Israel needs a John Hume, whose foundational thesis of ‘equality, justice, peace’ becomes more relevant and urgent
Nelofer Pazira-Fisk, Belfast Telegraph, August 2, 2025
It’s been five years since John Hume’s death, and more then twenty-five years since the signing of the Good-Friday Agreement that brought stability and peace to the Island of Ireland.
It should’ve been an example for the world to follow in settling conflicts. And indeed, John Hume saw it as a model for the Middle East. But sadly, as the devastating war is raging across Gaza, and Western governments are unable to restrain the Israeli war machine and Hamas continue to hold hostages, the prospect of a lasting peace is far off. Yet as the images of starving children, dead women and shattered lives move like phantoms in and out of our screens, John Hume’s foundational thesis of ‘equality, justice and peace’ becomes more relevant and urgent.
For decades, consecutive Israeli governments, influenced by religious extremists and settlers, have refused to engage in dialogue. Since the brutal attacks of October 7th by Hamas, the Netanyahu’s government has been promoting violence and war as the only means of survival. Force has always been Israel’s modus operandi, but it has found a new form of savagery in this latest war. Israeli ministers have openly called for the killing of all Gazans, and resettling the land. Netanyahu’s government and Hamas each call for the total destruction of the other.
But for all the power and might of the far-right, there are thousands of brave Jews inside and outside Israel who are calling for an end to violence. There are millions of people across the globe who are pleading for justice and equality for the Palestinians and a lasting peace in the region.
To Hume, the challenge was “not to find an instant package to solve the Irish problem but to create a framework that will facilitate a healing process.” Many people in Israel know that a “healing process” is part and parcel of a lasting peace. “Reconciliation” was the word Yonatan Zeigen used in his interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He is the son of Vivian Silver, a peace activist who was killed by Hamas on October 7.
“Like life, death should have a meaning. I hope her death will be part of some new movement, a change in our reality… peace as the only viable option…. She dedicated her life to equality, justice and peace,” he concluded. John Hume would have approved. His wasn’t a path easy or popular at a time when the warring sides were dominating the political landscape. They were feeding off each other, justifying violence.
Hume proved that physical and moral courage, coupled with the willingness to engage all sides in a conversation, were essential in his battle for peace. The battle had to be fought from within, consistently and without letting political bullying steer him off the course. Sacrificing his own party’s domestic power was the cost he had to pay – in his view a small but necessary sacrifice to win the larger war.
Israeli peace activists could find their counterpart in individuals like Mustafa Barghouti of the Palestinian National Initiative whose mandate, like John Hume’s Social Democratic Labour Party, is based on non-violence resistance. But that is not enough.
The other part of the battle is engaging willing partners outside Israel.
The Good Friday Agreement could have not been achieved without the intervention of the US wielding its political and economic support. But in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the United States, unfortunately, is an accomplice. It has in effect partnered with the most far-right government in Israel’s history, in suppressing Palestinian and Israeli voices who are criticizing Israeli government policies. It has threatened US residents and even citizens with punishment and deportation if they protest against the war in Gaza or the settlers’ terror attacks in the occupied West Bank.
European countries, as well as Canada, Australia and other nations who respect the international rule of law, have an obligation to not just talk about the two-state solution as an idea that needs to be “implemented”. They need to stop arming, supporting and enabling Israel now. Furthermore, they have a responsibility to help both Palestinians and Israelis who want peace to come together and form a real force for change.
Hume proved that an idea cannot be implemented unless there is a framework – reconciliation, recognition of each other as equal humans, and the need for justice. That an idea cannot be implemented unless there is a real-time plan and tangible steps to guarantee the rights of individuals regardless of their sectarian/religious or racial affiliation.
The dictators in the Middle East, who are US allies and are accommodating the genocide committed by Israel in Gaza to some extent, are fragile entities. The people in these countries long for justice, equality and peace.
Hume had astutely noted that “any society which has been the subject of periodic and sustained political violence is inherently unstable.” Neither Israel, nor the rest of the countries in the region can afford to continue living in perpetual chaos and violence. It’s time that they move to live in the future, the kind that Hume envisioned fifty years ago, and saw become a reality – built on a belief in justice and equality.
War is no path to peace, Fisk tells meeting
THE REFUSAL of the American and British governments to condemn Israel for its actions in Gaza convinced people that they were…
Northern Editor
Tue Jan 06 2009 – 00:00
THE REFUSAL of the American and British governments to condemn Israel for its actions in Gaza convinced people that they were not interested in justice and peace in the Middle East, journalist Robert Fisk told an audience in Derry last night.
The path to a Middle East settlement lay not in the “thunder of warfare, but in talks that recognise people’s rights”, Fisk said when delivering the first of this year’s Tip O’Neill peace lectures at the University of Ulster Magee campus. “Justice must be the kernel of any lasting peace, not the vested interests of superpowers, their satellite allies or fundamentalist enemies,” he said.
Fisk was invited to deliver the lecture by former SDLP leader and Nobel laureate John Hume.
Fisk, who is the London Independent Middle East correspondent, castigated the US and Britain, stating their refusal to condemn Israel’s actions “reconfirms in people’s minds that the superpowers are not interested in justice and peace in the Middle East.”
He was also scathing about the Western media, branding it cowardly in its determination not to upset the Western powers and Israel. He said journalists should be saying, “Why is a nuclear power shelling one-and-a-half million refugees?” “Yes, Hamas is firing these stupid rockets over the border with Israel, and the life of every Israeli is as precious as every other human being. But Israel itself broke the ceasefire last November. Twenty Israelis have been killed there in 10 years. Compare that to more than 370 Palestinians killed in the first six days of this Israeli bombardment.”
Fisk spoke about Israel’s “self-deluding claims that they are in a war to the bitter end” and Islamic militants’ “cynical use of deaths exacted by Israel to fuel their own popular support”.
“Hamas needs violence to emphasise the oppression of the Palestinians and relies on Israel to provide it. And so the cycle continues – rockets are fired into Israel, and Israel obliges.”