the Palestinian historical version contradict each other entirely, both in the general picture and in almost every detail.

5. From the beginning of the conflict up to the present day, the Zionist/Israeli leadership has acted in total disregard of the Palestinian narrative. Even when it wished to reach a solution, such efforts were doomed to failure because of ignorance of the national aspirations, traumas, fears, and hopes of the Palestinian people. Something similar happened on the other side, even if there is no symmetry between the two sides.

6. The settlement of such a prolonged historical conflict is possible only when each side is able to understand the mental-political world of the other and is ready to speak as equal to equal, "eye to eye." Contemptuous, power-oriented, overbearing, insensitive, and ignorant attitudes prevent an agreed solution.

7. "Leftist" Israeli governments that, at times, aroused much hope were afflicted with such attitudes as much as "rightist" ones, causing a wide gap between their initial promise and their

disastrous performance. (An example is Ehud Barak's term in office.)

8. A large part of the old peace movement (also known as "the Zionist left" or "the sane camp"), such as Peace Now, is also beset by some of these attitudes, and so collapses in times of crisis.

9. Therefore, the first task of a new Israeli peace camp is to free itself from false and from one-sided views.

10. This does not mean that the Israeli narrative should automatically be rejected and the Palestinian narrative unquestioningly

accepted, or the other way round. But it does require a readiness to hear and understand the other side's position in this historical conflict, in order to bridge the two national experiences and unify them in a joint narrative.

11. Any other way will lead to a perpetuation of the conflict, with periods of ostensible tranquility and conciliation frequently interrupted by violent hostilities between the two nations and between Israel and the Arab world. Given the pace of development of weapons of mass destruction, further rounds of hostility could lead to the annihilation of both sides to the conflict.

The root of the conflict

12. The core of the conflict is the confrontation between the IsraeliJewish nation and the Palestinian-Arab nation. It is essentially a national conflict, even if it has religious, social, and other aspects.

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