Nadia El-Nakla’s article resounds with clarity, compassion and love for humanity (My family are trapped in Gaza with only salty water to drink – we need a ceasefire to let aid in and people out, 18 October).
The phrase “We are that close”, used by her Palestinian father when discussing the faiths of Muslims and Jews, struck me. It took me directly to another distinguished Palestinian, Musa Alami, who used a similar phrase in conversation with Desmond Stewart in 1979, which he reported in his book The Palestinians: Victims of Expediency.
Stewart wrote: “When he was young, before the Balfour declaration inflated the ambitions of Zionists in Europe and New York, Arabs and Jews had been genuine friends. ‘We Muslims often had Jewish foster-brothers, and vice-versa. We were that close. My own foster-brother and I stayed on these terms as, side by side, we climbed the ladder of what was essentially a small-scale, provincial society. But the political demands of the Zionist leadership eventually prevented us from doing more than exchanging sad smiles, or perhaps a wink, as we passed at the law courts.’”
I confess to sitting in front of the TV series The Repair Shop and, with those seeking to hold on to something mangled or tattered that remains very dear to them, finding tears welling up. Nadia El-Nakla’s ceasefire call has a similar effect. I like to believe the tools are there, the skills are there – if only the correct repair shop is visited. I thank her for her compassion, steadfastness and honesty.
Allan Cameron
Barnstaple, Devon
• Two images encapsulate for me the horrors of the last two weeks in the Middle East: a young Palestinian man whose grief is visceral, looking at the covered bodies of more than a dozen family members; and a photograph of the Jewish parents of Magen Inon in the Guardian.
His beautiful, nuanced and heartbreaking tribute to them should be required reading for every politician invested in the current crisis (I lost my parents in the Hamas attack. My family want peace, not revenge for their deaths, 19 October).
Mary Foster
Oxton, Merseyside
• Magen Inon’s article is emblematic of the shared humanity among Jews and Palestinians. The situation is frightening for all involved, but these quietly spoken words represent the way out for all involved.
Anthony O’Neill
Glasgow
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