00:00With fighting on two fronts in the Middle East, peace activists have been gathering here in Paris.
00:06Ahead of UN week, they've been
00:10trying to
00:11have their pleas heard. For more,
00:15let's cross to Alan Lee Green,
00:18founding national co-director of
00:21the grassroots
00:23movement Standing Together,
00:26alongside
00:27Rula Daoud, also of Standing Together.
00:31And thank you both for being with us here on France 24. I know you're
00:37gearing up for a big conference that's taking place in a theater here
00:42in the French capital. Rula Daoud, let me begin with you and your reaction to what you've just been hearing, the reporting
00:50of this mass exodus away from the border between Israel and Lebanon.
00:54Yes, my name is Rula Daoud. I'm the national co-director of Standing Together. I am also a Palestinian citizen of Israel, and
01:05right now, for the past four hours, I've been looking at my telephone all of the time,
01:10hearing the news, seeing the news, seeing pictures from my family who live in
01:15villages next to the borders with Lebanon and are being right now under bombardment.
01:21And what I see, first of all, is the fear of the eyes of the kids, of the
01:26civilians, and of people who did not choose this war, and of people who do not want for this war to continue. And
01:33I,
01:34while standing here,
01:36my cry out, and the whole reason we came here even before knowing that this regional war might burst, is
01:43to have a call also to other communities, and not just to the work
01:47we do back home, to try and put pressure on our government, on the Israeli government, so that it can stop this
01:54regional war. And full war between Israel and Lebanon,
01:59next to the war between Israel and Gaza, is not gonna bring any of us another future.
02:05It's not gonna bring any of us any security, and all it will give to all of us is more death and destruction, and for that
02:12we are against.
02:14You're talking about a call to other communities. Which communities are you talking about?
02:20I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. You talk about a call to other communities. Which communities specifically are you referencing?
02:30My ask is, we work within the Israeli society, we organize our people, we go out in demonstrations,
02:36we demand this war to stop and a ceasefire. But here, we're talking to
02:41the French community, we're talking to the European community, we are talking to
02:45international communities that we reach out to, that we need them to put pressure also in our government in order to have a
02:53diplomatic way out of this crisis. We cannot go on living from one war to another war.
02:59We cannot go on living on a place where there are two nations living, but still in constant fighting.
03:05We need to understand, and not just us, everybody that's also listening to me right now,
03:10that in Israel-Palestine, we have two people living. We have the Jewish people and we have the Palestinian people, and we deserve
03:17to live in peace and in security. And it goes the same to the Lebanese people, and we can achieve that
03:23only when we have forces that can pressure the leadership to stop this war. And I believe
03:29these forces are there, and these forces can help. It is time to let people live in peace,
03:36no matter where they are, and especially in the Middle East.
03:39Alan Lee Green, we're on the eve of
03:43the opening of what's called UN Week in New York. There's going to be a speech by Joe Biden.
03:50Of course, if there's one outside player who can weigh on all this, it's the United States. However,
03:55there's a presidential election coming up, and there's the general feeling that not much is going to happen out of Washington
04:01until November 5th. Right now, when you watch this escalation,
04:05who can you appeal to? Who can tip the scales?
04:12So, first of all, our strategy, our main strategy is to appeal to the public and the people that we are part of, the Israeli public,
04:19the Jews and Palestinians, that together are the Israeli people.
04:23And we work to convince people
04:26that peace and diplomatic resolutions are a better way to achieve security for our own people
04:32than more and more wars that actually will end with the same results every time,
04:36signing the deal that is on the table right now.
04:38But then on the way, if you go to the war option, many people will die and you will get to the same point eventually.
04:45Internationally, we do have some expectations. We expect governments in the world that put in their mouth the
04:52sayings that stop killing innocent people in Gaza, a cause that we of course support.
04:57We want them to put their money where their mouth is. And unfortunately,
05:01even with the American administration, we see that there's a lot of talking but no red lines. Netanyahu is playing very
05:08dramatically with the American administration, with the European government, and he can do whatever
05:14our government wants. And this government in Israel is a government of messianic people, a government of extremists, a government of people that prefer war than peace.
05:23So we do expect Biden and we do expect the UN to put a red line saying we must
05:29reach a ceasefire deal to stop the endless killing and destruction in Gaza,
05:34to release the Israeli hostages, because this is the only way to do so, and yes, to prevent a regional war also with Lebanon and maybe
05:40other countries in the region.
05:42There was a
05:43in the past month, we've had those
05:46hostages that were found dead inside of Gaza, the number of demonstrations in Israel that rose
05:53and protests against the Netanyahu government.
05:57But now with this escalation in Lebanon, is all of that on hold?
06:04I really do not
06:06hope to see people in Israel fall even further to despair. I hope people in Israel can be
06:13resilient, even though we must understand it is a tough reality also for Israelis. The trauma, the fear, the
06:21understanding that not only that we are surrounded with some, you know, very extreme forces
06:28like Hamas and Hezbollah, we are also led by a very extreme government that does not care about Israelis at all.
