Today, I would like to use my column to appeal to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, and to the leaders of Gaza. I would like to make a direct appeal to your consciences and your faiths, about the legacies you want to bequeath your own descendants. Because every nation of the world has watched, year after year, as the conflict between your peoples has continued to rage like harmattan fire, consuming unnumbered lives, dimming the future of countless of your citizens, feeding bitterness that seems to have no end to the youths of your countries. Negotiations have been attempted and they failed. Treaties have been signed and dumped. Truces have been called and abandoned. Yet, peace and normal life have remained elusive in the Middle East.
But, if you go back to the very roots of your history, you will notice that this conflict predicates on a tragic misunderstanding. The truth is that it was never the plan of Jacob to harm Esau, his brother. He never desired to steal what was not his. He was enticed, indeed forced by his mother Rebecca into an act he feared would bring him a curse. Jacob protested. He hesitated. He feared exposure. But his mother silenced him and insisted that if any curse came, it should fall on her. He obeyed her, not out of spite for his brother Esau, but out of filial obedience to a compelling mother. If this truth is acknowledged, then it cannot possibly be said that the quarrel between the descendants of Esau and Jacob was born of hatred. It was a mother’s premeditated mistake. And mistakes can be forgiven and the wounds healed.
The Scripture records what happened. Isaac, blind and preparing to bless his firstborn son, Esau, sent his son out to hunt for game with which he would prepare a meal for him so that he could eat and bless him before dying. Rebecca overheard him and devised her scheme. She instructed Jacob to fetch goats so she could prepare the meal and send him in disguise before Isaac. When Jacob hesitated, fearing he would be cursed if discovered, she dismissed his concern and said: “Let the curse fall on me.” She clothed him in Esau’s garments, disguised his arms with goat skins, and sent him to their father. The blessing was given, but the act was not Jacob’s own initiative. It was not his desire to rob his brother, but his mother’s desperate design. If Israelis and Palestinians today would see this truth, they would recognize that their animosity does not actually rest on divine decree but on human error. And if Esau himself could forgive his brother at the end of the day, then surely his descendants can as well do so.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Abbas and the leaders of Gaza, should consider what happened years later when Jacob returned to his homeland, dreading any encounter with his brother. He sent gifts ahead, bowed before Esau, and braced for vengeance. But instead of hatred, Esau ran to him with open hands, embraced him, fell upon his neck, and wept. What Rebecca divided, the brothers themselves repaired through forgiveness because, as Africans would be quick to point out, “blood is thicker than water”. Though they later went their separate ways, both became prosperous, both were blessed, and none needed to destroy the other in order to survive. If Esau and Jacob could reconcile after Esau’s dangerous betrayal, why should their descendants refuse to do so? Why should you, their leaders, still keep alive what the brothers themselves buried in tears of forgiveness?
Today, Israel stands as a nation far beyond what Jacob could have imagined. Its economy thrives. Its technology shapes the world. Its military power secures its borders. Its desert blossoms with life. Nations court her alliance, her investments and her innovation. Meanwhile, Palestine struggles under displacement, blockades, and despair. Its young-adults are raised in camps. Its homes and roads are destroyed and rebuilt only to be destroyed again. Its people carry a bitterness that robs them of hope in settlement. To Palestinians, Israel’s success feels like Esau’s stolen blessing lived out in modern form in their very eyes. But this needs not turn out this way. If indeed Jacob never intended to steal his brother’s covenant inheritance, if he was forced into the act, then this resentment is misplaced. Israel’s success was not the fruit of theft but of blessing. And Palestine need not remain in victimhood. It can rise, as Esau did, with dignity, with strength, and with a forgiving heart.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Abbas, leaders of Gaza, I ask you: will you allow the mistake one woman made thousands of years ago to consume your sons and daughters today? Will you let Rebecca’s choice in one tent be paid for in blood on your streets and in tears in your hospitals? History will not excuse it, and Heaven will not justify it. The responsibility is yours to end this chain. You claim Abraham as father, Isaac as patriarch, the land as holy. The Scripture is your heritage. You cannot ignore the truth written there: Jacob was not a thief by choice, Esau was not condemned by fate, and the quarrel ended in forgiveness. Why then should you insist on keeping alive what the brothers, your forefathers, ended with great understanding?
You carry the weight of leadership at a time your people are exhausted by conflict. Every rocket thrown, every bombing, every reprisal carries your fingerprints. Every child who grows up in hatred, every family that buries a loved one, every refugee without a home is part of your legacy. But imagine another legacy. Imagine that you are remembered as the leaders who dared to end the quarrel. Imagine that you are known not as men of war but as men of peace. Imagine the world honouring you, not for military victories, but for the courage to forgive, like it did to Nelson Mandela of South Africa. Imagine the story your grandchildren will tell: that Netanyahu, Abbas, and the leaders of Gaza looked back to Jacob and Esau, remembered their reconciliation, and chose to follow that path.
What then must be done? The first step is to sit together, not to argue over lines on a map, but to confront the truth of your shared story. Secure a roundtable where rabbis, imams, and priests begin by reading the story of Genesis, reminding you that the quarrel was healed by forgiveness. Let this be the moral foundation of your talks. Then move to practical steps. Agree to reform your education systems to teach children heritage, not hatred: that Jacob feared a curse, that Esau forgave, and that both prospered.
Begin joint projects in water, agriculture, and technology that would bind your peoples together in cooperation rather than division. Create a Truth and Reconciliation Forum where grievances can be aired, pain acknowledged, and forgiveness extended. Issue a joint declaration that the quarrel of Jacob and Esau is not to be inherited any longer, and that Rebecca’s mistake must not dictate your future.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, you lead a people who live with strength, prosperity and influence. Use that strength to uplift and not to crush. Use that influence to reconcile, not to isolate. President Abbas, you lead a people weary from struggle, hungry for dignity, and longing for peace. Channel their longing into hope, not vengeance. Leaders of Gaza, you command a people whose suffering has become a symbol of this conflict. Transform that suffering into a platform for reconciliation rather than a weapon for endless war. Together, you can end what Rebecca began. Together, you can honor Abraham and Isaac not with bloodshed but with peace in the land he cherished.
Do not imagine that peace will come from the sword. It will not come from rockets or airstrikes, from tunnels or walls, from treaties signed in fear and broken in anger. It will come when you embrace the courage of Jacob, who bowed in humility, and the generosity of Esau, who forgave with tears. The whole world is waiting for you to make that choice. Nations will support you, investments will follow, refugees will return with hope, and children will grow up without the poison of hatred. The choice is in your hands.
This is your moment. This is the hour when history watches you most closely. Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Abbas, leaders of Gaza, do not let the world remember you as those who perpetuated Rebecca’s mistake. Let the world remember you as those who broke the chain, who understood that Jacob never meant harm, who realized that the quarrel was not theirs to continue, and who chose forgiveness over vengeance. The blessing of Abraham is wide enough for both Israel and Palestine. The covenant is not a weapon to divide but a promise to bless. Let this be the generation that understood, forgave, and healed. The time has come to say: the quarrel is over, the wound is healed, the future is ours to protect.
Chief Sir Asinugo, PhD., M.A., KSC writes from the UK
