Day 8: Footnote

I just wanted to clarify that I don't think students are demonising Israel per se, many have been able to put a human face on the situation and have come to greater understanding. What I mean is that there are some moments when this polarised thinking emerges and I am interested to challenge and unpack it.

Day 8: Walking on water

We are now in Tiberias, on the way to Haifa tomorrow, for our last full day of the trip. I have been sitting with some pain, that I have started to articulate, about noticing that as a consequence of seeing the reality of some of the Israeli treatment towards Palestinians, some of the students seem to be demonising Israel. It feels like it is mixed up with demonising Jews and if it is not all Jews then it is separating out ‘good’ Jews at the expense of other ‘bad’ Jews like settlers. I am really uncomfortable with this. The vision I am holding out is for a direct and honest appraisal as much as possible of the situation, and then, a concerted conscious approach that doesn’t blame or target the oppressor, but simultaneously does not justify or rationalise irrational policies. It has been good to bring voice to this idea. It is also related to the challenge that we have of acknowledging our own oppressor patterns and behaviour. We can only acknowledge our dark side when we have sufficient compassion that we can allow it to emerge and like ourselves (not take it personally) at the same time.

This morning I did yoga practice and enjoyed breakfast in the sunny YMCA courtyard. We went on a political tour of Jerusalem with Merav Zunshine. She is also involved in Taayush, a human nights organisation. Leeora, living in Jerusalem for 10 years, came along with us. Having her there was a blessing that helped me notice the point about demonization that I mentioned above. You know when someone is with you and their presence causes you to think differently because you internalise a sensitivity that you think they may have. A few times when some facts were mentioned I noticed some sarcastic comments from one of the guides and students and then it struck me how we need to bring this oppressor material to the fore with the utmost care and sensitivity. We went to see the edge of where Gilo and Bethlehem embrace. And we noticed the difference between Har Homa and Gilo where, Har Homa blocks the Palestinian access between Bethlehem and Jerusalem and Gilo just extends a band around the edges of Jerusalem. Our next stop was to Silwan, where there has been some tension lately because of Jews who want to settle right in the middle of this Arab town. There is also the archeological site of City of David http://www.cityofdavid.org.il/IrDavidFoundation_Eng.asp (this is the offical website) that is run as an archeological site by a non-government organisation called El-Ad (see http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/elad-seeks-approval-for-new-construction-project-in-city-of-david-1.280472) . The last stop of the tour was a panoramic view from the back of Hebrew University over the area E1 that is put aside for Israeli development. At the moment it is possible for Palestinians to move from East Jerusalem to the West Bank and bypass Maaleh Adumim but the concern is with the proposed development the viability of a Palestinian State in the West Bank will be severely undermined.

We then visited Shorouk Organisation, a women’s organisation that brings Palestinian and Jewish women together for peacebuilding and economic development. I’m hoping to follow up with Aziz and build on the relationship with Shorouk to explore more opportunites for women’s leadership development in a peacebuilding framework.

The next stop was Aziz’s family’s West Bank home in Azarya or Bethany. The family lives in Issawiya (right near Hebrew University) because if they would stay in their original home they would lose their right to come to Jerusalem. But his father comes almost every day to look after the land. They have olive trees, grapevines, pomegranate, pomela, lemon, orange, mandarine and persimmon trees. Aziz talked about when the family come and harvest all the olives in October and other times when they pick all the grapes and then juice them and put the juice on the fire for hours and hours. The family unites around the family home. Originally his dad bought a large property for all the children to build their own places on the land. It was not to be- at least not yet. It was wonderful to see his gorgeous mum Habiba again. In July I had visited their home with my kids. They have been there for years. Someone pointed out a neighbour with a Turkish flag who they suspect has been recruited as an informer. How will the shift be made from surveillance, suspicion and a security perspective to peacebuilding, reconciliation and trust?

