The last
two weeks I have spent more time in Israel than in Palestine. I have had the
same idea in mind, wanting to hear the voices of normal people in Israel, to
understand the sentiments in the Israeli society. Sitting at a hotel in
Tiberias, Lake Galilee, the hotel manager tells me “I do not think the leaders
of this government are ready for peace. It is not in their interests.”
In Israel
there is no homogenous group of people. President Peres for example, was born
in what is now Belarus (then Poland), his family was Jewish, and they spoke
Russian at home. The taxi driver, taking me from Tiberias toNazareth is an
Israeli Arab and a Muslim. “What you will see is that we are worse off than the
Palestinians actually. This is the new Nazareth there, up on the hill, and this
is our land, but we live down here in Khana. We were the first to be occupied, because
at first they came here to the Galilee, Tiberias, Haifa, Acra and Nazareth.”
Being an
Arab Israeli, I ask him if he has any Jewish friends, thinking that perhaps it
is easier to interact and understand one another here, where there is no wall
separating the two people. However the answer I receive is a testament to the
contrary. “We meet Jewish, we have to in
our work. But to be friends that’s bullshit. In Israel without Jewish you can’t
work, without Arab you can’t work. It is only one country that is still
occupied, all the other are free countries. It is only one country, the
Palestinians that are still suffering.
Before the politicians, such as Prime Minister Nethanyau and President Peres, said
the Palestinians were not ready for peace, then Hamas was elected and they
refused to recognize the government. It does not matter if it is Hamas or PLO,
they will always find an excuse not to have peace.”
“It is
difficult with this government. For sure we need a Palestinians state, if the
government is ready, we could be living side by side and that’s it. Of course I
would rather live in Palestine. Here we pay a lot of money here, everything is
very expensive, and in particular it is very difficult to build houses. To get
a license for a house, they will never give it to you here, they make you crazy,
and you need to pay a lot of money to apply for one. But it is easy for the
Israelis who are Jewish to get a license. Why do the people who are Jewish from
all around the world have the right to come here, and they give them half price
on houses and land. We are equally consumers, we are Israeli, why do you take
our land. Why do we not have the same rights? If they do not treat us equally,
how can we believe they want peace?”
Before once
again entering the West Bank, I was in a taxi with an Israeli, Jewish taxi
driver. As I ask him to drive me to the Checkpoint 300, I thought I would have a second try, so I
asked again if he had any Muslim friends. “No, I cannot, it is not accepted in
our society, the leaders are not interested in those who want peace. We are
taught that Palestinians do not want peace, they are only making trouble. We
should give them their own state, so we can be left alone without their
violence. It is not safe, that is why our leaders say they cannot work for
peace, they are waging a war. Do you want to know what I think? It does not
matter who is right or wrong, we all have a right to exist, and we need to be
friends.”
He had not
seen or heard President Peres call for peace, and when I asked if he could not
speak up and change the world, as his President asked him to, he said: “The
leaders may pretend to want peace, but we are profiting from the war, they have
built their careers on conflict, what would they do if there were peace? They
meet each other, but forget to listen to the normal people, like me.”
If you take
the time to watch President Peres authentic movie, you will see him meeting
with the U.S. President Obama, The British Queen Elizabeth II, as well as movie
stars and famous football teams. If all of these people are a testament to his
long career of peace making, why is there more internationals than Palestinian
included in the movie? And why are the voices I am hearing from his citizens,
not aware of his long time efforts for peace?
I do believe the message is good we should seek peace, we need peace among the people. "share peace, speak up and change the world."
No comments:
Post a Comment