Last week, at our regular Executive meeting, our Chair, Leon Duveen, gave an impassioned reason why the work LDfPME is trying to do is so important.
You can watch what Leon said here:
Here is the transcript of what Leon said:
[00:00:00] For me, the solution has to come from the people of Israel and Palestine.
And once we can break down the mistrust between them, once we can break down that fear of each other, then maybe something will happen. You can see it once they start meeting and talking to each other, like the Bereaved Parents Forum or Combatants for Peace, or B’Tselem or one of the other groups which take people from both sides and work together and break down those barriers. They suddenly stop seeing each other as Palestinians and Israelis.
They see themselves as people who want peace and that’s what we can do. We can help these groups and we can help break down those barriers. And that’s what we should be doing. And this was something [where] I have a big argument [with] the people, good people, who support Palestine [or Israel] because they only see that side of it.
I used to go to a festival called Greenbelt, which is a Christian. Festival. And it’s very pro [00:01:00] Palestinian. They don’t like people standing up and saying, “Hey, wait a moment. What you are saying is just going to prolong the conflict. It’s not going to solve the conflict.”
They just see one side of the situation because it’s easy and it it’s compartmentalised for them. But [what] we need to do is find ways of actually bringing the people from these groups to this country. I’m trying to do in a small way by having people like Rami [Aman] talk to us. I’m hoping to get one or two other people from both sides talking to us and not just [people] from one side.
And that will give us the chance to further the conversation. And I’m quite willing to talk to people. I mean, there’s an Arab professor who is part of a group I belong to who is very, very anti-Israel. But I think we should talk to him because unless we talk to these people, how can we a convince them otherwise?
And how can we have a discussion if we rule people out. Engaging with [00:02:00] people and talking to people, getting them talking to other people, getting people to start breaking down barriers whatever the rights and wrongs of the situation.
There are 7 million Palestinians. There are 7 million Israelis. And unless we can find a way of living together, we are just going to prolong the conflict. The Israelis aren’t going anywhere. The Palestinians aren’t going anywhere. We have a choice. We talk, we work, we find a solution. [Or] we carry on the conflict.
That’s for me [is] the end of it. I mean, that’s where we need to be.