The use of force against residents of the Gaza Strip and the Hamas leadership is not proving itself effective. We have been involved in loops of clashes for the last 12 years, and there is no end in sight. In the face of a spirit of desperate uprising by the Gazans, we cling to a self-righteous position. There is no strategic plan for a fair, long-term solution, and the endless brawling just increases the frustration on both sides.
We need to admit the truth: Gaza does not comprise an existential threat to Israel. The real threat to Israel is mainly the threat to our sense of morality, which is being worn down. The people in Gaza are seen only as enemies, rather than 2 million individuals without hope, who are ready to sacrifice their lives to escape the circle of desperation. Recent reports by Israeli journalist Ehud Hamo present voices and tough pictures from inside besieged Gaza, including unforgettable images of people whose quality of life is miserable and worrying, who lack basic aspects of living conditions. Israelis' hearts have been blunted to the suffering of their neighbors who are living in shameful poverty, trapped and abused by the extremist leadership that has seized control of their lives.
This week, I posted an idea for a solution that is not the result of the drums of war on my city's Facebook page. You could call my idea delusional, or you could call it bold. I suggested that we allow Gazans to live in economic comfort without seeking anything in exchange. The responses to my post were frightening. Most of them were violent, both in the language used and the ideas they expressed. Are parents raising children and grandchildren on this hatred? Similar responses can be read on reports out of Gaza. We've become addicted to violent solutions.
Many of the people who approached the border fence and clashed with soldiers, using only their bare hands, rocks and their desperate sense of righteousness, weren't armed. They looked like ordinary folks, in sandals and everyday clothes. They moved between the snipers' bullets, the thick black smoke of the burning tires and white plumes of tear gas that were fired at them from drones and jeeps in an attempt to scare them off. They had nothing to lose other than their bonds.
I once read that the highest level of morality is the ability to feel your enemy's pain. Since then, that sentence has stayed with me. I don't know if I've become a better person, but something in my wall of readiness to cause pain to others has cracked. I can feel the pain of the Palestinian mothers and fathers whose children die in the protests. No one raises his children to sacrifice them to an early death. The pathetic statement by Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who characterized the Hamas leadership as cannibals armed with children and the demonstrators as "rabble," does not allow us to think about possible ways out of the conflict, because who would dare approach cannibals?
