Daniel Katz's 4th: Working Within the “System” as a Means of Bringing about Change

I was emotionally moved when I heard the plight of two people, who belong to the parent’s circle, a group dedicated to people who have lost loved ones in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The man, Rami, has been a member for many years as suicide bombers killed his daughter in 1997. I was interested in what he had to say because he called the IDF a “terrorist organization” and said he was appalled when one of his sons said he was going to serve. When someone in our group asked if he thought it might be beneficial to work from “within the system” (the IDF) he despised, Rami said that it is hard, if not impossible to bring about change because as a soldier one has to take orders from their commander and additionally one arguably has the weight of the entire nation upon him so to speak.

This brings up an interesting question- does change best come around by internal dissent? Is it possible to strive for change when serving in an entity like the IDF?

I would agree that it is difficult to bring about policy change in IDF because in military taking orders is sometimes necessary to maintain order and security, a good example of this being a security checkpoint. However, I think it possible to be compassion and have a positive attitude in regards to one’s duty. By implementing such an attitude, one can positively impact the prevailing environment. The other speaker, a women who converted to Islam for husband who was killed by border patrol in Israel, mentioned how glad she was when an patrol woman was standing up for her when she forgot to bring her ID with her to go back into Israel. I think such actions help slowly build positive attitudes between peoples and helps to create mutual understand between peoples. While it could be argued that would at best, slowly build up trust and understanding, given the recent history of the Israeli-Palestinian (namely the 2^nd infitada) any sort of trust is critically needed. This is especially true, as new peace talks will be occurring soon. With referendums on the peace deal, a sense of trust is needed on both sides if a practical implementation of a possible deal were to occur.

So while it maybe hard to work from within the system to bring about change, positive attitudes and small, trust-building, incremental actions can positive impact individuals and, in turn, the wider community. I have optimistic that such positive attitudes could enhance the potential peace process, which would further help assuming the peace deals would culminate in a two-state solution.