Lost in the coverage of the Middle East fighting are the large groups of people from all sides who want peace and have been working together for decades to achieve it. NYT: I’m a Trauma Surgeon in Israel. In My Hospital, We Are in This Together. “In the early hours of Thursday morning, I asked one of our best nurses, a Druze man from a village in the Golan Heights, for a cigarette. I allow myself one a year and this felt like the right moment. He rolled it for me and we stepped outside into the parking lot, together, to enjoy a moment of quiet. And peace.”

+ This Statement from Evan Fallenberg on Facebook is worth a read.

+ There’s increasing pressure for President Biden to do more to push for a ceasefire. But he’d have little impact on Hamas. And, short of cutting off weapons to Israel, there’s not a lot of evidence that Netanyahu cares what Biden says. Here’s some interesting analysis of why Bibi needs a strong Hamas in Gaza (no chance of peace is the point). Here’s the latest from the BBC.