I've received an email headed:
IMMEDIATE HUMANITARIAN AID FOR THE CITIZENS OF GAZA
"We are organising the collection of supplies that are badly needed in these difficult days to allow those alive in Gaza the right to live," say the senders of the email. Several collection points have been established throughout Israel for those wishing to participate in the initiative.
The humanitarian aid being sent by Israel to Gaza at the moment is all very well, but it's time to offer more than care packages to the Palestinians, suggests Alex Sinclair in an opinion piece in today's Ha'aretz. Sinclair is a lecturer in Jewish Education at the Schechter Institute for Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York,
"Israel is very good at using sticks. It's the carrots where we mess up," he writes.
"It's just no good continually beating up the Palestinians. Yes, they were in the wrong. Yes, they elected an evil and disgraceful leadership. Yes, they once more didn't miss the opportunity to miss the opportunity. Yes, this war is justified. Yes, yes, and yes.
"But killing lots of Palestinians is not going to magically turn them into Zionists. When the war is over, they will still be there. Our neighbours. We will still need to live next door to them. We will still need to come to a modus vivendi.
"There will never be a way out of this conflict until we offer the Palestinians some carrots: hope and belief. The sheer despair and hopelessness of many well-meaning Palestinians, in both Gaza and the West Bank, bodes ill for anyone who cares about Middle East peace. They just don't believe it's possible any more."
Alex Sinclair's suggested carrots can be found here:
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