The Middle East: Peace or war? Pick one, but don’t look back

Sometimes it pays to be unaware of your own history. Your own history informs you, it guides you, it gives you a sense of who you are. At the same time, it holds you down, keeps you from rising up, leaves you mired in the same fights as your ancestors. The current situation in Israel and Palestine is the story of a people addicted to their history, living in the past. Atrocities have been committed by both sides, enough to fuel hatred for a dozen lifetimes. Yet the path to peace lies in forgetting history, not recalling and remembering it.

The Palestinians have a right to be angry at Israel, and Israel too has a right to be angry at the Palestinians. Who attacked first? It doesn’t matter. Who’s right, who’s wrong? Irrelevant.

What are we going to do now?

The Arab world has a choice. They can choose to forget the atrocities of the past, and wipe the slate clean. They can choose to realize that neither side has escaped without collateral damage. They can see that Israeli sons and daughters are dying just like their own.

Or they can demonize. They can vilify. And they can condemn, growing another generation of hatred. The child will again pay for the sins of the father.

The fact is, whether right or wrong, Palestine cannot attack Israel and expect to get anything but destruction in return. It does not matter whether aggression is justified or not. Do you expect Israelis to realize their folly and offer their necks to be beheaded? No person would do this. There is an art to war, you do not pick battles you cannot win. If the Arab world desires peace, they will have to forget the past, they will have to forgive. If they choose not to, they will have to fight. And not pretend that veiled aggression is not a war. It’s either war or peace. Right now it’s war, and anything goes.