Mahmud, one of my best friends, is an Arab-Israeli who I went to school with in Israel. He now lives in Boston, and I saw him the other day. We talked about this conflict, how we envision it easily developing into a military assault if nothing changes, how this happens every few years, and how painful and scary it is. This is my number one point about the middle east conflict. It causes so much damage- to buildings, to people, and to peoples minds. It's a lose-lose every time things boil over. It makes me so sad reading about innocent mothers and children getting slaughtered. And the violence only leads to more violence.
I can't just complain and offer no opinion, so I'll try and explain my thoughts.
Israel was given to the Jewish people by the mandate in 1948. It was in light of the Holocaust and WWII, when 6 million Jews were killed. But looking back at Jews over history, they have often been ostracized, forced to move, killed, exiled, and I don't know why. So in my opinion, giving the Jewish people a state was a very sensible thing to do, and to do it in a place they (we) hold valuable (because of Jerusalem) makes sense. It's a pity that it's one of the most sought land pieces in the world.
So since the Jews have been given Israel, there has been tension between them and the Palestinian people, who were living on the land pre-mandate.
And obviously, tensions rise and fall. And there are super radical people and people who just want to get along and people who just want safety. And while a lot of the time there isn't a massive problem with internal Israeli security, it as boils over far to frequently. So how do we move forwards?
I think the first thing to do is step back and see what both sides want, and we work forwards from there. From the Israeli perspective, they want a Jewish state. I also think this shows a reason they feel threatened- the birth rate is much higher in Arab-Israeli families than Jewish-Israeli families, meaning that in the future, maybe 20, maybe 50 years from now, there will be an Arab-Israeli majority and Jews will no longer have their Jewish state.
What to Palestinians want? That's a good question, and I'm not the best person to answer it, but I expect it's land, equality, and Jerusalem.
Because of this, I strongly believe that the only solution is a 2-state solution. This way, Jews get a Jewish state and Palestinians get equality, not having to live oppressed in a Jewish state. I also firmly believe that if the world decided to make Jerusalem an international holy city, kind of like the Vatican, it would really reduce violence because then nobody could claim ownership. Would this work? Who knows? But what I do know is that what is currently happening is not working.
We have to focus on the loss of life, the tragedy of war, the damages we all suffer. Instead, we look at the crazy perpetrators and their extreme perspectives. I am not a fan of Netanyahu, and with him in charge I don't see any real developments taking place. It's awful. But just because he's in charge doesn't mean nothing good will happen.
I worked at Ultimate Peace, a camp of Jewish and Arab Israelis, playing ultimate peace together, learning values and camaraderie. These children then take lessons back to their communities, and try and spread positive vibes. This is what we should do. We should be working on the ground, with people, children, to open their minds to what could happen if we all got along.
