Israel-In-Media

Certainly a different view of the Israel-Palestine conflict of which I had only learned from the radio, TV or read in newspapers before. The media, as we know, are usually in favour of Palestine. So I was rather confused about it and did not know what was true. That is the main reason why I was happy to able to take part in the project: to find out how the things really are and to meet new people of different cultures and nationalities.

We visited Prague where we attended various lectures (e.g. by Jana Hybášková, Drápal, etc.) and visited exhibitions. I enjoyed meeting many people, the evening parties and the fact that everyone tried to talk to each other and helped each other. And I was very surprised that most of the Czech newspapers are more in favour of Palestine than Israel.

What I liked best was Israel, because there I had some unique experiences. There we were dealing with the Israel – Palestine conflict, in which I was very interested. We were able to see new places, like the desert, Jerusalem, etc.  We swam in the Dead Sea, tasted new meals and learned about thein traditions. We were able to see the differences between the Jewish and Arabian parts  and visit an Arabian village.

It was also great in Germany where we learned much about the Berlin wall, concentration camps and we were also able to see the places. I had never been to a concentration camp before and so it was very interesting.

Some of us (I, Lenka, Nelly, Dorka, Adam) went to along the streets asking the passers-by to tell us what they knew  about the Israel – Palestine conflict. Some of them did not want to talk about it with us, but others did and they knew a lot. And I was surprised that young people knew more about the conflict than older people. Unfortunately, we did not find a man who sits in the streets and protests against Israel to find out his opinion of the conflict.

So, thanks to this experience I have a completely different opinion of the conflict than I had before.

But unfortunately, everything nice has to end one day and so we had to say goodbye. I hope that we will stay in touch and will be able to meet some time in the future.

Veronika Olszarova, Czech Republic

The 2 weeks spent on the project Europeans for peace have been really enriching, building up, inspiring and even challenging for me personally. I´ve had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with young people from 3 quite different cultures, a chance to discover the world of the media and see how it works and also to find out more about a very up-to-date issue – the conflict in the Middle East.

In May, over a month after the trip to Israel, our group met again in Germany. I will concentrate on some of the sessions, meetings etc. we had and describe how I could benefit from it.

We were able to have a meeting with a lady from the Israeli Embassy in Berlin. I think they have a really fascinating mission to show a positive non-military face of Israel, which helps the Germans to create a fuller and more realistic picture of Israel. I come from the CR and I daresay that people in my country tend to see Israel as a place of never-ending war. It is really important to balance this somehow and I think this is what Hasbarah (hebrew: enlighting, explaining) does.

During this project we were dealing a lot with the media issue. In Hamburg we could meet the foreign editor of the Stern newspaper. He described the work in the paper, what it means. I found it really exciting. The whole world of the press, influencing the public opinion, impacting the politics, making people aware of the global problems, showing the reality from a certain point of view is a pretty attractive matter!

On this project we were also trying to judge the information presented in the media. To do that we compared and contrasted different kinds of newspapers and pictures from Germany, the CR and Israel. We wanted to look at the background of what we read in the papers, to follow and observe some tendencies or patterns in the press. I´ve been able to realise how the message can sometimes be misrepresented or even manipulated. Now I am trying not just to be a passive consumer of the media but rather use it to create my own opinion.

Another completive point of view offered us a politician, whom we met in the Berlin Bundestag. I could see the difficulties of the process of bringing a “nice idea” to life, making it a real success. I think it made my more realistic and less likely to judge the failures on the political stage, but on the other hand even more courageous in the fight for justice.

How should I sum up? There´s sure the whole project has challenged me in certain ways. Firstly, I will try to be more critical towards received information. Secondly, I would like to explore more the world of the media. Then, I really want to help people see Israel in a non-pejorative light.

I would also like to thank all that help to organise this wonderful activity, especially to Ulrike Ruth Nováková, who was responsible for the trip to Germany. I think you have really helped to shape young lives in a positive way! I appreciate your work very much. Thank you for letting me take part in this!

