THANA DHARMARAJAH
Adi Labadi was shot in his right leg in the middle of the street in Jenin, in the northern West Bank.
Tel Aviv native Smadar Cohen’s commander was blown up in a bus that the Israeli woman often took home herself.
Labadi, a 20-year-old Palestinian, and Cohen, a 24-year-old Israeli, grew up in an environment where violence became the norm. But on the day when the Israeli-Palestine conflict touched their lives, anger filled their hearts.
"I had anger and hate at that time for everybody," said Labadi, thinking back to the day he was lying on the street beside his friend, who was also shot.
Both youths, now part of the OneVoice Movement, were invited by the University of Guelph’s Jewish Students’ Organization last night to share their experiences and speak about how they’ve moved forward to effect change.
"By sheer luck I was not on that bus," Cohen said. "It really changed my perspective on the conflict . . . Like Adi, at the beginning you only want revenge."
The pair joined the OneVoice Movement, an international movement that aims to resolve the conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis by uniting their voices.
Both sides want an end to the bombings, kidnappings, murders and other forms of violence, Cohen said.
Through the movement, the youths speak to citizens of Palestine and Israel convincing them that those on the opposite side also want to live in a peaceful environment. Cohen said that OneVoice doesn’t work to create peace, but rather works toward conflict resolution.
"As an Israeli, it’s very hard to be told that we should love each other and be friends because you have too much emotional baggage," she said. "Conflict resolution is about stopping the killing."
When he’s on the streets of Jenin, Labadi said at first it’s hard for people to see Israelis as humans like themselves.
"When people think of Israel, they think ‘Oh they killed my brother,’ " he said.
Through town hall meetings, OneVoice is trying to build trust on both sides, Labadi said.
In November, negotiations began in the United States that would guarantee an independent Palestinian state at peace with Israel. In the meantime, for about a year OneVoice has been collecting signatures from both Palestinians and Israelis to demonstrate the need for an end to the violence.
When they have one million signatures, Cohen said, they’ll take it to politicians on both sides.
To date, OneVoice has collected more than 600,000 signatures.