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Dear Colleagues,

If this statement is true, then the rapidly increasing militarization, as is happening worldwide, most recently at the Munich Security Conference, is certainly not the path to a peaceful future. Only jointly negotiated peace in all conflicts can establish true peace and thus security. How can this pacifism finally find its way into our thinking?

A thought experiment: Let’s just imagine that the Gaza war, with its boundless destruction and the unbearable loss of tens of thousands of human lives, is forever the last war between Israel and the Palestinians!

With international support, both peoples learn together to overcome the deep hatred (in projects such as Combatants for Peace, Rabbis for Human Rights, dialogue project Transaidancy), thereby perceiving the other, above all, in their pain as a human being. The traumatic experiences of Shoah and Nakba can become a bridge for each other.

“If you feel pain, you are alive. If you feel the pain of the other, you are human.”
(by Osama Ellewat, Combatants for Peace).

Because – according to Jeremy Milgram, Rabbis for Human Rights – “the only way to secure peace is to share it with others.” Perhaps it is now truly a radical act, after October 7, for Jews and Palestinians to approach each other, shake hands, and embark on the path to a peaceful future by beginning an extremely arduous reconciliation process.

At the same time, justice, human rights, and international law must become the fundamental principle: An upgraded UN as a protective body for all of humanity would stand for this strength of law (instead of the violence of the stronger).

Radical thinking? In any case, a challenging, courageous task.

However, a peace agenda of this kind probably requires an MSC with new content and different participants!

What do you think?

In solidarity
Christoph Steinbrink
Guest author for MSKv