Special Edition of Colleague and Context Posts: The 2023 Israel-Hamas War

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Newsletter #166 — October 25, 2023

This Special Edition of the Beyond Intractability in Context Newsletter offers links to articles that we have found to be especially useful as we have struggled to understand the far-reaching implications of Hamas' brutal attack on Israel and the extremely dangerous and tragic war that that attack has unleashed. The things that we have learned from these articles have led us to sharply revise our previous views about this conflict. As we explained in Sunday's Newsletter #165, we think that this is an unusual case in which many of the peacebuilding field's traditional strategies need to be adjusted to account for Hamas' refusal to consider coexistence, its commitment to Israel's total destruction, and the grotesque violence of its assault.  We realize that the conclusions we have reached are likely to be quite controversial and we invite readers to send us their thoughts on this difficult issue, as well as links to resources you have found especially useful. As always, we will publish these links along with any thoughtful and reasoned comments we receive.
 

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Colleague Activities

Highlighting things that some of our conflict and peacebuilding colleagues are writing about the Israel/Gaza/Hamas situation. We should note that several others have made cogent comments, but not yet in fora that can be shared.

  • Forgiveness
    Eileen Boris's Political Forgiveness Monthly for October 2023 — Eileen's main article is entitled "Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive," a direct quote from the Dalai Lama. Writing after the Israel/Gaza conflict broke out, Eileen goes on to say, "if we want to survive as humanity, violence is not the answer.  Instead, we need to make contact with our own hears and shift our mindsets to one of political forgiveness. On then can we meet these changes and begin to heal together.
  • Ending the Violence
    Scaling the Wall of Grief in Israel and Palestine  -- This article by Lisa Schirch recounts how history and stories about that history shape current day thoughts and events. Amid all the despair and horror, we can carve out spaces for hope, for grieving, for care for those traumatized, for those lost. There is a better way. "The violence will end when the occupation ends and there is justice, democracy, and a land for all people and when the world can work against antisemitism without working against Palestinian human rights." 
  • Ending the Violence
    Canadian Friends Service Committee E-Newsletter In response to the ongoing intensity of violence in Palestine/Israel. — “[F]reedom from the scourge of war will only be brought about through the faithfulness of individuals to their inmost convictions" As such, CFSC calls for an immediate ceasefire and new leaders who are open to paths of nonviolence. It calls for the immediate release of all the hostages and end to the violence of the Israeli military. CFSC calls on each individual to search for and recognize our shared humanity.

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From around the web, more thoughts about the tragic situation in Israel/Gaza and the Mideast Region

 

 


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Once a week or so, we, the BI Directors, share some thoughts, along with new posts from the Hyper-polarization Blog and and useful links from other sources.  We used to put this all together in one newsletter which went out once or twice a week. We are now experimenting with breaking the Newsletter up into several shorter newsletters. Each Newsletter will be posted on BI, and sent out by email through Substack to subscribers. You can sign up to receive your copy here and find the latest newsletter here or on our BI Newsletter page, which also provides access to all the past newsletters, going back to 2017.

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