Roy Cohen - ‘In our teens, we dreamed of making peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Then my friend was shot’

By Dilip -

NB: This is a beautifully written account of a terrible human tragedy. Thank you Roy. You did your best for peace and friendship. And you are keeping alive the memory of Aseel, your dead Palestinian friend. You do what is right because it is right. We can only hope that one day the Phoenix of love will overcome the tidal waves of hatred and suspicion. Thank you. DS

At a summer camp for kids from conflict zones, I met my brave, funny friend Aseel. He was Palestinian. I was Israeli. When he was killed by police, my hope for our future died with him     In 11 May 2021, I was sitting with a small group in a cafe in southern Tel Aviv, studying Arabic. Our teacher, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, had been telling us that he and his pregnant Jewish wife kept getting turned down by landlords who would not rent their property to a “mixed” couple. We were almost at the end of the three-hour class when air raid sirens sounded.

A few days earlier, missiles had been launched from Gaza into Israel, but this was the first time they had hit Tel Aviv. Beyond the fear of an airstrike, I had a sad, heavy feeling. I had recently returned to live in Israel after 15 years studying and working abroad. I remembered a time, in the mid-1990s, when I had believed that Israel was going to be different, more just and less violent. That belief now felt like a distant memory. My faith in Israel’s future had been inspired by an experience I shared as a teenager with a group of extraordinary people. 

As we waited for the rocket fire to stop, I recalled one of those people in vivid detail, a person I have barely been able to talk about in my home country for more than 20 years. His name was Aseel Aslih. When I first met Aseel, in 1997, he was 14, a Palestinian citizen of Israel from Arraba in the Galilee and I was 13, a Jew from the Mediterranean city of Ashdod (formerly the Palestinian village Isdud)...

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/jan/13/peace-middle-east-friend-summer-camp-israel


‘It’s not fair’: 10-year-old Palestinian girl breaks down while talking about violence in Gaza // Israel is committing the crime of apartheid, Israeli rights group says


Chris Hedges: Imploding the myth of Israel


Chris Hedges - Israel's big lie: This isn't self defense, it's a war crime, aided and abetted by the U.S.


Why do Americans turn a Blind eye to Israel’s Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians? / Children are on the frontline of Israel’s war on Gaza – again / How the United States helps to kill Palestinians


Yair Wallach: The violence that began at Jerusalem’s ancient holy sites is driven by a distinctly modern zeal


Meredith Tax: Biden is supporting Turkey’s Bounties on Kurdish Leaders / American silence over Israeli land encroachments and attacks on Palestinians


Some information for Israelis (and the rest of us)


Israel is committing the crime of apartheid: Human Rights Watch


Israel Guilty of Apartheid, Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians: UN Rapporteur


Palestinians Shot In Kusra Clash With Israeli Settlers


Israel admits it revoked residency rights of a quarter million Palestinians


The Agony of Palestine


URI AVNERY - Is Israel an apartheid state? // Israel announces east Jerusalem settlements


Robert Fisk: In the cases of two separate holocausts, Israel and Poland find it difficult to acknowledge the facts of history // ANDRÉ LIEBICH - Righteous indignation: On the Polish Holocaust law debate


Israel subjecting Palestinian children to 'spiral of injustice' - Children in military custody


Juan Cole: The End of the Oslo Accords: Palestinians pull out of Agreements in face of Netanyahu’s Sudetenland Moment


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