“Show them what we got… don’t sell us out too cheap… win one for Israel… tell the Europeans the truth… be
aggressive…” etc. These are a few “tips” some of my friends gave me before going to the PIE conference in Copenhagen (it should be mentioned that others were much more positive). Not only that it didn’t help me, but
that attitude confused me and made me reflect the meaning of the event for me, Ilai, as an individual.I wanted to hear and to be heard, and this aim was achieved by the serious approach all the
participants shared. I sought to meet Palestinians and Europeans that want peace and to make them aware of Israeli’s will to achieve peace in return. That goal was achieved through a multilateral discussion in the
General Forum, but also within the specific workshops.
The usage of the term “Vision” as a starting point was too optimistic for me at first. But as soon as people started to talk, I noticed that almost
all of us hold the same views about how it should look like. Suddenly, it seemed that by merely talking, many issues were addressed with the most honest and serious intentions.
As an Israeli I was
shocked (to say the least), that there is so much pragmatism in the Palestinian side. The immediate result was a growing feeling of optimism that in retrospect was shared by all of us. “Obstacles” was the next stop in
which we discussed what is preventing from us fulfilling a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Same results here: the basic agreement was reached very fast by the people in our workshop. Optimism was
enforced with pragmatism and realism to form a solid understanding of what needs to be done in order to formulate the “Solutions” required. Since it was the last part of the workshop’s process, we were even more
attentive to each other and to the nuances of what we had to say.
Agreement among our group’s members was obtained through dialogue, convincing, reasoning and most important – listening. Positive
feelings of all sorts surrounded us, although some issues were left unsolved. These issues did not constitute a major setback because they were dealt with in other workshops. We thought that since we focused on
“Security and Fear” – as the workshop’s title indicated – stumbling on non workshop issues was fertile and not in place. Centering on the agreed topics was more than enough for us.
Presenting the
workshop’s outcomes was a success as many in the General Forum concurred with our conclusions and recommendations. More than negotiators, we turned into partners of a process, of the peace process. No matter what will
happen, and how much attention Israeli, Palestinian or European policy-makers pay to our final paper, we can be proud at the things we achieved. We managed to get to know each other, to hear different perspectives about
the conflict and to voice our view of the solution. But most important, we were exposed to the fact that there are people like us on the “other” side, there is a genuine hunger for peace among all of us.
This not only makes me more positive about the future, but also makes me feel proud because I was a part of that. It doesn’t mean that the road to peace is an easy one. It can only guarantee that there will always
be people with the drive to try, dare and dream of a better and more peaceful future for all of us. I left Copenhagen some-what different, more open minded and a more optimistic person.