We headed for Tiberias through the West Bank past Jericho and so we stopped at the Dead Sea for a swim. There was so much black mud at Kalya Beach, and we could pick up handfuls of it and cover our bodies. We then did some processing in groups there, reflecting on how we are feeling as the program is coming to an end. We waited on the road for a long time, probably because there was a suspicious object on the side of the road.

It is difficult to see injustice, and it is also difficult to see blaming of those carrying out injustice. It is challenging to hold all the perspectives together. This trip has strengthened my intention to be able to support both peoples, and to be a dedicated Jews. When some students were expressing upset about Israeli government actions and Israeli complicity with them, I asked what they could do that could help them be allies to Israelis? How can we be allies to Jews and Palestinians?

Day 7:Shiviti Hashem Kenegdi Tamid, I place God before me always

We’re at the new Yad Vashem redone in 2005. At the beginning while we were waiting for the entourage of the visiting German President to go past, the guide asked who was connected to the Holocaust. I shared that my grandmother, Nana Frida is a survivor and that even after recording her testimony and going with her to her birth village and to Auschwitz, after all that I only found out in the last few years that in fact it wasn’t only four of them who miraculously survived, nothing will take that away. But that there were 4 younger children, aged 2, 4, 6 and 8 who were killed in Auschwitz along with her parents soon after the arrival of the transport. I would like to record their names on the Yad Vashem register. I went in to the archives room and met a woman from Switzerland and her village had been next to Balassagyrmat, the town where Nana’s family was deported from in Hungary. I went in to the shule (synagogue) and recited in my own mind the mourner’s prayer (Kaddish) with these children in mind.

As you may know the mourner’s kaddish doesn’t have anything about death in it. Rather it is about the acknowledgment and sanctification of God, blessing the Divine in her/his/its greatness.  This is another thing that stood out for me, the honouring of God and of Torah amid the ruins and the devastation. I saw burnt fragments of a Sefer Torah (Torah Scroll) and I noticed yesterday’s Torah portion on it, the story of Joseph. I was moved by the testimony of a man who told his story of learning Torah in the ghetto. For those two hours in the day, and two hours in the night, there was no Germans, there was no war, there was just the Holy Torah.  Another man was crying and crying as his dad was teaching him the blessings over the Torah for his barmitzvah. The dad didn’t want to risk the boy’s life but him and his brother insisted on learning it.  The barmitzvah boy cried and cried and cried. He was embarrassed. Another man, appeared to him, Like Elijah the prophet and said to him ‘My child, my child,  God loves you’. He took great comfort in that tenderness. This attention of distress that this man practised shows the strength and power of the human mind in choosing where we put our attention at the height of external trouble. Even though there was so much unspeakable cruelty, devastation and destruction, we can’t project how people experienced things. Imre Kertesz says in Fateless:

Even back there, in the shadow of the chimneys, in the breaks between pain, there was something resembling happiness…for me the happiness there will always be the most memorable experience, perhaps.

It is actually overwhelming and impossible to fully connect to the magnitude of the destruction let alone the killing of one person unless we can allow ourselves to feel. I’ve learnt from my involvement in a co-counselling community (I’m not saying anything to represent them) that it is really important to give space to non-Jews to talk about their connections and feelings to this material. To inquire of them how they feel connected to Jews, what information they carry with them about Jews and give them a chance to be relieved of the antisemitism they carry just from being part of society. All people are good people. The fact that we have internalised these oppressor recordings is not to be taken personally.  I’ve also learnt the importance of acknowledging our oppressor material.  The idea is that every victim carries with them internal recordings of that victim experience but also of the oppressor experience as well.  I noticed in some of our sharings that it is easier for people to share their experience from a position of victim as opposed to owning up and claiming our position as oppressor.  We need to be compassionate enough with ourselves in order to find the space to have the courage to see our own darkness and move through it. The more we can bring it to our conscious attention and release some of the hurt associated with it and early experiences, the less likelihood that we will act on it in the world.

