There is an acute and trenchant debate among Arabs, too, about the abuse of the bodies of the soldiers who were killed in the explosion in Gaza on Tuesday. Even though everyone notes that the military force that entered Gaza wasn't there on a hike but had come to bomb, not a few Arabs feel a sense of shame at the images of the atrocity and view the brutal act as one that above all defames Arab culture, which is based on respect for the dead and is revolted by the abuse of bodies. The religions in which Arabs believe - Islam and Christianity - also forbid such acts.
Unfortunately, however, a great many Arabs show understanding and even justify the act. Their hatred blinds their eyes and closes their hearts. Like many in Israel, they think in terms of revenge.
It is the internal responsibility of the Arabs to address this phenomenon and prevent its spread among the young generation. This is not only an Arab and Palestinian interest, it is also part of the mission of the noble Arab culture. It is especially important for the Palestinian people, to which many in the international community and in Israel have succeeded in attaching the label of "terrorist." In the past three-and-a-half years, a handful of fanatics have perpetrated terrorist acts that have cost the lives of many (Jews and Arabs) in Israel, and their actions incriminate a whole people. The time has come to rise up against these acts and not to make do with criticism and condemnation.
However, this coin has two sides, and it is impossible to ignore the other side. The hatred of Israel among the Palestinian people and among the Arab nations, which nourishes such actions, is not part of the Arab culture. On the contrary: Arabs are better able to love than to hate. Anyone who wants to free himself of his emotional reaction and understand, must ask himself what this hatred of Israel means. Anyone who wants true peace between the two peoples has to be able to cope with this hatred, which is a major weapon in the hands of the enemies of peace on both sides.
It is impossible to go on ignoring the feelings and positions of the other side and it is impossible to ignore a number of key facts that dictate the reality. The Israel presence, any Israeli presence, in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, is military occupation. The Palestinian people recognizes Israel and its sovereignty over 78 percent of the territory of historic Palestine/Land of Israel, and will make do with 22 percent of the land as part of its compromise.
But Israel, under almost all of its governments, has given them the feeling that they will never get even this minuscule territory. In everyday life, the soldiers and officers of the Israel Defense Forces trample the honor of the Palestinian people (and also did so even when there was no intifada), expropriate its land and control its water, its roads, its daily routine and in fact every sphere of life.
In Israel the Palestinian question is viewed solely from the Jewish point of view - how important the land is for the settlers, Israeli security, unified Jerusalem the eternal capital of Israel, a unilateral solution. Why is no thought given to the ties of the Palestinian to his land and to his Jerusalem? Why don't they think about security for the Palestinians? Why don't they allow them to share in deciding their future? Why is only the Israeli narrative important?
When people say that there is no partner for peace on the Palestinian side, why don't they ask whether such a partner exists in the Israeli government? Everyone knows, after all, that the disengagement plan, like the plan of cabinet minister Avigdor Lieberman, like the plan the prime minister is trying to formulate now - all these plans aim to bypass the road map and undermine the Geneva initiative.
No side has the right to ignore the other side and infringe its rights, its sensitivities and its honor.
The writer is the Israel affairs commentator for several television stations in the Arab world and for the newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat.
