They hate us!

They are horrible to us! they hate us so much, they don’t think of us as humans. It is so deep in them, this hatred; it is very naïve of us to think that we can be at peace with them, that one day we can have a normal relationship with them.

They kill our people indiscriminately, they don’t care if they are killing a young boy or girl, an old man or women, a mother, a disabled person, a pregnant woman

Their hate blinds them so much they just want to wipe us, all of us, out!

And just look at them ..whenever they had the chance to have power over us, they tormented us. They ethnically cleansed their lands of us, they disposed us ...humiliated us!

The only language they understand is power and force. We have to be careful not to get fooled thinking that we can ever have real peace with them, they want more, they want us out, all of us out. They can’t conceive any form of coexistence with us and we can’t coexist with them!

These are virtually the same sentiments, thoughts, words that I get from my friends and acquaintances across the political, religious and ethnic spectrum.

This is what I hear and read from most Jews and Israelis thinking of Palestinians, Arabs or Muslims and, not surprisingly, an identical, word for word, emotion for emotion to what I get from most Palestinians, Egyptians, Muslims, Arabs, etc.

Perhaps awareness of the mutuality of anxiety, anger, uncertainty, fear and sadness driven from these ideas and thoughts of the other, awareness of how identical they are, and the mirror image  on the other side can open some eyes, a small hope for peace in this large sadness of war, fear and hopelessness.

AA

November 18, 2012