I didn’t think there was much attention in the museum to the gendered nature of the narrative. Most of the people who were quoted on the writing on the wall were men, in fact I didn’t see any woman’s voice quoted on the wall. I found that personally alienating. It introduces an interesting dynamic whereby even amid a sense of solidarity with the Jewish people, I found myself simultaneously feeling alienated as a woman.

The new Yad Vashem has stone arches as you enter. Inscribed on it is the biblical quote from Ezekiel 37:14. There it says:

I will put my breath into you and you shall live again, and I will set you upon your own soil. 

There is a direct link between the renewal and revival of the dead and the establishment of the State of Israel and Zionism. As you enter the new building, there is footage of life in pre-war Europe. The place of the Holocaust in the Zionist narrative was reflected by all the footage I saw that was from the Zionist Conference and showed European Jews singing Hatikvah (the Israeli national Anthem).  

Is there a way to honour the specificity of our tribal experience and to simultaneously use that opening to honour all humans?

Aziz shared that the Holocaust wasn’t taught at school with WW2  and also that Palestinians just felt that Israel used it to legitimise themselves. He also mentioned that in a mixed Jewish –Palestinian forum his dad asked if the Holocaust happened. As a flow-on from that he organised for 70 Palestinians to come to Yad Vashem and learn about the Holocaust.

We went to Ein Kerem for lunch.

Back at the YMCA we met with Mark Regev, spokesperson for the Israeli government. We had just been through checkpoints, visited an Unrecognised Bedouin village, and met with many activists involved in person to person peacebuilding, and I found it difficult when he answered questions about these topics which what seemed to me like a lack of substance.  His main two messages were about security and recognition of the right of Israel to exist. Israel does need to look after the security of its citizens but the problem with the security argument, is that it is used to trump everything. Mark Regev himself says life itself (the security argument) always takes precedence of quality of life (the impediments caused to the Palestinians through checkpoints and the permit system and general lack of freedom of movement). I found it difficult to hear him speaking from such a defensive position.  I encouraged the group to ask their questions from a position of curiosity as opposed to a stance of attack, and suggested that may free Mark Regev from needing to act defensively. But I think that may be a familiar stance for him.

After a short break when I ran to the post office,  we met with Professor, Politician, and Civil Activist, Naomi Chazan, President of the New Israel Fund - www.nif.org/. She explained how she sees domestic and conflict-realted issues as integrally connected to each other. She believes very strongly that Israel was created for two reasons: 1. As collective expression of self-determination for Jews and 2. To create a just and equal society for all citizens. She believes that the Occupation is immoral, illegal, unJewish and bad for Palestinians and awful for Israelis.  She acknowledged the intangible dimension to the intractability of the conflict like the fear and paranoia of the other- Israel is the strongest power in the Middle East but has a siege mentality as if the world is out to destroy us. We conceive ourselves first and foremost as victim. And the Palestinians are the same and every single day of the occupation they are victims and a climate of mistrust is perpetuated. She argued that a political settlement will not resolve these issues. Every Israeli historian says that Israel holds some responsibility for the Palestinian refugee problem. Let’s apologise and find a just solution to the problem.

She describes the internal reverberations of the occupation and the way in which dissent is being curbed in a ‘you’re either with us or you’re against us’ type attitude. She understood the recent targeting of her, including posting of billboards of a caricature of her with a horn (playing on the Hebrew word for Fund- keren- which also means horn), as part of a broader campaign of de-democratisation that includes targeting of groups involved in human rights, social justice and peacebuilding and the representation of them as somehow traitors to the Zionist cause. This incident was also significant in that she was going to come to Australia and her visit subsequently was cancelled.

In coming to a peaceful solution she acknowledged that you don’t negotiate narratives, you need to bridge between them and sometimes you have to get used to hearing the most awful things about how you are viewed by the other. We share this land, we are destined to live together, and use history as a way to understand the other.

