Avraham (Avrum) Burg: If we had a brave candidate after all
Avraham Burg imagines a speech by a brave prime minister calling for peace with the Palestinians, joining the international effort to rebuild Gaza, negotiations for the establishment of a Palestinian state, and identifying four forces fueling the conflict: militarism, ignorance, gaps, and hatred.
Avraham (Avrum) Burg publishes an opinion piece in Zman Yisrael, in which he imagines a speech by a brave Israeli prime minister in the Knesset, calling for a fundamental policy change. The described speech includes an acknowledgment of past mistakes, an apology to soldiers, bereaved families, and hostages, and presents a two-stage plan: joining the international effort to rebuild Gaza and inviting the Palestinian leadership and Arab states to negotiations for the establishment of a Palestinian state. Burg identifies four forces driving the cycle of bloodshed: militarism, ignorance, social gaps, and hatred, and proposes remedies for each, including the establishment of a civilian national security council, teaching Arabic from first grade, transferring resources from the war industry to education and health, and stricter enforcement against incitement. The article is written as a hopeful political speech, using emotional language and a call to break the 'wall of silence'.