The Gaza Dream – A Chronicle of Courage

The last Indian movie I watched was `Bigil’ starring actor Vijay. He was and is known to act in movies that convey strong messages. Bigil was one of it. It had two strong messages – women empowerment and end to gangterism. The women empowerment part was where a girl, who was a football star, was acid-attacked by a spurned lover, scarred her face so badly that she decided to go into hiding for a few years, sending her football dream into freezer. Vijay, the hero, talks to her and convinces her to leave her `prison’ and face the world, despite being scarred. She does and finally shines again as a football star.

The second message was an advocacy to end gangsterism. In the final scene, the hero chases the villain through the streets, till his house (gangster’s house) and all the way to the son’s bedroom! The son was studying but when he saw someone with a sword chasing his dad who tried to hide in a corner of the room, he dropped his book out of shock. So, then came the hero’s dialogue. ‘Seeing me chase you, your son dropped his book. If I stab you, he will drop his book forever and take another sword to revenge me, in the entirety of his life. The cycle will continue, gangsterism will not end’. Saying that he throws the sword down, pats the boy in his head and leaves.

That’s a worthy message, because that is what is happening in the Gaza – Israel conflict. Neither side wants to throw down the sword. One can’t expect Palestinians to throw down the sword unless Israel initiates it. But Israel is just a country which has its politics to play, too. So, now and then when ratings drop, some bombs have to be dropped across the fence in Gaza to both revive the ratings and/or to turn attention elsewhere from some issues brewing at home. In politics, such moves are very popular.

It will take the oppressive side a lot of courage to throw the sword down and say, I will no longer attack anyone. Yes, I said, courage. Like Gandhi ji had the kind of courage no man could ever have to advocate and live passive resistance till independence was gained from the British. Did the British not beat him? Oppress Indians on their own homeland? Yes, they did. But he had the courage to stand tall to face it all. But it also took a lot of courage on the part of the British (which was `supported’ by the affair between Lady Mountbatten and Nehru ji, of course) to walk away from a land they had occupied without any rights to it, to begin with.

The oppressors need more courage to meet their own demons and admit that what they are doing is wrong and step back. Courage – I really doubt Israelis have it. To have courage one needs conscience. To have conscience one needs to be connected inwardly to the Creator. Anyone who fires a rubber or live bullet onto an innocent person, is certainly not connected to his or her conscience, what more the Creator. So, where is the courage going to come from? So, will Israelis ever throw down their weapons, open all borders and say `Listen neighbours, let’s make this land where Jesus was born, great. Let’s be the economic power of this region’? Will they have the courage to do that? It is up to Israelis to make history happen. Why Israelis and not Palestinians? Because it is the Israelis who oppress the Palestinians.

Israelis and Palestinians fought for the Gaza strip, and the Palestinians won. But Israel decided that losing Gaza strip means they need to oppress the occupants – no proper education, no proper medical facility, no proper food, nothing. Such is the embargo placed on that land. Not to forget the bombings. The Gaza strip is called the largest open-air prison on Earth. Aliens from other galaxy must be laughing at the stupidity of human beings. In Hinduism, the Earth is considered to be the lowest of all lokas – bottom most because human beings are the most stupid in the entire creation.

They are quick to pick up weapon and fight compared to work at cooperating with others. It is easier to be bad than to be good. Because being bad takes less effort compared to being good. Being selfish is easier than being selfless. So, Israelis have taken the easier path – to be bad.

Let’s take a moment, let’s build the Gaza dream – supposing one fine day the political administrators in Israel wake up enlightened and decide that they want to make the entire region great – economically and socially. So, they call the Gaza administrators and share their dream. And supposing the Hamas and Jihadis decide to work along with Israel to realise the dream after understanding that their lives will change when the region becomes great. Israel, with a span of 22,072 sq km has fertile land, varied geography and good infrastructure – in science and technology. Gaza has many young people – 1.9 million people live in Gaza strip. They have nothing much to do but have very active brains. Active brains means mental strength. People with mental strength are talents.  Any civilization evolves with the strength of people. Talent is not found in tables and chairs but in people. Allow the Gazaans some opportunity and see how they excel. Deprived people work harder than those who have good lives. I am sure, given the opportunity, Gazaans to want to see better lives and opportunity means a chance to shine.

Let the Gaza strip flourish as tourist destination of the world. Bring in investors to develop the land. 1.9 million population is the ready work force. Along with tourism, let’s bring in medi-tourism and edu-tourism. Medi-tourism means medical tourism where people come for medical treatment and stay on to tour the land. The same with edu-tourism. And Gaza is known for great well-known bodybuilders. It is a sport of choice in Gaza with championships being held since 2010. So, there you have it – sports tourism. When business flourishes, more resources in technology and supplies will be required. Enter Israel. Or Egypt. Or Jordan - to support the expansion of the Gazaan economy. When people see opportunities, their minds will tune in to seizing the opportunities, not to seize other people’s property or lives. Be it the Gazaans or Israelis – every human being like opportunities. Once the mind is hooked on such life developments, who will have the time to bomb the neighbour?

For a moment, while reading the above para you could see a new Gaza, could you not? To make it a reality it is not far, but it needs to begin with courage – courage of the Israelis (and Palestinians) to throw down the weapon and say `I quit fighting my neighbour’. Will that courage ever happen?