The last few days have been another snapshot of some of the many realities that make up Israel/Palestine. The army experience was interesting to me I was listening to some of the young soldiers talk about how during the gulf war how they had to carry a box around with their air mask in it in case of a chemical attack. They told us how they use to put stickers on their boxes and had to carry it everywhere as they were only aged 9 and 11 back then. They use to paint them and make them look colourful.
As I looked around the army base it was a strange feeling. It was more like a school camp then an army base. Very casual. Young soldiers eating ice cream, flirting with each other and some were so small the gun they were carrying looked really out of place and way to big for them.
At the beginning of the session we were shown a film by a commander about terrorists. This was a bit more what I had imagined and it surprised me that it was not far from what I imagined it would be like. It really seemed a bit over the top to me but I also wondered if I had been that young girl growing up with my air mask and stories of fear could it just as easily be me standing as a soldier totally unaware of what this actually means to me especially at the age of 18.
Later that night I spoke with Einav who worked as an officer in the airforce she was explaining how much power you receive as a young person in the IDF but how young people are not really listened to when they are back in the civilian population. I enjoyed talking with Einav she was not apologising for who she was or what she is perceived to represents at the same time she acknowledges and accepts that Israel is injust in many ways and the complexities and issues are so deep and entrenched it is suffocating for all involved. Along with sharing this with us she took the time to show us her everyday reality she took the group to a friends party, showed us around telaviv and hung out with us at the beach. It is really difficult when you are hanging out casually with young Israeli people that are the same as the young people we saw on checkpoints. They are just like you and me faced with a different reality. Can we, can they as young people create a new one?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I have rarely if ever found the term occupation on this blockspot yet...funny.And very reflective.
ReplyDeleteHi Farah good observation. Occupation is evident in all the realities that we have experienced here. There were discussions about the use of language with the different locals. For example the Palestinians do not like how people refer to israeli settlements as settlements and are encouraging people to use the term colony because settlement is seen as a positive word. Colony reflects the colonisation of Palestinian people. We did not have formal discussion or overviews of the conflict and the occupation hence why you may not see this language used in the blog. the program was about experiencing diverse every day realities grounded in individual self expression, self reflection and self awareness. We did not visit human rights organisations or political groups our learning was through the everyday people including our bus drivers, locals who just came and spoke with us etc.
ReplyDelete