06:35We understand that more than our government loves Israelis,
06:38they hate Palestinians and in the way they are willing to put our lives at risk.
06:42And I think Israelis should go and continue to go out in the streets.
06:46We, as standing together as a Jewish Palestinian grassroots movement,
06:49we go in the street also to demand the release of the hostages
06:53with all our hearts, but also to demand the end of the killing and the destruction and the starvation in Gaza,
06:59not only out of solidarity, but also out of self-interest, because Israelis do not have interest to live with wars anymore.
07:09They don't have the interest, but
07:12how much of public opinion is behind you?
07:14If you look at the polls
07:17right now in Israel, you will see that from the Israeli society
07:21more than 64% of the people demand a ceasefire and a hostage deal.
07:25More than 64% of the people want a ceasefire and this comes from a self-interest.
07:31And yes, self-interest is a good thing to ask for and to seek for at times of war,
07:36but because then you understand, you are understanding that this war
07:41isn't benefiting you also as a people.
07:43And the work in here is to give the people also who live within Israel another political agenda, another voice.
07:50The politics inside of Israel lack forces that can give a competition to the right wing,
07:55the very fascist messianic right wing that we see.
07:58And the power that comes from the streets, whether it's from the families of the hostages,
08:02from our movement, from other movements who wants to see a ceasefire, is a real power.
08:07Yes, maybe we're not the majority of the Israeli society, but we are not a small minority.
08:14And when we work and when we put our minds into one main goal, we can achieve things within it.
08:22So we have to keep on trying again and again and again in order to convince our people,
08:26but not just to convince, also to build a political power within our society to change our reality.
08:33Because we deeply believe that change in Israel-Palestine will only come from within people.
08:39So Rula Dawood, let me ask you advice for French people.
08:43We're coming up to the first anniversary of October the 7th.
08:48There are calls to march on October 6th.
08:51How do you show support for people without it becoming us versus them?
08:58At times of war, people take a side.
09:01At times of war, people want to pick a side because it's easier to be on one side.
09:05It's easier to look at reality as if there is something black and white.
09:09But at times of war, if we want to be radicals, we should be asking for peace.
09:15Peace is the one main radical thing to do when you are under missiles.
09:19And what we want from people here in France is to be able to say,
09:22Yes, there's a huge difference between what Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank are living right now
09:28and what Israelis are living.
09:29But still, when you go out to the streets, when you put pressure on your government,
09:34you should seek and demand that our lives, Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Palestinians,
09:39have the same faith because we simply live in the same country.
09:42We have the same religion, we have the same culture, we have the same religion.
09:46We have the same religion, we have the same culture, we have the same religion.
09:49Jews and Palestinians have the same faith because we simply live in the same land.
09:53And we deserve to live in prosperity, in dignity and in security.
09:58And when you go out to the streets, speak about the people living.
10:01Because not all people in Gaza are Hamas, the same way that not all Israelis in Israel
10:06are the government of Bibi Netanyahu.
10:08And just I'll put the same question to both of you before we go.
10:11I'll start with you, Rula.
10:14You come out of the pressure cooker that is Israel right now.
10:19And you arrive in Paris.
10:21How much of a culture shock is it?
10:23A culture shock?
10:27Well, I don't know French, but...
10:32Do you feel like you're a million miles away from it all?
10:37I feel so strange right now that I am here because my mind and my heart goes back home,
10:46especially seeing messages on my family group.
10:50So it is, yes, it's very hard to understand that I am in France right now.
10:54And the only thing I really think about is going back home.
10:56Alon, do you feel like the French or the rest of the world gets it, gets what's going on?
11:03Honestly, it's very frustrating to be stepping outside of this nightmare that we live in
11:12almost a year now and to be meeting with people that, you know, say they want your
11:17benefits, say they were, you know, fighting for a good cause.
11:20But sometimes you understand that they're actually caring more about signaling something
11:24about themselves, about their own internal politics than they really care about the lives
11:28of people.
11:30And I think we meet with a lot of phenomenons in the local politics of other countries that
11:36are not healthy to the cause of ending the occupation, of achieving freedom to the
11:42Palestinians, of achieving security to the Israelis and a real peace.
11:46And what we hope for is to be able to find a lot of partners outside, partners in France,
11:53in Europe, in the U.S., in the rest of the world that will be able to align behind a
11:58solution, not only condemnation of one side, not only saying they are to blame or they
12:03were here first, but actually asking what is to be done right now.
12:08And this is the reason we take the time to leave our country in a time of war, in a time
12:12of escalation in the war and to come here and to try to convince people.
12:18Alain Ligrin and Rula Daud, thank you so much for taking the time out from this peace conference
12:23to speak with us here on France 24.
12:28Thank you so much.
12:29Thank you so much.
12:30Stay with us.
12:31There's more to come.
12:32This is the Daily News, plus the day's business and sports.
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