Photo Gallery Understanding Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem. "Netanyahu's government has put Israel to sleep, giving the nation the illusion that everything is just fine the way it is," says Israeli historian Tom Segev. "Most Israelis no longer believe in the peace process. They have come to terms with the way things are now."
A Palestinian farmer works on his land next to the Israeli security fence separating the Israeli and Palestinian sides of the West Bank town of Qalqilya: Calm has descended on Israel. Rocket attacks from Gaza Strip have dwindled, there have been almost no Palestinian terrorist attacks from the West Bank, and the weapons have been silent on the Lebanese border.
A Palestinian man rides his donkey cart in front of the wall. Israeli historian Tom Segev says he is troubled by his fellow Israelis' "indifference towards Palestinians," and their inability to put themselves in the Palestinians' shoes. "No once is interested in what happens in the occupied territories anymore. We suppress it. And we do so despite the fact that everyone knows that the ongoing occupation is ultimately a suicidal policy that destroys the future."
Israeli historian Tom Segev at a public reading. "The fear of a new Holocaust," he says, "has been manipulated, but the fear of annihilation is real. Anyone who doesn't understand that doesn't understand Israel."
Palestinian Islamist insurgents in Gaza Strip on August 14: Meridor says the "final borders are open for discussion," but if the territorial offer made by the Israelis doesn't turn out to be what the Palestinians expect, then too bad. "People don't want to recognize the realities. They hate the reality if it doesn't meet with their expectations."
Segev believes Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, currently serving a life prison sentence for three murders, could hold hope for future peace. "Well, even Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir were once terrorists and became prime ministers," he says. "Perhaps Baghouti has the potential to become a Palestinian Nelson Mandela."
