Today, with Israeli gunships daily firing rockets into defenseless Palestinian towns, cities and refugee camps, it is difficult to accept the Passover narrative in its deepest implications. Most Jews will be silent about the helicopter gunships at Passover. Since the beginning of the most recent Palestinian uprising in November, Jewish organizations have placed full-page paid statements in newspapers around the country. They trumpet Israel's desire for peace, call for Jewish unity and castigate Palestinian terrorism and the deficiencies of Palestinian leadership. The call for Jewish unity is a caution against Jewish dissent and the dissent of others who see the Passover story as embodying their own struggle today.
War is war, and in the midst of war few rules of civility are left unbroken.
During these days of celebration I will remember my first Palestinian friend, Nyaela Ayed, who was murdered in Jerusalem in 1999. Nyaela was a health advocate and planner who studied in the United States and was known by all as a gentle and principled person. I last saw her in Jerusalem in 1998 and spent many hours speaking to her about her life and the future of her people. I also visited the land her family owned in Jerusalem that Jewish settlers coveted. These settlers were willing to pay large sums of money for a small piece of land that would then forever be removed from Naela's family and from her people.