"There's no partner" if you don't want it to be. Routine operation to locate wanted persons. Entanglement. Almost 11 hours in Jenin for rescue. Their dead. Our wounded. For them, it's an achievement. They use the display of IDF car parts to brag. The next day, four of our husbands were killed. We kill the two murderers. Bibi says that anyone who harms us will find himself in prison or in a grave. The settlers are calling for action to bring calm. The IDF does not see this as a cure. Conflict management is an oxymoron. In Hebrew, it refers to the perpetuation of the conflict, its transmission from generation to generation, and the loss of the Jewish majority.
There is no partner for those who are not looking for partners. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared this week regarding the parliamentary opposition that "there is no partner on the other side," adding that President Isaac Herzog "aligned himself one hundred percent with the opposition and the left," and that it was undemocratic to hold negotiations under the auspices of the president's residence. He then added a condemnation of Herzog. Well, Mr. Minister, before you lash out at the man who does not rest for a moment from the effort to prevent a great rift in our midst, please, with your shoes above your feet.
In broad daylight, Israeli security forces operate in Jenin refugee camp // Arab networks
As for the lack of a partner, this slogan has long become the slogan of the right. He, ostensibly, is interested in agreements and compromises, and is looking for an interlocutor wherever possible, but, alas, cannot find him. This is the case in the political context, vis-à-vis the Palestinians, and so in the domestic context, when it comes to the opposition leaders, who agreed – contrary to the opinion of many in their camp – to talk to the people who brought to the Knesset a plan that harms the foundations of Israeli democracy.
The right, and in this case Smotrich, is right. He really has no partners in any field. That's because he has no intention of compromising, and he's convinced that the burden of concession is always on the other side of the table. But Israel has a political partner, just as the instigators of the legal revolution have a political partner, and whoever comes to negotiations only to receive and not to give, sows wind and reaps a storm.
Anti-normalization
The fighters in normalization. It turns out that Education Minister Yoav Kish, who is competing with the delusional Deputy Minister Avi Maoz, plans to deny the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families Forum the right to offer meetings with Israeli students as part of external programs in schools. His team investigated and found that among the bereaved Palestinian families there are those who had been involved in anti-Israeli activity in the past, which is a reason why the meetings can no longer take place.
Avi Kish. Maoz competitor, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
The bereaved families, on both sides, lost what is dearest to them. Nevertheless, they found the strength to overcome the feelings of revenge and hatred, and decided to engage in dialogue to prevent further bloodshed. They don't blame, they don't defiant, they don't tend to argue. Their personal stories are difficult and heartbreaking, and they decided to do everything so that young people, on both sides, would not give up on the rest of their lives.
You have to be heartless, or extremely cold-hearted, to prevent them from telling their stories, to prevent them from meeting each other, with students who want to meet with them. But Kish is not alone. The Palestinian anti-normalization movement seeks to prevent any encounter between Israelis and Palestinians who believe in a political solution and resistance to violence. Its members often come to such meetings, dispersing them violently or threatening to use violence. They believe that any contact with the Israeli side is a betrayal of the Palestinian cause.
Yes, on both sides there are those who believe that patriotism is always the negation and distancing of the other, and that this is the pure expression of their national interest. The majority – usually silent – must make efforts to convince them that the truth is the opposite.
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