Israel will never achieve its objective in its war with Gaza because it does not understand who the real enemy is. Peace can never be accomplished with weapons of war. As is written in the Bible, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against … spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph.6:12). The real enemy is fear and hatred in all their manifestations.

I have been thinking about World War II, which is the last war the United States decisively won (if you don’t count Reagan’s “war” in Granada). The allies demanded unconditional surrender, and they succeeded in that military aim. But that is not what won the peace. Had they just gone home and forgotten about it, the result would have resembled the result of World War I. What won the peace was the Marshall Plan to rebuild the devastated societies and make allies of former enemies.

The only way to defeat your enemy is to make him your friend. Mohandas Gandhi and Nelson Mandela proved that. And the Truth and Reconciliation commissions and the aftermath in Rwanda, as well as the work in Columbia after their drug wars, were attempts to put the past grievances (and they were many) behind them and seek a better future.

With great hindsight, I can see that the United States was wrong to veto all the resolutions in the United Nations condemning Israel’s actions in building settlements and annexing Palestinian lands since 1967. That said, when Israel agreed to dismantle settlements in Gaza, Hamas took over and refused to make peace, but continues to seek Israel’s total annihilation as a state. There is plenty of blame to go around, but as I learned in “Tough Love” meeting, blaming keeps you helpless.

I do not have an answer to how peace may come about between two such bitter enemies, but I know that it will not be through more revenge, death, and destruction.

Judith Truesdell

Shelburne