We were in Talpiot so I went to visit Merav and Nachman and also had a great play with Lev. Wonderful and surreal.

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Day 6: The Delight of Shabbat in Jerusalem

I went to Shira Hadasha Jerusalem. Shani Berrin kindly gave me an aliyah. I reflected on the Torah portion of the week and the hatred of the brothers towards Joseph that eventuated in them selling him. Ever since we’ve had relationship it’s been a challenge to stay out of strife. There has also been lots of opportunities for growth and peacebuilding starting from the hearts of our families.

I felt the passing of time seeing teenagers who had been kids when we left Jerusalem seven years ago. It was wonderful to see people and already feel part of the community. At the Kiddush I connected with a friend and we had a heart connection in the tepee set up in the grounds of the synagogue. I was grateful for the perfection of the day.

I went to Leeora and David’s for lunch and it was wonderful to be there, and feel just like at home. And then on the way back to the hotel I popped in to connect with Izhak which was lovely after so long. He’s been looking at the works of the Nazir, father of Chief Rabbi of Haifa, Shear Yashuv Hacohen, including a collection on peace and war. For some time he has been composing jazz music to the poetry of Rav Kook.

Soon after Shabbat came out we met with Daniel Roth. We were in his first class at Pardes about 10 years ago. He now runs the conflict resolution track there.

Rabbi Daniel Roth as a child moved here from the US when he was 15. He felt like he was part of a messianic process. At the same time he had a lot of fear. Three people were stabbed in his neighborhood. He used to have a strange recurring dream- perhaps his peacebuilding work was starting to manifest itself- that someone would throw a stone and he would get out of the car and connect to the people. Created a lot of fear. He went to joint army and Yeshiva service. It was his first exposure to people who took their Judaism seriously but didn’t believe in messianic vision of Zionism. He described tension in the yeshiva. On one floor a teacher gave a class supporting the peace process, and on other floor, at the same time another teacher was saying that no way, under no circumstances can we give away any land.

He argued that people within the religious traditions need to be able to engage in peacemaking and described the strong sense of identity that is required to be able to lead peacebuilding with the other from within the heartof one’s own community. How do you engage your family and community? How do you explain a sense of both pride and responsibility?

We then met with a representative from Machsom Watch www.machsomwatch.org/ - women who monitor human rights violations at the checkpoints, twice a day every day of the week. . The other aspect of what they do is make a political statement against the occupation. (See documentary by Eric Scott called ‘The Other Zionists”)is a political statement saying we are opposed to occupation and the checkpoints. She understands what you see at the checkpoints as not the main thing but rather a symptom of the occupation. Restriction of freedom of movement has dire consequences for Palestinians emotionally, economically, socially and politically. She described how she has lost intimacy with her children because of the divergence of their political opinions. They both serve in the army, one of them is a commander. She describes herself as having her face to the Israeli society, reflecting back to them how much the occupation is hurting them.

She thinks the average Israeli does not want to know about the evils of the occupation: “All we know is that the other is evil and we are under threat.” To make peace, each one thinks that the other just has to stop being evil. The Jewish Israeli narrative is legitimate and the Palestinian narrative is legitimate and we have to accept and respect it, despite the discomfort, and that is a prerequisite for peace despite how far away it seems. Even the media is not exposed to what the occupation does to the big part of the Palestinian population. Reporters from the occupied territories go there when something happens with an army jeep, removed from the situation. They try to get them to come and see what is happening at the checkpoints. Palestinian children don’t need textbooks to hate Israelis. It is crazy that these children have to wait at checkpoints for one hour with a soldier with a gun. What kind of education for peace is that on the part of Israel?

Day 5: Return to Jerusalem for Shabbat

We left Bethlehem towards Ramallah. Because of Beit-El we needed to go a circuitous route to Taybeh Brewery, the only Palestinian brewery started by Palestinians from Boston. Taybeh, a Christian village looked like a ghost town. Apparently many people have left there and live abroad and their houses lie empty.

