This has been a difficult few weeks. On October 7th, Hamas terrorists invaded Israeli settlements near Gaza and committed atrocities that we are still trying to process. My team from London was dispatched to Jerusalem within a few hours and we spent two weeks in Israel and the West Bank trying to convey the enormity of the terrible things we witnessed. Thank you to everyone who shared notes and concern about our situation. There were ongoing Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel to contend with; gunmen from Gaza were still roaming around the region when we arrived and for the first days that we were newsgathering; and the threat that the conflict could rapidly expand to Lebanon and elsewhere was ever present. With this particular story, the words we write are being scrutinized as never before, and from past trips, I learned that it is impossible to avoid using language that upsets someone. The terror that Israelis continue to feel from that Saturday morning, will reverberate for years, likely decades. In almost every interview I did with Israelis, they spoke about the inter-generational trauma left by the Holocaust. But the trauma that Palestinians feel because of decades of occupation (that’s what the UN calls it) along with the absence of a peace process for decades (and hope) is also profoundly ingrained. I’ve seen myself that Israeli settlers in the West Bank treat Palestinians as disposable. These two truths co-exist. Trying to navigate them as a journalist is fraught with challenges. I thought about posting some photos of the people we met but in the end, decided against it. Here are two scenics instead, that speak to what its like to travel across the region.
