Pathway to Peace

Sobering reality

Your ‘‘Gaza Special: Pathway to Peace’’ (The Age, 29/1) is thoughtful, constructive and at the same time sobering. It’s clear that no pathway to peace will be found unless the major players engage in good faith, commit to truth-telling, and put the human rights of all at the heart of negotiations. The whole process will take time, but cannot begin to happen without a ceasefire being agreed to and hostages being released. One can only hope that reports of an agreement being reached (‘‘Negotiators near hostage, ceasefire deal’’, 29/1) are reliable. The well of pain is overflowing.

Tom Knowles, Parkville

Path to peace

Indeed ‘‘On October 7, a different realisation struck many Israelis in a tragic way’’ (‘‘The two state solution has failed. A true democracy is the Middle East’s only hope’’, 29/1) – the realisation that even peace-loving Israelis living in the southern kibbutzim, who took part in assisting Palestinians and strived for coexistence, were not immune from the barbarity of Hamas.

Indeed the atrocities of October 7 have shown Israelis that a peaceful two-state solution and security for both Israelis and Palestinians has become a far-off dream. Yet the blueprint proposed by Sarah Leah Whitson makes no mention of dismantling Hamas, the terrorist organisation that rules Gaza and has vowed to repeat these actions over and over until Israel is annihilated. The author rather denounces Israel and the ‘‘pro-Israel lobbying groups’’ as the hurdle to peace. Yet we know that Hamas has no interest in peace.

Keren Zelwer, St Kilda East