I was in Tyre, Lebanon, 10 miles from the Israeli border, chants heard in the distance. A crowd was getting closer. Tyre is one of the strongholds of Hezbollah, a paramilitary group and political party that is in control of Lebanon and openly calls for the destruction of Israel due to its occupation of Palestine. It’s a city of more than 100,000 people, draped in the yellow and green colors of Hezbollah, where murals of both Syrian leader Bashar Al Assad and fallen martyrs line the streets.
The chants grew louder and louder. My heart started to race, and sweat formed on our taxi driver’s face.
“We shouldn’t be here,” he said.
We quickly got out of sight and watched from an opening as the casket of a suicide bomber was paraded through the streets, followed by a procession of members from Hezbollah who chanted for the destruction of Israel and expressed their hatred of the United States.
It was here, last March, in one of the most anti-Semitic towns in the world where birthed my hope that a peaceful agreement between Palestinians and Israelis would come to fruition.
When I talked to a street vendor who, like most in this town, animatedly supported Hezbollah, he said, “All I want is peace.”
Here, in the depths of hatred and conflict, came the seeds of peace and prosperity. Surely, peace must be preferred over war. If an individual who lives in the cauldron of hatred can hope for peace, why not whole groups of individuals? Why not nations?
This week, we saw the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reach new heights. Both Israelis and Hamas, a paramilitary group in Gaza, fired rockets at each other, killing many. Though a ceasefire has now been reached, fighting will happen again if political leaders ignore the will of their people.
Despite the war, my hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians is reaffirmed. Reading comments on Twitter, both residents of Gaza and Israel sent hopes of peace.
“Arabs and Jews refuse to be enemies,” read one sign at an anti-war protest in Jerusalem.
For far too long, extremist politicians who ignore the will of their people have hijacked the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, leaving them to shoulder the burden of continued war. This conflict is not between Israelis and Palestinians; it is between citizens yearning for peace and politicians who stoke the embers of conflict because of political convenience.
Hezbollah and Hamas care not about the fate of their own people but about the ever-corrupting flow of money and power, using religion, violence and self-righteousness to blind Lebanese and Palestinians of their true motives. Hezbollah proclaims that following a strict interpretation of Islam is the path to freedom in Palestine, yet they can be regularly found at the trendiest Beirut nightclubs drunkenly buying bottles of Patron, outlawed in the Quran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will find that he has much more in common with the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah than he thinks. Netanyahu once depicted a political rival as a German SS officer, using his people’s historical suffering as a political weapon. An Orthodox Jewish settler soon assassinated the rival. Close analysis of Netanyahu’s speech shows continuous reference to the Holocaust as justification for his hawkish positions on Palestine, relying not on the merits of his arguments but on how much he can invoke fear into the hearts and minds of his citizens.
From Gaza to Tel Aviv, from the Hezbollah supporter in Tyre to the Israeli on Twitter, messages of peace ring throughout. My greatest hope is that the Arab Spring will plant itself in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where leaders are held accountable to the desires of their citizens.
The great shame in this conflict is that two religions that convey messages of love and peace are used to pit believer against believer, human against human. The things that unite these religions are far greater than the things that divide them, as much as the politicians on both sides of the conflict insist otherwise.
No doubt the conflict will escalate; no doubt blame will be cast to both Palestinians and Israelis. But the greater blame lies on the governments and politicians who use conflict and religious ideology as a tool for their own political security.
A ceasefire was signed between the two sides recently, but as we search for a greater peace, let us cement this peace by holding both governments accountable to the will of their respective peoples in an attempt to satisfy the universal condition of love and peace.
Justin Lynch, of Saratoga, N.Y., is in his senior year at the University of Maine, where he is majoring in economics and political science. He is the president of the University of Maine International Affairs Association. This piece first appeared in The Maine Campus.
The Arab Spring brought the Muslim Brotherhood to power in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization that seeks to establish Sharia Law in Egypt and anywhere else it has influence. The Muslim Brotherhood and it’s offshoots, Hamas and Al-Qaeda, seek the destruction of Israel and the death of all jews. The Arab Spring has been a disaster for the Middle East and north Africa. Sharia law is incompatible with democracy, freedom, and human rights. Sharia law takes away rights from women, Christians, gays, and other minorities. The Muslim Brotherhood promotes hatred, terrorism, and global jihad. I can say with certainty that this will end badly. If the author is truly interested in peace the first step would be to state clearly that Israel has the right to exist and the right to defend itself.
Israel absolutely has those rights…without question. But Israel could start acting like it wants peace and recognize there will be a two-state solution.
Justin, Your thoughts and ideas are wonderful but the truth is the terrorists groups do NOT want peace. They want to spread hate. With peace the terrorist groups, who stand for nothing except hate, become useless. All these groups want to do is kill Isarelis. They want to kill Jewish men, women and children. They do NOT want to live in peace with them. They want them all gone. That, of course, is not going to happen.
