Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies: Social media campaign goes viral (PHOTOS)
RT | July 26, 2014
As the Israeli operation Protective Edge has so far
claimed over 1,000 dead, users have been flooding the web with dozens of
photos of Jews and Arabs together showcasing peace and love, under the
hashtag #JewsAndArabsRefuseToBeEnemies.
The campaign was launched by Abraham Gutman (Jewish) and Dania
Darwish (Arab), both students at Hunter College in New York,
immediately after the start of Operation Protective Edge in Gaza
- and this week it gained momentum.
“For me, it is hard to watch the current escalation between
Israel and Gaza from afar. I wanted to find a way to be more than
a passenger, to do something about it rather than just watch the
news and hope for the best,” Gutman told Christian Science
monitor.
Abraham and Dania took a photo of themselves in Washington Square Park. They started a Facebook group and by now have been flooded with photos from around the world. The page has more than 5,000 fans.
The hashtag #JewsAndArabsRefuseToBeEnemies soon became popular.
One of the most viral pictures turned to be the one that showed a
kissing couple - Lebanese journalist Sulome Anderson and her
Orthodox Jewish boyfriend.
“He calls me neshama, I call him habibi. Love doesn't speak
the language of occupation,” wrote Sulome in her Twitter
account.
The journalist also told NYmag that the selfie became a
“viral symbol of peace.”
“This isn’t just about politics. This is about people. No one
knows better than I the toll Middle East violence takes on
ordinary people just trying to live.”
The ground operation in the Gaza Strip was launched by Tel Aviv
on July 8, following more than a week of Hamas shelling Israel
and the IDF responding with air strikes. Over 1,030 people, at
least 40 Israeli troops among them, have died in the violence.
On Saturday, Israel and Hamas agreed to a 12-hour humanitarian
ceasefire in the Gaza hostilities that started on Saturday
morning.
However, soon after the truce was announced, at least 60 bodies
were recovered by rescue forces from buildings destroyed in
Israeli strikes in Gaza, reported the Palestinian Authority's
official radio station.
Early on Saturday – shortly before the truce – rescue crews
recovered a family of 18 Palestinians killed by Israeli tank
shelling in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Gaza health
ministry. The victims were members of the Al-Najar family, who
had been trapped inside their house in Khuzaa village east of
Khan Younis since Thursday.
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