Israel/Palestine

Wiesel did not shy away from denouncing what he saw as intransigent and extremist elements within Palestinian leadership and society, writing in 2001: “After seeing on television, during the Intifada, the faces of young Palestinians twisted with hate, it is more difficult than ever before for me to believe in the Palestinians’ will for peace. It is not that they want a smaller Israel; they want no Israel at all.”

He acknowledged the plight of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and emphasized his hope for a just end to the conflict. “I have seen their children in the Gaza refugee camps; their fate can leave none of us indifferent. It is imperative that we resolve this problem,” he observed. But he challenged arguments that the solution to this crisis lay in the immigration of millions of Palestinians to Israel.

“The Palestinians also insist on ‘the right of return’ for more than three million refugees,” he noted. “On this question, Israel is united in its refusal. It may be necessary to recall the history of this Palestinian tragedy. In 1947 Israel accepted the plan for the division of Palestine; the Arabs rejected it. In 1948, David Ben-Gurion reached out to what was to be the Palestinian state. Not only did the Arabs reject the proffered hand; they sent six armies to strangle the newly born Jewish state,” he wrote. “The solution of a mass return is unthinkable. To many Israelis, that would be tantamount to suicide, just as cutting Jerusalem from its roots would be spiritual suicide.”

“And yet,” Wiesel added, “Though all options appear to have been exhausted, peace remains our single common hope; violence and war have filled too many cemeteries on both sides. This cannot and must not go on. Most Israelis feel is I do: Palestinians must have the right to live freely and with dignity, without fear and without shame. It is incumbent upon the world and Israel to do everything to help them and to do so in ways that do not make them lose face. I am particularly concerned with the Israeli Arabs. They are citizens of Israel, and their civic rights must be protected at all costs.”

Wiesel repeated his hopes in a 2014 print advertisement denouncing Hamas for using children as human shields and called on the terror organization to stop the practice. “Palestinian parents want a hopeful future for their children, just like Israeli parents do. And both should be joining together in peace.”

“No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them”