Broken heart

Palestine, Gaza, the West Bank, Israel

It is with a broken heart that I watch what is happening in the Middle East, the latest iteration of a seemingly endless cycle of violence and destruction that has been occurring for longer than I've been alive. For me, the saddest aspect of this is the huge number of civilians on all sides that have been caught up in these cycles of violence for decades, killed, maimed, displaced.

I absolutely condemn the atrocious act of terrorism perpetrated by Hamas primarily against innocent Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, killing at least 1,195 and wounding more than 5,000, and by holding 251 of them hostage, 100 of whom are still held hostage as I write this. I also condemn that Hamas continues to espouse the goal of destroying Israel.

However, after October 7, 2023 and over the subsequent weeks, months, and now more than a year, I have grown increasingly horrified by Israel's retaliatory war and the way it so blatantly disregards the lives and welfare of Palestinian civilians in attacks that killed more than 40,000 in the first year alone, likely many more, and that have displaced as much as 90% of the more than two million people living in Gaza.

Most civilians in Gaza are without adequate clean water, food, sanitation, and medical care. Israel continuously directs them to leave certain areas into other areas that are supposed to be safe zones, but then has bombed those areas, killing displaced civilians. In one year, more than 60% of Gaza's buildings have been damaged or destroyed, including most of its hospitals, universities, and schools.

I also am appalled by the way the Israeli so-called "settlers" are killing and displacing Palestinians in the West Bank, and the way the Israeli government is forcibly displacing Palestinians from East Jerusalem.

Of course, the roots of this current war go back more than a century. For details, jump down to Alternative timeline ∨.

This must end. We must find a path forward towards peaceful coexistence.

My heart is with the ordinary civilians who all deserve dignified and safe lives.

Update, December 21, 2025

It's obvious that Israel has no intention to honor any ceasefire or any internationally recognized rights of the Palestinian people. It's simply horrifying. My heart is broken and broken and broken again, day after day.

In early October 2023, I grieved for the 1,200 Israelis, mostly innocent civilians including children, who were brutally murdered by Hamas, the more than 5,000 Israelis who were wounded, the 250 Israelis who were taken hostage.

But every day since then I've been grieving for the tens of thousands of Palestinians (more than 70,000 by the end of 2025}, mostly innocent civilians including so many children, who have been killed by Israel, bombed and shot in their homes, schools, hospitals, shelters, and even in their ragged tents in the awful refugee camps, and who are hungry, some even starving to death, and who are dealing with miserable cold, wet weather in inadequate shelters, some even dying from hypothermia.

When will we begin to move forward towards a better future?

Yesterday (Dec 20, 2025), I read this: Israeli troops kill six Palestinians sheltering in Gaza school, say hospital chiefs: Attack brings total number of Palestinians killed by Israel to 401 since October ceasefire took effect⩘  by William Christou, The Guardian. Ceasefire? Really? Israel has broken the ceasefire hundreds of times already.

Two days ago (Dec 19, 2025), I read this: Israel bombs Gaza wedding as mediators hold ceasefire talks in US: Israeli attack kills at least six Palestinians attending wedding party at school-turned-shelter in Gaza City.⩘  by Al Jazeera Staff and news agencies, Dec 19, 2025.

Last week (mid-Dec, 2025) I read about Israel's ongoing ill treatment of Palestinians living in the West Bank: An ancient Palestinian town in the West Bank may soon no longer exist – because Israel plans on stealing it⩘  by Felix Nobes, Mondoweiss.

The ancient Palestinian town of Sebastia in the northern West Bank is a testament to 5,000 years of Palestinian history. Israel announced that it plans to seize the village and its archaeological sites.

This morning (Dec 21, 2025), I read this: Israeli Cabinet approves 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank⩘  by Melanie Lidman, The Associated Press.