Great article. I am Jewish and have been living in Israel for 3 months. I am also heading to Egypt on Wednesday. The American media has skewed perception of this conflict in favor of Israel. To make a point, I have replaced the nouns in the post of Fishman56 to show that it goes both ways:
Colonialism brought the Zionists to power in Israel. The IDF is a terrorist organization that seeks to establish Jewish Law in Israel and anywhere else it has influence. Zionism and it’s offshoots, apartheid and genocide, seek the destruction of Palestine and the death of all Arabs. Zionism has been a disaster for the Middle East. Jewish law is incompatible with democracy, freedom, and human rights. Jewish law takes away rights from women, Christians, gays, and other minorities. The IDF promotes hatred, terrorism, and global militarism. I can say with certainty that this will end well. If the author is truly interested in peace the first step would be to state clearly that Palestine has the right to exist and the right to defend itself.
the difference is your nouns don’t make sence, and his does. The IDF is a peoples army, they don’t have a will to express, they (it) expresses the people’s view. And if you were really Jewish, and living in Israel, you would know that Israel is not based on Jewish law. Ou most likly are some Arab or Arab sympathizer who can only express his/her truth by lying. Lying about themselves and lying about he situation?
If you have never been to Israel, Gaza, or the West Bank the nouns do not make sense because your opinion has been entirely shaped by the media. The IDF expresses the will of Israel, which is Zionist and racist. Surveys have proven this. Not only am I living in Israel, but I am working in Israel. You, my friend, are terribly misinformed. When I went to get a work visa I was asked to produce a list of documents proving that I am Jewish. When I asked how I would get a work visa if I wasn’t Jewish, they said simply that I wouldn’t. It is required by law that you don’t work 4 Shabbats in a row, everything is required by law to close on Yom Kippur, etc. etc. I am a Jewish Palestinian sympathizer. Palestinians have no freedom of movement or otherwise, Gaza is an open air prison, and the West Bank is still being colonized as we speak.
You should go live in Gaza. Gaza is the new Palestinian state. Then you would be with the people you identify with. I would recommend that when you get to Gaza (or Egypt) don’t tell anyone there that you are Jewish or openly practice your religion. It might be harmful to your health. Good luck living under Sharia law. Some other useful hints…don’t wear a star of David, a kippa, tzitzit, or tefiliin. Also don’t eat matzah, matzah ball soup, Gifilte fish, or bagels with cream cheese and lox. You might give your identity away.
I think that you should go live in Gaza to see what it is like to be confined to a small corner of a state the size of New Jersey with outside forces controlling all movement of goods and people in and out, no functioning seaport, no functioning airport, and no bridge to the West Bank. Then try living in one of the most densely populated places in the world as one of the most advanced militaries on the planet, with the full support of the US, attacks with warships by sea, drones and warplanes by air, and soldiers and tanks by foot. Maybe you would pick up some compassion for human suffering or respect for the luxury of freedom. By the way, Gaza is not a state…
Gaza is a military outpost and proxy of Iran. Hamas is a terrorist organization and a threat to Israel and the free world. If you support Hamas you are a terrorist also.
First of all, I never said anything about supporting the actions of Hamas. Second of all, there are nearly two million people holed up in the Gaza Strip. Almost half of these are below the age of 14… Third of all… neither the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, or Palestine are accepted as a state so they do not have a military to have an outpost of.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_proper_by_population_density
No Gaza isn’t a state, it is a city. Perhaps you could persuade Hamas to stop lobbing bombs into Israel, and sending theire suicide bombers to Israel’s public transport vehicles.
Perhaps you could persuade Israel to stop settling the West Bank, stop occupying the Gaza Strip, and either acknowledge a Palestinian state or allow all of the displaced Palestinian refugees to become Israeli citizens. While you’re at it, convince the IDF to stop killing innocent women, children, and senior citizens and to stop destroying homes.
Perhaps Israel is too busy defending itself from the incoming terrorist attacks, and has been since their state was founded in 1948
You should do some research about the history of the conflict and the manner in which their state was founded and expanded before you go labeling all past and present Israeli violence self-defense and all past and present Palestinian violence terrorism…
I have.
I’ve taken notice that you are conspicuously absent from commenting on Dr Charles Krauthammer’s op ed. Could that be becuase he have a “voice of reason”?
True…Israel is not based on Hebrew law. But if I drive on Saturday, I get to have stones thrown at my car…as the police watch without doing a thing.
Where do you get off calling Tyre a “cauldron of hate?” I’ve been there too, and I found the people to be very warm and loving. This is the most trite, Orientalist BS I’ve read in a very long time.