Op-comic: A Palestinian, an Israeli and a path to peace

November 29, 2024 by Miller Sanford

Recently, Aziz, I marked a year since the death of my parents. I lost them Oct 7. A few nights after they died I had a dream.

Maoz: In my dream that was you on the path to peace, wasn't it Aziz? You've been walking this road for a long time.

Aziz: When my brother, Tayseer, was killed by Israeli soldiers in the first intifada, he was 19. I was 10.

Aziz: For 8 years I wanted nothing but vengeance. As a Palestinian I had no citizenship. One day a siren went off in the city

Teacher: Today is the memorial for the Holocaust. Aziz: I realized as I allowed my anger to turn to hate I remained enslaved.

Aziz: This past year has been an unceasing nightmare. How can I stay on this path in the midst of so much tragedy?

Maoz: My parents died in their safe room, covered with mother's mandalas, symbols of dreams. I must stay on this dream path.

Aziz: I've worked in conflict resolution in 60+ countries. Everywhere I see lack of understanding, empathy, recognition.

Aziz: My father asked "did the Holocaust really happen?" Maoz: My friend asked "maybe your parents weren't killed by Hamas"

Maoz: Two weeks after my parents died, my friend Osama called me; his father had written a poem decades ago called "Revenge"

Aziz: A story from Israeli poet Amos Oz says if a building is on fire you have three options. Run, blame, try to put it out.

The world beyond this path is full of indifference and revenge. But we have tears to fight fire. We're part of the same tribe

Amy Kurzweil is a New Yorker cartoonist and the author of “Artificial: A Love Story.” Aziz Abu Sarah from Palestine and Maoz Inon from Israel are peace entrepreneurs and presidents of InterAct International. Poem by Taha Muhammad Ali is quoted with permission from “Hymns & Qualms: New & Selected Poems and Translations” by Peter Cole (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017); translated from the Arabic by Peter Cole, Yahya Hijazi and Gabriel Levin.

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