A group of Israeli and Palestinian youth activists spoke at
UCSD last week as part of an effort to spread a message of peace for their
embattled home region and advocate a two-state solution to the ongoing
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The OneVoice movement, an international nonpartisan
grassroots organization, stopped in
on April 24 for the final leg of its
tour. Sponsored by the Americans for Informed Democracy and the Organization
for Muslim and Jewish Awareness, the event allowed OneVoice to spread awareness
about ways to promote peace in the region.
OneVoice representative Laurel Rapp said it is not always
clear to people outside of
and
the region’s inhabitants want to arrive at an agreement through nonviolent
means.
In order to further their goal of spreading this sentiment,
the organization seeks to acquire one million signatures by the end of the year
from those sympathetic to the cause in order to demonstrate to the leadership
and people on both sides of the conflict that demand for peaceful resolution
exists among those affected by the situation.
“The majority [of Israelis and Palestinians] want to achieve
resolution nonviolently,” Rapp said. “There are about 300,000 Israelis and
300,000 Palestinians who have signed the OneVoice mandate. Our goal isn’t to
change people’s minds but to start a thinking process. It’s already what most
people want and we’re just amplifying the voice of the Palestinian and Israeli
people.”
Shani Gershon, a OneVoice representative from
spoke about the challenges she faces in
while handing out pamphlets that publicize the organization’s mandate.
“They would read it and say it’s great but wouldn’t want to
sign because they thought the Palestinians would not sign it,” she said. “What
motivated them was that I told them I had a Palestinian counterpart saying the
exact same thing.”
Co-president of OMJA and
sophomore Marina Triner, who lived in
said that as an American student she has had the opportunity to view the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a point of view to which she would not
otherwise be exposed to.
“I believe it’s my duty to impact the situation in my home
country because I am removed from the events that are taking place and can
think clearly and understand that Muslims and Jews are alike and that they must
begin to communicate,” she said.
Rapp said that OneVoice differs from other
conflict-resolution groups in that it does not strive for immediate peace, but rather
works to mobilize people to demand more of the region’s leaders.
“When you hear ‘peace group,’ you sideline them in a box
because some are unrealistic, but [OneVoice] is more neutral,” she said.
Triner said that one of OneVoice’s primary goals is to
influence members of the youth demographic, who will eventually inherit the
problems that exist in the region today.
“As young people, we have the passion and energy to make a
change, and to show other people our age how much they can do for the world,”
Triner said. “It’s our responsibility to make these things happen. Too much
blood has been spilled already and it needs to end.”
A.I.D. President Poorja Nair said that OneVoice’s efforts
play a significant role in properly educating young people about the situation
in the
“Being informed is important for everyone, not just for
those with direct family or religious connections to the conflict,” Nair said.
“In general, as college students, it is easy to be insulated in our own world
and stay apathetic to the news, but these issues affect people worldwide and
it’s important to think about their impact.”
