Oliver McTernan and Sir Jeremy Greenstock visit Gaza and the West Bank, September 2012
Oliver and Sir Jeremy undertook an extensive visit to Gaza and the West Bank to speak to a range of political actors and to gain an accurate perception of the present situation.In Gaza, they led a lively discussion in a seminar concerning changes in the Arab world from an Arab perspective at the House of Wisdom Institute for Conflict Resolution and Governance. A lively discussion took place with academics, politicians and community activists taking part. The visit to the House of Wisdom also allowed them to meet with many of the young people involved in the work of the institute.
On leaving Gaza, they spent time visiting Kibbutz Kfar Aza where they were hosted by Shai Hermesh MK, a member of the Forward Thinking cross party Knesset group. Here, they visited the Sha'ar Hanegev High School, located in an area vulnerable to rockets fired from the Gaza Strip. Here, they had a long discussion with the headmaster of the school, Aharale Rotshtain, on the importance of education in changing perceptions of the other.In the West Bank, Oliver and Sir Jeremy met with the Prime Minister Salem Fayyad in Ramallah in order to discuss the current state of Palestinian disunity. They held similar discussions with Dr Nabil Shaath, and his assistant Husam Zomlot. In addition, they met with the General Secretary of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Dr Mahmoud Al Ramahi and members of the council Dr Aymen Daraghma and Ahmad Attoun. In Nablus, they also met Dr Nasser Sheer and Dr Sameer Abu Eish.
The series of meetings proved highly insightful, and they also demonstrated how 'communication and contact' is the best next step forward. As one observer commented: 'The inspiration for this, however, has to come from the peoples themselves. The outside world has run too many laps of the track without success to be a credible source, at whatever point in the US electoral cycle. With Israel holding the physical supremacy, little will change unless there is an Israeli recalculation of their long-term interests in a rapidly evolving region and/or an expression of the voice of the Palestinian people in their own Tahrir Square. It does not have to be violent, but without contact and debate in an atmosphere of at least approximate equality, it will be.'