Open minds a necessity as we seek the path to peace
Israel and Hamas have continued to trade fire as the war between the rivals entered a second week. Here, Darren Millar, Conservative MS for Clwyd West, gives a personal view of the latest escalation of violence in the long-running conflict
OVER the course of the past two weeks the world has watched in horror as violence has escalated once again in Israel and Gaza.
At the time of writing, more than 3,000 rockets have been fired indiscriminately at Israel by the terror organisation Hamas, and Israel, in defence, has struck more than 1,180 targets in Gaza with what many believe is disproportionate force.
The images on our screens have been shocking and upsetting.
A growing number of civilians have been caught in the crossfire, particularly in Gaza, where many have lost their lives, including innocent children.
Having visited more than half a dozen times, this region is close to my heart.
Any visitor to Israel and the Palestinian West Bank can’t help but fall in love with the place and especially the people, who have much in common despite the circumstances they are in.
Extremists on both sides have used this latest escalation to foment hate. In some parts of the country Arabs have been attacked by angry Jewish mobs, while in other places gangs of Arabs have been involved in violence against Jews.
I have had the great honour of hosting Israeli and Palestinian dignitaries at the Senedd in recent years, a continuing effort to build bridges and understanding across the political divide in Cardiff. It is especially important work considering the level of misunderstanding about the situation.
Israel is, after all, perhaps one of the most misunderstood countries in the world.
Some of the blatant untruths I have seen being disseminated in recent days are genuinely concerning. Much of it simply doesn’t reflect reality. Consider, for example, the allegation that Israel seeks to curtail Muslim worship at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem – this is easily disproved by the fact that it has enabled hundreds of thousands of Muslim worshippers to visit during Ramadan and Eid this year alone.
Frankly, this is not a conflict that can be neatly packaged up in an Instagram meme or a punchy tweet.
I call on anyone engaging in the issue to not only be civil towards those with a different opinion, but to explore a wider selection of sources than those found within the social media echo chamber.
The dramatic escalation in aggressive rhetoric on social media, including explicit threats of violence against Jews in the UK, should be of great concern to us all.
Sadly, and as is all too predictable, the flare-up of violence in the Middle East has already had repercussions for the Jewish community here in the UK on our streets and university campuses. The Community Security Trust reported that anti-Semitic incidents jumped by 320% last week alone.
While demonstrations in Cardiff last weekend occurred without the level of vile anti-Semitic incidents we saw in London, the chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” was blared out. Far from a catchy protest song for justice, its true meaning is far more sinister – it is widely understood to be a call to wipe Israel from the map.
The Palestinians have a legitimate and important cause. It is, therefore, with great sadness that Hamas – a proscribed terror group in the UK – retains a vice-like grip over Gaza.
The group’s stated commitment to the destruction of Israel represents a constant and existential threat to the Jewish state.
While the situation may appear bleak today, I remain optimistic that peace is ultimately within reach. In recent times we have seen that transformational peace is possible. The Abraham Accords signed last year between Israel and its regional neighbours the UAE and Qatar may have once seemed unthinkable but regional dynamics are changing and they are a timely reminder that dialogue is the only way to achieve progress.
I learned this week that one person was killed in a missile attack in the peaceful Israeli community of Netiv Ha’asara, which I visited with a cross-party delegation of Members of the Senedd in 2019. Lying close to the Gaza border, the tiny village has borne the brunt of hundreds of rocket and mortar attacks since 2005.
Though it may look like any other community, every building features bomb-proof rooms and artfully decorated bomb shelters line every single street in the village. The nearby city of Sderot even has the world’s only rocket-proof train station. To those of us living here in Wales, it seems unthinkable.
The sight of these shelters is repeated throughout southern Israel. It is an unavoidable reality of life.
By law, each new building in Israel is required to have reinforced safe rooms. In tandem with Israel’s extraordinary Iron Dome missile defence system, these safe rooms have saved the lives of countless Israelis this week as the communities in which they are situated have been hit by scores of rockets, many of which have hit civilian buildings.
I will never forget community members in Netiv Ha’asara telling me that in the event of an incoming attack its residents had a maximum of 10-15 seconds to reach one of the shelters. I heard of how parents with multiple children would routinely face the heartbreaking – and potentially life-or-death – decision of choosing which child to get into a shelter when the siren smashes the peace.
And yet, despite the difficult security situation, its people remain committed to future hopes of peace. Residents spoke of phone calls with Palestinian friends who live in Gaza and shared prayers for more peaceful days when they can reunite.
The village is home to the “Path to Peace” – a powerful mosaic on the border wall between Israel and Gaza. The word “peace” appears on the wall in Hebrew, Arabic and English and speaks to the genuine hope of locals to live in peace with their neighbours the other side of the wall.
So as this conflict continues to unfold on our screens, let us keep the path to peace at the front of our minds and pray for peace in this special and unique land.