Please take a moment to read - empathy required

[radicalleft]

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-11-02/ty-article-magazine/.premium/ahmed-wanted-israelis-to-listen-to-gazans-then-23-of-his-family-members-were-killed/0000018b-8fb6-db7e-af9b-eff7d71f0000

Ahmed Wanted Israelis to Listen to Gazans. Then 23 of His Family Members Were Killed

On the Facebook page 'Across the Wall,' Israelis read personal stories by Gazans in Hebrew, until the last update came in: 'The entire family of this page’s founder has been bombed to death.' The Israeli co-founder of the page now says: 'I don’t know if we’ll be able to build that bridge again'

For four years, a Facebook page has been bringing Israelis personal stories and glimpses into daily life that is completely foreign to them: that of average Gazans. The page, called “Across the Wall,” features the accounts of children fleeing bombardment, local initiatives to clean up Gaza’s beaches, and direct addresses from civilians living in the Strip to Israelis.

“Across the Wall” is run by the Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, who co-founded it with Gazan journalist Ahmed Alnaouq. They are both 29.

“It’s more important now than ever. We need to start to understand how we can build more equal relations between Israelis and Palestinians,” says Abraham. “A big part of that is to listen to Palestinians from Gaza and what they experience – to think about how we would feel if we were in their shoes.”

snip

“I grew up in southern Israel. When I was growing up, we didn’t hear anything about Gaza – even as an adult, in leftist circles,” Abraham says. “During ‘peacetime,’ Israelis don’t hear anything about Gaza or know anything about Gaza. It’s very much a black hole, a threatening place that we just know is dangerous. One of the reasons that I felt it’s very important to know what’s going on in Gaza is that there is no ‘peacetime’ in Gaza… when you live under siege, even when there is no war, every day is a sort of war to survive. It was important to me that the Israeli public hear this, because this situation is unsustainable. This can’t be a permanent situation. We can’t think we can manage it if we just build a tall enough wall.”

[Bettie]

1. How sad, tragic that this one piece of

understanding, one of a very few stones toward building a bridge has been destroyed.

[PurgedVoter]

2. It hurts.

I don't know what to say. I don't know what emoji to use. Nothing is right when such wrong happens.

[radicalleft]

3. As I was reading it...

I felt such a sense of despair...

[usonian]

4. How much do WE know of other countries and groups? Not very much, most of us.

I see three stages of disconnect.

1. Ignorance other than a few stereotypes and travel propaganda.

2. Objectification, as in “all of them …. “, or “all they want … “ and so on ,and

3. Vilification, as rapists and murderers, fools … you’ve heard this a lot.

Wanting to connect is a choice. There is real joy in finding commonalities, but people seem to prefer reinforcement of their learned prejudices.

Inwardly strong people are open to and are supportive of others.
Inwardly weak people are fearful of other people and ideas.

[radicalleft]

5. Beautifully stated

Thanks

[malaise]

6. NJTR