Part of our weekly schedule is something called Hevruta which is a 4 hour block of time in which we sit with our Israeli peers and discuss relevant topics and try to get the Jewish Israeli perspective on all of these issues (so far we've talked about things like water issues in the middle east, the struggles of minority populations here including Ethiopian, Haredim, and LGBT). I really love this group of people and tonight was one of the great examples why. We have such a diverse representation of ideals and morals just among the Americans, not to mention the Israelis. Some are more volatile, some are extreme pacifists, many are strongly moderate. And yet we are all able to talk openly and relatively calmly about very serious and emotional issues like tonight regarding the situation between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The best part was that it wasn't at all planned. We had a completely different lesson prepared for the evening, but when somebody mentioned the new articles regarding some recent violence in Gaza, the discussion started and there was no stopping it. Part of it is the lack of understanding among Americans of the real situation, so a large part of the conversation is us asking them clarification questions that may be really interesting and different from what we've heard in the media, but that complicate the issues more than I realized. We talked about what other methods could be used to avoid killing civilians, what the IDF does to prevent these injuries, would peaceful approaches work better than attacks, how to compromise between protecting yourself in the moment and finding a long term solution? Unfortunately it would be rather impossible for me to write about everything we talked about... but I will try to summarize the main points and the things I took away from it the most.
First, it is interesting to acknowledge the weighted media coverage that impacts the views of foreigners. When Israel is struck by rockets vs when Israel sends rockets. I feel that in the left wing/Democratic community it is almost becoming trendy to stand up for the underdog Palestinians, but they don't exactly understand what they are standing up for. The people in Hamas are not the same thing as the people, the civilians in Gaza. The people in the West Bank are a whole other issue, and the Arabs I work with every day are about as far removed from them as Jewish Israelis. I know that nobody is trying to speak up for Hamas, but Israel is doing more than anybody else in the world to help the citizens while protecting themselves from the enemy government. They are terrorists and they are the government. Israel tries to help, but they can barely get feet on the ground. The IDF sends water, gas, food, electricity at the same time they are fighting a war with the same territory. They warn the citizens of imminent attacks with specific locations using paper fliers, text messages, emails, etc. They don't want to listen and the solution to this problem can only begin when they are gone... The question is how to remove them from power. Hamas suppresses and tortures their people as much as Syria and many other countries in the region, but people around the world aren't quite aware of it. And when they criticize Israel I don't think it is fair because nobody but the people in this country can understand such a difficult situation. Imagine for a minute that a Hamas-like organization existed in New Jersey and sent even one explosive projectile towards New York. What would the American do? I don't even have to say it because the answer is so clear. Much less would they take hit upon hit and wait days or weeks before responding in a strategic and relatively soft manner.
There was so much more discussed, but I know I only have so much of your attention span. But I am very excited that I am learning so much first-hand about this misunderstood issue and I hope that when I come home I can help compensate for the spotty media coverage. I think that more world-wide understanding of the issue can have a huge impact the way things are currently by sending in foreign support to Gaza. After this conversation I think the first step is to improve the living situation of the civilians here and then to begin working on relations with Israel. But that means international/neutral groups who are willing to help, and help a lot. They need schools that will not brainwash the children, they need a consistent water and electric supply, they need hospitals, they need general education. I also feel that as an American I have a slightly stronger influence when it comes to spreading such information since Israelis are considered too biased to give non-partisan reports. I am really happy that I can still have an important role even once my time here is over.
Lots more posts to come :)
