The Pharaohs of the Promised Land
When the Jews crossed the Red Sea during the Exodus from Egypt, Pharaoh chased after them and drowned in the sea. According to Islamic tradition, after Pharaoh died, his body remained intact to convey a message to future generations.
Today, Israeli and Palestinian leaders could be considered the pharaohs of the Promised Land. Rather than striving for peace, leaders from both sides choose a path of war that they mistakenly believe will leave a legacy of security (in the Israeli case) or emancipation (in the Palestinian case.) But war will not lead to any legacy of security, emancipation, equality, prosperity, or happiness. Like Pharaoh, those who seek war will leave behind only the legacy of a lesson to be learned.
As an expert in reconciliation, I am often asked why Israelis and Palestinians don’t choose peace. One of the main reasons is that both societies fundamentally misunderstand what peace means. Rather than conceptualizing peace as a process, they understand peace as a treaty, a political agenda, or a religious aspiration. Any effort toward peace based on these reductive conceptualizations—what I call “fake peace”—is doomed from the start.
I was reminded of this idea recently while presenting to the United Nations Academic Council about reconciliation in the Middle East. While speaking on a panel about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I told the audience that what Israelis and Palestinians need to achieve peace is not a treaty but a genuine mechanism for reconciliation to build trust between the peoples.
Peace must be understood as a process. Through the process of peace, multiple parties move toward coexistence, recognizing each other’s narratives, mutual compassion, and the development of a common future. A rabbi friend of mine calls this mental work “compassionate reasoning.”
When Israeli and Palestinian leaders signed the 1993 Oslo Accords, they did so while they and their peoples continued to harbor hatred and resentment toward each other. The media called these “peace accords.” They may have been accords, but they had little to do with actual peace. Following the signing of the Oslo Accords, mutual resentment between the two peoples became even more entrenched.
Among Palestinians and Israelis today, there are those who support peace and those who support war. To supporters of war: I remind you that war never leads to security or emancipation. War always leads to more war. To supporters of peace: I remind you that peace is more than a signature on a document; it is a process of reconciliation that involves a genuine grappling with the other—their suffering as well as their aspirations.
Real peace can only be achieved if we give up on the idea of fake peace. Fake peace is carried out by governments that fail to represent their people. Real peace will be achieved by the Israeli people and the Palestinian people. It will require empathy, compassion, and dialogue. Only through a process of peace can we build a more inclusive and cohesive society with a shared future for all our children.
It is not too late to adopt the path of peace if the Israeli and Palestinian people choose it and make their voices heard. Israeli and Palestinian leaders can still choose a different legacy than that of the pharaohs of the Promised Land.
Violence will not bring peace. Treaties will not bring peace. Only a genuine process of reconciliation will bring the peace that the Israeli and Palestinian peoples deserve.
