I have been writing about your conflict for more than three decades.
 Invariably, I find myself delving into the same themes time and
 time and again. The nature of the conflict remains the same. You coexist,
 and short of self-inflicted catastrophe, you are destined to coexist until 
the end of time. You must now choose to live in harmony and peace, or in
self-consuming enmity and hate.

No Israeli or Palestinian child should ever die for a cause that defies
 reality and reason. Taking teens hostage and horrifically killing them in
 cold blood, or abducting a child and grisly burning him alive defies your
 religious beliefs and the basic tenets of your humanity.

Like beasts, the militant madmen among you creep in the shadows for their
 prey, to satisfy their lust for revenge and retribution. They disgrace you
 as a people and a nation, while poisoning the next generations with 
hostility and disdain, robbing them of their future and destroying the 
little hope left to live in harmony and peace.

A majority of you Israelis and Palestinians are crying out for peace, 
yearning still for that elusive day when you can retire to bed without
 fear and face tomorrow excited about what lies ahead. Every day that 
exacts blood and torments so many is a day when your graves are dug ever
 deeper, burying innocent children and any hope for a better future.

The gap between you grows ever wider, feeding the vicious cycle of death 
and destruction. Instead of reaching out compassionately, you obliterate 
the last traces of empathy toward one another, knowing that there is no
 place to go but together.

You, the so-called leaders, are the culprits behind this miserable state
 of being. Immersed in blind ideology or misguided religious dogmas and 
possessed by a messianic mission, you incite your people and fan the 
flames of acrimony and violence.

Shame on you Naftali Bennett, you are a zealous madman. You want to annex
 much of the West Bank and openly preach the invasion of Gaza. You proclaim 
that war with Hamas is inevitable and it’s preferable that we’re 
[the Israelis] the ones who initiate it?

You are a menace to the people of Israel whom you presumably wish to
 protect. It is alright that hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians die as 
long as you continue to amass fortunes and enjoy the opulence that life
 can offer.

And what about you, Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s misguided leader, you are a
 fanatic fool who refuses to see the light. You extolled the kidnapping of
 the three Israeli youth, you call for another Intifada and encourage
 ”the escalation of the resistance” only to watch thousands of
 Palestinians die as sacrificial lambs to satisfy your twisted ego and 
hollow religious convictions.

And Israel’s Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon, you have long since
 lost your moral bearings; unabashedly you advocate collective punishment
 of the Palestinians, proudly announcing: If terrorists find refuge
 among Palestinians, then Palestinians will pay the price.

Khaled Meshal, Hamas’s brazen political leader, you encourage more 
abduction of Israelis and with venom you ‘congratulate’ the abductors
 as if this is the recipe to be ‘[free] from the prisons of the 
occupation’. You invite more misery on so many innocent Palestinians who simply want to live a normal life devoid of constant anguish and pain.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, you cannot hide behind your tempered reaction to 
the abduction of the three Israeli teenagers and your expressions of 
sympathy to the family of the young Palestinian boy who was beaten and set 
on fire. You are now reaping the fruits of your relentless expansionism 
and blind ideological bent.

You have created this untenable situation between you and the Palestinians
 and largely contributed to the impasse and the hopelessness of ever
 reaching a peace agreement.

This is your plight, Israelis and Palestinians led by inept, self-centered 
leaders with no vision and no courage. Have you ever paused and asked the 
simple question: Where do we go from here? None of you Bennett, 
Haniyeh, Netanyahu, Meshal, and Abbas know what will be the fate of 
Israel and Palestine in five or ten years should you continue to pursue 
your bankrupt policy.

You, Israelis and Palestinian leaders and people, must come to terms with 
the harsh reality you refuse to face. You are stuck; there is no escape 
and no future without the other.

You radical Palestinians who seek the destruction of Israel will do so at
 your peril. Israel is here to stay and will never die alone. And you 
Israeli zealots who conspire to thwart the Palestinian aspiration for
 a state of their own will irreparably erode Israel as a Jewish state. 
Israel will become a garrison state, isolated and loathed by the community
 of nations.

Paradoxically, Netanyahu and Abbas, you can still change the current 
perilous path. If you truly desire to achieve peace based on a two-state
 solution, then prove it by rising to the call of the hour and reverse the 
tragedies of recent days into a triumph over the evil of extremism.

This is the time when you must stand tall together and proclaim your
 unshakable commitment to realize peace now, in our time. You have the 
moral responsibility to make the sacrifice of innocent Israeli and 
Palestinian children whose lives were cut short the catalyst for peace and
 not the cause of more violence and death.

Netanyahu, you can no longer use the potential fall of your coalition 
government as an excuse for making gratuitous concessions to the 
Palestinians. Do not listen to the hawks and invade Gaza time and again.

Once the calm is restored, you must muster the courage, dissolve your
 government and form a new coalition dedicated to the path of peace.

In spite of your past mistakes, you still possess the leadership qualities
 needed now to prevent the looming disaster. This could be your long 
career’s finest hour, or the hour of infamy and shame for failing to 
rise above the fray.

Abbas, you too must make the hard choice. Whereas your unity government is
 preferred for peace negotiations, you must demand that Hamas adhere to the 
rules of engagement and no longer permit Hamas to have it both ways.

You must insist that Hamas’s leaders forsake violence once and for all,
 or dump them to wallow in their own morass. They will pay dearly for 
betraying their fellow Palestinians in Gaza, who are despairing for a 
taste of freedom and a glimmer of hope.

You, Israelis and Palestinians of conscience, must now raise your voices 
and be heard loud and clear: enough is enough, no more bloodshed, no more
 waste of precious lives, no more tears and heart broken mothers and 
fathers.

The time has come for you to strive for peace as the continuation of 
conflict will never yield a winner but mutual death and destruction. There
 is no glory, no heroism, no dignity and no martyrdom in death, when peace
 is within your grasp.

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Center
for Global Affairs at NYU. He teaches courses on international negotiation and
Middle Eastern studies.