Settlements are widely considered illegal under international law. The approval comes as the U.S. is pushing Israel and Hamas to move ahead with the new phase of the Gaza ceasefire, which took effect Oct. 10. The U.S.-brokered plan calls for a possible “pathway” to a Palestinian state – something the settlements are aimed at preventing.

Almost every day I read about Palestinians in Gaza suffering from hunger and malnutrition even as Israel continues to limit the amount of food aid that gets into Gaza. Right now, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are living in substandard tents in the cold of winter with torrential rains soaking everything and turning the ground into a muddy morass because Israel destroyed almost all the housing in Gaza and yet still obstructs aid agencies from even delivering adequate amounts of better quality tents.

When will we begin to move forward towards a better future?

Something different, something better is possible

'We've got more in common than what divides us': a Muslim-Jewish kitchen in Nottingham counters hate and hunger⩘  by Lucy Knight, The Guardian, Dec 21, 2025.

As antisemitism and Islamophobia rise, a community centre brings people together over shared meals, offering an antidote to food poverty, social isolation and division.…

This is the Salaam Shalom kitchen, known as SaSh, a joint Muslim-Jewish project set up in 2015, and based on one of the core tenets of both faith groups: bringing people together through food.…

Although at leadership level Muslims and Jews had been working together on interfaith projects for years, when it came to "the congregations, the community groups, families, parents, children, our communities were not connected," the charity leader explains. It just so happened that Himmah had already been considering setting up a hot meal provision in Hyson Green, home to Nottingham's largest ethnic minority population – and also home to a historic Jewish cemetery. It seemed like the perfect project with which to bring both faith communities together, with Mohammed recruiting in volunteers from Himmah, and Sakhnovich from the synagogue, to provide a service that "demonstrates our shared values of dignity, justice and service to our communities," he says.…

Of all the projects that Himmah runs, Mohammed hopes if he is remembered for anything it will be SaSh. "It's a project of immense hope," he says. "And we live in some dark, dark times. Times that many of us, people of colour, the Jewish and Muslim communities, had thought we would never see again in this country." As both Islamophobia and antisemitism continue to rise, it has been helpful that "even through the trauma of everything going on, that we have people who are from similar and different backgrounds to share the experience with," Chipman adds. The strong relationships and the conversations between the Jewish and Muslim communities "never stop" even "when everything's feeling a bit hopeless," she says. It's "a very local hands-on way where you can make a difference".

The Future Is Peace⩘  by Aziz Abu Sarah & Maoz Inon, 2026.

   While our friendship is unusual, we are not unique. The two of us are part of a growing coalition of Israelis and Palestinians, working locally and globally to build a bridge to a shared future. Together, we are creating a new story. We do not see ourselves as Palestinians and Israelis, or as Jews and Arabs, but as human beings who believe in fostering a culture of dialogue, a culture of forgiveness, a culture of peace. To those who see only division lines, we say: If you must divide us, let it be as those who believe in peace and equality and those who don't … yet.

Jump to:

• Ongoing reflections: Year 4 ∨
• Ongoing reflections – Year: < 1 · < 2 · < 3
• Related: Wikipedia articles, historical perspective, legal perspective, books & films, and additional notes ∨

Ongoing reflections – Year 4

A note about the timeline

Each entry in these ongoing reflections is introduced with the date the item was published, followed by the number of days since Hamas carried out its act of terrorism on October 7, 2023 and Israel retaliated with its full-scale war on Gaza. However, it would be reasonable to list alternate dates for the start of this ongoing war that, counting from October 7, 2023, would add between 16 and 141 years (adapted from the Israeli–Palestinian conflict⩘  article in Wikipedia).

In particular, a crucial and devastating timeline event is the 1948 Palestine war, referred to by the Palestinians as the Nakba⩘  ('the catastrophe'). The Nakba occurred 75 years before the beginning of Israel's current war on Gaza, triggered by the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023.

