I can’t bear it any more. I can’t hold back. I write as an old man from a Romanian-Jewish family, who wants safety for Jewish people, but also for Palestinians and all other oppressed peoples.

The truth is that two traumatised communities, the Israelis and the Palestinians, are slaughtering each other and that is totally insane. All justifications for slaughtering populations are total nonsense. As the community with the much stronger military, the Israelis have leapt to the top of the global insanity league table, eclipsing Putin’s Russia, Assad’s Syria, Yemen, etc. The slaughter of the Palestinians in Gaza will not make Israel safe. On the contrary, it is creating a whole new generation of traumatised Palestinians who will make all Israelis live in fear. Moreover, it is making the entire world Jewish population unsafe, provoking a wave of anti-semitism, while the whole situation is also provoking a wave of Islamophobia.

An additional mad twist is that the Israelis and Palestinians are closely related cousins. They are genetically closer to each other than either is to other neighbouring populations. Both groups trace their ancestry back to the ancient Canaanites who inhabited the region for millennia. Over time, they interacted with other populations, but retained a significant shared genetic base.

The only real solution is real peace, not two ‘independent’ states hating each other. Think of the reunification of Germany, where the former East Germany was strengthened, developed and incorporated. It means a single Israeli-Palestinian state, where all are equal in law and all are treated with respect as individuals (surely that is the real lesson of the Holocaust). It means a progressive state that especially looks after those communities that need it most (the Palestinians!), and a decentralised one, with mostly local self-governance. It means a programme of healing the individual traumas, including South African style ‘truth and reconciliation’ among other initiatives.

We need a ceasefire leading to real peace now. I call upon all who share my feelings to make this and similar statements go viral in a way nothing has before. I especially call on other Jewish people and Jewish leaders to be public about this (and most that I know agree.) Write to your friends, your political leaders and use whatever media you have access to.

Let us all come together to create real peace in Israel-Palestine, and let that be a lesson that real peace is possible for the rest of the world too. If the Israelis can do this, perhaps that will validate ancient claims to be ‘the chosen people’?

We are all one tribe, one humanity, and our destiny is to look after each other and the natural world. Coming together in real peace is necessary now, as the only basis on which we can solve the massive global environmental challenges that are becoming increasingly desperate.