Opinion | ‘This Has Not Given Us Safety’

I found myself advocating for the two-state solution for many, many years. But at a certain point, I started feeling that this model is crumbling beneath my, between my fingers, and I can’t — I don’t believe in it anymore. The reality is telling me something else. Meeting — Palestinian friends are telling me something else. Meeting the international community, I’m learning something else. Living in Israel, I’m learning something else. This idea of peace, of negotiations, of a two-state solution is becoming not relevant in the public discourse. Like, there is no conversation about this. And so in 2018, I had my first son, and we were living a couple of years in the States and coming back to Israel. No one was talking about a future for my child, about security, about safety, about vision, about horizon, about hope. No one was telling me what we’re fighting for. And that two-state solution has become an empty shell for people to talk about something but not take any action. And by any action, we’ve been led to Oct. 7. What is the alternative? The alternative right now is either continuing in the footsteps of this government, which is to destroy the Palestinian peoplehood, or a fake status quo. And so the first thing that we need to commit ourselves to is realizing that if we’re not going to solve this conflict, it will solve us, right? That is what led us. What does that mean? Because I mean, as you know better than me, that most Israelis, the center of Israeli political opinion, actually does not think there is no alternative. The alternative, the alternative is the path they’re on. This is a pathway to realize quite ancient hopes. So when you’re in conversation with that — So that is all true. And that we are seeing play out right now in Israel-Palestine. This is the reality. This is — And my question to you or to us, to us Israelis is like, has this ensured your safety and security? The answer is no. If you are messianic and you have dreams that are beyond life, that are about eternity, that’s a different timeline. But for people who are actually concerned with safety and security for their children and a better future and life, the current paradigm has not ensured our safety and security, until this day. It’s not only Oct. 7. What about what’s happening now with Israel re-entering Lebanon? What’s happening with Iran? What’s happening in the south? I mean, what’s happening in the west? There is no place that we actually feel safe right now. And I think that that’s an important realization that we have to say out loud and confront. We’re not safe now. This has not given us safety. I’ll give you a more concrete example. In the place where we have seen the utmost commitment to segregation and separation, right, and the billion-dollar wall, and these mechanisms and all the I.D.F. security measures and technology, that is where all hell broke loose. That’s Gaza. So when people say that big walls will ensure my safety, I say, no, it won’t. I live in Jaffa, and there’s a lot to say about the inequality of Palestinian citizens of Israel. But the truth of the matter is that Palestinians who are living within Israel and have more rights — not equal rights at all — that is where we’re not slaughtering each other. Those are the kindergarten teachers of my baby. So no one will convince me that security will be given to me or ensured to me by bigger, more walls and more separation.