The Atlantic

I Don’t See a Better Way Out

I envy those who know exactly how Hamas can be stopped without any more killing, because I don’t.
Rockets are fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel over destroyed buildings following Israeli air strikes on Gaza City, central Gaza Strip, Thursday, October 19, 2023.
Source: Mohammed Dahman / AP

There are those who see a nonviolent way forward in Gaza right now: A cease-fire, an exchange of prisoners for hostages, a UN protectorate. I envy them, whatever clear answer they might have to how Israel should respond to the massacre of more than 1,400 Israelis and the kidnapping of more than 200 others by a fundamentalist terrorist organization that rules over and hides among an impoverished civilian population of 2 million people. I envy those who know exactly how Hamas can be stopped without any more killing, any more suffering, for any more people in Israel and Gaza.

Because I don’t.

I have dedicated much of my professional life to seeking peaceful change in this conflict, trying to listen to and understand Israelis and Palestinians and

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