Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, October 2003, pages 15, 72

Jerusalem Journal

 

On Creating a Common Ground

 

By Samah Jabr

The latest round of hostilities, after 50 days of relative, uneasy calm in Palestine and Israel, aimed to extinguish the glimmer of hope still alive in the hearts of peace seekers on both sides. The lost Palestinian and Israeli lives were the victims sacrificed in order to attain that goal.

The few, on both sides, who sincerely and desperately look for signs of progress have sunk into an even deeper depression. Both sides feel equally defeated by the latest revival of our war. What went wrong? Did we not want peace badly enough? What is the starting point that would lead us out of this inferno?

My starting point is the hopeful belief that any sane human being would prefer to live in peace and prosperity rather than in a state of conflict and under the constant threat of violence. The same goes for us here in the Holy Land. I truly believe that there are enough people on both sides who want to come to an agreement and make peace. The issue is that those of us who agree on this concept diverge widely in our vision of how peace can be attained.

The construction of the Wall deep into Palestinian territories, the ongoing building activity in the settlements, the treatment of political prisoners as criminals, and expecting the Palestinians to call themselves terrorists and respect their enemy is definitely not the popular Palestinian concept of peace.

Nor should we underestimate the deeply rooted emotional barriers that obstruct our path to peace. One young Israeli woman was talking to me about cars recently. "I love German cars,"she said, "but I'm reluctant to buy them because of our issue with the Germans." This from a woman who has never lived in Germany, but who shares the collective memory of her people. Not only has she never experienced German oppression at first hand, but she is living half a century after the trauma itself. I mention this to emphasize the fact that for us Palestinians, the emotional barriers erected by the occupation are not one bit less suffocating than the physical barriers of walls and checkpoints that incarcerate us. Our traumas, which also began 50 years ago, are repetitive, yet their daily recurrence keeps them fresh. Our oppression is ongoing, and there is a river of blood that we must cross before talking about peace and reconciliation.

Even when we interact with the friendliest, left-wing, culturally sensitive Israelis, we are confronted with the unbearable manifestations of exploitation. This is what it feels like when peace-loving Israelis invite us to their houses that turn out to be ancestral Palestinian homes from which we, still living in the refugee camp, were evacuated; when they enjoy summers by their large swimming pools and we have no running water in our villages for days and weeks. I don't know whether such conditions also create some uneasiness to the Israelis in their interaction with the Palestinians; I can only say what I think and feel.

Nevertheless, there are enough brave people with the deep commitment to peace necessary to overcome emotional difficulties and cooperate with their Israeli counterparts, provided both sides find that common ground on which their shared humanity can act against inhuman practices.

To create this common ground we need a Palestinian-Israeli popular peace movement—one that will bring together ordinary people, trade unions, student councils, professional guilds and associations, and willing political groups to say, with one voice, stop the bloodshed, end the oppression.

For such a movement to be successful, we need to be specific; to identify a common denominator for peacemaking, instead of getting lost in all the differences that "peace-seeking" politicians try to mask over with ambiguities and generalities. We need to find the basic tenets upon which we can agree. Even though there might not be many points of agreement, and we might not catch the attention of the media, the specificity of our vision, with careful selection of the means for realizing it, will allow us to move slowly but surely out of our predicament, and will increase our chances of success.

The basis for such a movement must be a belief that we are human beings with equal rights and similar feelings. We should try to walk in each other's shoes when we judge how we react to each other. We should work together as equal partners, without one side dominating the other.

This movement should not be just another isolated peace event. Rather, it must be an initiative that, insofar as is possible, responds meaningfully to people's major concerns, instead of feeding well-meaning gestures to the international media. I can think of some projects to help impel the goodwill of Israelis to meet Palestinian demands—actions that would not harm Israelis, but would rather absolve them of moral shame.

For example, the movement can take practical steps to help Palestinians reach their places of worship, or visit their relatives in prison. We can have Israeli watch groups escort Palestinians and help ease the impossible conditions they encounter at the Ministry of Interior, the district coordination offices, the security checks at the airport and border crossings. The movement could form a crisis intervention committee that would intervene in emergencies to stop home demolitions, land confiscation and the bulldozing of farms, and monitor cases of harassment and other atrocities. We could organize lobbying campaigns against racist and discriminatory practices such as denying building permits, land ownership and citizenship. We could also conduct an educational campaign to tell people who we are and what we stand for, to ask them to endorse our vision and common values, and to invite people, from the mainstream and the fringes, to join our movement. We could mobilize massive local voices to call upon our politicians to stop the bloodshed.

As for the Israelis, I suggest that our popular movement support their refuseniks, and involve minority groups, the most disadvantaged, in our initiative. And I leave the door open for the Israelis to propose how we, the Palestinian public, can help alleviate their oppression in addressing their security concerns without harming ourselves or our cause.

It is imperative that our actions be real, effective, and go beyond handshaking. Talking to each other might help break the impasse, but we do not have to love each other to get along. Making peace is not about affection, admiration or socialization—it is about shared interests and compromise. Making peace is different from normalization—how can we normalize relations when we are living in abnormal conditions? And, certainly, making peace is not promoting coexistence within the confines of occupation.

Nowadays, except for news reports and name-calling on the part of the militaristic media, there is little discussion between Palestinians and Israelis, or even debate between people and politicians on either side.

Foreign supporters can easily bring Palestinian and Israeli activists to fabulously luxurious locations abroad to discuss peace. Luxury and foreign lands, however, do not make our efforts any easier, more effective or more genuine. The challenge is to send these activists back home with increased momentum, and to protect them from being defeated by violent events. Foreigners can support us, but they can never do the job for us; we must set our own priorities, act upon our initiative and vision, and sustain our momentum if there ever is to be a real and lasting change.

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