This is hidden brain.
I'm Shankar Vedantam.
Nearly a year ago, we ran an episode about one of the world's most intractable divides, the israeli palestinian conflict.
Since that story aired, a solution to the conflict seems ever more out of reach.
Israelis and Palestinians are closely following the case of an israeli soldier convicted of manslaughter in the death of a killer.
Seemed to back off from the idea.
Of a two state solution.
The Middle east conflict is a fight over history.
A Palestinian drove a truck into a crowd of israeli soldiers.
According to israeli police, at least four people are dead and 15.
This episode offers a perspective we don't often hear in news about the conflict, compassion for the other side.
I think that the two big elements that are lacking from the discourse on both sides is, one, a massive lack of hope, and two, this unbelievable lack of empathy.
This kind of empathy for your enemy is difficult and dangerous.
What was most hurtful for me, most painful, was nobody stood by me.
But this empathy can also be something else, powerful.
It can accomplish remarkable things.
It can change minds and bring down walls.
And I'm staring at this wall out the window of the bus at the Kalandia checkpoint.
And 6 million ghosts chase me as we drive through.
And I wonder if they will ever rest.