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Not all Israelis and Palestinians hate each other. These pictures are proof.

 

The conflict in Gaza is so often simplified into one of Team A vs Team B. An ancient conflict with no resolution between two groups who hate each other, and will never be able to co-exist.

However, as is the case in any warzone, the reality of life for the people of Israel and Palestine is not so black and white. Jewish people have Arab friends. Arab people meet Jewish people and have Arab-Jewish babies. Yet, this is not the story that is told in a news cycle demanding simple narratives, and a world filled with extremist actions.

But now a group of Jews and Arabs are standing up and saying that their governments and rebel groups do not speak for them. They are saying that the distinction between Palestinian and Israeli is not always black and white, and nor should it be.

They’re saying that Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies.

Using the hashtag #JewsAndArabsRefuseToBeEnemies Jews and Muslims from the Middle East and across the world have expressed their dismay at the situation in Gaza.

The Huffington Post explains how the movement came to be:

The Facebook page was started by Abraham Gutman, an Israeli currently studying at Hunter College, and his classmate Dania Darwish. He told The Huffington Post via email, “Dania and I don’t always agree when we talk about politics,” but always managed to hold a discussion without ever becoming rude or angry.

He explained, “In the last month it was hard for us to open our social media accounts. Our feeds were full of hateful comments. We wanted to create a community of people that oppose this kind of speech and to remind people that in the bottom line we are all just people.”