Dorota Molin, Czech Republic

For me, The EFP project was one of the most valuable experiences in life. It was an amazing time for The Czech, German and Israeli students to get to know each other and learn more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the way media’s portrayed about it.
I really liked the idea of having experts teach us about the problems that we were dealing with. For example, when we were in Israel and dealt with pictures taken during the Gaza conflict, one of the best photographers on this issue gave us a lecture. This man, personally, was daily travelling into Gaza, taking pictures and often taking a risk of getting injured. He had a big impact on those of us who deal with photography and the way we look at photos.
Another expert whom we met was the chief editor of a very famous German magazine called Stern. This man has a great responsibility and deal with international events. It was interesting to me that magazines are written in much more different way than newspapers. In this lecture we discussed many of these differences. I think that journalists have an amazing opportunity to influence people and it is very important that they know and understand what they are writing about, otherwise we can’t take this material in consideration. And as one of our lecturers said, “90% of what is written in the newspapers is wrong. Not because they like to lie, but because they simply don’t know.” I don’t necessarily agree with this, but I think it contains a lot of truth. Therefore, and this is one of the very essential things that we learned on this project, is that each one of us who reads the press should examine sources and search for the truth. I believe that it is not enough to only read the press.
And certainly, discussions had a major role on our project and it also benefited my life. Every time we had to get into groups to talk and discuss things, we left enriched with other people’s ideas and thoughts. I was always looking forward to it. It was a big challenge for me to see the young Israelis debating and being eager to ask questions and debate. This time taught me a lot, because I started to think more deeply. I realized that if I said something it would have to be based, supported and reasoned. At school we often only learn information and don’t think very much about why is this information valuable or how it is supported, but on this project I learned to give supported information which I was very glad for.
Finally, I would like to say that the EFP project was not only very useful and didactic project but we also had a lot of fun and we definitely made memories that will never be forgotten. Now I know and understand how important this project was and I wish that more of my friends could experience this.
Big thanks

Adam Hlavka – Czech group

If this project was not started, I would probably never be interested in Israeli – Palestinian conflict, but in Czech Republic I found out that it must be really interesting to solve it, even through that fact we didn’t solve it too much there. I didn’t také too much informations about that conflict, but I think that I got the point and sense of this in Czech Republic. Everyone tells me that they took the most informations about photos, but I don’t think is, I think that was an introduction to everything.

I think that I really got the point of this and now I can share the feelings of Israelis. I was impressed by a lot of factors,  including resort of invaded country. But that’s not the only thing that impressed me, there’s much more thing, for example that I got many infozaložitrmations from whole beginning of this project, and the lectures were really plainspoken.

I was really dissapointed of that fact that some Israelis are more pro-palestinians and I don’t think that’s good, because it was really hard to found Israel, so they should be much more patriotic. I was thinking about that these opinions of them, but I didn’t figure out that if they’re impressed by media are if they created it on their own.

I know that in every country are people who don’t like that country and criticise a lot of things, but I was suprised, because I didn’t think that those people are in Israel too and I také this state as something different than the others.

Last week in Germany I have understood each lecture and I saw the changeover from first to the third week of the project, and I was dissapointed about my reactions that were not  according my imagination. But that’s not important, because this project has changed me. Now I know that every kind of media – tv, radio, newspapers lies, almost every information they publish is brutal distorted, so it wouldn’t be true. I don’t think people deserve lies and faked informations, because everyone has a law to know the true. And if someone doesn’t know the true, the peace can’t win. Sometimes we have to see things from the place of happening much more than from the letters written on a buyable paper.

Lenka Vítková

I had never thought I would be able to empathize with Germans under the Nazi government. It seemed very clear: they either cooperated because they were afraid or because they supported the Nazi Ideology. During our trip to Germany I realized it is more complex, it struck me that anything can be manipulated to seem moral, even progressive.

In Berlin’s Topography of Terror Museum I read some of the rules installed by the Nazi government, it seemed impossible that a law which I interpreted as incredibly progressive and moral could be written by them. Though the law seemed moral, its use couldn’t be farther away. The words were manipulated in such a way that I couldn’t blame anyone for supporting it. How could the Germans distinguish right from wrong when nothing is what it seems, when bad is presented as good? If it happened in that extreme situation, how can we distinguish right from wrong in the present? Even more information is available and everyone seems to have a different interpretation of good (assuming most people aspire to something “better”).

