Choose a path to peace: An open letter to my Palestinian neighbors – opinion

The mayor of Mitzpe Yericho, a Jewish town in the Judean Desert, penned an open letter to her Palestinian neighbors, acknowledging the pain of war and displacement but emphasizing the consequences of past choices. She states that the 1947 UN partition plan, which would have created both Jewish and Arab states, was accepted by Jewish leadership but rejected by Arab leadership, leading to a war that Israel won. The author argues that clinging to the idea of a pre-1948 reality is unproductive, noting that "Israel exists now. It will not become 'Palestine.'"

"Israel exists now. It will not become 'Palestine.'"

She highlights repeated Israeli offers for a Palestinian state, such as at Camp David in 2000 and Olmert's proposal in 2008, which were refused by Palestinian leadership. Following October 7, 2023, the author asserts that Israelis are no longer willing to make the same offers while the Jewish state's legitimacy is questioned. She urges Palestinians to choose nation-building and leaders who accept Israel's existence, stating that "until that shift happens in public, loudly, and at scale, the reality will remain what it is: Israeli security control in Judea and Samaria, Hamas in Gaza, and another generation raised on the hope that the next war will succeed where the last ones failed."