“There’s no death that doesn’t make me sad
There’s not a winner side
There’s nothing but pain
And another life that’s gone
War is a very bad school
It does not matter how they dress it
Forgive me if I don’t join
To the service of anyone’s flag
Any chimera is better
Than a sad piece of fabric”

Each time the Palestinian-Israeli conflict violence episode is renewed, I remember the verses written by Jorge Drexler and its music by Joaquin Sabina.

Without being an expert on this matter, this conflict, that has taken so many years of pain and confrontations, might be seen as the absolute failure of the dialogue and reciprocal recognition. When one sector denies the other its right of existence, it cannot wait from its occasional opponent and irreconcilable enemy, another response than more violence and aggression. Thus, the spiral grows and as it increases, the hate, resentment, and irrationality muscle strengths.

I do not believe it is casual, that two enemy country leaders as Yitzak Rabin (ex-prime minister of Israel), who trusted in the dialogue and bilateral agreements to resolve differences, and Anuar El Sadat (first prime Arab minister to sign the Peace Agreement, in Camp David, 1978) had been murdered. When bridges are dynamited for antagonists to communicate, to dialogue and to find coincidences, its intentionality turns evident.

So, instead of concentrating on looking for responsibility on those that with their violent actions provoke a major reaction, the involved parties should make the effort to be closer to dialogue and to try to recognize each other.

As per the Israeli writer David Grossman, who after having lost his son, the sergeant Uri Grossman, two days before the Lebanon war ended, eleven years ago, said in a public speech: “There was a war, and Israel flexed its massive military muscle, but also exposed Israel’s fragility”.
“I am speaking here tonight as a person whose love for the land is overwhelming and complex, and yet it is unequivocal, and as one whose continuous covenant with the land has turned his personal calamity into a covenant of blood.”

Following the logic of Grossman words, having a military arsenal size like the one owned by Israel, with that huge power of destruction, does not guarantee the success (a lasting peace). And worse than this, to use it indiscriminately leaves the evidence of certain political weakness that turns insufficient military “success”.

In other words, the real strength would consist of demonstrating the state’s will and capacity to head and propose mature and responsible negotiations to those that represent a country’s safety risk (danger). For this to be achieved it is needed, mental opening, flexibility, and strategic intelligence, all qualities that the current authorities seem not to have.

On the other hand, it is deduced from Grossman words that the real cost of any war is the innocent human being’s loss. Being that said, the violent confrontation, far from being a solution, represents an enormous pain for each family that is victim of a destructive dynamic used to reinforce itself.

Finally, Grossman states today: “I have never had one day of peace in my life. I do not know what peace is. I have never really experienced it. I can imagine that is as to breathe with both lungs, or just to live your life without any fear on the future, knowing you will have a sequence of children and grandchildren and that you are going to live safe and with trust.  I think this is the best way to protect our democracy, that is our ultimate value.”