Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon: Building the Road to Peace
“We need to go back to the Judaism of our prophets,” Maoz told me. “The opposite of what Israel is now. We can’t wait for the prophets. Where is Shalom?”
“We need to go back to the Judaism of our prophets,” Maoz told me. “The opposite of what Israel is now. We can’t wait for the prophets. Where is Shalom?”
Clearly, it will be the people who can hold two narratives simultaneously that will lead the fight for change in the “Holy Land.”
A long-time fixture in New York politics and former President of the human rights organization, American Jewish World Service, Ruth Messinger, told me, “I’m here because Torah states we can’t stand idly by. Starvation is not an appropriate weapon of war.”
A voiceover comments on Israelis and Palestinians. “We find that we actually have something in common. That willingness to kill people we don’t know.”
The contrast between the utter destruction of decimated buildings with the beach and waves of the Mediterranean Sea is palpable. There is a metaphorical analogy between stark constriction and elusive freedom.
Levy last visited Gaza eighteen years ago, before the government prohibited Israeli journalists from entering. He had been a regular visitor from 1987 through 2006. His goal was to serve as an interlocutor on “life and death under Israeli occupation—where freedom and basic human rights were denied.”
“Man is created in God’s image, and that’s true of all people, whether they’re Jews or Arabs,” states Kibbutz-born 69-year-old Hagit Back.
Former Deputy Head of Israel’s National Security Council, Eran Etzion, was unequivocal in his declaration, “Netanyahu no longer represents Israel.”
The concept that Palestinian Hamze Awawde has been putting forth regarding the previous eleven-plus months of destruction and despair is succinct:
“There is no violent solution.”
“Say it loud. Say it clear. Bibi is not welcome here.”
“They are running out of time. Netanyahu must resign.”