For timeline details, jump down to: Alternative timeline ∨ 

See also: Before October 7th: Understanding the Long History of Israel's Assault on Gaza⩘  by Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV), Sep 27, 2024. IJV is "a grassroots organization grounded in Jewish tradition that opposes all forms of racism and advocates for justice and peace for all in Israel-Palestine".

Ongoing reflections

• Oct 18, 2026 (day 1,108): Photographer attacked by settlers in the West Bank feels insulted by Netanyahu⩘  by Cara Anna, The Associated Press.
  
  • "The photographer with The Washington Post who was attacked by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank so badly that several vertebrae were broken said Sunday she was increasingly angry that Israel's military seems to protect settlers more than the Palestinians they threaten.
  • "The attack on Heidi Levine and Palestinians during the sensitive olive harvest – followed a day later by an attack on European diplomats in a Christian village – again highlights the rampant settler violence that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed on a small number of troublemakers.
  • "Levine, from her hospital bed, has told The Associated Press she was 'shocked and insulted' that Netanyahu referred to the attack on her and others as 'alleged,' adding that the prime minister 'had all the evidence on the table.'
  • "In contrast, she described the sharp condemnation of settler violence expressed to her in a call from Israel's president, and in a letter signed by several of the country's top former security and intelligence officials. All expressed shame over the attack.… 'Their brutality brings disgrace upon Israel and the Jewish people. Such acts undermine Israel's security, its regional and international standing, and the moral fabric of our society. They represent a betrayal of everything we have devoted our lives to defending.' "
• Oct 16, 2026 (day 1,106): Israeli settlers attack olive farmers and Washington Post journalist in West Bank⩘  by William Christou, The Guardian. Despicable behavior.
  
  • "Israeli settlers have attacked Palestinians across the occupied West Bank in a coordinated movement to disrupt the annual olive harvest, burning cars and trees and injuring Palestinians and a Washington Post photographer."
• Oct 15, 2026 (day 1,105): Hundreds of IDF investigations into killings still have no public outcome, BBC Verify finds⩘  by Merlyn Thomas, BBC Verify correspondent, and Maryam Ahmed, BBC News.
  
  • "BBC Verify has identified 254 incidents in which the Israeli military has been accused of killing or injuring people in Gaza, Lebanon, the occupied West Bank and Israel that it said it was investigating, but have no public outcome."
• Oct 10, 2026 (day 1,100): Opinion: In three years, Israel's war on Gaza hasn't just changed the Middle East, it's changed the world⩘  by Steve Bloomfield, The Guardian.
  
  • "A whirlpool of violence has engulfed everywhere from Lebanon to Yemen. Meanwhile, the west has destroyed any political authority it once had.…
  • "The before-and-after pictures tell part of the story. An update to Google Maps, released last week, underscores just what three years of relentless Israeli military onslaught has done to Gaza. Satellite images show how entire towns have been reduced to rubble. Mosques and hospitals, visible three years ago, have now disappeared. Meanwhile the once-empty shoreline is now crammed with tents. This is what it looks like when an attempt has been made to destroy a people.
  • "For Israel, too, there has been a before and after. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had cultivated a sense of security, even of impregnability. The ease with which Hamas carried out its terrorist attack, killing 1,200 Israelis, including hundreds of young people at a music festival, destroyed that belief for ever.
  • "Three years on from 7 October, both Israel and Gaza have changed beyond recognition. But the consequences of Hamas's attack and Israel's brutal response, which has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including 21,000 children, have spread far wider.…
  • "The one ray of hope for the future is that our shared understanding of what has happened over the past three years means that in many countries the political winds have shifted."
• Oct 8, 2026 (day 1,098): 'Every day there is killing': Gazans face Israeli strikes despite ceasefire as peace deal stalls⩘  by Yogita Limaye, Jerusalem, BBC News.
• Oct 7, 2026 (day 1,097): 3 years on, Israelis grapple with reports Netanyahu was warned before Oct. 7 attacks⩘  by Daniel Estrin, Kat Lonsdorf, and Abu Bakr Bashir, NPR News.
  
