War in Gaza hits close to home
By Sylvie Belmond belmond@theacorn.com

As fighting in the Gaza Strip rages on thousands of miles away, the reach of the Middle East conflict is apparent, even in Moorpark.

Israeli and Palestinian teenagers who attended a local peace camp sponsored by several Rotary Clubs and organizations in recent summers are among those deeply affected by the fighting.

The violence between Hamas and Israel, they say, has deep roots, meshing political and religious differences and a 3,000year-old dispute over sacred land.

"The situation isn't so good here... It's a stupid war for both sides," wrote Eliana Halloun in an email from her home in the Israeli city of Haifa, an Arab Christian teen who spent two weeks at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute in Simi Valley with 19 other students from the Israeli city of Haifa to participate in the 2008 Project TRIUMPH (Today's Revolution Is Understanding; Make Peace Happen) camp.

The program, founded by members of the Newbury Park Rotary Club four years ago, guides young Israeli and Palestinian leaders in achieving understanding, respect and fellowship in their home country.

"When the kids return home (to Israel and Palestine), they have a broader level of understanding," said Tom Voccola, a facilitator for Project TRIUMPH.

However, keeping the spirit of goodwill isn't easy as divisions persist in the Middle East, wrote Rabe'a Eghbariah, 17, a young Muslim Palestinian who attended the 2008 camp who is concerned about injustice.

"TRIUMPH . . . made me more open minded than before, but never changed my whole morals and values at all," Rabe'a wrote. "Gaza has been bounded and is being under siege since 2006, which means people can't travel, learn, live, have a medical treatment outside Gaza."

The current conflict causes loss of innocent life on both sides and it reinforces allegiances for people who have a stake in the Middle East.

Lital Licht, an Israeli teen who attended the 2007 Project TRIUMPH camp, said in an email that she feels Israel is within its rights to wage war on Hamas, an organization that has long called for the complete obliteration of the Jewish state.

"Americans should know that Israel is just trying to protect the citizen that live near Gaza and are suffering for eight year from bombs every day," Licht said.

Licht said she experienced the Hamas rocket attacks two years ago.

"Bombs fell next to my house, so I know how scary it is to live in a place where bombs fall all the time," she said.

Changing mindsets is virtually impossible

"I don't think that as a graduate of Project TRIUMPH I can help to resolve this conflict because this is not a conflict anymore, it is a war," Licht wrote, adding someone she knows died on Jan. 6.

"I can only hope that no one will die anymore," she said.

Israel is doing everything in its power to protect innocent people, she said, but the Hamas leaders aren't playing by the rules. Even as Palestinian citizens are warned of impending attacks so they can escape, Hamas continues to use innocent men and women as human shields, she said.

Rabbi Shimon Heidingsfeld who recently established Chabad of Moorpark, agreed.

"Israel is reactive, not proactive, it is only responding to constant rocket attacks that continued for months. People feel sorry for Palestinians, but the Israeli people have been suffering too. We don't want to kill anybody. We're only doing it because they're not letting up," Heidingsfeld said.

Cooperation is sought but not easy to achieve

The only solution to the mounting problems in Gaza is compromise, said Ilan Migdali, a Newbury Park resident who founded Project TRIUMPH to improve relations between young Jews and Arabs. Migdali, who served in the Israeli army when he was young, has lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years.

"The whole world needs to help solve the problem, financially and politically, without taking just one side," he said.

Migdali said since the Gaza Strip can't support itself, it's just a huge refugee camp.

"I feel tremendous empathy and sorrow for the people in Gaza. There is nowhere for them to go," he said.

The current fighting is aggravating food, water and power shortages, he said.

"I'm sure the Israeli offensive in Gaza will reach some level of stability for a few weeks or a few months, but it's not going to solve the problem," he said.

The election of Hamas to power in Gaza two years ago has also been a cause for discord. While some Palestinians see them as voice for their cause, Migdali said, they are widely viewed as a violent extremist group.

"You can't compromise with people who are irrational and who only want to kill you," said Heidingsfeld, who said Hamas is halting progress in the Middle East.

"Certain countries are putting pressure on Israel to stop, but why should they?" the rabbi said. "They need to squash Hamas, not stop in the middle."

"You can't make peace with them because they don't understand talk," he said.

Divisions are deep rooted

Moorpark resident's Nader Barakat, who grew up in the West Bank, has a different viewpoint. "Until an end to Israeli occupation and a just resolution to all the Palestinian legitimate grievances are restored, peaceful coexistence will not be attained," he said.

Barakat called the Israeli occupation "brutal and insidious," and said things won't change until the situation changes on the ground.

Although the efforts to bring young people together are commendable and well intentioned, people's lives in the occupied territories will need to change before projects like TRIUMPH can truly make a lasting according, Barakat said.

"Palestinians and Israelis can and should live in peace as long as they are treated as equals and their rights are respected," he said.

Both people lived together in peace for many generations prior to the foundation of the Jewish state, he said.

"However the Zionist ideology was the turning point for IsraeliPalestinian relations and the root cause of the plight we're in now," said Barakat, referring to the United Nations' 1947 creation of a Jewish state in Israel.

Building a bridge

Josef Avesar believes people here and in the Middle East can take action to help resolve the conflict.

The Agoura Hills resident, who served in the Israeli army before moving to the U.S many years ago, formed the Israeli Palestinian Confederation to improve relations between Israelis and Palestinians through education.

"Our members include Muslims, Jews and Christians from all walks of life," Avesar said.

"We believe that both the Israelis and the Palestinians in the United States can reduce tension and achieve more understanding through engagement," he said.

War won't resolve underlying issues, only negotiations will

"There is a lot of politics in this war by both sides," Avesar said. "The current war in Gaza demonstrates the failure of both sides to reach peace. It makes the idea of a confederation much more relevant," he said.

According to Avesar, the Israeli-Palestinian Confederation could help to both sides to deal with the pending issues "openly and honestly."

The group is meeting every day in an attempt to come up with compromises that will be accepted to both Palestinians and Israelis, he said.

"The problem we have now is that there are very little discussions between the Palestinians and the Israelis and no conversations with Hamas," he said.