The Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians was murderous, barbaric and inexcusable. But is Israel’s current mass slaughter of Palestinian civilians civilized? Not to mention Israel’s predictable unleashing of disgusting worldwide antisemitism.
Even if Israel destroys Hamas, its vast sacrifice of children and civilian adults seems certain to inspire future Hamases — unless Israelis and Palestinians finally agree to a two-state solution that (a) reverses Israeli annexations, that is, thefts of Palestinian land by the illegal settlements, roads, and misplaced security wall, and (b) ends the occupation that has inflicted continual murders-with-impunity of Palestinians by settlers and soldiers, the bulldozing of many thousands of Palestinians’ homes, and daily humiliations of Palestinians by Israelis.
Israel, for which I have much affection, degrades itself by its treatment of Palestinians, never more than now.
When my wife, Nancy, and I visited the Ramallah Friends School in 2018, we saw that the people who live there didn’t call their homeland “the West Bank.” They called it “Palestine.” And it occurred to me that it’s not up to foreigners to name a people’s homeland; that calling it “the West Bank” (a term that originated in Jordan) has facilitated Israel’s theft of more and more of it; and that if/when there is a two-state solution, no one will call either state “the West Bank.”
For U.S. media and Americans generally to call it Palestine right now would show respect for the millions of victims of Israel’s occupation and mark a significant step toward a stable peace.
Malcolm Bell
Randolph Center