  • "TEL AVIV, Israel – As Israel marks three years since Hamas launched its surprise Oct. 7 attacks, Israelis are reeling from new revelations in Israeli and U.S. media that the country had been repeatedly warned by its regional allies that Hamas was planning to attack.
  • "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was personally warned about a potential Hamas attack, and his security agencies were notified repeatedly, in the weeks and days leading up to Oct. 7, 2023, four people in the Middle East with direct knowledge of the warnings told NPR.
  • "The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, The New York Times and The Atlantic first reported about the warnings."
• Oct 7, 2026 (day 1,097): 'Neither war nor peace:' Palestinians in Gaza on existing amid disease, despair and ruins⩘  by Seham Tantesh in Gaza and Jason Burke, The Guardian.
  
  • "Across Gaza, Palestinians describe daily routines full of challenges that nothing in their former lives prepared them for: shortages of water and of nourishing food, minimal healthcare, disease, unemployment, economic collapse and the continuing threat of death or injury.
  • "Despite a ceasefire a year ago, Israel's airstrikes continue. Palestinians who have approached the 'yellow line' that divides Gaza into zones controlled by the Israeli military and by Hamas have been shot dead. In the last year, the overall death toll has risen by a further 1,400 people."
• Oct 7, 2026 (day 1,097): Israelis mourn Oct. 7 attack as Palestinians in Gaza languish in ruins of the war it sparked⩘  by Melanie Lidman, The Associated Press.
  
  • "Israelis mourned at the site of the Nova Music Festival, as well as at bomb shelters, intersections and in communities targeted on Oct. 7, 2023. On that day – the deadliest in the country's history – militants killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostage. Israel's retaliatory offensive killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed much of Gaza and drove most of its 2 million residents from their homes.
  • "This is the first anniversary since all the hostages, living and dead, were returned. Signs calling for their return are mostly gone, but reminders of those who were killed are ubiquitous in a country still reckoning with the trauma of that day.
  • "For Palestinians, the anniversary brings another day of fear and misery. Most Gaza residents live in squalid tent camps, with large parts of cities bombed to rubble. More than half the territory remains in the hands of the Israeli military. Despite a ceasefire deal reached nearly a year ago, Israeli strikes continue almost daily."

Related

• Wikipedia articles v
• Historical perspective v
• Legal perspective v
• Books v
• Films v
• Additional notes v

Wikipedia articles

• Wikipedia: Israeli–Palestinian conflict⩘ 
• Wikipedia: 1948 Palestine war⩘ 
• Wikipedia: Nakba⩘ 
• Wikipedia: Arab Peace Initiative⩘ 
• Wikipedia: The Iron Wall⩘ , 2006 documentary film about the establishment of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Historical perspective

• Israel Gaza war: History of the conflict explained⩘ , BBC News, Nov 15, 2023

Legal perspective

Palestine, Israel and International Law⩘ , written evidence, UK Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee Inquiry, 'The Israeli-Palestinian conflict', submitted by Dr Ralph Wilde, Professor of International Law, University College London (IPC0022), dated Dec 25, 2024, published Feb 18, 2025.

Dr Wilde's insightful paper covers twelve points, beginning with:

1. More than century-long denial of self-determination of, and war against, the Palestinian people, on the basis of racism.

The Palestinian people have been denied the exercise of their legal right to self-determination through the more-than century-long violent, colonial, racist effort to establish a nation-state exclusively for the Jewish people in the land of Mandatory Palestine.

When this began in earnest after the First World War, the Jewish population there was 11 per cent. Forcibly implementing Zionism in this demographic context has necessarily involved the extermination, or forced displacement, of some of the non-Jewish Palestinian population; the exercise of domination over, and subjugation, dispossession and immiseration of, remaining non-Jewish Palestinians; the emigration to that land of Jewish people, regardless of any direct personal link; and the denial of Palestinian refugees the right to return. All operating through a racist distinction privileging Jewish people over non-Jewish Palestinian people.

