By Mahmood Bakkash
With Palestine Awareness Week upon us, along with the recent publications regarding the U.S.-Israeli relationship, we are bound to witness an explosion in activist energy relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Pro-Israelis and pro-Palestinians from various ethnic and religious backgrounds can already be seen conversing or arguing across campus, often with arms waving and voices ““ and tensions ““ steadily rising. But there is a grim reality that implicitly defines the nature of this form of activism: useless repetition.
Both the gestures and displays carried out by the Students for Justice in Palestine and the measures seen from Bruins for Israel express solidarity with nothing more than a counterproductive status quo that is focused unwaveringly on irrelevant narratives and half-realities.
The shock-and-awe displays that are featured during Palestine Awareness Week do little more than alienate their observers. Moderate individuals are turned away by such exaggerated attempts at pathos, and those who are uninformed will not be receptive to such an aggressive approach to “awareness,” whether it is of the Palestinian or the Israeli narrative.
As students, it is our goal, if not our duty, to seek out objective, relevant and factual information to develop intelligent views and arguments. Attempts at evoking sympathy or solidarity, of which both organizations are guilty, promote a sort of passionate ignorance that only replicates the depressing lack of diplomatic innovation seen on the ground.
Students for Justice in Palestine has done nothing to break down the walls of negativity between the two “sides” of this issue, while Bruins for Israel is content to simply retaliate to any pro-Palestinian demonstrations with something that either misrepresents or ignores the views of the active pro-Palestinian student population.
The status quo remains the same with none the wiser, and the cycle continues. This cycle is one of uprising, followed by retaliation, followed by a tense silence. We see it in the Middle East, and we see it on campus, and it is equally destructive in both settings.
All groups who seek to promote peace, freedom and justice surely must realize that marginalization and dehumanization are the very instruments of war, oppression and injustice. But all that has been achieved on campus thus far is the construction of a mental barrier between those minds who seek lasting peace in the region.
Some attention, though, must be drawn to groups such as the Olive Tree Initiative and J Street U, which, regardless of their affiliation and methodology, are at least seeking a new approach to the conflict ““ one that may hopefully change the climate on campus for the better.
It is my opinion that efforts toward mutual understanding and non-status quo views are instruments of sound education, intelligent argumentation and critical thinking that may shape a new generation of student ““ if not political ““ leaders who may bring a long overdue peaceful resolution to the conflicts on campus and in the Middle East.
So long as we limit ourselves to pointing out problems and allocating blame, we are refusing to be a part of the solution, and that, in my mind, is the greatest injustice of all.
All this talk of refugees, land theft, terrorism, human rights violations, discrimination, civil unrest, death, demographics and democratic tendencies is depressingly fruitless so long as it is not placed in a framework that is geared toward peace and understanding.
Let us work together, not against each other. Let us discuss and understand, not separate and blame. Let us overcome our fears and misconceptions, and most importantly, let us be students, in the true sense of the word.
Bakkash is a fourth-year business economics student.