Palestinian Speakers: Kids4Peace

Yesterday we went on a Tiyul to the Supreme Court, which was very fascinating! Afterwards, we went to look at and learn about the wall that separates the West Bank from the rest of Israel. We learned about the multiple Intifadas and suicide bombings that have occurred somewhat recently in Israel. Last night, we had three speakers from an organization called Kids4Peace come and talk with us.

One of the speakers was a Palestinian who was Muslim, and the other two were Jewish Israelis. They came to tell us about the organization that they are a part of, and their feelings about the Palestinian and Israeli conflict. What I found most interesting about these three speakers was that they were all fairly young. The oldest was the Palestinian guy in his 20s, and the two Israelis were around 15 and 16, which amazed me.

In their organization, they are working with Israelis, Palestinians, Muslims, Jews, Christians, etc, to promote peace, and to promote the two sides working together. Although the things that they are doing both inside and outside of this organization are quite interesting and impressive, I was a little bit disappointed with what they had to say. What bothered me the most was that they seemed uneducated. They didn't seem to have much knowledge of the actual conflict between Israel and Palestine, or what we were even fighting for. We asked them a series of questions about the conflict between the two religions and countries, the physical barrier that separates the two, a one-state vs. two-state solution, the government, and what they believe should be done to resolve these issues. All three of them basically had the same answer to these questions: peace. Peace would be an incredible thing to have, however, it doesn't just magically appear out of nowhere. There are many steps that would have to be taken in order to maintain peace between the two sides, and I think that is sometimes overlooked. Sure, we can say say that both sides should stop fighting in order to maintain peace, however, it is much more complicated than that. This issue is one that thousands of people have lost their lives over, and it won't be resolved so simply.

There was one point that they made that especially bothered me. They pretty much said that they don't think Zionism is important, and that they think it is more important to have one state for all races and religions, than to have a Jewish state. And this was coming from Israelis!! Even I, a person who is in Israel for their first time, believe that it is so incredibly important to have a Jewish state. Jews have been persecuted for thousands of years, and we deserve a safe place to come and live freely.