Reflections on Peace and Conflict in Israel and Palestine

By Hisham Jabi

Reflections on Peace and Conflict in Israel and Palestine

I am attending? the Peace Conference in Washington, DC organized by Alliance for Peacebuilding. This year, however, the atmosphere is particularly bleak, with the conflict expanding from Gaza to Lebanon, Yemen, the West Bank to Ukraine.

I was born and raised in Nablus, a bustling city in the north of the West Bank. My family still resides there, and they report an unprecedented sense of fear and insecurity. The expansion of conflict, coupled with the presence of approximately 500,000 settlers living across small towns and villages in the West Bank—where 3.2 million Palestinians reside—poses a severe social, economic, and territorial challenge. This already fragile region faces an increasingly hostile environment.

Understanding the Jewish and Palestinian Experiences

As someone who grew up in Palestine and sought to expand my understanding of the Jewish experience, I often reflect on the Jewish people’s struggles and their desire to build a homeland. It is bewildering to me that those who suffered so immensely under the Nazi regime would not recognize the pain endured by others, particularly Palestinians.

Recently, while traveling from Ben Gurion airport to Ramallah with a colleague from London

who had never visited Palestine or Israel, he noticed something striking. As we drove, he asked why there were Palestinian towns and villages surrounded by fences and gates within what seemed like Israeli territory. I explained that the widespread Jewish settlements in the West Bank have created a parallel living system. There is one standard of living for local Palestinians and another for Jewish settlers. This manifests in everything from advanced water and irrigation systems to separate housing and transportation networks. The Jewish settlers enjoy seamless access to Israel and other settlements, while Palestinian towns and villages are cut off. From a satellite view, the West Bank resembles a piece of Swiss cheese, fragmented and disjointed.

Diverging Perspectives on Peace

Reflecting on the Israeli-Arab conflict and how we arrived at this point, it becomes clear that both sides view peace and conflict resolution from vastly different perspectives. For Israelis, their justified concern is ensuring security, with no tolerance for a neighboring nation that could threaten their existence. For Palestinians, the fundamental issue is their historical presence in this land and the right to a recognized and independent homeland.

?While this may seem like a territorial dispute on the surface, it is much deeper, driven by growing ideological and existential conflicts. Extremist voices on both sides—right-wing Israeli governments and Hamas—frame the situation as “either us or them,” making territorial compromise increasingly difficult. Leaders like Arafat and Rabin were close to signing an agreement because Rabin understood the demographic challenges Israel faced. Netanyahu, however, shifted the narrative, leveraging the Abraham Accords to bypass territorial compromise and instead offered to manage local Palestinian communities rather than acknowledging their national right. His strategy assumed these communities would eventually disappear or reintegrate into surrounding Arab countries.

The recent October 7 attack did not help the Palestinian cause, but it did one thing which was highlighting the Israeli right-wing agenda. Both Hamas and the settler movement operate on a similar premise: “either us or them.”

Moving Forward: a message to the PeaceCon Attendees.

I hope the voices of moderation continue to emerge from both Israel and Palestine,?advocating for a shared future in this small land through a "both us and them" approach.?However,?the potential for the PeaceCon efforts to reignite a focus on compromise and revitalize the two-state solution remains uncertain.?One can only hope that the war ends swiftly and that the voices of wisdom on both sides ultimately prevail.?

?