Christine Felixon
שותף באופן ציבורי -Israeli, Palestinian #teens open back channel via Facebook
For the past several months, a few dozen young #Israelis and #Palestinians from the Gaza Strip have been communicating with each other directly, in English. They tell each other about their lives, exchange experiences and, of course, they argue about their situation.
As far as the young people from Gaza are concerned, they are taking no small risk. Hamas not only opposes any manifestations of normalization with Israelis, it could well decide that this kind of forbidden communication is a form of collaboration with the enemy.
The first contacts were initiated by the young people from Gaza, using #Facebook as their intermediary. Some of them posted statements denigrating their Israeli peers and protesting their silence over the blockade that the government has imposed on Gaza. According to the young Gazans, the siege prevents them from leading a normal life and pursuing their studies outside Gaza. The Israelis responded with claims of their own, but in a short time, their mutual recriminations became fascinating conversations about life in Gaza, life in Israel, dreams, aspirations and ideas to resolve the conflict. It took very little time for young people on both sides of the border to discover that they have quite a few common interests, including music, sports and even fashion.
"I have friends who started to communicate with young people from Gaza out of curiosity and a desire to chastise them and argue with them about how they attack Israel with missiles, encourage and engage in terrorist attacks and support Hamas," Noam Bluming, 17, told Al-Monitor. "Over time, we came to learn that these young people are just like us. They are the same age as us. They are just imprisoned by the siege and have been for many years now, so they are desperate."
Aviram Nehora told Al-Monitor that he has a friend in Gaza with whom he is in daily contact. They practice Hebrew sentences together and throw in a few Arabic sentences too. "He lives in Khan Yunis, and he's 17," said Nehora. "He writes in perfect English. When I asked what his school is like, he told me that every young Palestinian knows that if they don't pour everything into their education, their situation would be much worse. He finished third in his grade and is very disappointed."
"We knew that the situation in Gaza was tough," said Bluming. "We knew that Gaza was being bombarded constantly during Operation Protective Edge and that there were lots of casualties. We told them that Hamas is at fault because it fired from schools and hospitals, but they said that our facts are not accurate. They said that the Israeli government and media are telling us stories just to justify the massive, ferocious attacks against them. They tell us about children who were killed in the bombings, and it is awful."
The young Israelis say that their friends in Gaza have provided them with detailed accounts of the terror that they experienced during Operation Protective Edge and the tragedies suffered by people that they know personally. It is hard for them to conceive of people their own age living like that, and how what they are most worried about now is whether they will survive to see another day.
G., 16, lives in Gaza. In a conversation with Al-Monitor, he talked about his relationship with young Israelis online, saying, "I tell Israelis that they have no idea what we go through and how we live." He described being very surprised by how little young Israelis know about what is really going on in Gaza. "They have no idea what a closure is," he said. "They don't understand what it means to have no work here or limited access to food. Sometimes the kinds of questions they ask make me wonder if they just fell off the moon."
G. explained that he talks to young Israelis because he is interested in knowing what is happening in Israel and seeing if there is a chance for change in the near future. "I'm cautious," he was quick to emphasize. "I don't correspond with them openly over social networks. Apart from this, I don't do anything bad. I just argue with them about the rights owed to us. After all, we deserve to live like everybody else, or at least like them. I spend a lot of time talking to my father, who used to work in #Israel. He tells me that there are good people in Israel who were his friends. He even misses them. He thinks about the times they used to work and eat together. They were like brothers."
When it comes to the Hamas regime, he wasn't willing to say a single bad word. He even requested that Al-Monitor not ask him or his friends about their attitudes toward the current government in Gaza.
However, the young people from Israel said that their peers in Gaza actually do speak openly to them about the suffering and enormous destruction that Hamas is bringing to people living in the Gaza Strip. Many of the young Gazans, the Israelis reported, also point an accusatory finger at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who they say neglected them. "The hatred they display toward #Abbas and the Palestinian Authority's regime in #Ramallah is even greater than their rage against Israel," said Bluming.
Most of these young Gazans were children younger than 10 when Israel imposed its closure on Gaza. In other words, they spent about half their lives living through crisis conditions and bloody wars. None of them has ever seen an Israeli except on television, and even then, mostly in propaganda broadcasts by #Hamas or other Arab networks.
"They are interested in computer games, cell phones, jeans and running shoes," said Nehora. "Many of them are fans of FC Barcelona and Lionel Messi. I discovered that there are people in Gaza who are fans of Rihanna, Adelle, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and the local rap music scene. The kids in Gaza take great pride in telling us about #MohammedAssaf and even send us links to his songs and the moment he won on #Arab Idol. They also play us recordings of local rap music based on familiar tunes, though the words have been adapted and changed to tell us their story."
