Palestine: Truth Is the Path to Peace

Biased reports and false denials of extremist activity hide the will of the majority of good people on both sides of the conflict
"Dogs! Sons of a whore! Your mother's cunt!" These were not the chants of a mindless football hooligan, yelled at the opposing team's fans or the referee. They were shouted in Arabic, over a loudspeaker, by Israeli Defense Force soldiers, who were enticing Palestinian children to come out and throw stones at them. They did. They were murdered in cold blood by the IDF troops, who used silencers.

This story is one of many reported by international journalists, in this case by Chris Hedges of the New York Times. Countless others go unreported, yanked out of the press before printing because the network controlled by the pro-Jewish lobby in the world's media and advertising outlets prefers comfortable stories labeled "Palestinian terrorism" claiming that IDF activities are "defensive" or "controlling violence" or "counterinsurgency measures".

However, to suppress this type of story is the same as suppressing the activities of the many thousands of Israelis who disapprove of such actions and do everything they can to create a peaceful environment for coexistence with the Palestinians.

Not all the IDF soldiers murder children for fun. Not all Israelis agree to the construction of colonies on occupied land. Not all Israelis favor the intention of the conservative hardliners to increase the rate at which these colonies are built, to build walls and fences around the Palestinian areas and to cut off their water supply.

Not all Israelis agree to the imposition of curfews, which sometimes last for hours, sometimes for days, always without notice, in which Palestinians are forced to sit cramped in their rooms in the scorching heat, without supplies or even without water if they were not able to buy any during the hours in which the curfew was lifted. The children cannot go to school and if they step outside to play, they are shot. It does not matter whether the occupants of these houses are men, women, children, babies, old folk, sick or well, with or without water, diapers, milk.

Not all Israelis support the policy of bulldozing Palestinian homes when their families are still inside, not all Israelis consider the imprisonment of children to be right, not all Israelis cheer when wounded Palestinian journalists are fired at as they lie bleeding to death on the ground, the sickening thud of the bullets causing their already inert bodies to jerk in reflex action. Not all Israelis sneer in derision when Palestinian women are left to die in childbirth at Israeli checkpoints on their way to hospital, not all Israelis claim as military targets the ambulances that are shot up.

Voices of criticism inside Israel are shouted down by the zealots, voices of criticism outside Israel are stifled by vested interests before a hail of anti-Semitic accusations can be unleashed.

However, these voices, the voices which tell the truth, are those that will eventually lead towards this troubled land living in peace, not the extremists on both sides who perpetrate and provoke an endless cycle of violence.

Those who blindly follow the causes of one set of extremists or another - and supply them with arms - are as guilty of terrorism as any Hamas or Hezbollah or Islamic Jihad fanatic, while the Israeli zealots are as guilty of terrorism, racism and attempted genocide as any Palestinian suicide bomber.

Only by condemning the violence provoked and pursued by both sides can the truth be revealed and a process of healing and reconciliation can begin. To reconcile on a lasting basis, it is necessary to recognize and admit the wrongdoings. Plainly and simply, this is called telling the truth, not hiding it.