Against a backdrop of terror attacks being perpetrated by Hamas, Israeli and Palestinian leaders are currently meeting in Washington DC for the first direct talks in almost two years. Yesterday, I was asked by a producer at the BBC World Service radio show “The World Today” to address Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She asked me to speak from the heart, sharing my thoughts on the current situation and letting them know what I thought needed to be done.

The text below is the “letter” I wrote to President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu, which I recorded and sent to my producer at the BBC last night. It aired shortly thereafter. This piece was written specifically for the BBC World Service radio show “The World Today“.

If you’d like to listen to the recording, go to this link and click the “Listen Now” link. Go to the 20:35 minute mark or so, ignore the fact that the presenter gets my first name wrong TWICE, and try to remember that I’m a writer and not a radio person.
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Dear President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu,

In the grand scheme of things, I am not important. I’m an Israeli, a writer, a wife… Right now, though, I speak to you as a mother – a mother whose greatest desire is simply to raise her son in an atmosphere that doesn’t breed hatred and fear.

Mr. Netanyahu, I am so, so tired of the actions of your government, which seemingly serve only to further isolate this country from the rest of the world. Trying to fix the situation with eloquent words doesn’t work. The problems don’t lie in the explanations, but rather in the actions themselves. Nobody believes that we are the victims anymore; they mock us for continuing to act as though we are. We cannot continue to say that we want peace when the actions we show the world are so clearly to the contrary. The occupation is eroding our collective moral compass.

Mr. Abbas, I don’t envy your position as leader of a fractured people without a country. That being said, when you and your colleagues continue to blame Israel for all of your problems, when it seems that you prefer not to take responsibility for the predicaments of the Palestinian people, it does nothing to build any trust on the Israeli side.

I do not pretend to understand all of the fine nuances of the security situation, nor do I entertain any illusions regarding the achievement of a solution. All I know is that the current situation is untenable. We need you to be strong leaders. We need you to make courageous, difficult, even painful decisions; decisions that will likely provoke outrage in certain sectors. Photo opportunities and joint press conferences are useless if nothing comes out of them.

When it comes down to it, I don’t have high hopes for this current round of direct negotiations. Experience has made me cynical, and neither of you seems terribly enthusiastic to be there. I dare you to surprise me and prove me wrong, if not for me, then at least for my son and his generation on both sides of the fence.

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