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| International Student Presentation - Walid and Uri |
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| Uri and Walid speaking at a Tokyo press conference
before boarding Peace Boat |
As Peace Boat approached the Mediterranean, Palestinian
Walid Nasser gleaned information on the current conflict from Arabic
news reports and passed it on to his Israeli counterpart, Uri Blau.
Both International Students come from families who have lived as refugees,
fleeing massacres in the Middle East and wartime Europe respectively,
and have been brought up to believe in a homeland, one which exists
for two peoples on the same piece of soil. Though naturally holding
contrasting opinions of certain events, the two young journalists
share similar views on many topics and agree that only the withdrawal
of Israeli troops can signal the start of a dialogue and an end to
the bloodshed. In his lecture, Uri testified to the difficulty of
negotiating when people believe that land is more sacred than human
life, while agreeing with Walid that both populations are a grieving
people, retaliating with violence in a situation where the terms good
and bad, black and white are becoming meaningless. |
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| Israeli Uri Blau |
Uri, who, like all Israelis, spent three years in
military service from the age of eighteen, now works for an independent
newspaper in Jerusalem reporting on occupation issues and human rights
violations. Stressing that international media oversimplifies an extremely
complicated and emotive situation, he showed a video report of a suicide
bomb attack on a restaurant that triggered a large-scale operation
in the West Bank. He asked the audience to consider if they could
act rationally, faced with images of innocent victims lying bleeding
in the streets of their town and an atmosphere of paranoia where the
person next to you on the bus could be carrying explosives under their
clothes. Uri stated that most Israelis preferred not to destroy the
myth of the heroic Israeli Defense Force (IDF) in the wave of media-led
patriotism following the suicide bombings and that he experiences
hostility from people around him for publishing articles revealing
the real situation in the occupied territories. Believing that journalists
should criticise every institution and provide the public with all
available information, Uri spoke of the unhealthy relationship between
the IDF spokesman and the media, and how most Israelis have never
had access to uncensored information. Preferring to contact sources
working in the field, who risk facing a military tribunal by talking
to him, Uri is primarily concerned with human rights violations and
military cover-ups, including information on the camp where his Palestinian
counterpart was held in April. |
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| Palestinian Walid Nasser |
Walid, DJ and manager of two independent radio stations
in the West Bank, gave an introduction into the genesis of the conflict
and the continuing circle of violence and retaliation. Speaking of
the conditions in Ramallah, he painted a chilling picture of living
under the occupation, from the demoralisation of the curfew and deathly
silence on the streets, to the checkpoints, where Israeli soldiers
often abuse civilians and tanks prevent even ambulances from passing
through the barriers. Just months before coming on Peace Boat, when
the occupying forces decided to close down all private media, soldiers
came to Walids radio stations and destroyed broadcasting equipment,
telling Walid and his colleagues that they deserved to die, as they
were terrorists not journalists. Participants listened in shocked
silence to his account of being held for ten days; at times deprived
of clothes and food, hands tied behind back and forced to lie face
down in the mud for hours at a stretch. Pointing out that this was
merely one example of violence, Walid showed disturbing pictures of
tanks and armed checkpoints, arrests and beatings, together with maps
of the Gaza Strip and West Bank peppered with the dots of Israeli
settlements. Speaking of the media situation in Palestine, he testified
that of the twenty independent media in West Bank, only his two stations
and one other had recommenced broadcasting since the crackdown. Though
news programmes have been suspended to protect the station, emergency
updates on living under curfew and new checkpoints etc. continue to
respond to the needs of the people. Walid concluded by stating that
he supports only peaceful methods of Intifada ("Civilian revolution"
in Arabic) and expressing his frustration at the senselessness of
the violence inflicted by both sides. |
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| Walid gets his Tshirt signed by GET teacher
Susan, interpreter Naomi and one of the passengers |
In a further dicussion session, the pair responded
to questions from the audience regarding activities of NGO and activist
groups in both areas, the public view of Arafat, Sharon and the political
situation and, finally, how patriotism is approached in education
and the media. With both Uri and Walid encouraging respect for each
others viewpoint, while filling in gaps and offering corrections,
passengers were given a nuanced view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Although they said it would be impossible for them to work together
on return to their hometowns without being considered spies, both
expressed a hope to meet again in a Jerusalem shared between their
countries. When asked what they would do if made leaders of their
respective territories, they exchanged a warm handshake and embrace,
reiterating their belief in the possibility of a peaceful solution.
Affirming that they came onboard with the same message and met each
other as individuals, not enemies, Walid and Uri expressed the hope
that, one day, Palestinians and Israelis can live peacefully together
as neighbours. |
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| Peace Boat's
39th Voyage index |
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