By Omar
Shaban, Special to CNN／July 25, 2014 -- Updated 1758 GMT (0158 HKT)
Editor's
note: Economist Omar Shaban is the founder and
chairman of the Gaza-based Palestinian think-tank Pal-Think for Strategic
Studies, established in 2007 by Palestinian researchers and community
activists. He previously worked for Catholic Relief Services in Gaza and
established Palestinian branches of Amnesty International. The views expressed
in this commentary are solely the author's.
(CNN) -- At age of 52, it might be too late to re-visit your beliefs
and principles in order to change them.
When you see the regression from where we
were, to the situation now and realize the dream you have been working towards
has moved almost entirely out-of-reach, you feel tired, hopeless, and less
motivated to recharge yourself.
I was born in Gaza in 1962 to a refugee
family who had been expelled from their village "Sawafir" in the then
British --mandate of Palestine.
Five years later, in June 1967, Gaza was
occupied by Israel, which meant that I grew up under the occupation. When you
live under occupation, your national ambitions become clearer and stronger.
I promised myself that I would do my utmost
to contribute to achieving peace and freedom for our people and region through
talks and debates.
In 1987, at the age of 27, I took part in the first
intifada, which I viewed as largely peaceful, with boys and girls throwing
stones at well-equipped Israeli soldiers.
Through that struggle, we succeeding in
winning the hearts and minds, not only of the international community but also
many Israelis themselves; who became advocates for our right to have a free and
independent Palestinian state.
I learned, to some extent, what freedom meant
when I took my first plane trip, flying to London via Tel Aviv in 1993. I had
been invited by Amnesty International in my capacity as the founder of the
organization's Palestinian branch.
I wrote articles and appeared on television
and radio to promote human rights and non-violent struggle; I was invited to
address Israeli audiences and receive Israeli citizens in Gaza itself. I also
stood as a candidate in the first Palestinian parliamentary elections in 1996.
Then, my dream of being a free citizen in a
free state grew and flourished, but over time it gradually became weaker and
weaker.
Twenty years ago, how to make peace with
Israel was a daily topic for the Palestinian people. It was very normal to see
tens of Israelis citizens walking freely along Gaza streets, shopping and
making conversation.
On the other side of the border, an
influential Israeli camp was advocating making peace with the Palestinians.
Nowadays, "peace" is perhaps the
least used word in Gaza's daily lexicon, replaced as it has been by the terms;
tanks, F16, killing, shelling, rockets and revenge.
Twenty years ago, more than
80,000 Palestinian workers went to Israel every day to work alongside Israelis,
acting as ambassadors for co-existance.
Twenty years ago, it was common to see the
slogan and fliers "PEACE NOW" on cars and at shops and restaurants.
Making peace with the Palestinians appeared to be a priority for the Israeli
public.
Recently, the Israeli government built a huge
wall separating Israel from the Palestinian territories. Now that Israeli
citizens cannot see us any more, it seems they have lost sight of our reality.
And the reality has been deteriorating. When
the Israelis began building separation walls in the late 1990s, many of its
citizens were being killed by suicide bombers. In September 2000, the second
intifada erupted with a far more violent face than its predecessor.
Hamas won the election in 2006 and took
control from Fatah forcibly in June 2007, prompting Israel to blockade the Gaza
Strip, which created humanitarians crises. Since then Israel has declared three
wars against Gaza, in 2008, 2012 and now 2014. Meantime, Hamas and other
resistance movements continue to launch homemade rockets into Israel's cities.
Within the new reality, the Israelis and
Palestinians are unable to see/meet/talk/interact with each other.
I always say, it is easy to fight someone you
don't know and/or have no mutual interests with, but you cannot make peace with
someone unless you know them well and share interests.
This is why it has been easy for the new
generations on both sides -- Israeli and Palestinians -- to fight each other
aggressively. They have never met and they don't see the benefit of living
peacefully. Nowadays, they communicate from a distance through rockets,
bullets, shelling, guns -- instead of physically interacting.
The generations of both sides have been taken
hostages by the conflict, they consume and waste their energy and resources to
make the other's life more difficult. Both generations have to work harder to
find the lost opportunity, which is hidden underneath scene of the conflict;
they have to be educated to look differently.
Regional
cooperation
In today's globalized world, the problems
have become cross-border despite being perceived as local. Regional cooperation
is needed.
Both Israelis and Palestinians suffer severe
water shortages, pollution, population growth, radicalism, unemployment. But
while the cost of conflict to both is huge, the profit of peace would be much
higher.
In addition to the waste of their own
resources, the Palestinians have received billions of dollars of aid in the
past 20 years since the Oslo accord, while Israel receives U.S. aid assistance
of about
US$3 billion every year.
Some of the international aid and the local
resources are spent in fueling the conflict, though it would make a huge and
positive difference to people's lives if such huge amounts were instead used in
developmental projects.
Both the Israeli and Palestinian governments
might be able to reach a peace agreement, but achieving culture of peace
remains distant.
I have never thought to leave Gaza or to
emigrate, though I have always easy access to such a possibility.
I believe that Gaza is in need of an
"agent of change." I have been and I wanted to continue to be such an
agent of change.
But I feel tired, hopeless and less motivated
to recharge myself.
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