On October 1, we launched our book, The Wall Between: What Jews and Palestinians Don’t Want to Know about Each Other, at the Charles Pachter Museum in Toronto. Guests included Jews, Palestinians, and others who are interested in overcoming the enmity between the two sides that for so long have been in conflict. There was music and poetry. There were words of support and encouragement from the audience as we—a Jew and a Palestinian—spoke about our plan to tour the book across Canada and the US in an attempt to break down barriers that usually prevent our two camps from humanizing each other.
And then, less than a week later, horrific violence broke out as Hamas launched a brutal attack on Israel and Israel responded with massive military force, cutting off access to power, water, fuel, supplies, and more for Palestinians in Gaza. As we prepared to set off for the US for some of our first tour stops, we watched as Jews and Palestinians in Canada imported the conflict, not through rockets and guns but with ever-increasingly violent rhetoric and absolute narratives that expunge the very existence of the other’s perspective and life experience.
