We Refuse to be Enemies

By Nicholas Kristof
July 6, 2024

"In a land torn apart by conflict, hatred and violence... the Tent of
Nations, it is a monument to the idea that Arabs and Jews can live together
in harmony.

"The Nassars, a Christian Palestinian family, hold children's camps and
other programs on the farm to promote understanding and nonviolence even as
they struggle to save their land from confiscation by Israeli settlers. They
quote Martin Luther King Jr. and provide a model of peacefulness for their
Palestinian and Israeli neighbors alike.

"...while it is the militants who make the headlines, innumerable people on
both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli divide are trying to bring peace and
understanding to a region that lacks both...

"The Nassars say they are trying to encourage Palestinians to turn rage and
negativity into something constructive...

"I've also written about Israeli Jewish activists in groups like Parents
Circle - Families Forum, striving for peace even in the aftermath of the
Hamas terrorist attack last October. I've quoted an Israeli whose parents
were murdered by Hamas yet who weeps for Gazan children...

"In a region that seems so bleak, so caught up in cycles of escalating
conflict, where extremists on one side empower extremists on the other, I
think of the peacemakers as voices of our better angels. I write about them
in hopes that we can collectively amplify their voices."

About Heart of a Nation

Empowering the next generation of American, Israeli, and Palestinian change-makers to embrace better, together.

אנחנו מכנסים הוגים מובילים, פעילים חברתיים, ומחוללי שינוי לעתיד, אמריקאים, ישראלים ופלסטינאים, המחויבים לשיפור החברות שלהם.

نحن أمريكيون وإسرائيليون وفلسطينيون نبني ونكوّن روابط من أجل التعلم والتفكير والمشاركة معًا حتى نشجع الحلول التقدمية بشأن القضايا التي تهمنا جميعًا.