As bells worldwide tolled on the 31^st of December 2009 another decade ended where peace did not seem to come closer within reach in the Middle East.

During the last decade several major events shifted the general mode d'esprit in the region and as a new decade begins it seems as though the optimism that defined the mid- nineties after the Oslo Accords has slowly diffused into a black pit.

 

Miki is a 28 year old Israeli from the city of Ashdod. Last year he graduated from Sapir College where he studied communication and journalism.

When he thinks back on the last decade certain events stand out in his memory. The outbreak of the second Intifada in 2000 and the two wars: the Lebanon war in 2006 and the Gaza war in early 2009.

 

According to Miki all these catastrophes (catastrophic for both sides as he adds) were only reactions to a series of events that took place in the nineties and forever turned the course of action in the region. The first was the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. According to Miki this event started a domino effect of misfortune which has buried the peace process and prevented both sides to deliver on the promises of the Oslo Accord.

The cost of wars and Intifada has also had an impact on Miki's personal life. Studying in the southern part of Israel he has been affected by the Qassam rockets that have been fired from Gaza during his time at Sapir college, also during both wars he has experienced loss of family members and friends.

 

Mai Yacoub Kaloti is a reporter with Al–Quds newspaper which is a Palestinian newspaper. The 26-year-old Palestinian says she chose her field “to open up minds and reveal the truth about what’s happening”. In 2000 she was 17-years old and she especially remembers the outbreak of the second Intifada which is also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada. The name comes from the Al-Aqsa mosque which is located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. In 2000 the former Israeli Prime minister Ariel Sharon visited the site and some believe this caused the outbreak of the Intifada.

 

Back then Mai lived five kilometers from the mosque and on the first day of the uprising her brother got stuck inside it. For a long time Mai and her parents feared that he would be wounded or killed, but fortunately he got out safe.

 

Another major event Mai mentions is the construction of the Israeli West Bank Wall. The barrier is highly controversial. Supporters argue that the barrier is necessary to protect Israeli civilians from terrorist attacks, whereas critics of the much debated construction argues that additional to the 703 kilometer long wall which is supposed to follow the 'green line' up to 10% of the West Bank area is additionally being confiscated during the building of the 'security fence'.

 

Finally Mai adds the War on Gaza as a major event. On December 27 2008 the Israeli army embarked on a three week long armed conflict with Hamas. Around 1300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed sealing the fact that this decade was not going to be one of peace.

 

Garba Diallo is the director of the Danish NGO Crossing Borders and for ten years he has been doing a determined effort to enable young people from both Israel and Palestine to meet and demystify the many myths they are told about each other from childhood. According to Garba the second Intifada was a reaction to the power-holders inability to deliver satisfying results on both sides after the Oslo Accord.

 

Garba also mentions the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 as a groundbreaking event that transformed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from one of a local concern to an issue deeply entangled in the 'war on terrorism' or from the opposite side of view an illustration on the war on Islam by the West.

 

In 2007 Hamas took over the Gaza strip entirely, this event caused a de facto split in the Palestinian society and still today the West Bank is being ruled by the secular Fatah and Gaza by the Islamic Hamas.

 

Finally a political movement towards the right has taken place in Israel so today the Prime Minister 'Bibi' from Likud is backed up by a foreign minister from the very right wing party Yisrael Beiteinu which means 'Israel is our home'!

 

When asked what dominates the current day state of mind, Garba is not afraid to use harsh words as 'a total deadlock' and 'a time bomb'. And the root of the despairing situation? A total lack of political horizon and will to revive the peace process from both sides. In the future, Garba predicts, China will be a massive factor of power which might affect the development in the region. As Chinas becomes a more important player in world politics and Chinese society demand a growing supply of oil, the Middle East will become a new arena where the battle between the two superpowers USA and China can take place. As Garba notes in the end of the interview 'in the future the US will compete more and with China over the minds, hearts and oil of the Arabs'.

 

Central to both Miki and Mai's descriptions of current day Israeli and Palestinian state of mind are the words 'disappointment' and 'depression'. The status quo which leads to no development in any direction makes both parties unhappy, but at the same time there is 'zero trust between the two sides' as they conclude.

 

What can then change this deadlock situation? In 2006 the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was abducted and has been kept captive in the Gaza strip ever since. Despite several diplomatic rounds it has not been possible for the Israeli government and the Hamas to find a solution. As time pass it seems as though Gilad Shalit has become more than just another soldier caught in the middle of a diplomatic dispute, now he and a demand for his release has become a strong symbol in the Israeli public and Miki predicts the returning of him might 'bring back the blush to the Israeli's cheeks'. That is, he says, his return will release a wave of optimism in the Israeli public that might create a momentum for renewed peace-talks.

As the new year begins the young people of the Middle East take a dispirited farewell with the 00's and prepare themselves for a new decade unsmothered and clean as a slate. The new decade has unlimited potential for both good and bad. Mai hopes that her sons and the sons of the Israelis will live in peace and security, but as Miki replies when he is asked what the future holds for the battered region 'I really can't predict what will happen in the next few years as it seems nothing dramatic will...'