Sunday, December 14, 2014

Final Speech- Jacob Young

AP English 3rd Hour Final
Jacob Young

I wake up every morning to the sound of another rocket sending a thunderclap throughout my homeland. I get out of bed, get dressed, kiss my parents goodbye and I’m off to school, the only place where I can be truly safe. Or so I thought. About two weeks ago a school only a few blocks away from mine was bombed, teachers and students alike were both fatally injured. But I head on anyway, knowing that going to school is the only way I will be able to get anywhere in my life. I walk into my small classroom, only 16 students in the class, and say hello to my teacher. He looks weary, exhausted. As usual. After another monotonous day at school I hurry back to my apartment because I heard another missile bringing another home its destruction. I’m no special kid, believe me. I wish nobody any harm. Palestinians like myself and Israelis alike murder each other every day but for what? I don’t understand, nor do I support it. I guess my parents must be right, we can live in peace. But as long as groups like Hamas exist that paradise can never be achieved. It must end soon, before another thousand lives are taken.

I wake up again to the sound of an air raid alarm resounding brutally throughout the city. I slowly get out of bed, get dressed, kiss my parents goodbye and head to school. At school we all had to run into a bomb shelter because of more rocket attacks coming from Gaza. At least I live in Jerusalem, the safest place in the entire Middle East. No harm will come to it. Or so I thought. As I speak there are rockets being intercepted by the Iron Dome, rockets that could potentially strike at the heart of all religions, the Old City. I hurry home because of another air raid siren, this time farther away. The Tel Aviv siren, perhaps. Why does this continue? I wish nobody any harm. Israelis like myself and Palestinians alike murder each other every day, but why does this cruelty continue to plague this land? It is possible to live in peace, I know that. However that dream can never become a reality as long as terrorist groups like Hamas continue to spread their poison throughout this holy land. It must end soon, before another thousand lives are taken.

The Palestinian and the Israeli boys, take a moment to recognize how similar those stories were. Are they so different? In truth, they are not. According to a survey taken in the Gaza Strip 85 % of Palestinians believe that peace is an achievable and desirable outcome, and 63% of Palestinians believe in the total destruction of Hamas. I have experienced this viewpoint myself. I spent a month in Israel this past summer, and while I was there I went to a city called Akko. According to statistics from Princeton 67% of Akko’s residents are Jewish, 25% are Arab, and 3% are Christian. Seems like the most horrible place to live, doesn’t it? There must be an insane amount of conflict that goes on there, right? Wrong. It is not only the most peaceful city in Israel, but the residents actually like each other and can work together. It goes even so far as to joke with one another. “Oh man thanks for the watermelon I’ll just go home, throw it in the backyard and watch it blow up my neighbor’s gazebo.” “ I’m flying home today, back to Eilat please don’t shoot my plane down with a Stinger missile.” This really happens. The people of Akko serve as a role model for the rest of the Middle East, that it is possible for peace to thrive in this land, it is possible for these two demographics to live and work together willingly, no matter how big their nose is.

If you have watched the news ever in the past year or so, you’re bound to have come across some sort of bafo extremist event that happened in the Middle East. Truth be told, these events are over-exaggerated. Yes, there are air raid sirens and yes, there have been many deaths in the 68 years that Israel has been a nation, but in today’s world, deaths especially in Israel are no longer commonplace. In the month that I was in Israel, out of the 29 or so days I was there, do you know how many deaths were recorded during that span of time? Three. All in one day. One day out of 29. In the heart of rocket alarms and explosions. The media makes it appear that this one day is every day in Israel, and that is untrue. The majority of the time, the rockets that Hamas fires hit either in the Negev desert where pretty much no one lives, or are intercepted by the Iron Dome, which, according to Israeli news station YNet, takes out 90% of rockets and mortars fired at population centers all across Israel.

So what’s my point?

My point is merely this: not only should you not trust how the media portrays the Middle East, but you should also recognize what the situation really is. Hamas makes up a very small percent of the Palestinian population, and the majority of those not in Hamas do not support it. This does not justify the actions taken by the terrorist organization, but simply provides some perspective on how the Palestinians view Hamas. It also does not justify the actions taken by Israel. Both sides have endured excruciating casualties and both sides have acted unjustly or excessively.

So what can you do? Because there would be no point to this speech if I were not encouraging you to act a certain way. Well considering the fact that you are not part of either the Israeli or Palestinian governments there’s not a whole lot that you can do. So the better question becomes what should you NOT do. To avoid confusion and misrepresentation of what really goes on in the Middle East, here are a few things that you should not do:
  1. Do not believe everything that FOX News or MSNBC or CNN tells you; it’s over-exaggerated.
  2. Do not advocate for extreme violence on either side, because the ultimate goal for both Palestinians and Israelis is peace.
  3. Do not misunderstand the numbers of each side. Hamas makes up a very small percent of the Palestinian population, and the majority of them do not support it. Israel also does not think that every Arab is a terrorist. They understand how small Hamas is.
  4. And finally, Hamas and ISIS are two very different groups of people that have two very different goals and ways of achieving those goals, so don’t group them as a whole. (Not saying either is good)
So what have we talked about today? We first discussed the Palestinian and Israeli boys, and how their lives are very similar, to show you just how different they aren’t. We also talked about Akko and how it serves as a role model for the entirety of the Middle East. Then about the rockets and how many deaths they cause, which is extremely small. And finally we talked about some things that you should not do when referencing the Middle East; those being not believing what the media tells you, not advocating violence on either side, not misunderstanding the numbers of both sides, and not grouping all terrorists as a whole.
When I was in Israel this summer there was a day when we had some free time to swim in the Kibbutz pool. As my friend Benjamin and I were just about to leave the pool for dinner, an air raid siren went off. He and I were the last two from our group to leave the pool, so we were on our own. Our room was quite a ways away from the pool, so we started running as fast as we could towards the rooms. As soon as we got to the first room out of the small apartment complex-type building, one of the security guards for our group yelled for us to come under the outside stairs, the safest place when under a rocket attack. As we hid under the stairs I could not help but look out from under, and when I did I saw two rockets fly over my head, and one was intercepted by the Iron Dome and exploded not 50 yards over my head. It was at that moment in which I knew that it was real. All of the things that you may hear about the things that go on really do happen, and it would do so much good if you stopped and thought about it. Those 4 things that I told you not to do, they will help more than you know. So please, understand the situation, and I hope I have cleared things up for you and provided a new perspective on the matter. To this day I remember the exact minute that I woke up one morning to the sound of an air raid alarm, slowly getting out of bed, saying good morning to my counselors, and heading off to a bomb shelter. Thank you.











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