Most people who know me and/or have read my blog know how I feel about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. With what has been going on in Gaza, I've been thinking a lot more about the situation over there. It is all very sad to me because I've been there. I've met Israelis, I've met Palestinians and I can see and understand both sides of the conflict. Sometimes I wonder if peace is even possible when so many wrongs have been perpetrated by both sides. However, I tend to lean towards the Palestinian side. I guess its because I am the kind of person who supports the underdog. I'm the kind of person who watches a fictional movie and when someone has mean pranks played on them say, "How horrible! That's so mean!" And that isn't even real! I once had someone say that I am a champion for the underdog, and I think that is true. But, that is not the point of my entry tonight.
A few of my fellow BYU-JC students got together tonight to watch a documentary called Promises. It is a documentary of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as shown from the eyes of children, both Israelis and Palestinians. There was a rather diverse group of kids, from Palestinian extremists to Jewish extremists, and then some in between. I think it showed the broad spectrum of the conflict. There are so many people in this world who believe in stereotypes. In this case, the Israelis are the good guys and the Palestinians are the bad guys. What they don't see is that there are Israelis who are good guys and Israelis who are bad guys just as there are Palestinians who are good guys and Palestinians who are bad guys.
After the documentary, we had a discussion. There were a couple people there who haven't been to Jerusalem. They didn't say much so I'm not sure how their views differed, but talking with my fellow JC-ers, I realized how much the experience of living there changed my perception. My views are very different from the majority of the students at BYU, or even from the majority of Americans and I think that is because I have a perspective that you can only get from living there. However, you can come very close through this documentary.
Is there hope for peace? I think there is, but only, as several of the kids pointed out in the documentary, if Israelis and Palestinians get together and have dialog. Without that interaction, there is no hope for peace because neither side will ever be able to understand the other.
Anyway, I found a song about Gaza that I really like. Check it out on youtube if you like.
It was written by an American named Michael Heart, who manages to give voice to a people who really have no voice in the West.
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