PEACE.

Such a small word, five letters, one syllable, but in Israel, it weighs more than mountains. It is written on posters, chanted in protests, whispered in prayers. Israeli’s long for it. They speak of it with hope, with hesitation, sometimes with a bitter smile. Because in Israel, peace is not a luxury. It is a question of survival.

Since the moment Israel was reborn in 1948, they have lived with the impossible paradox: the dream of peace, and the constant necessity of defense. For many Israelis, especially those who served in the IDF or lost loved ones to terror, peace is not a political slogan. It is a prayer in uniform. It is the soldier who spares a child, the mother who sends her son to guard the border, the bus driver who keeps driving despite the risk.

Israelis do not romanticize war. They are tired of it. But they are also realists. Peace cannot be built on fantasies or on one-sided demands. It........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)