The 60th anniversary of Gandhi’s death was commemorated by many last week. The occasion offered journalists and activists the opportunity to relate his peaceful teachings and wisdom to the events of today. As one writer pointed out, “the more you read about him, the more he impresses you as a leader who looked far ahead of his time.” In this particular instance, the writer was referring to Gandhi’s comments on the Zionist movement to establish Israel on Palestinian land. Here is what he said 70 years ago, in 1938:

“My sympathies are all with the Jews. They have been the untouchables of Christianity. The parallel between their treatment by Christians and the treatment of untouchables by Hindus is very close.

“But my sympathy does not blind me to the requirements of justice. The cry for the national home for the Jews does not make much appeal to me. The sanction for it is sought in the Bible and the tenacity with which the Jews have hankered after return to Palestine. Why should they not, like other peoples of the earth, make that country their home where they are born and where they earn their livelihood?

“Palestine belongs to Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French. It’s wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs. What is going on in Palestine today cannot be justified by any moral code of conduct. It would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine can be restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their national home. The nobler course would be to insist on a just treatment of the Jews wherever they are born and bred.”

What if the world had listened? Would we be seeing the electric blackouts, withholding of food and fuel, denial of humanitarian aide, and overall quarantine of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip? Would the West Bank be divided unequally by an illegal 400-mile barrier known internationally as the “Apartheid Wall”? Would the Palestinian rebels, seeing that their people’s death count is nearly four times higher than Israel’s since 2000, continue to engage in brutal acts of violence?

Some will say the point is moot and that all that really matters now is the future. But history plays a vital part in solving the unrest of this region. Empathy will be the tie that binds any true peace agreement between Israel and Palestine. And empathy cannot be felt unless the long history of oppression and misdeeds is laid bare.