Along IsraelIt’s an annoying hum that many people choose to ignore. This piercing, present and latent noise is getting stronger in some directions. mixed citieswhere are those Jews and Palestinians live together those who never leave their land. Both are citizens of the State of Israel. They both know that whispers will soon turn into screams. They are currently experiencing their most tragic test: 7 OctoberWhen Hamas attacked communities along Israel’s southern border, killing 1,200 people, and the Hebrew Army responded with its fiercest war against Gaza, which has already claimed more than 20,000 lives. Also his country’s darkest day, their ties got stronger. They have made it clear that from now on: there is no alternative is more important than peace, coexistence and common land. This is how they develop it with different initiatives solidarity Among Jews and Palestinians who gained new followers. The hum turns into speech prepared for dialogue.
More than ten years have passed since the Israeli journalist. Meron Rapaport created the political movement ‘A World for All’ Based on a series of meetings with Palestinian activists Avni el MeshniFrom Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem. “Now our ideas are being listened to more and more,” he tells El Periódico de Cataluña of the Prensa Ibérica group. “For two peoples, Jews and Palestinians, All of these lands are your homelandTherefore, this is not a border conflict, but a conflict between two peoples living on the same land,” explains Rapaport. Over the last decade, they have built a strong base of support that unites both peoples from all corners of Israel and even from within Israel itself. Occupied West Bank Although it enjoys particular popularity in mixed cities of Israel. They all think: “The basis of any solution is recognition of the rights of each “The living of these peoples in these lands and their loyalty to them,” he says.
Drawing on ‘A World for All’, although there is little room for debate in the spectacle of hatred, confrontation and revenge that unfolded on 7 October, Creation of “two states”But there is a close bond between them confederation According to the 1967 borders,” argues Rapoport. This disturbing political movement in recent weeks limit your public actions Establish privacy by holding conversations over Zoom, encouraging intimate meetings between Palestinian and Israeli members and people from both communities, and taking their suggestions to ambassadors and diplomats. “At the first meeting, held three days after October 7, there was a strong feeling that there was no alternative. to live together and that violence is not the answer and no solution can be found by force”, recalls the Israeli journalist.
last Castle
This is how they saw it from the movement ‘We Stand Together’ (Standing Together). During protests against the right-wing government’s judicial reform, they were among the few who took the opportunity to also condemn the military occupation of the West Bank. “What happened on October 7 was the cruelest and most terrible example of what happened. The cost of a policy of managing conflict And Ignore the Palestinian problem sees it as a central problem,” he condemned. Dani FilcActivist and professor at Ben Gurion University of the Negev. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already repeatedly demonstrated his intention to prolong the war, with the not-so-secret interest of avoiding liability at the end of the war.
Israeli society, still in shock, does not seem willing to do this make self-criticism. Therefore, these movements, born from the heart of coexistence in mixed Israeli cities, represent the last bastion of pacifism in these disputed lands. “On a logistical level, almost impossible neither Palestinians [de la Cisjordania ocupada] and the Israelis meet, and both societies, especially Israeli society, are filled with hatred, calls for revenge,” Rapaport concedes. very dark and difficult time There is little room for anyone who believes in cooperation and peace, and tolerance for such ideas,” adds the co-founder of ‘A World for All’.
“More necessary than ever”
This exceptional moment on both sides of the Green Line allowed each to reaffirm its position, even though there had already been months of violence and dispossession in the occupied West Bank before October 7. “A movement similar to ours Uniting Palestinians and IsraelisIt is more necessary than ever and it gave us the opportunity to reach people we could not reach in the past and gave momentum to the movement. echo It was something I didn’t have,” celebrates Filc. These people who dare to talk about living together with those who kill them are still a minority. “For many years, much of the Israeli Jewish community thought it was possible to somehow manage the conflict. tame, reducenot to solve it, but just to live with it,” Rapoport says.
“What happened on October 7 dealt a serious blow to this understanding.” we can live next to the conflict and they couldn’t solve the problem, but unfortunately many Israelis did. went to the other extreme and they confirm that if we cannot live with conflict, we must resolve it in a radical and violent way,” the journalist explains, referring to the numerous massacres of Israeli citizens and politicians and calls for ethnic cleansing. An incident occurred in the first weeks of the war. Announcement of the ban on demonstrations The State of Israel is also against him. Although it is not very crowded these days, protests have already started to take place. definitive ceasefire Among the leftist (and courageous) segments of Israeli society. one of them Haifaa quintessential mixed city with a 20% Palestinian population, was the most populous.
In order for these murmurs to turn into screams, Filc emphasizes the following: The need for “political change”The proposals of these solidarity movements are “translated into domestic policy terms”. “If not now, when?” Although they proceeded with conviction under the question, optimism He does not exaggerate his speeches. Rapaport clings to history. “In history, the end of such long-term conflicts was especially when the solution was based on balance, not on the balance of power. equal rights for all” he concludes. Undoubtedly, their voices form the basis of a change that both communities are unconsciously crying out for. His own survival depends on him.