This has necessitated serious violations of all the fundamental rules of international law: the right of self-determination; the prohibitions of aggression, genocide, crimes against humanity, racial discrimination, apartheid, and torture; and the core protections of international humanitarian law.

Dr Wilde's paper goes on to cover the following points:

2. Palestinian self-determination under Article 22 of the League of Nations Covenant
3. Self-determination in international law after the Second World War—an additional right
4. Nakba in 1948—violation of self-determination, and creation of a regime involving an ongoing violation of this right, as well as racial discrimination and apartheid, and a denial of the right to return
5. 1967 Israeli capture of the Palestinian Gaza Strip and West Bank
6. Illegal racial domination—apartheid—from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea
7. Gaza Strip and West Bank as Palestinian territory—consequently, Israel's purported annexation, and attempted colonization, are illegal
8. Self-determination as a right to be self-governing, requiring the occupation to end immediately
9. The occupation as an illegal use of force in the law on the use of force
10. Legal right to resist vested in the Palestinian people
11. Illegal force does not become lawful in response to resistance to it
12. Israel cannot lawfully use force to control the Palestinian territory for security purposes/pending a peace agreement

Books

• Ungrounding: The Architecture of Genocide by Eyal Weizman
• When the World Sleeps: Stories, Words, and Wounds of Palestine by Francesca Albanese⩘ 
• Israel: What Went Wrong? by Omer Bartov⩘ 
• The Future Is Peace by Aziz Abu Sarah & Maoz Inon⩘ 
• The General's Son by Miko Peled⩘ 
• Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning by Peter Beinart⩘ 
• The Drone Eats with Me by Atef Abu Saif⩘ 
• Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future by Jason Stanley⩘ 
• Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics by Marc Lamont Hill & Mitchell Plitnick⩘ 
• Going Home by Raja Shehadeh⩘ 
• The Hundred Years' War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi⩘ 
• The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates⩘ 
• One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
• Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter⩘ 
• Palestinian Walks by Raja Shehadeh⩘ 
• What Does Israel Fear From Palestine? by Raja Shehadeh⩘ 
• Where the Line Is Drawn by Raja Shehadeh⩘ 

Films

• The Voice of Hind Rajab⩘ . Based on a devastating true event. "January 29, 2024. Red Crescent volunteers receive an emergency call. A 5-year old girl is trapped under fire in Gaza. While trying to keep her on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her. Her name was Hind Rajab."
  
  • 
    Photo credit: Rajab Family
  • Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania. Released Dec
  • See also: Related notes from early February 2025⩘ 
• From Ground Zero: Stories from Gaza⩘  is a powerful film, both heartbreaking and uplifting. "From Ground Zero, is a collection of revealing stories from 22 Palestinian filmmakers living through war, who capture their lives in Gaza amidst war. Using a blend of animation, documentary, and fiction, they create a powerful testament to the steadfastness of the human spirit. This film serves as a remarkable reflection of how art can thrive even in the darkest times, showcasing the enduring spirit and creativity that emerge amid ongoing devastation."
• Israelism⩘ , a film by Erin Axelman and Sam Eilertsen, is a thought-provoking documentary about young American Jews battling to redefine Judaism's relationship with Israel. "The indoctrination is so severe, it's almost hard to have a conversation about it. It's heartbreaking. It is heartbreaking. Our community right now has to grapple with our complicity."
  See also: Hollywood Star Hannah Einbinder Talks Zionism, Jewish Identity, and Palestinian Liberation⩘ , an episode of Beyond Israelism hosted by Simone Zimmerman, Oct 9, 2025.
• The heartbreaking story of Masafer Yatta⩘ . A powerful documentary that vividly tells an absolutely heartbreaking and infuriating story.

