A report by 3^rd Form pupil, Gabriel, who attended the King's Bruton Forum about Israel & Palestine...

I found the Israel & Palestine Forum on Monday evening amazingly insightful and thoroughly interesting. With Rev'd Beverly running the session, just under fifty of us pupils explored five big questions:

1. What/who is behind this mess?
2. Who is most affected?
3. How does it make you feel / how does it impact us in the UK?
4. Does campaigning & marching make things better/worse?
5. What is the way forward?

We had some clear ground rules to follow:

1. Listen.
2. Learn.
3. It’s fine to disagree with someone, but that doesn’t mean you must hate them; we can disagree well.
4. Remember, ordinary people are affected by violence in the region.
5. Consider an approach that is centred on finding solutions rather than supporting one side to win against the other.

We started the forum with Rev Bev taking us through the history of Israel/Palestine, starting right the way back in 1000BC when King David formed the Kingdom of Israel, making Jerusalem its capital. We moved all the way through to the current situation off the back of the 7^th October terrorist attacks by Hamas. It was eye opening to be reminded by news videos and photos of the brutality of these attacks and the huge level of warfare that has occurred since. It was also fascinating to see how historically so many nations are responsible for the current tragic mess in the region.

After the history, we looked at various video news clips and statistics/facts about what is currently going on over there and here in the UK - we debated in smaller groups the above questions, coming together every few minutes to feedback our thoughts. I found question one to be especially captivating because there are so many different angles and viewpoints that can be used to try and answer this question. Likewise, question four really got us all thinking and discussing as we have seen the effects of the marches on our streets in recent weeks. The marches really highlight the tensions and much of the ignorance that exists amongst those taking part in the marches. Mr Mitra also shared with us an account of what it was like for him to visit Israel in 2004 before Hamas came to power in Gaza, and then how life changed there post them coming to power in 2006. An Arab Israeli friend of his had emailed him with an account of what life was like at the moment - it was especially illuminating.

Many thanks to Rev Bev for preparing and organising the Forum. We can all agree that what is going on in Israel and Palestine at the moment is utterly heartbreaking. Whilst so many people argue and fall out over what ought to happen to achieve peace, it was great that we were able to meet and share our thoughts and disagree well with each other.

Gabriel - 3^rd Form, Blackford House

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