[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]By: Petula Fernandes, University of Ottawa, Hasbara Fellow
In light of all tragic occurrences that the world has witnessed along the Gaza-Israel border this past summer, my May trip with Hasbara Fellowships made me reflect deeper on these events and compelled me to articulate my thoughts into this blog.
I am going to begin by clearly stating that I am pro-Israel and pro the Palestinian people. One of the many things I learned from my two and a half week stay in Israel is that the former statement does not have to contradict itself as I conversed with many local Israelis, both Jewish Israelis and Arab-Israelis, who advocated this position. I choose this as my stance because I strongly believe that both entities have the right to exist and no one group should have exclusive rights over the other.
However, I shall make a crucial distinction between the Palestinian people and their respective governments (Hamas, Fatah and the Palestinian National Authority). It is clear from the atrocious acts being committed from the Palestinians governments that they do not serve the best interests of their citizens nor represent them. On the contrary, the governments, specifically the Hamas leaders, inhumanely exploit their citizens through the use of human shields and indoctrinate them with hate rhetoric and terrorist tactics towards the Israeli state. In light of these disturbing circumstances that constitute the inescapable living reality of the Palestinian people in Gaza, I acknowledge their suffering at the hands of their own leadership and I deeply empathize with them. One of my biggest takeaways from my Hasbara trip was to not categorize the Palestinian people with their overarching government whose voice fills the media. Adopting the lens to not view the two entities collectively allowed me to differentiate between the aggressor and victim, the manipulator and the manipulated, which ultimately gave me a more holistic understanding of the Arab-Israeli conflict -a narrative that is not represented in the mainstream news outlets that bombards us.
Additionally, I also acknowledge that Israel not only deserves to exist but needs to exist, being the only Jewish state in the world which was created on the fundamental and sole purpose to serve as a safe haven for Jews from anti-Semitism. It immensely saddens me to see a land blessed with incredible history, culture and the focal point of the three Abrahamic religions, to be plagued with so much violence. Digging terror tunnels, firing rockets and burning up to 6000 acres of land is definitely not the route to solving this incredibly complex conflict. That being said, I need to highlight that is conflict is not black and white and neither a zero-sum game. Israel is not perfect but it goes beyond measures to protect its citizens (both Jewish-Israelis & Arab-Israelis) and actively strives to implement peace proposals for which it should be credited for.
The dream I would love to see fulfilled in my lifetime is to see a free and thriving Palestine, devoid of terror that coexists side by side with Israel. I know this IS possible because during my 17 days there, I saw Israelis and Palestinians working together, praying together, laughing together and simply living life together. I specific example that I fondly recall from my trip is our trip to Givat Haviva where I was served lunch by a Palestinian girl about my age. Givat Haviva is a Kibbutz that fosters an inclusive and socially cohesive environment in Israel by engaging divided communities through dialogue, shared activities and educational initiatives. It is a creation of the Hashomer Hatzair movement which dedicated to creating a shared future between Israelis and Palestinians.
These beautiful examples of coexistence are hardly ever, or never, presented in mainstream media. Therefore, the message that I want to put out is encouraging people to be informed global citizens. Let us educate ourselves better on this topic rather than being apathetic to this issue or forming one-sided opinions based on what the media feeds us. Let us generate effective dialogue, because that is what we need to do instead of throwing hate speech on either side. Let us create a better world for all. Let us be the generation that will be able to witness peace in this region. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
