“Instead of endless war, we must choose peace”
A speech given by Standing Together’s national field organiser Uri Weltmann at a recent demonstration in Kfar Saba, Israel, demanding an extension of the ceasefire.
“This Monday, talks on the next stage of the ceasefire were supposed to begin in Qatar. Instead, we got a horror show from Netanyahu and Trump in Washington. Trump proposed to forcibly expel 1.8 million Palestinians from Gaza, and not allow them to return. He is fantasising about building hotels on the ruins of Gaza, a ‘Gaza Riviera’.
“And Netanyahu listens and says, ‘it’s a great idea.’ The name for this morally repugnant plan is forced transfer. And there was an Israeli politician who attempted this crime in the past. His name was Meir Kahane [the founder of the far-right current now represented by national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir]. Kahane died, but Kahanism is alive and well in the halls of Parliament and in the prime minister’s house.
“In the face of Kahanism, we need to be very clear. Trump and Netanyahu’s plan is not realistic. It won’t happen. Millions of Palestinians will not disappear. But the problem with the plan is not how unrealistic it is. The problem with the plan is how evil it is.
“I grew up not far from here. I was born on the old maternity ward of Kfar Saba hospital on Geller Street in the 1980s. When Mohammed Sinwar, Khaled Meshal, and other Hamas leaders look at me, they think my presence in this country is temporary. They dream of expelling me, or killing me, just like on 7 October. They really think that there could be a reality in which one people simply disappears, and the other takes over the land. And there are leading Israeli politicians, like Ben Gvir, like Smotrich, who look at Palestinians and think the same thing. That they will disappear, and the land will remain exclusively for one people.
“I want to tell all Hamas leaders, I’m not going anywhere. This land is my homeland. My family is here, my roots are here, mine and my people’s. And I want to tell Netanyahu and Trump and the Kahanists, the Palestinian people are also not going anywhere.
“On this land live millions of Jews, and they will remain here. On this land live millions of Palestinians, and they will remain here too. There is no solution other than agreements between the peoples. There is no solution besides one that guarantees both people living on the land share the land. We tried wars and occupation, they brought both peoples disaster, pain, and misery. We need to do the one thing that can bring safety, independence, and justice to both peoples: Israeli-Palestinian peace.
“To talk about peace, to talk about a Palestinian state alongside Israel, might sound distant. But it’s the direction we must go in. The opposite of Ben Gvir and Netanyahu is an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. The opposite of Hamas is an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. The opposite of 7 October is an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. This is our challenge in the coming years. It’s the choice we have to make as a society. Instead of choosing endless war, we must choose peace. Instead of drowning in despair, we must choose hope.”
Posted on 14 February 2025