, neither Netanyahu nor Trump appear to be interested in even a cease-fire. It’s going to take major public pressure, from the public in both the U.S. and Israel, to shift things. I think it makes sense for us to be advocating for both immediate and longer-term steps:
- An immediate end to the violence, killing, and destruction
- Return of all hostages
- Massive amounts of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza
- An end to military aid from the U.S. to Israel until Israel ends all attacks on Palestinians
- Securing the border (probably with UN troops) so that both Israel and Gaza are free of the threat of violent incursions from the other
- Sufficient aid to rebuild the 92% of all housing in Gaza that has been damaged or destroyed during the war. This must be mostly grant-based, not loans. It makes no sense to saddle Palestinians with debt when their basic economy has also been destroyed.
- It probably makes sense to forbid foreign ownership of land or facilities in Gaza in order to prevent the way disaster capitalism often enables wealthy investors to take over a damaged area and extract profits from it indefinitely at the expense of the local population.
- Progress toward a safe and secure homeland for both Jews and Palestinians.
Antisemitism
It is not antisemitic to criticize the policies of the state of Israel. It is not antisemitic to advocate for peace and human rights for Palestinians. It is antisemitic to single Israel out for sole blame for the current situation when the violent Hamas attack and hostage-taking of October 7, 2023, Iran’s ongoing funding of Israel’s enemies, and billions of dollars of military aid to Israel from the United States have played such pivotal roles in the conflict. It is antisemitism when Jews in the United States are blamed and targeted or used as an excuse to attack universities, for example.
A safe and secure homeland for both Palestinians and Jews
I’m aware that some advocates on both the right and the left of the political spectrum disagree with me, but I continue to believe that just and lasting peace is possible in the Middle East only if both Palestinians and Israelis have a safe and secure homeland.
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I took this photo of two Palestinian boys in the West Bank in 2015.
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