We then went in to Ramallah and met with Palestinian businessman and advocate Sam Bahour. He was from Ohio and also received an MBA from Tel Aviv University. He was one of the first Palestinians that we spoke to from a more political and advocacy perspective.  He noted that in our travels we were only seeing 40% of the Palestinian people, we weren’t seeing Palestinians in Gaza and 40% of population who live in refugee camps and other Palestinians in the diaspora. When Palestinians were unified the PLO represented all Palestinians . At that time the international community refused to recognise that political body.  He said that Palestinians were pressured in to recognising the State of Israel,  in writing, in an extreme kind of way. Palestinian Authority is responsible for people under occupation. The international community recognised PLO for one day and focused on the PA. All monies focus on PA. When Palestinians were forced to have elections, they became split because of Hamas and Fatah. The international community has become more enthusiastic to help Palestinians and the PA as they have become less and less representative. Anyone serious about reaching a final status agreement cannot allow fragmentation of Palestinians.

He then talked about the political context. Is this a military occupation or not? If this is a military occupation- which all countries accept, except for Israel- then Geneva Convention and international law kicks in.  We can then look at katyushas from Gaza and bombing in to Gaza can say it is against international law. If this is not occupation noone should be surprised if Palestinians lay claim to Haifa, Tel Aviv and other cities because everything is up for grabs. Claiming it to be an occupation implies a greater burden of responsibility.  We need to understand the game we are playing. If we are playing occupation we know that, or if it is not, tell us and then everything is up for grabs. For example it is illegal under international law to move civilian population in to occupation area- Obama knows as a student of international law.  Borders are less clear under international law.

If it is not an occupation why can’t he go and live in Haifa? Sam Bahour relocated to Ramallah after Oslo. He believes that this process will not end in a final status solution.  With collapse of negotiation, PA will go to UN and will ask international community to recognise State of Palestine. What that means without other changes, he is not sure. What does it mean if there is no end of occupation, no freeing up of trade, etc. He says that it risks normalising the occupation. He wants to separate ending the occupation from reaching a final agreement.

Military occupation by definition is a temporary status- 43 years later hard to understand. Bilateral peaceful negotiated settlement may take 50 or 100 years. Not patient enough to wait for the occupation. Even end occupation 85% and let Palestinians come to negotiation in good faith. Without good faith there can be no positive result.

An annex in Oslo agreements was the privatisation of communications for Palestinian Authority- he was invited to be part of that process. Palestinians have right to own company. You need frequencies and you need to come back to Israelis to get frequencies (IN order to run this you need at least 6 lines of frequency released. Israel has the power over the frequencies but they didn’t release 6 required but only 1.5 lines). They did it despite the fact that  any business textbook would have said this is unfeasible. It certainly is not maximising return today. He was involved in building the first Palestinian Mall, 10.2 million dollars (now up to 10^th branch- usual growth would be about 40 by now).

Sam said he was proud he built Telecom and Malls, but that is not economic development for statehood. Building a mall should not be headlines in the New York Times. Building economy for future state requires land, movement, access,  freeing of trade relations, water, borders.  At the moment these major resources are in Israeli hands 100%. They control resources required to build state. They release when they want.  What they can do is economic activity as opposed to economic development for statehood.  He is not deterred by that. He said we won’t end occupation by staying home. It is important to keep people here so Israel can’t take geography without the demography.

He argued that ending the occupation doesn’t have to work for both parties. Ending the abuse of my human rights has to happen irrespective of if it is comfortable for others. It doesn’t need to be negotiated. International community need to penalise Israel for breaking international law. 

