I beseech you, Israelis on the right of the political spectrum, to respect Memorial Day for Israel's Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism and the manner in which some bereaved families choose to commemorate it.
This request comes over the controversial, alternative joint Israeli-Palestinian memorial ceremony scheduled for Tuesday evening in Tel Aviv and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman's announcement last Tuesday that he would bar 110 Palestinians from entering Israel to participate.
Many people in our country wish for an alternative reality. We may not agree with their views, but the Israelis who plan to attend the joint ceremony are those who insist on speaking directly with people determined to be enemies and terrorists – a label that precludes any chance of engaging in dialogue. We keep claiming there is no partner for peace, but when a partner decides to come, we deny him entry.
What is so threatening about a joint ceremony, where the common thread is loss? The Palestinians who visit Israel in this manner pay a price for holding these views. They risk being targeted by fundamentalists among their own people, who might harm them just for showing solidarity with our pain.
Generally speaking, the Palestinian street is quite hostile toward those brave few who come to Israel to forge peaceful ties. To the average Palestinian, these individuals are fraternizing with an evil occupier who, the way they see it, is actively destroying their lives.
Meanwhile, Israel's defense minister is badgering these particular bereaved families, who are not among his constituency, and preventing them from holding a ceremony that suits their worldview. He rates their ceremony as being "in bad taste" just because the organizers of the event, the joint Palestinian-Israeli group Parents Circle - Family Forum and Combatants for Peace, are conducting a ceremony together with Palestinian families who have similarly been affected by the bloody conflict.
Lieberman is abusing his power and authority by barring the entry of Palestinians whose only wish is to express solidarity in a joint ceremony for Jews and Arabs. This is an offensive political act directed at bereaved families who are already in too much pain.
I beseech you, please be sensitive to the grief-stricken families, despite your differences on how to resolve the conflict between us and our neighbors. These families have lost loved ones in terrorist attacks and in wars and have every reason in the world to seek revenge.
But they have chosen a different path. They prefer to talk about peace rather than war.
Last year, instead of having a peaceful ceremony, they were met with violence and hostility. The bereaved were spat on, cursed, threatened, shouted at, urinated on, and targeted with death threats. This intolerance only further separates and divided us as a society, raising polarizing walls of hatred between our factions. This is the worst possible thing for us, and it threatens to continue eroding us from within.
You think that they are naive and unrealistic. You are angry at them because they are proposing a solution that you don't like. But keep in mind that they want this state to exist, just like you.
On the eve of Memorial Day, please refrain from interrupting the ceremony, even if you disagree with it. It is held at the edge of a park, in a quiet, non-defiant manner. Participants will sing, read excerpts and pray for the end of the conflict. I even dare invite you to come and hear what is said there. Come, take pictures, record, write and publish what you hear. Engage in discourse, not war.
