There's still hope...

This was sent to the Arava mailing list by a former student, who I do not know, have never and probably will never meet, but it speaks to me. I'm posting it without the author's name, because I actually don't have permission to share this, and I hope to avoid detection, but I wanted all of you to read it.

"I'm living in Be`er Sheva, in the Palestinian missile range, and I
came for a day to visit in the AIES in Ketura. During my stay here,
and during the conversations I had with both Israelis and
Palestinians I found, as expected, lots of anger and frustrations,
but I did come to realize some things.
I realized that we are going to win.
Why am I so sure? Because when missiles are falling near my home I
can still find it in my heart a place to feel compassion for my
Palestinian friends and their people. Because when they are worried
about their people in Gaza, they are still able in their hearts to
relate to me as their friend, and even invite me to stay with them
where it's safe. Because even in the darkest times, we have a group
here that manages to remember that even if there is an enemy - he is
still a human being.
I don't think that the conflict is about to be over soon, but for me,
every act like these I mentioned is a small victory. A victory to the
same voices that provides me with hope that better days will come.
Keep up the faith my friends, because if we will, we are going to
conquer the hatred and win the fight for a peaceful co-existence.

Peace and Love,
*****"