During the past week there have been constant protests here in London against Israel's actions against the Palestinians... first at the Israeli embassy in Kensington and then today the national protest from Embankment to Westminster, ending at Trafalgar. I was happy that I was able to go to protests both on New Year's Eve and today. The political spirit and awareness of the British people is something that has quite frankly amazed me. Thousands from all different walks of life crowded the streets today to march in solidarity with the Palestinians. I view this as a success for the notion of peace... yet at the very time that we walked to Trafalgar... Israel had started its ground offensive in Gaza...
I'm sitting here talking with my ex-roomie, MT, who currently works for the Embassy of Cyprus in Israel. Something she said shocked me to my very core. As Commonwealth Youth leaders, we discussed the lack of the youth voice in the conflict. Why was there no young person standing up for the children whose homes have been torn apart, who have no access to food, medical supplies or clean water and whose very human rights are being violated? MT started telling me then that the soldiers in the IDF (Israeli Defense Force)... were our age or younger... 18, 19, 20. The youth were fighting the war. They are the ones responsible for flying the planes, firing the missiles and killing innocent Palestinian citizens. I am outraged as I sit here in shock and disbelief.
Isn't this our world to change? I had faith in young people that we would not be brainwashed by the structure, we would not be divided by our different religions or ethnicities... that we would create peace. Instead we are creating war. Where have our concepts of third culture and global citizenship gone? Or am I just an anomaly among youth... whereas most have already fallen victim to structural violence that reflect national, ethnic, and political hatreds of a generation gone past?
I dream of the youth taking a united stance. I dream of the day when Israeli youth would decide not to fight a war against Palestine. I dream of a day when Americans would decide not to pay taxes as long as their hard earned money was used to fund Israeli weaponry and tanks. Is Thoreau's "civil disobedience" still alive or does the power of an individual to make a difference no longer exist?
Above is the video from a young Israeli woman, Omer Goldman, daughter of the former Mossad chief (Israeli Intelligence) who was imprisoned twice for deciding not to join the army after high school. Can civil disobedience be our only viable option, since the international community has failed to act?
I sit here terrified for the Palestinians in Gaza... yet I am more terrified for the future of Israel, young Israelis and young Jews over the world. This continued incursion will only breathe more radicalism and exacerbate tensions in the Muslim world. War can never be the means to achieving peace... is civil disobedience our only viable option?
1 comment:
Asiya, somehow i have found myself reading through your posts...was looking up some info on google and somehow i saw a link to your blog....
I am so impressed by this... if i could give anything in return it would be to read through every other day. Thank you so much for sharing your views with the world and they will surely ignite everyone who reads through to re-evaluate and where possible re-think their own ways how they lead their lives. Change begins with the individual, and there is no way we can dream of changing the world without changing ourselves first.
Thank you so much Asiya.
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