We then returned to Jerusalem before Shabbat. Without checking in we had a presentation by Rami Elhanan, an Israeli man involved in the Bereaved Family  Forum-Parents Circle. He described the bond and treaty between the Jews and Palestinians in this organisation through the price they have paid for ongoing conflict, the loss of a loved one. In the war 37 years ago he was in a platoon of 11 tanks and only 3 of them survived. He lost his closest and best friends. He came out of that war bitter and angry and determined to look after himself. And then, 10 years after that, his daughter Smadar was born. They lived life in a bubble looking after their own interests until 13 years after that, on the 4 September, 1997, that bubble was blown up by 2 suicide bombers on Ben Yehuda St, downtown Jerusalem. Five people were killed including his 14 year old daughter Smadar. He described hearing the explosion and the hope that he wouldn’t be touched by it. The long and frustrating hours running between hospitals and police stations until finally in the morgue, seeing the sight that noone ever wants to see. He described how in the seven days of mourning the house was filled with thousands of people and he was enveloped in love and compassion. And then on the eighth day, he said he was forced to make a decision about what to do with this unbearable burden. He said hurting someone would not bring her back. He tried to understand why it happened. He asked what would cause someone to be that mad? Do we have any responsibility in this? What can we do to prevent this pain? And since that moment – and meeting people in the Bereaved Family Forum-Parents Circle- he has been speaking to people , advocating for dialogue. He said it is not about forgiveness (I can’t forgive someone who killed my child) but that there is a space between hatred and forgiveness. Once he was confronted by a Palestinian young man who wanted to shake his hand. The man said that he didn’t think Rami would want to shake his hand. It turned out that this man’s brother was a suicide bomber. But Rami said the goal was not to punish families of suicide bombers. He said that someone who has hope does not become a suicide bomber. Terror is not in the genes.

I then needed to run up and get ready for Shabbat and light candles before shule (synagogue). My key was broken so I only got let in to my room by the time I was meant to be ready. But it worked out fine. I lit candles and then we walked to Shira Hadasha, a group of us from the trip. On the way Arab families were having very smoky barbeques in Gan Pa’amon, Liberty Bell Park. I ashamedly noticed my racism through thinking that I wish they weren’t there and I wish I didn’t need to walk through a puff of smoke on my way to synagogue on Shabbat. (I may have thought that about Jews but it was poignant that it was Arabs there.) Then my second thought was that the same thing could also actually be a sign of the vibrancy and richness of this city that I did walk through that puff of smoke at this time on my way to Shule!

It was so good to be in Jerusalem on Shabbat, to be at Shira with song, in a Jewish religious environment that felt like home. It was amazing to see old friends including the female prayer leader. I sang and cried and felt so happy to be there. It was wonderful to be in prayer and in song at the end of the week that we’ve had. I was so glad to share the experience with several students who also really enjoyed themselves.

After dinner back at the hotel we called a sharing circle- that Ilana led, with my support- about reflecting on ourselves as peacemakers and sharing moments when we have experienced transformation. It is obviously not appropriate to give any details of anyone’s story but it was wonderful to create the space of safety where people could share deep feelings and experiences. The circle made me see, in new ways, how important it is to reflect on our own journey and what we bring to this work of peacebuilding. It also showed that we only hear people through the limits of our own hearing and projections. Certain things stick with us that people say because of our own struggles and challenges. It is a deep pleasure of mine to be present with people in their vulnerability, keeping my heart open and being present to them in creating a safe space for sharing and being visible. It was wonderful to process afterwards with some of the group leaders. 

One highlight for me was also taking the risk to share some of my challenges with Ilana, my roommate and fellow leader, the local Israeli guide (who I will write about in more detail soon- the first blog about the leaders was lost in cyberspace) directly about my relationship with her and the challenge of liking myself enough to support her in her fullness and not believe myself threatened by that. To have the courage to support her leadership (as part of my leadership) and to face the feelings of fear that it brings up in me. We have been working really well together in collaboration. It is not of the present. I am not diminished. It is wonderful in the face of the fear to keep on acting on the truth of the benign reality and the reality of the space for all people to be in their power and fullness. Each fear, and each pang is an invitation to bring more of myself to myself and expressed in the world. I am grateful that she could not only hear my sharing but thank me for it and acknowledge it's beauty.

