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In a pair of opinion pieces published in the Jerusalem Post, Khalil El-Halabi, a man who says he has worked for 44 years at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), describes losing his home and breaking his arm during a recent evacuation from Gaza, and appeals for a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Writing from Gaza, El-Halabi recounts that after an evacuation order forced thousands of civilians to flee, he fell while trying to escape. "I am no longer young enough to run," he writes. "In the panic and chaos, I fell to the ground and broke my arm." He describes these as "the human consequences of a conflict that has inflicted unbearable suffering on innocent people on both sides," insisting they are "not abstract statistics."

Despite his losses, El-Halabi says he refuses to surrender to hatred or to believe that violence is inevitable. "My arm may be broken, and my home may lie in ruins, but my belief that peace is possible remains unbroken," he writes.

Coverage comparison

Both pieces appear in the Jerusalem Post under the author's byline. The first, published July 30, 2026, is framed as a personal appeal for peace and dialogue, centering on El-Halabi's direct experience of injury and displacement. The second, published August 6, 2026, is framed as an opinion piece calling for peace and leadership, with a broader reflection on the region's cycles of conflict.

Both articles carry the same core message: that military victories do not resolve the deeper wounds that fuel conflict, and that lasting security requires political courage and mutual recognition. The July piece emphasizes the author's personal loss and his direct appeal to US President Donald Trump, while the August piece expands the argument to include Lebanese families alongside Israeli and Palestinian ones, and questions "Where is the voice of wisdom?"

The tone in both articles is reflective and urgent, with the author using words such as "wisdom," "courage," "dignity," and "hope."

Key claims

  • The author has worked for 44 years at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
  • The author's home was destroyed and he broke his arm during an evacuation following an order for civilians to flee.
  • The author is calling for a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians that recognizes the humanity, dignity, and security of both peoples.
  • The author believes that military victories rarely resolve the deeper wounds that fuel conflict, and that lasting security cannot be built on force alone.
  • The author is advocating for leadership from Israeli, Palestinian, and Lebanese leaders to end wars and create conditions for peace.
  • The author makes a direct appeal to US President Donald Trump, expressing a desire to stand before him in the White House and speak openly and honestly.
  • The author believes in the importance of peace and dialogue, describing dialogue as a path preferable to destruction.
In his open letter to President Trump, El-Halabi writes that he looks forward to the opportunity to meet him, and that leaders who leave a mark on history are those "courageous enough to listen to the voices of the people, not only to the noise of politics." He also invokes the shared future of children on both sides: "Palestinian children and Israeli children deserve the same future: to wake up without fear, to sleep without the sound of war, and to grow up with hope instead of trauma."

The articles conclude with a call for leaders and the international community to "choose the path of dialogue over destruction, and the courage of peace over the continuation of war."