Letter: Systemic violence and the pacifist's dilemma

On November 4th 1995 a young man named Yigal Amir murdered Yitzak Rabin. He did this because Rabin was working on a peace accord with Yasser Arafat and Shimon Peres. The underlying sentiment that drove this young man to kill Rabin is the same one that drives Benjamin Netanyahu to continue to flame the fires of repression and discord with the West bank Fatah and Gaza Hamas movements. There are rumors that some of the attackers were speaking Russian and the Iranian connection is undisputed, but none of this could have occurred if it hadn’t been for the right wing warmongers creating division in Israeli and Palestinian society. Ultimately it is these instigators that have the blood of both Jews and Muslims on their hands. We need people who value pacifism to guide policy or there will never be peace, but know that pacifists are caught in a dilemma that requires non-pacifists to defend them.