For the past several months, a few dozen young #Israelis and #Palestinians from the Gaza Strip have been communicating with each other directly, in English. They tell each other about their lives, exchange experiences and, of course, they argue about their situation.
As far as the young people from Gaza are concerned, they are taking no small risk. Hamas not only opposes any manifestations of normalization with Israelis, it could well decide that this kind of forbidden communication is a form of collaboration with the enemy.
The first contacts were initiated by the young people from Gaza, using #Facebook as their intermediary. Some of them posted statements denigrating their Israeli peers and protesting their silence over the blockade that the government has imposed on Gaza. According to the young Gazans, the siege prevents them from leading a normal life and pursuing their studies outside Gaza. The Israelis responded with claims of their own, but in a short time, their mutual recriminations became fascinating conversations about life in Gaza, life in Israel, dreams, aspirations and ideas to resolve the conflict. It took very little time for young people on both sides of the border to discover that they have quite a few common interests, including music, sports and even fashion.
"I have friends who started to communicate with young people from Gaza out of curiosity and a desire to chastise them and argue with them about how they attack Israel with missiles, encourage and engage in terrorist attacks and support Hamas," Noam Bluming, 17, told Al-Monitor. "Over time, we came to learn that these young people are just like us. They are the same age as us. They are just imprisoned by the siege and have been for many years now, so they are desperate."
Aviram Nehora told Al-Monitor that he has a friend in Gaza with whom he is in daily contact. They practice Hebrew sentences together and throw in a few Arabic sentences too. "He lives in Khan Yunis, and he's 17," said Nehora. "He writes in perfect English. When I asked what his school is like, he told me that every young Palestinian knows that if they don't pour everything into their education, their situation would be much worse. He finished third in his grade and is very disappointed."
"We knew that the situation in Gaza was tough," said Bluming. "We knew that Gaza was being bombarded constantly during Operation Protective Edge and that there were lots of casualties. We told them that Hamas is at fault because it fired from schools and hospitals, but they said that our facts are not accurate. They said that the Israeli government and media are telling us stories just to justify the massive, ferocious attacks against them. They tell us about children who were killed in the bombings, and it is awful."
The young Israelis say that their friends in Gaza have provided them with detailed accounts of the terror that they experienced during Operation Protective Edge and the tragedies suffered by people that they know personally. It is hard for them to conceive of people their own age living like that, and how what they are most worried about now is whether they will survive to see another day.
G., 16, lives in Gaza. In a conversation with Al-Monitor, he talked about his relationship with young Israelis online, saying, "I tell Israelis that they have no idea what we go through and how we live." He described being very surprised by how little young Israelis know about what is really going on in Gaza. "They have no idea what a closure is," he said. "They don't understand what it means to have no work here or limited access to food. Sometimes the kinds of questions they ask make me wonder if they just fell off the moon."
G. explained that he talks to young Israelis because he is interested in knowing what is happening in Israel and seeing if there is a chance for change in the near future. "I'm cautious," he was quick to emphasize. "I don't correspond with them openly over social networks. Apart from this, I don't do anything bad. I just argue with them about the rights owed to us. After all, we deserve to live like everybody else, or at least like them. I spend a lot of time talking to my father, who used to work in #Israel. He tells me that there are good people in Israel who were his friends. He even misses them. He thinks about the times they used to work and eat together. They were like brothers."
When it comes to the Hamas regime, he wasn't willing to say a single bad word. He even requested that Al-Monitor not ask him or his friends about their attitudes toward the current government in Gaza.
However, the young people from Israel said that their peers in Gaza actually do speak openly to them about the suffering and enormous destruction that Hamas is bringing to people living in the Gaza Strip. Many of the young Gazans, the Israelis reported, also point an accusatory finger at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who they say neglected them. "The hatred they display toward #Abbas and the Palestinian Authority's regime in #Ramallah is even greater than their rage against Israel," said Bluming.
Most of these young Gazans were children younger than 10 when Israel imposed its closure on Gaza. In other words, they spent about half their lives living through crisis conditions and bloody wars. None of them has ever seen an Israeli except on television, and even then, mostly in propaganda broadcasts by #Hamas or other Arab networks.
"They are interested in computer games, cell phones, jeans and running shoes," said Nehora. "Many of them are fans of FC Barcelona and Lionel Messi. I discovered that there are people in Gaza who are fans of Rihanna, Adelle, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and the local rap music scene. The kids in Gaza take great pride in telling us about #MohammedAssaf and even send us links to his songs and the moment he won on #Arab Idol. They also play us recordings of local rap music based on familiar tunes, though the words have been adapted and changed to tell us their story."
Israeli, Palestinian teens open back channel via Facebook - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
What started as verbal hostilities between Israeli and Gazan teenagers turned into meaningful online dialogue when mutual accusations gave way to curiosity about each other's lives.
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