Column: New Jewish Narrative
July 6, 2026
Q. Last week Israel marked a thousand days to the war that began October 7, 2023--its longest war. There are around 2,000 dead Israelis, soldiers and civilians. And yes, the country is more stressed and isolated than it has ever been. What else have the past 1,000 days taught us?
A. I was struck by the cartoon in Yediot Aharonot on July 2. An IDF soldier trudging along a red road as he crossed the “1000” mark. In the air, drones. To his left, green fields. To his right, filling fully half the frame, blackened, flattened buildings like we see in Gaza. Down that blood-red road, there is no end in sight.
Q. So much for Netanyahu’s promised ‘total victory’ . . .
A. That is one meaningless concept that has informed the past thousand days. Currently, Israel’s wars on three fronts--Iran, Lebanon and Gaza--suggest more the ever-patient ‘open conflict’ concept that has characterized Arab and Iranian attitudes toward Israel for decades. Endless war. Some commentators even suggest that this concept serves PM Netanyahu’s political purposes.
Israeli deterrence has failed. ‘Muqawama’, resistance, as embodied in the Iran-led primarily Shiite ‘axis of resistance’, has sustained heavy losses but has withstood all of Israel’s blows.
That Netanyahu could promise total victory in this conflict is a clear indicator that he does not understand the nature of either the conflict or of the Islamist enemy. Worse, the intelligence establishment appears also not to understand. All this, in a thousand days. All this, without an end in sight.
Yossi Alpher's Death Tango: Ariel Sharon, Yasser Arafat and Three Fateful Days in March
"Anyone seeking to understand how Israelis and Palestinians traded the hopes of Oslo for something approaching hopelessness is well-advised to read this book. With penetrating analysis and elegant prose, Yossi Alpher has told the gripping story of three days nearly two decades ago that continue to haunt would-be peacemakers. Yossi’s faithful readers will not be disappointed with his latest effort."
Ambassador Frederic C. Hof, Bard College
"A riveting account of the crucial days in March 2002 when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was profoundly changed for the worse. The peace camp has never recovered from those wrenching days, and we live now without any hope of a just settlement. Alpher is a highly respected expert who has spent decades studying this conflict from both sides."
Bruce Riedel, Director of the Brookings Intelligence Project
"A critical assessment of a key period in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict never before presented in such detail. The best and most capable players at the executive and political levels proved unable to forge any resolution, final or partial, because both parties continued to maintain an insurmountable gulf between themselves. This is a MUST read for anyone daring to tackle the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and of Israel-Arab relations in general."
Efraim Halevy, former Head of the Mossad (1998-2002)
Oraib Khader and Avi Bar-On are youngish Palestinian and Israeli bachelors with security experience, readiness to do business with one another, a shared fondness for women and money, and total cynicism about the lack of peace between their two peoples.
Oraib and Avi can never become true friends: the cultural and political gaps are too wide. But as they confront a failed peace process and a bleak peace future, they readily become business partners: shady business that exploits a lot of naïve international peace aspirations.
As Oraib sums up on a visit to Sarpsborg, Norway, where the ultimately-failed Oslo peace talks were held, “There is a lesson here for those who still doggedly and hopelessly pursue a two-state solution in the Middle East. Get smart. Get out of the Israeli-Palestinian peace business. Step back and let the Jews and Arabs screw one another while making money.”