From Trauma to Peace and Reconciliation

October 23, 2025

I know that the war has just ended – less than a couple of weeks ago. I am aware that what I am writing here is coming before its time. It is clear that both Israelis and Palestinians have been deeply affected by trauma, pain, suffering, loss, and mourning for loved ones. The process of recovering and healing hasn’t even really begun. At this point it is even quite impossible for Israelis and Palestinians to imagine the pain and suffering of the other side. There is little if any empathy across the conflict lines. Most Israelis and Palestinians believe deeply that there are virtually no innocent people on the other side. Israelis believe that all Gazans and most Palestinians in Palestine and in the diaspora celebrated the murder and the abduction of Israelis on October 7, 2023. Most Palestinians believe that almost all Israelis and most of the Jews in the world supported the bombing and the total destruction of Gaza over the past two years. Fear of each other and hatred towards each other have reached new heights in this conflict.

Nonetheless, I have decided to write and to publish this piece now because from the trauma and the pain must come the conclusion that we Israelis and Palestinians cannot continue to do this. The Gaza war must be the last Israeli-Palestinian war. It will take more time to reach that point of consciousness, but it will also take voices and actions to shape a future that will lead to the understanding that we must make peace on the basis of the equality of rights for both peoples – Israelis and Palestinians, living on the same piece of land that both sides call home.

We have experienced more suffering over the past two years than at any point since 1948. As has been said many times, for Israeli Jews and Jews around the world, October 7 was the most traumatic day since the Holocaust. Israelis are reliving that day, every day with the stories of October 7 being told and retold in the media – in every newspaper, every radio and television programs and in every public meeting. Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem, as well as Palestinians all over the world have lived through the biggest national trauma since the Nakba and many have described the past two years as much worse than the Nakba. As the entire world is exposed to the total destruction of Gaza, two million homeless people, a destroyed economy, no functioning infrastructure – no standing homes, no roads, no electricity, no fresh water, no sanitation networks, no schools, no universities, no public buildings, almost all places of worship destroyed – millions of tons of rubble from Israeli bombs – it is extremely hard to imagine how people survive from day-to-day. The situation of the West Bank over the past two years has also deteriorated significantly with more than 1000 Palestinians killed by settlers and the Israeli army, more than 100 new outposts and settlements confiscating more Palestinian land, thousands of olive trees chopped down by violent settlers and about 26 small Palestinian communities evacuated in the Jordan Valley as a result of the violence of settlers and no one to protect them and their rights. Yet through almost 80 years of conflict, both the Israeli people and the Palestinian people have survived. Both people have developed a similar ethos of survival and both speak about the eternal nature of their own existence.

The absurd claim of both sides in this war of victory should shake our souls and bodies. There are no victors in this war. There cannot be victors where there is so much suffering and pain. There are only losers on both sides. But both sides will raise their flags with pride and honor for their dead, calling them heroes or martyrs and perhaps there is no other proper way of honoring those who gave their lives for what they believed was for the benefit of their people. I know that at some time in the future there will be a new narrative that will look back at the past two years as the darkest time in our history.

The belief that there are no partners for peace on the other side of the conflict did not start on October 7. Since at least the time of the second intifada in September 2000 the narrative of no partner for peace was solidified on both sides of the conflict.  I say with pain and sorrow that for two decades I have heard from thousands of Israelis and thousands of Palestinians the exact same words:  I want peace, but THEY don’t!

Objectively speaking, there is little reason to think differently. At least from the outbreak of the second intifada, with small windows of slight changes, Israelis and Palestinians, or Israel and Palestine, have treated each other as enemies and have engaged in policies that cement the narrative of no partner. This no-partner narrative has been based on the reality of what Israelis and Palestinians experience of each other. Palestinians have seen their land continuously confiscated from them with the expansion of settlements all over the West Bank. They have seen increased settler violence for years protected by the Israeli military and police. They have seen their economy crushed by Israeli obstacles, happening way before October 7. Gazans have lived under a military blockade since 2005, even two years before Hamas militarily took full control of Gaza. Palestinians have seen the Israeli Knesset vote against ever allowing a Palestinian state to exist.

They have seen Israel removing any positive reference to Palestinians from their text books and even making the use of the word “Nakba” virtually illegal. Israelis have witnessed for years Palestinians celebrating acts of terrorism against Israelis. They witnessed the Palestinian Authority during the last years of the reign of Yasser Arafat supporting the intifada, importing weapons, paying people to engage in acts of terrorism, and long periods of not fighting against Hamas. Israelis witnessed Palestinians electing a Hamas government dedicated to the destruction of Israel. Israelis believe that they left Gaza in 2005 to the Palestinians only to get rockets in return. Israelis witnessed on and after October 7 public demonstrations of joy and celebration when they learned about the murder and abduction of Israelis on that horrible day. Israelis know that Palestinian text books teach hate. Israelis know that the Palestinian Authority has paid money to families of terrorists and to Palestinians prisoners on the basis of how long their jail sentence is or on the basis of how many Israelis they killed. There are many more examples that can be listed here on how both societies have deeply rooted the narrative of no partner for peace on the other side. It is much more difficult to find examples of mainstream Israelis and Palestinians and their governing authorities of fostering the belief and the desire for genuine peace.