Living in a country in conflict, though is applies worldwide, my actions seem to carry an even greater moral statement. How am I to make the “right decision”? I’m not even sure this term still exists. How can we create a better reality when each has a different idea of better, when everything can be presented as good? Which boundaries still exist? Taking the responsibility, looking for information, looking to extend your knowledge, it’s an eternal mission as one cannot include all factors in a decision.

Especially not in the pace at which we need to make decisions. This is not to say that we can sit quietly and give up. It does mean however, that I can never be certain I’m right or anyone else. It leaves an unsolved struggle between maintaining the hope and working for the future or simply trying to make it better now by working for today.

‘Why shouldn’t I go to Israel?’, were the words of mine. Many people still believe that Israel and Palestine are the destinations which do not produce the best impression of safety. On the one hand it’s true. Israel is a country of bombings, high walls and barbed wire fences. The soldiers are deployed throughout the country. The only thing we see on the evening news is violence and terrorism.

Two days before departure, I thought of Israel as a country located in the desert. I thought of Israel as a country with lots of poverty and inhospitable conditions for life. Can you imagine what a surprise I experienced when we arrived by plane in Tel Aviv? I saw a beautiful green garden full of exotic plants. The first thing I experienced was the welcoming with our Israeli friends. Each of them smiled and shook our hands. Never before I have seen such hospitality. I stayed at Ido’s house and his mum is really a great cook. Everyday I saw the best breakfast in my life. Food in Israel is really tasty and looks famous. Dinners were delicious, too. I’m sure that if politicians dealt with every war in the world at the dinner table, Israel would be the place of peace. For me, the food was a great experience in Israel.

Travelling across the country was truly amazing. Locals like us say that Israel is a small country. Israel really is a small country, but there are many places to visit. Of the many sites I’ll mention the most interesting: I was at the Dead Sea, at En Gedi National Park, in the city of Jerusalem and the modern city of Tel Aviv and visited a museum of Czech concentration camp Terezín. The greatest experience for me was to visit En Gedi National Park and a village near the west bank of Jordan river. I saw the desert mountains, desert plants and desert animals such as Capricorn. Bathing in a hidden waterfall was a great experience at the end of touring around the park. We had a great guide.

Our trip was not just about traveling. I have met many people who are interested in conflict and everything associated with it. I met two young Israelis who chose different ways. One went to army, and the other opted to work on a peaceful solution. Many people do not realize that Israel still has compulsory military service for women. Two years in the army. This may seem to us absurdly bad, but if I were Israeli, I would go to the army as well. Israelis are defending their land against the true danger everyday. For the Israelis it is a real honor to join the army. It was great to meet with photographers and correspondents in conflict.

If I had to sum up everything, this project gave me, I’d have really a lot to do. Everyday I changed my mind on what to think about the conflict. I thought as a man whose opinions are really solid. Until the trip to Israel. I found to trust the information we receive from the other side – as the Czech media – is absolutely impossible. Therefore for me the question remains, what to believe if I can’t see the situation with my own eyes. After ten days in Israel I do not believe the TV or newspapers. Views of the media are either subjective or deliberately distorted. The common man is not able to form a truly, personaly own opinion. This trip helped me to understand many things. I’m glad I was invited to this project.

Adam Svidá

A picture is not the reality. When you see a picture, you can think about the feelings on it. But you can’t feel and understand the real situation. The situation on a photo looks not so awful. Some people see the photos, but don’t want to see the reality and the true story behind the pictures. As Europeans (especially as Germans) we can’t understand a picture about the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and the feelings behind it correctly, because we live in Europe (Germany) and there is no war, we live far away from Israel and the conflict.

We have another perspective on the conflict, so we understand a picture of a bomb attack not the same way a Jew does.

Isabell Eckhard

I liked the session with the photgraph, that we had at Jerusalem.

He told us a lot of things about his job and it was very interesting. He explained, that when we see a picture this is not the reality. But we don`t know this truth. He gave an example: a woman who’s legs were heavily injured by shots didn`t want to show her legs on a photo to the world, but the world can see a picture only, not her legs themselves, the picture is not reality. That she understood and was ready to let the photographer take a photo of her wounded legs. With a photo you can`t show reality, just try to.

