So after two full days of lobby/advocacy training and actual lobbying on the Hill I decided that daily e-mails to Obama may not exactly be the most effective way to get my voice heard. The occasional e-mail when the occasion calls for it is one thing but daily....maybe not so much anymore.
After the "success" of having my letter published (butchered as it may have been) I became motivated to take the next step: writing up an Op-Ed. Very much outside of my usual character, I have decided to be less controversial and take a much more middle ground, as the title illustrates. I will try submitting it to some big-name papers and, after being rejected by them, will try some smaller papers--I was thinking maybe North Dakota or Alaska, maybe some rural paper there will publish it. I will keep you updated on its progress!
February 3, 2009
Finding the Middle Ground
Within the past couple of months, the on-going conflict between Israel and Gaza has been on the forefront of the news as well as the op-eds and letters to newspapers nationally. Reading these opinion pieces are often like watching a soap opera or bad reality t.v. show—the pieces next to always swing back and forth from one extreme opinion to the other. The writer writes from their standpoint, which is either “Pro-Israel” or “Pro-Palestine” and attempts to educate the world on why their side is right and should have the upper hand and the sympathy of the masses. Aside from riling emotions and potentially increasing media sales figures, this opinion writing style does little to actually address and much less solve any issues in Israel/Palestine. What is clearly lacking is the essential middle ground.
On both sides of this 60-plus year old conflict, one will find stories of injustice, loss, anger and, in many cases, hatred towards the other side. For many people directly involved in the conflict, it is probably impossible to change many of those deep-seeded emotions, but I would assume that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians simply want to live their lives free of violence and the daily threat of death and destruction. It is the extremists, very much prevalent on BOTH sides of the conflict, who make this dream impossible.
Most US citizens can barely fathom what life is like for the average person living in this region. So it’s almost ironic that Americans can be the most radical, the most extreme in our one-sided opinions of Israel/Palestine. This issue of taking a side and defending it with such fervor (and often with much ignorance) makes it impossible for our government to be forced to find and follow through with a viable solution to offer the region. It’s time for Americans to offer a third option to this two-sided issue: a middle ground on which people who support peace, reconciliation and coexistence can stand. Not only is it moral, but also invaluable for our country’s security.
As someone who has studied this conflict and been actively involved in working towards its resolution in some way, I have found that the more I learn about the situation the more even-toned my dealings with it become. I have learned through experience that acting off of my emotions is the easier but much less effective way to deal with the situation. Bickering back and forth about who is right and who has suffered more is doing nothing but working backwards. Moving forward (this means not looking back at what has happened) with open hearts and minds and with, most importantly, a listening ear is the only effective action Americans can take. It is not us who have to pay the ultimate price for this ongoing fight.
Davina Abujudeh
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Update: This op-ed has been submitted to several national newspapers and has not been published. I think it is just not controversial/timely enough. I will hopefully begin writing a new one covering the upcoming Israeli elections and what the results will mean for the peace process.
It was finally published in UMass Boston's Mass Media. Woo Hoo!
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