Quotes of the Day

During a lecture I recently gave some Jewish teenagers visiting Tel Aviv University, many of the questions were about whether the Arabs truly want peace. I believe that these questions were addressed to me not only because I'm a researcher on Arab politics but also because I'm an Arab.A few days later, I met some Palestinian youngsters in Ramallah. They wanted to know if the Israelis really want peace. This time, my interlocutors saw me, not as an Arab or an academic, but as an Israeli who lives amongst Israeli Jews.

These questions show that young people on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide share similar concerns. They led me to think about the role that Arab-Israelis, like myself, could play in bridging the gap of mistrust between Israeli Jews and Palestinians. There are a million Arab-Israelis, and we can use our relatively good relations with our Jewish fellow citizens on the one hand, and our family ties with the Palestinians on the other, to enhance the mutual understanding.

The first thing we should do is listen very carefully to young people on both sides. From my discussions, it's clear that Palestinian and Israeli youth both want peace, but each has its own interpretation of the term. For Palestinians, "peace" means an Israeli withdrawal from ALL territories occupied during the 1967 War and the creation of an independent Palestinian State. For Israelis, "peace" means a Palestinian dummy state on the minimum possible land, annexing some settlement blocs in return for giving the Palestinians some lands.

Each side is deeply suspicious about the other's "real interest." Each believes the other is not interested in a lasting peace, but merely wants a period of hudna [ceasefire] in order to prepare itself for another round of violence. These suspicions are often based on negative stereotypes: Each side accuses the other of being terrorists, each side claims to have historical rights while ignoring the other's rights.

The stereotypes exist mainly because these young people don't know very much about each other. They admitted as much and we discussed the reasons for their ignorance. Some of them blamed political leaders on both sides for failing to foster a better understanding between the two peoples; others fingered the media for dwelling too much on "negative images."

I asked both sets of youngsters what should be done to overcome their mutual ignorance. Some proposed the renewal of people-to-people meetings between the two sides: such meetings were held on a regular basis before the current intifadeh began in Sept, 2000. Others called for a "positive" campaign in the media that would counter the language of incitement and the violent images they currently see and read. Some thought better understanding would only come when the current leadership was replaced, but others took a more optimistic view, calling for more international involvement in promoting Israeli-Palestinian dialogue at all levels, but mainly at the popular one.

These ideas suggest to me that young people on both sides of the divide are keen to learn more about one another. Arab-Israelis can help. To start with, we could hold triangular meetings. Let's use the hospitality of Arab-Israelis to welcome the two sides into our homes. That way Palestinians could come with confidence and Jews could feel secure that they are still in Israel.

• WADIE ABUNASSAR
• Young Israelis and Palestinians want to know more about each other