In our visit in Germany, we were exposed to some disscusions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Israeli BB teens talked very openly and have lot what to say about the subject. In the following video : http://www.worldyl.org/GID.html you'll see and hear what a German girl has to say about this subject. To the Pip's students : What is your opinion about this subject? What is the opinion in your community about the Israeli conflict? Is there a different point of view on the subject between the Jewish and non-Jewish people were you live? To the BB students : Did you heard in Germany differents opinion about the conflict subject ? What is you opinion?
Jennifer Joined: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 18	I was really impressed with the video of the german girl's response to your questions. It's a very hard thing to change your views, like she did, because it often means admitting that you were wrong (something I'm sure none of us enjoy). In terms of my own views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they are very complex so I will have to think about the best way to articulate them and post them in a different message. Some non-Jews often make a couple assumptions that really frustrate me when it comes to talking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 1. Often, people assume that all Jews must be fanatically pro-Israel (but what does pro- Israel mean?! Does it mean pro-Sharon, pro-chasidim, pro-occupation, or just pro-existence?) It is easy to label people as pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian as if there were nothing in between. 2. Often people assume that Jews automatically know all about and thoroughly understand this conflict, when that isn't necessarily true. A Jewish or Muslim person will naturally have concerns about the conflict, but so do some Christians, as it is their holy land too.
Elinor Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 16 Location: Israel	I've been asked lots of questions during the last year and I must say that the hardest question was "What do you think about the conflict?" Hard because there are so many things to say, you can't answer it with three sentences. Hard because so many things happen each second related to the conflict. And hard mostly because it's very hard to consolidate an opinion about that topic (since it's a very complicated topic) especially in this age. I assume that also for people that don't live here it's not an easy question. I can't represent the german group for two reasons: 1. There are many people in the german group, which means that there isn't only one opinion about the conflict. 2. I can't represent other people's opinions, because I'm not objective and even if I try my best, I can't do it like the person himself. Anyway, I can say that the Germans are confused. From one hand, they met Palestinians and they were in Bethlehem and saw hard things. From the other hand, they met us and spoke with us. I know that some of them thought that making peace here isn't such a big problem, but they changed their minds after their visit here. Jennifer wrote: 1. Often, people assume that all Jews must be fanatically pro-Israel (but what does pro- Israel mean?! Does it mean pro-Sharon, pro-chasidim, pro-occupation, or just pro-existence?) It is easy to label people as pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian as if there were nothing in between. You're right. Each person can define pro-Israel the way he wants. That's why it's not so good to use these kinds of expressions when you talk about the conflict. Jennifer wrote: 2. Often people assume that Jews automatically know all about and thoroughly understand this conflict, when that isn't necessarily true. A Jewish or Muslim person will naturally have concerns about the conflict, but so do some Christians, as it is their holy land too. Often people assume that all the people that live in Israel automatically know all about and thoroughly understand this conflict. And that's also not necessarily true. There are many people here that don't care about the conflict.
René Guest	So at first I need to say I'm a kind of "afraid" to write something. In the last conservations I often heard people saying "You aren't allowed to have an opinion!" O.k. I know it's nonsense 'cause everybody has but what I actually wanted to say is that I got in contact with different opinions and that contact is sometimes dangerous 'cause you can hurt somebody by your opinion... Not because of that but for other reasons I have to admit that my opinion is actually none. I'm not able to built one or just to get an idea of my one. I suppose the reasons are like Elinor said: On the one hand we are in touch with Palestinians and on the other with Israelis. That's the project about I know but to link them like in a puzzle is not possible 'cause mainly they are the contrary. So what to do? You're kicked like a ball from one side to the other: "Ohh, the poor Palestinians!" - "Ohh, the poor Israelis!" and at the end what did you got? Nothing. O.k. sure it's one of the most important experience in my life. But what I finally wanted to say: Opinion doesn't matter. Not my opinion says what I have to do in a situation. It's my heart or head. (If a dog is hurt I won't let him die on the street 'cause I don't like dogs - just an example.) Of course it's important for people to know opinions from the opposite to deal with him/her. But... I don't know, it's hard to explain, but I think it's just superficial to categorize people by their opinion 'cause in most cases it's not their own (medias etc.), also mostly it's hard to express himself as well in mother tongue and for sure an opinion is actually nothing. Everyday we change it, what's of course positiv. So why talking about opinions? Just talk about feelings. René
Elinor Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 16 Location: Israel	My opinion also tend to change often, basically because there are much more than just "two sides". Talk about feelings? Ok, at the moment I'm full of hope that the new situation after Arafat died will be better. I said it so many times in my life, but now it seems to be real than ever