Over the next year both Israel and Palestine will go to elections. Scanning the political arena of potential candidates for positions of leadership in both societies is an uninspiring endeavor. Potential Israeli leaders match the public opinion polls with competition between them on who can advocate more right-wing and militaristic positions. They all seem to lack the understanding that the role of leadership is to shape public opinion and not to follow it. They all lack a vision for a better future for Israel. They inspire no one. They all do not present a dream of meeting the opportunities for the State of Israel to integrate into the Middle East in partnership with most of the region, offering new possibilities for regional security, peace, and prosperity. Where are the Israeli leaders of the next generation who stand up and declare that there is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this conflict cannot be managed, it must be resolved? Where are the Israeli leaders who are brave enough and wise enough to say that every person living between the River and the Sea must have the same right to the same rights? The Palestinian people exist on this land and they must have the right to national self-determination living in peace with the State of Israel – this is the kind of moral leadership that we need in Israel, now after the Gaza war more than ever!

The Palestinian political arena is equally uninspiring. There are no prominent voices from the self-declared Palestinian politicians who grasp the reality that there is no viable Palestinian strategy that will free Palestine through the armed struggle.  Palestinians will never free Palestine by killing Israelis. Where are the Palestinian leaders from the young generation who want to live in freedom, peace, security and prosperity – something that can only be achieved by making real peace with Israel. Yes, I tell my Palestinian friends and colleagues, you have to right to resist the occupation even with the armed struggle (against the Israeli army not against civilians). That right exists, but isn’t it time that you declare that the armed struggle is no longer an option because it has brought you zero achievements – just look at Gaza. Where are the Palestinian leaders who criticize the error of former Palestinian leaders who denied the connection of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel? How can any Muslim honestly say that –  if they read their Holy Quran? It is possible to tell the people of Israel that you as a Palestinian recognize the historic and religious connection of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, but you can also remind the Israeli people that the Jews were never alone in the land. There were always others in the land, and the others are the Palestinian people. Where are the Palestinian leaders who stand up and tell the so-called pro-Palestinian campaigners around the world that the slogan “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is a disservice to the Palestinian people because it ignores the reality of Israel and sends a message that the political goal of the Palestinian national movement is the elimination of Israel?  How is that going to help the Palestinian people to achieve freedom and dignity? What we need to hear from the pro-Palestine camp and from the pro-Israel camp is “From the River to the Sea, on two states we agree!”

How can Israelis and Palestinian imagine a reality of the Land of Israel/Palestine being emptied by one of the sides of the other side living in this land. Ethnic cleansing is a crime against humanity and must be rejected by both Israelis and Palestinians. Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs are almost in equal numbers between the River and the Sea and all of them belong in this land. The mutual denial of the legitimacy of national existence has only brought us death and destruction. From the war in Gaza must come an awakening that we must find the way to live in peace in this land and it seems that the only way of doing that is by recognizing the national right of self-determination of each other. The two states solution has been on the table since 1936 and it is back on the table more prominently now than ever before. In order to reach the two states solution, we need the international community to continue to bring more states to recognize the State of Palestine. Admittedly that does not change the reality of the occupation of impact the lives of Palestinians. But we do need to ask ourselves how will be get Israel to recognize the State of Palestine – that is our ultimate goal along with Palestinians accepting the legitimacy of the Jewish people’s connection to the Land of Israel.

The vision of the two states solution needs to be reframed as two states living in peace with very deep cooperation between them and not “us here and them there” with tall walls and strong fences separating them from each other.  We need to begin the process of working toward the implementation of that vision by ensuring that all Israelis learn Arabic from grade one and all Palestinians learn Hebrew from grade one. There should be nothing threatening from that proposition because the two languages are sister languages sharing so many words in common and learning a language from a young age is the best gift that you can give to children. We need to understand that it makes no sense whatsoever for Israel to want to have poor neighbors. Palestinian prosperity is an Israeli national interest and Israel should do everything possible to remove economic development obstacles and should cooperate with the Palestinian government and private sector to ensure economic success. Happy prosperous neighbors are good neighbors. But with that understanding we must also know that there is no economic peace without political peace. Israelis and Palestinians must both enjoy national dignity and honor, and self-determination. This is part of both political cultures and is an essential element in what will make peace real.

We have a lot to do to turn the page and create a new reality for Israelis and Palestinians. It is unavoidable if we all really want to live in peace with security.  This is a duty that we have to take on as the most important directive for both societies right now. It will be extremely difficult to overcome the harsh feelings of hate, fear, and disrespect. We can’t simply forgive and forget and move on.  We will all remember. We will not forget.  But we will not be the first peoples in conflict who have no choice but to walk that path of reconciliation. If the State of Israel and Germany could find the path towards reconciliation and very good relations after the Holocaust, then the Israeli and Palestinian people can do that as well. We will have to deal with truth and reconciliation at some point in the future. That can begin by acknowledging that the only real choice for both people who have a legacy of survival is to reach out towards each other with an expression of recognition of national rights on the land between the River and the Sea.