Akiva Sanders | Let's end this tragedy once and for all

A tragedy is unfolding amidst our friends and family in Israel and Gaza. Once again, we find ourselves at the beginning of a battle. Millions of civilians will live in fear in the coming days, helpless, frozen and worried for their loved ones.

In times like these, our most important responsibility is to send our firm love and support to the victims, whether they are our cousins, vague acquaintances or people whom we have never met.

I pray that Hamas will turn away from its tactic of targeting Israeli civilians. I pray that Israeli soldiers harm as few civilians as possible in their legitimate work of self-defense. And I pray that Israeli soldiers return home safely as soon as possible.

As for us, students living halfway around the world who care deeply about this conflict and these people, I sincerely hope that we can remain civil and respectful in these times of distress.

Rather than transporting a violent conflict from abroad to a war of words on campus, we must join together in standing up for the right of all civilians to live in peace. I know that we have the ability to open our hearts to both Israeli and Palestinian civilians, and empathize with their tragedy as if it were our own.

Why, after the devastating war four years ago, must we endure another one? How many more rockets have to fall and how many more bloody invasions have to take place before the civilians of southern Israel and Gaza can live in peace, confident that their lives will not be disrupted by the sound of explosions?

As Penn for Palestine warned in their statement on Friday, “history may now repeat itself as the world watches.”

The largest tragedy is that the violence will not end when Israeli military action ceases. Rockets continue to rain on the towns of southern Israel, and the people of Gaza continue to suffer a strangling blockade.

As College and Wharton sophomore Shlomo Klapper stated in his op-ed on Friday, “enough is enough.” We must learn from the events of recent history that military operations will never end terror, and terror will never end military operations. If we are serious about standing up for the safety, security and human dignity of Israelis and Palestinians, we too must demand that enough is enough.

We must stand up for an end to terrorism and an end to military occupation. We must stand up for a real, lasting solution in which each nation has everything to lose and nothing to gain from violence and where moderate groups that support negotiation and compromise are strengthened and those who support violence are weakened: We must stand up for a two state solution now and we must stand up for a two-state solution with military action is over. Because this is the only way to stop the spiral of violence and we refuse to allow history to continually repeat itself while we stand by.

I am an American Jew who refuses to see this conflict as a zero-sum game. I am an American Jew who believes that demonizing “the other” undermines my Judaism. And I am an American Jew who is proud to be the co-president of J Street U Penn, because we are part of a national movement that is standing at the vanguard of the crucial work of peace.

We have, and will continue, to use our power as American citizens to urge our government to demonstrate strong diplomatic leadership in facilitating a negotiated two state solution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. And we will continue to encourage our Israeli and Palestinian friends to replace their fears and hostilities with tolerance and cooperation. Please stand with us in our effort to end this tragedy once and for all.

Akiva Sanders is a College junior and Co-President of J Street UPenn. His email address is sandersa@sas.upenn.edu.

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