It`s hard to shoot daily life, he told us. If you take a photo of a mother with her child waiting at the checkpoint, nobody will know that she has been waiting there for four hours!

The job as a photographer is important, because pictures are the thing you keep in your mind and which shall remind you. The photographer tries to show feelings in his pictures and he can try to show his own feelings also when he takes a photo. When there is a picture in a newspaper, there is a caption and it`s easier to understand the meaning of it. But without any explaining words it often is hard.

These are just some little aspects of all the things he said. I really liked his way of telling us a lot about his job.

Magdalena Mauersberger

In the Israel-Palestine-Conflict, the role of the European Union and their legal representatives of 27 member states – which are as trade partners for Israel already equal to the USA – seems to be quite clear: The EU dictates an unalterable peacemaking plan that leads to a two-state-solution.

Jana Hybášková, the famous Czech politician and arabist, stands as a former member of the European parliament and the Israel delegation against such policies. She believes that an increasing dialogue and cooperation with Israel has to be the starting point for discussions about real solutions. According to this conception, her commitment for more interaction between Israel and the EU reached such a height, that she felt like a lobbyist for Israel.

Little steps are the only possible way to peace in this complex conflict which cannot be, referring to Mrs. Hybášková, brought to an end in a short distance of time. In her view, a two-state-solution is not realizable earlier than in far future. Directly compared, a sort of a one-state-solution is even more viable and easier to accomplish. Increasing the internal security of Israel would allow the state to decrease the road-blocks and to give Palestinians more possibilities to move and trade, which would lead to a better economical and humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories. This first step is highly recommended by Mrs. Hybášková as an example for practicable solutions which could result in peace in a couple of years. Theoretically, better life conditions for most of the Palestinians would of course decrease terrorist attacks and the borders could be slightly reopened. But on the other hand, demographic studies prove that in a few years Palestinians would become the majority in Israel and therefore the state would lose its Jewish identity.  However, Ms. Hybášková is unimpressible by arguments like that. Her modern believe is that inhabitants of Israel are Israelis, not Jews.

A woman of her profession knows quite well that there are more problems to solve, though. Refugee camps should become a part of their states and the Gaza strip should be Egyptian territory again – but how their governments can be convinced is a question not even Ms. Hybášková can answer – for now.

Nico Schmelzle

First some thoughts about Beit Terezin. It is a kind of a museum about the history of the jewish Ghetto “Theresienstadt” in Czech Republic. The exhibition gives an idea of the terrible

situation of Jews under the NS-Regime. Gerda and Stephan, holocaust survivors, told us their story about living and surviving in the holocaust period.

Gerda told us, that she always tried to make the best out of  the happenings in Thersienstadt. Her mother married a doctor for the reason Nazis didn’t send medicians to Auschwitz. Later on she and her family fled into a centre of uprising against the Nazis, to get into safety. At first they built a hideout in a forest, then they lived with other refugees in a school. That school was attacked by the SS, but Gerda they didn’t kill because with her blond hair she looked like a German girl. So she  was able to flee again. Partisans took her family in their secret bunker because they needed a doctor’s help. Later on they were admitted by the Romanian army and went back to their home. Only six students of her class survived the Holocaust. Gerda immigrated 1949 on a cargo ship to Israel.

Stephan was born in the north of Bratislava. The Nazis deported him to several concentration camps. They put him in a group of men who had to do physically hard work (normally the men died after 3 month hard working). But he and his father had luck. They got an easy job in the office. Later he was deported to Sachsenhausen. At his 15^th birthday his father gave him an apple as a present. This present was very impressive for him because this apple was a symbol of life in the death camp. Later he worked in an arms factory where he injured his finger with a machine. Then the nazis deported him to Ravensbrück, but the allied rid him. Later he saved his brother. His mother just survived because she could work for the Red Cross.

My impressions of this session are:

- consternation about this dark part of our history.

- happiness, that this didn’t happen to me.

- duty to watch out, that this will never happen another time.

In this session it was the first time I spoke with a holocaust survivor. It was interesting for me to hear this stories. I was surprised about Gerda’s and Stephan’s openness. Also the museum was good because it connects the Germans, the Czechs and the Jews in one historic topic.

Simeon Türk