Editor’s note: Here is the statement from former Knesset Member Uri Avnery, leader of the peace group, Gush Shalom.
The kidnapping and murder of three boys is a crime deserving all condemnation. No political cause can justify such an act, and among other things the perpetrators caused grave damage to the Palestinian people.
The three boys now join the very long and terrible list of victims, members of both peoples, who were killed in the cause of a bloody conflict, which has already lasted for more than a century.
Also and especially on this harsh and tragic moment, it must be said: Only the achievement of peace between enemies can end conflicts and put a stop to bloodshed.
It is a stormy moment, when inflammatory cries are made for revenge and the landing of a blow on the other side. It would be a grave mistake for the State of Israel to take such a route, which would lead only to bloodshed and more bloodshed, revenge and counter-revenge and counter-counter-revenge.
Only peace between Israelis and Palestinians, between the existing state of Israel and the state of Palestine, which will arise at its side, bears the hope that these three boys will be the last victims.