Additional notes

• Foundation for Middle East Peace⩘ . "The Foundation works to ensure a just, secure, and peaceful future for Palestinians and Israelis."
• Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)⩘ , a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. BDS upholds the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity.

A note about the timeline

Each entry in these ongoing reflections is introduced with the date the item was published, followed by the number of days since Hamas carried out its act of terrorism on October 7, 2023 and Israel retaliated with its full-scale war on Gaza. However, it would be reasonable to list alternate dates for the start of this ongoing war that, counting from October 7, 2023, would add between 16 and 141 years (adapted from the Israeli–Palestinian conflict⩘  article in Wikipedia).

Alternative timeline

• 2007 (add 16 years to the start of the war on Oct 7, 2023) - Israel tightened its blockade of the Gaza Strip and made official its policy of isolating it from the West Bank. Since then, Israel has framed its relationship with Gaza in terms of the laws of war rather than in terms of its status as an occupying power. In a July 2024 ruling, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rebuffed Israel's stance, determining that the Palestinian territories constitute one political unit and that Israel continues to illegally occupy the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The ICJ also determined that Israeli policies violate the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Since 2006, Hamas and Israel have fought several wars. Attacks by Hamas-led armed groups in October 2023 in Israel were followed by another war.[41] Israel's actions in Gaza since the start of the war have been described by international law experts, genocide scholars and human rights organizations as genocidal.
• 1967 (add 56 years) - Since the Six-Day War, Israel has been occupying the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, known collectively as the Palestinian territories. Two Palestinian uprisings against Israel and its occupation erupted in 1987 and 2000, the first and second intifadas respectively. Israel's occupation, which is now considered to be the longest military occupation in modern history, has seen it constructing illegal settlements there, creating a system of institutionalized discrimination against Palestinians under its occupation called Israeli apartheid. This discrimination includes Israel's denial of Palestinian refugees from their right of return and right to their lost properties. Israel has also drawn international condemnation for violating the human rights of the Palestinians.
• 1948 (add 75 years) - Eventually tensions led to the United Nations adopting a partition plan, triggering a civil war. During the ensuing 1948 Palestine war, more than half of the mandate's predominantly Palestinian Arab population fled or were expelled by Israeli forces. By the end of the war, Israel was established on most of the former mandate's territory, and the Gaza Strip and the West Bank were controlled by Egypt and Jordan respectively.
  
  • Per Wikipedia⩘ : "The Nakba ('the catastrophe') is the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Arabs by Zionists through their violent displacement and dispossession of land, property, and belongings, along with the destruction of their society and the suppression of their culture, identity, political rights, and national aspirations. The term is used to describe the events of the 1948 Palestine war, during which Zionists depopulated territories in Mandatory Palestine and declared the establishment of the State of Israel, as well as to describe Israel's ongoing persecution and displacement of Palestinians. As a whole, it covers the fracturing of Palestinian society and the longstanding rejection of the right of return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants."
• 1936 (add 87 years) - An Arab revolt erupted demanding independence and an end to British support for Zionism, which was suppressed by the British.
• 1918 (add 104 years) - Following British occupation of the formerly Ottoman region during World War I, Mandatory Palestine was established as a British mandate. Increasing Jewish immigration led to tensions between Jews and Arabs which grew into intercommunal conflict.
• 1917 (add 105 years) - The Zionist movement garnered the support of an imperial power in the 1917 Balfour Declaration issued by Britain, which promised to support the creation of a "Jewish homeland" in Palestine.
• 1882 (add 141 years) - The first arrival of Jewish settlers to Ottoman Palestine in 1882. The local Arab population increasingly began to oppose Zionism, primarily out of the fear of territorial displacement and dispossession.

See also: Before October 7th: Understanding the Long History of Israel's Assault on Gaza⩘  by Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV), Sep 27, 2024. IJV is "a grassroots organization grounded in Jewish tradition that opposes all forms of racism and advocates for justice and peace for all in Israel-Palestine".