Image: Latin Patriarchate 

Prospect magazine recently published two powerful essays from two different perspectives looking back on this year of darkness in the Middle East. One of them is written by Sami El-Youssef, Palestinian-British writer and critic and the other is written by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, an Israeli author and clinical psychologist. 

To read the essay by Sami El-Youssef, entitled: The Humiliation of Trying to Survive, click here. 

"Though their very existence, since 7th October, has been the target of an ugly war, though some have lost relatives and friends, their homes and livelihoods, though they have been reduced to living in tents and relying on humanitarian aid—when and if such aid is made available —to survive, they have been thoughtful, honest and brave enough to realise that it is not all Israel’s fault."

To read the essay by By Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, entitled: Fragments: When reality falls apart, click here.

"Pain can be blinding: you cannot see anything except your own suffering. Gazan pain is invisible to Israeli eyes. Israeli pain is invisible to Gazan eyes. Pro-Palestinians refuse to acknowledge or grieve the lives lost in Israel. Pro-Israelis refuse to grieve the loss of tens of thousands of civilian lives in Palestine."