“When I was nine, I was still living in the West Bank. One day, just like any other day, I was walking home with my childhood friend from school. Suddenly I heard a soft crack, and next thing I knew my friend was on the floor with a small red circle over his chest that continued to grow bigger. My friend died immediately as the bullet went through his heart. This is my story.”
This seemed to be like an excerpt taken out of Newsweek article, but it was actually what Shehab, one of the Palestinian youth, told me as we were having a casual conversation during the conference that we met. That statement seemed so ordinary, so routine, that it took me quite a while for the story to sink in. This was when I realized the importance for Singaporean youths to understand the issues beyond the suicide bombers and politicized conflict, but under a more humane and personal perspective.
Five months later, Youth Challenge invited Shehab Zahda and Ali Zaid, from West Bank and Gaza Strip respectively, to have a short exchange with members of Youth Challenge and AIESECers from Singapore. They covered topics such as daily lives in Palestine, the humanitarian situation, education, religion, territorial struggles and probably most interestingly, some of their own personal experiences and difficulties.
Probably one the most powerful moments of the exchange was when our Palestinian friends really dropped their guard and spoke earnestly about their own personal lives. Ali spoke about his personal difficulty as a master degree holder, wanting to go back to Palestine to teach, only to be hindered by the travel restrictions imposed by Israel. He narrated that in the end he had to do a “forced” doctorate as he could not return to his country from Malaysia and how he missed his family in Palestine. Ali also spoke at length about the youth conference he had at the United States where he actually had a chance to speak to other Israeli youths, and attempted to seek a resolution common to both camps. For that particular conference, he explained that in the end, both parties were unable to settle on a common ground due to the amount of complicities in the issue.
Nonetheless, amidst all these personal stories and sometime, opinions about the conflict in general, the most important take away for me was when they emphasized there are few individuals who desire to see their families suffer as a result of conflict. This reason really underlined the messages and anecdote throughout all the three hour worth of dialogue (both at Youth Challenge and at SMU). In fact, contrary to what is being perceived in the media, there are many Palestinians who long to be left alone in the land that they are staying now and self-govern, rather than fighting for a bigger nation but with no hope for peace.
I guess in the end, most of us are just human beings who would rather live in peace and prosperity, rather than seeing our homelands ravaged by war and conflict. If only this can be said of every single individual, maybe one day we can really live in a utopia with no conflict and suffering.
Goh Aik Chuan
10 November 2007
This seemed to be like an excerpt taken out of Newsweek article, but it was actually what Shehab, one of the Palestinian youth, told me as we were having a casual conversation during the conference that we met. That statement seemed so ordinary, so routine, that it took me quite a while for the story to sink in. This was when I realized the importance for Singaporean youths to understand the issues beyond the suicide bombers and politicized conflict, but under a more humane and personal perspective.
Five months later, Youth Challenge invited Shehab Zahda and Ali Zaid, from West Bank and Gaza Strip respectively, to have a short exchange with members of Youth Challenge and AIESECers from Singapore. They covered topics such as daily lives in Palestine, the humanitarian situation, education, religion, territorial struggles and probably most interestingly, some of their own personal experiences and difficulties.
Probably one the most powerful moments of the exchange was when our Palestinian friends really dropped their guard and spoke earnestly about their own personal lives. Ali spoke about his personal difficulty as a master degree holder, wanting to go back to Palestine to teach, only to be hindered by the travel restrictions imposed by Israel. He narrated that in the end he had to do a “forced” doctorate as he could not return to his country from Malaysia and how he missed his family in Palestine. Ali also spoke at length about the youth conference he had at the United States where he actually had a chance to speak to other Israeli youths, and attempted to seek a resolution common to both camps. For that particular conference, he explained that in the end, both parties were unable to settle on a common ground due to the amount of complicities in the issue.
Nonetheless, amidst all these personal stories and sometime, opinions about the conflict in general, the most important take away for me was when they emphasized there are few individuals who desire to see their families suffer as a result of conflict. This reason really underlined the messages and anecdote throughout all the three hour worth of dialogue (both at Youth Challenge and at SMU). In fact, contrary to what is being perceived in the media, there are many Palestinians who long to be left alone in the land that they are staying now and self-govern, rather than fighting for a bigger nation but with no hope for peace.
I guess in the end, most of us are just human beings who would rather live in peace and prosperity, rather than seeing our homelands ravaged by war and conflict. If only this can be said of every single individual, maybe one day we can really live in a utopia with no conflict and suffering.
Goh Aik Chuan
10 November 2007
