A passionate conversation was sparked with young Israeli teenagers as they were challenged on their perspective on the conflict and future. Unfortunately, both the Israeli & Palestinian youth have been brought into a world with an ongoing conflict forcing both peoples to often see the other side as the enemy. Xenophobia usually stems from misinformation, negative experiences, or even a lack of positive experiences with another group. This is why it is so important to begin humanizing both sides, engaging with each other, and learning the other narrative/identity/experience/aspirations in order to have a more inclusive vision of what the future must look like.
Israelis who hate Arabs/Palestinains are a minority, but they very much so do exist. It is the responsibility of both peoples to also look within and to heal the elements of rejection that prevent or delay the unification of the Land and its inhabitants. The conversations had with Israelis who reject Palestinians are usually internal, but in this moment we were able to capture the conversation and upload it for all to understand how deep the trauma runs, and how much we can grow out of this reality if we begin to invest our energies in healing and building, rather than rejecting and attacking.
