It's up to us to solve the Israel/Palestine conflict
February 11th 2009 07:50
Today I caught the daily in-depth report DW-TV (news from Berlin) had on the current elections in Israel and what they would mean for future Israeli-Palestinian relations. The report profiled the three leading candidates, but it also looked at what the youth think of the situation and it's this segment that I found most interesting.
The youth are disillusioned. They think the political parties merely recycle faces and ideas and they aren't optimistic that a change is on its way- at least not with the current generation in power. Our generation, I think, is about non-violent action; one of the girls who spoke said she had refused to do her military service in Gaza because she believes Israel is illegally occupying said land.
Gen Yers on both sides are reaching out to one another because as one boy put it "the adults have tried and they have failed". That quote is from a documentary I caught about 2 years ago that followed tow groups of children- one Palestinian and the other Israeli. These children would arrange meetings (with adults helping with the logistics) and they would... interact. Sometimes talking about the situation and what they would like to see happen, other times just talking about their day-to-day lives like all people do when getting to know each other. These meeting eventually came to an end but even so there was one friendship formed between two of the members. It was a modest start, but form little thing big things grow.
Perhaps by the time Gen Z are in power, peace will be a reality.
About a year ago I caught a story about a school that had Palestinian and Israeli students (from memory the school was in Israel). Here the classes were an ethnic blend and there was a focus on listening to the other side. The students weren't asked to adopt the view of the other- just to see things from the other's perspective. An exercise at creating empathy, I suspect the seeds of peaceful co-existence have indeed been planted.
Every generation has its trademark, perhaps we’ll be remembered as peaceful revolutionaries.
The youth are disillusioned. They think the political parties merely recycle faces and ideas and they aren't optimistic that a change is on its way- at least not with the current generation in power. Our generation, I think, is about non-violent action; one of the girls who spoke said she had refused to do her military service in Gaza because she believes Israel is illegally occupying said land.
Gen Yers on both sides are reaching out to one another because as one boy put it "the adults have tried and they have failed". That quote is from a documentary I caught about 2 years ago that followed tow groups of children- one Palestinian and the other Israeli. These children would arrange meetings (with adults helping with the logistics) and they would... interact. Sometimes talking about the situation and what they would like to see happen, other times just talking about their day-to-day lives like all people do when getting to know each other. These meeting eventually came to an end but even so there was one friendship formed between two of the members. It was a modest start, but form little thing big things grow.
Perhaps by the time Gen Z are in power, peace will be a reality.
About a year ago I caught a story about a school that had Palestinian and Israeli students (from memory the school was in Israel). Here the classes were an ethnic blend and there was a focus on listening to the other side. The students weren't asked to adopt the view of the other- just to see things from the other's perspective. An exercise at creating empathy, I suspect the seeds of peaceful co-existence have indeed been planted.
Every generation has its trademark, perhaps we’ll be remembered as peaceful revolutionaries.
| 62 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
Comment by Janet Collins
Acceptable Etiquette
The Social Critic
Janet Collins Blog
Now that would be great.....wouldn't it?
Comment by Wynona Lavota
Generation Y Life
Comment by Morgan Bell
Science News
Deep Pencil
Business News
Movie Train
Artist Quirk
Comment by Wynona Lavota
Generation Y Life
If they haven't been corrupted by the ways of the previous generations. But yes, I think a substanical number of us have said enough is enough.