The UWC colleges are full of people with great ideals about peace and harmony, furthermore people are taught these ideals of international understanding. It also works at the different colleges, but the problem is when after two years, young people goes and meet the world. When facing the “Real World” it seems impossible that Tibetans and Chinese, Indians and Pakistians, Armenian and Turks, Palestinians and Israelis can ever be “friends”, at the UWC colleges all these combination were possible.
I think that it is rather naïve to think that you can combine the UWC ideals fully with how the world is today; hence you have to combine them with the norms of society. We have seen a good example of this the last couple of weeks in the conflict between Hizbollah and Israel. I have tried to talk with people from both sides, about how the war influences them and their families. How they have to use UWC ideals in a war zone.
I remember talking with Itay some days before the IDF soldiers got kidnapped, we talked about how happy he was about being in the north and not in the Gaza strip or the West Bank where he would have to get seriously involved. He still did operations in the North; however Hizbollah was not active at the time. Actually, the northern part of Israel has been quit peaceful since 2000 when IDF pulled out of south Lebanon (after 18 years of occupation). In the beginning Itay actually wanted to be in the intelligence, however he ended up in the “fighting units” (the unit that is a part of the intelligence). He was too well-trained physically. I have always wondered why this peaceful friend of mine should have to carry a weapon in his hands. Or as Yonathan said (My third year from Israel), “I came from the college where I learned conflict management, now I am learning how to kill a person in as many ways as possible”. He also told me how he had cried the first time he had fired the gun. It is not that these people REALLY want to go to the military. It is a lot deeper than that. I remember when I was discussing the issue with Itay in the first year, and he wrote me a long e-mail about it. Here is two quote that describes a bit how he felt (summer 2004): “If you ask me why Im going to the army? because if I wont, and all of my peers wont, then my country will not exist anymore. Yes, there is a stage in my life in which I will have to hold a gun. I dont like it, but in most places in the world, life does not consist majorly of things that one "likes" to do.” And “I will fight for my compatriots and not, god forbid, for Sharon.”
I remember the mails that I got from him when he was in the army, sometimes he would tell me about what he called the “Sunday fatigue”, the time in a soldier’s life where they just don’t want to go back. It is the time when the soldiers, are considering hurting themselves so they wouldn’t have to go back to the barracks. Other times he would be really happy about it, for example when he got to discuss political issues, or when we became soldier of the week, and later on “Soldier of the Diversion”. He was also very happy when he was no more a “Zero”, but a trained soldier (the time when they have finished basic training.)
When the bombings started in Lebanon, I got a text message from Itay saying: “Hi Mads, I am near the border, I just want 2 request if u r in touch with Lukas send him my greetings…” This is typically Itay, thinking about the people on the other side as the first thing. He couldn’t tell me much about what he was doing, but kept me frequently updated with texts like: “I was on the border doing some stuff, going back there now. I am doing good… will update u more when I can” and “say hi 2 them from me. I am going out again 2night… I am too new to enter Lebanon nevertheless, its on the border, 4 one night.”
Another part of the story is Donia, she is one of the many arab-isralies living in the north (near Haifa, the city that Hizbollah is bombing these days). When I talked with her some days ago, she was still in Florence, Italy. However, she was still going home in two weeks, which shocked me a bit, and when asked “Why, aren’t you scared”, then she just answered: “its the story of our life mads”. I was maybe very ignorant at the college, but I rarely thought about that many of the people that I saw everyday were used to bombings of their hometowns. Again the paradox of UWC, when people study in peaceful Norway and afterward go home to a country that is getting bombed. I remember travelling around the region in the summer after my graduation, and I saw the beautiful city of Haifa together with Itay. The city is a mosaic of many different relgions living peacefully together, and I couldn’t imagine that anyone would ever bomb such a beautiful city; likewise I don’t understand how the Israelis can bomb Jbeil in Lebanon - the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world.
I remember when I drove from Damaskus to Beirut in the summer 2005, there were bombcrates and bulletholes everythere from the civilwar. It still seemed in many ways like a country in war, however, you could also feel when talking with people there that they were tired of war, furthermore everyone I talked with had a hope about the future will be better.
I mostly stayed in the North together with Lukas (near Tripoli) and Yara (in Jbeil) where I sensed that people were gathered around Hariri, and against the Syrians – and to some point, against Hizbollah.
I was very nervous for the people I knew in Lebanon when I first heard about the bombings, I knew that Itay will be more safe because of the fact that he is in one of the best armies in the world, but I didn’t know what kind of situation that Yara, Lukas plus their familes that I stayed with were in.
Luckily I heard from Lukas very early on, he was in Germany with his family (except for his father, he is still in Lebanon today). After some days, I finally got a text message from Yara saying that she had escpaed up in the mountains with her family and also Nora who was there visiting.
In the first mail I got from Lukas, he clarified the whole situation for me (as he saw it). As he wrote to me: , “Iran is the mastermind behind it all, to create instability in Lebanon so the Syrians can come back, it is horrible but unfortunately I tend to be pessimistic about it all, Lebanon will always be the battlefield (of many post world war 2) of global wars, and now I am stranded in here in Germany and waiting, a horrible feeling”
After some days I received an email from Yara, telling me that she and her family was fine. She also wrote: “I htink of Itay as well, it's funny that I could cross the hallway to his room a year ago and now he might be sitting right there executing orders to bomb or to keep vigilance... I don't support anyone... The poor Israelis are as afraid as we are... they're all in shelters...
I don't sleep much because I hear planes all night and I'm terrified!
We are going to try to leave...” They were ready and packed, just waited that the embassy will come. Although the first message they got from the embassy was very bad (they have to find 200 other Argentineans.), they managed to leave to Cyprus some days after. Nora left to Damaskus in Syria and then home to Germany. Some few days ago, Yara, her mother and her brother got a chance to go to Madrid, where they are now.
The news as it seems now is pretty dark and pessimistic. Israel is attacking on land now with tanks and special units, nevertheless, Hizbollah is fighting very strong back, and holding the two cities that IDF tried to overtake in Lebanon. The global community is still talking, not acting.
