During my postgraduate research at the University of Pennsylvania, I did an extensive study on the Israel-Palestine conflict and on civil society promoting peace. We as a team travelled to Israel, Palestine (West Bank) to study the on-ground situation and understand the conflict from different perspectives. Here is a piece not on the past of the conflict, but on the Ultimate Solution of how to achieve Peace. All views are personal.
If the “promised land of milk and honey” was not in the Middle East but somewhere in Europe or North America, there would have been high visibility to the conflict of Israel and Palestine. Most people in the world assume Israel and Palestine to be two adjacent countries fighting over border issues, to be another religious conflict of Islam. But little do they know that the struggle is for survival. For Jews, Arabs, Armenians, Christians, Israelis, Palestinians, and the list goes on. We are talking about waking up another day without the fear of being killed.
Who to blame?
We can go back in history as much as we want and start a never-ending blame game. Maybe Romans shouldn’t have waged war on Jews. Jews didn’t have to meet at the ‘Spring of Nations’ conference. The holocaust shouldn’t have happened. Palestinians should have stayed in their homes. Who to blame? The State of Israel or the landless Palestine? The extremists in Gaza? The players who joined the power dynamics transforming a bi-lateral issue into a multilateral issue? Or the rest of the world watching these nations fire rockets at each other instead of ushering peace through dialogue?
Or we could divulge into the most important question of what next. Millions of lives are at stake. What the United Nations or the rest of the world has been doing is trying to put band-aids on bullet holes. We need real dialogue. We need bigger voices to ask the bigger questions. It is not just enough to ask if enough food and electricity is being supplied to Gaza. It is important to ask why Gaza remains seized. It is important to ask why this land does not have a constitution. It is important to ask what is safeguarding the rights of minorities living in both the State of Israel and Occupied territories of West Bank and Gaza. The United Nations must intervene not just to broker a ceasefire, but to find a pathway to a permanent solution in establishing peace and a constructive plan for post-conflict reconstruction.
Peace, Not War
Don’t they deserve a life without fear? There are heavy human rights violations in both regions. Some people do not receive any form of citizenship. Civil Society has been playing a major role in de-escalating the tensions between various communities. There are non-profit organisations promoting coexistence and dialogue by fostering a sense of shared society. There are human rights organisations helping people navigate around the checkpoints that divide Israel and Palestine. However, that is not enough. The pain of losing our dear ones is what makes us realize that our inhumane brutal wars are not worth it. My interactions with these bereaved yet strong families is a constant reminder of the devastating cost of war and the pressing need to why we need dialogue, dialogue, and dialogue, till we achieve peace. Not war.
Peace is often assumed to be the opposite of war. Not always right. When we are not in a state of war, we need not be in a state of peace. Between the phase of no-war and peace, we got to do some real work to achieve the latter. The Institute for Economics and Peace came up with this interesting term “Positive Peace”, the peace which creates an optimal environment for human potential to flourish. Positive Peace makes it easier for businesses to sell, entrepreneurs and scientists to innovate, individuals to produce, and governments to effectively regulate.
Ultimate Solution
People on both sides faced war. They still face war every day not knowing what is going to happen to them and their children. One common emotion dominates people living here. It is fear. Fear of being kicked out of their homes. Fear of being annihilated because of their race. Fear of being political pawns. Fear of losing loved ones. When the fear is deeply rooted among communities, a one-state solution can never be an answer. The solution has to be a two-state solution that requires fair borders, that needs communities to be displaced across borders, that involves continuous dialogues, and that is funded with money and resources. People are attached to the land as a whole. We need a loose-confederation between both the states and non-rigid borders for trade and commerce. Most importantly, we need efficient leaders from both sides to engage in a dialogue to achieve a solution.
It might sound all ideal but isn’t that actually what we are striving for? It isn’t easy fostering peace between communities. But it is worth every single second and sweat spent in preventing bloodshed. War is never a solution. Diplomacy is. The beauty in the art of diplomacy is bringing both the parties onto one table for dialogue and understanding ‘why’ they want ‘what’ they want. War happens only when words fail. Let’s battle with brains and not blood. Peace and only peace is the ultimate goal.
I end this piece with what most of my friends ask me – “how are civilians in Israel-Palestine?”. I see people who lost their loved ones in bombings. I see the very same people who are converting bombshells to grow plants and promote peace. I see the very same people advocating for peace as they know the price they paid. I see the very same people standing unbroken despite the trauma. What more can I say about the strong and beautiful people living here?
They deserve peace.
Vineesha Badabhagni 
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