Author: Brett Fujioka
The College’s DWA Department and Office for Religious and Spiritual Life hosted the Grassroots activist group One Voice, an organization collaborating between Palestinians and Israelis to help end conflict between the two feuding nations, on April 23. The event’s primary purpose was to describe the platform of One Voice and its aims and goals and to hold an open panel for questions and answers after their presentation. The speakers for the event were Malaka Samara of Palestine and Shani Gershon of Israel, who each described their own nation’s activities within the organization.
One Voice is an organization that hopes to resolve the conflicts between Palestine and Israel through a two-state deal. It touts the support of such celebrity figures as Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. Both Palestinians and Israelis within the organization are seeking a peaceful end to the conflict. “Seventy-six percent [of Israelis and Palestinians] see an agreement to a two-state solution,” one of the presenters said. However, a majority of people approached to support such a measure scoffed at the idea, believing that the opposing side would never agree to such a thing.
Samara and Gershon both told their personal stories after a brief video screening for One Voice. “There were times when there were daily terrorist attacks,” Gershon said, an Israeli originally from Canada. She also recounted holidays during her childhood that were interrupted by news of terrorist attacks in Israel. “[I used to] scan everyone to make sure that there [was] no one suspicious” whenever she entered a bus, she said. “Many of the peace organizations in Israel are left-wing . . . One Voice is not partisan,” she said. One Voice mobilizes itself through citizen’s negotiations and town hall meetings in the hope that their concerns will eventually pressure political leaders above.
Samara, who was visiting the United States for the first time, began her story by recalling when her brother was injured during a terrorist attack and had to be treated in Iran. “[The Israeli government] sentenced him to 10 years for nothing” upon his return due to suspicion that he departed the country to engage in terrorist activities, she said.
After Samara and Gershon told their stories, they opened a forum for questions and answers. One attendant asked a question regarding certain Arabic cartoons aired across Middle-Eastern countries depicting Jews as pigs. Several Occidental students objected to the validity of the question until both Gershon and Samara confirmed the existence of such offensive television programs.
Gershon admitted the terrorist attacks within her country created an intense hatred for Muslims and Palestinians, but working through One Voice exposed her to people from both sides of the conflict and inspired her to work jointly for the greater good. She still has some reservations on her prejudices, but hopes that someday through a two-state deal, such reactionary evils will no longer exist in the world.
Optimistically, Gershon hoped that Palestine and Israel would comparatively work with one another in the same way that Canada and the United States coexist.
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