JERUSALEM, 10 April 2006 — As the number of Israelis and Palestinians killed in five years of Middle East conflict crossed the symbolic threshold of 5,000, analysts say people on both sides see little hope for ending the bloody conflict to a count conducted by AFP since the first deadly clashes in September 2000, 5,006 people have been killed, with the last deadly incident taking place on Saturday.
Akiva Eldar, a senior columnist in the liberal Ha’aretz daily, believes that more than its symbol, the figure of 5,000 dead holds great importance for the long-term relations between the two neighboring people. “If you multiply 5,000 by the number of relatives, friends and neighbors of the victim, you can easily reach 100,000 people who are directly related to the killing of Israelis and Palestinians.” While over 1,000 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks, many of them suicide bombings, the Palestinian side has borne the brunt of the violence with nearly 4,000 people killed by the Israeli Army in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. “One should also take into account the thousands of injured which remind people on both sides, especially the Palestinians, of the other side’s ‘evilness’,” Eldar says.
Sparked by the controversial visit of then-hawkish Likud leader Ariel Sharon at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, the Palestinian uprising followed the breakdown of peace talks between the sides. Yasser Abdo Rabbo, a senior member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, speaks of a great sense of despair in Palestinian society. “Social life has been shattered and destroyed by the conflict. Just look at how miserable and desperate life has turned by the crushing presence of the Israeli Army,” he says. Abdo Rabbo also says that the desperation and loss of dignity is what brought about the rise to power of the radical Islamist Hamas movement, which has been responsible for dozens of suicide bombings in Israel and which continues to advocate the use of violence despite holding off on attacks. “The result of the violence is that Hamas is now taking the upper hand.”
Street walls in every Palestinian town are covered with posters of pictures of their martyrs, or shaheeds, killed by the Israeli military. Used to tight security checks in at the entrance to restaurants, shopping malls and train stations in an attempt to stop Palestinian suicide attacks,
Israeli society has also become more violent, Eldar says. “Young Israeli soldiers who come back home from the (Palestinian) territories see in violence something normal, a norm which caused the flare of violence on streets and in night clubs. “The contact between troops and Palestinians at the dozens of roadblocks spread across the West Bank have made Israelis immune to Palestinian suffering.”
Both Eldar and Abdo Rabbo agree that the conflict has pushed out of sight any hope for a peaceful agreement between the two sides. “We are witnessing a strange situation where both people say they are fed up with conflict and wish a peace deal. But the public thinks that the other side is not a partner for peace,” says Eldar. “This vicious circle must be stopped.” Abdo Rabbo says that “the destruction of hope has killed any possible chance for reconciliation and negotiation between the sides.”
Following the victory of the centrist Kadima party in the Israeli elections on ticket of fixing Israel’s borders in the West Bank, with or without the Palestinians’ agreement, Eldar says that unilateral action will prevent any possibility for rebuilding confidence between Israelis and Palestinians. “Normalization must be linked to an agreement — unilateral moves will not lead to a solution.”