Day 4: The South: Power of the people and civil diplomacy

Another incredible day. The furthest south we got was an overview over Northern Gaza. We were that close we could hear the Call to Prayer and see the surveillance hot air balloon. We could hear gunshots and then our guide reassured us that there was a shooting range in the vicinity (no danger to us).

We entered Beer Sheva on Route 60 through many Israeli settlements. It was at the checkpoint on the way out of the West Bank that our bus got stopped for the first time. We all had to show our passports and documents. Our driver, Mustafa, who is Aziz (our guide’s brother), had to get off the bus with his bag and take it to be x-rayed. He doesn’t have anything on his record. It was very uncomfortable for me and I think especially some of the other Jews on the bus. Some people wanted to find a reason to justify why they would do it. I think even if there is a security reason to justify it doesn’t change the humiliation experienced by Mustafa. And this wasn’t even really such a ‘big deal’. But he said he wouldn’t go through this checkpoint again. We also realised that this checkpoint was run by contractors, and not the army, and that may explain the added interferences compared to the many other checkpoints we have passed through so far on the trip.

We met Noam Tirosh at Ben Gurion University. He volunteers for an organisation called Negev Coexistence Forum www.dukium.org/ which advocates for citizens rights in the area especially the Bedouin of the Unrecognised Villages. These people, recognised by the UN as Indigenous people, and were moved by the government in to a specified area in the early 1950’s. They were either put in larger towns or stayed in the smaller village which remained unrecognised and this didn’t receive any services. The people still paid and pay taxes and receive health and social benefits but they don’t receive the usual municipal services of waste and water (other than drinking water). They’re not allowed to be involved in agriculture and build greenhouses. The lack was stark because we were in view of the Jewish community opposite which had developed agriculture and had greenhouses. Someone from our group asked if it was because the land they’re on is on top of minerals or oil. Our host responded that it was because both peoples care a lot about the land. We had lunch in the village. Our guides have made a conscious decision about spending our money in places where we can support the economy. Many Bedouin women are now attending university. Often the burka for them is a symbol of their freedom in the world because they use it to be able to fully partake in life outside of the community. With their growing integration in to society there has been a parallel move to more intensified Islamic practice. They consider themselves part of the state of Israel, and at the same time identify with the Palestinian struggle. But our host said, ‘I don’t want a state, I just want water’. They would be happy to have their villages recognised and receive the usual municipal services. Noam surmised that because of the conflict it is hard for Israeli Jews to fully acknowledge the plight of the Bedouin and be involved in social action to promote change.

We then visited Sapir College, in Sderot, a tertiary college where every room is now reinforced like a shelter to be protected from the katyusha rockets that were coming from Gaza. We met with Merav Moshe Grodonsky who is a peace activist and academic there. She is advocating for the difference that it makes for Israelis and Palestinians to meet each other. She described the experience of a Jewish woman who was forcibly relocated from a settlement in Gaza and currently living in a caravan near Sderot. She said that every day her daughter asks her when they are going to return home. She asked a Palestinian in the dialogue group how she should respond. He said, “You know, I really understand your daughter, she misses the smell of the sea, her feet in the sand, feeling of home”. It is the most powerful connection when we recognise the human sentiments of the other across borders and ideologies. Merav brings the Bereaved Families Forum- Parents Circle in to her classes. One Jewish woman from Hebron asked her why she was doing it. In the end this same woman wrote the final paper on human rights for settlers and Palestinians. Merav has also developed a Peace Dialogue Group for Jews with a wide spectrum of ideologies to meet and discuss their visions and hopes for the future. Sapir College, through Merav, is partners with the McGill Middle East Program in Civil Society and Peacebuilding. This exciting project involves the development of ten rights based, community based centres with the operating assumption that in order to create peace you need to reduce inequality in society. Communities are not usually able to access their rights. It is a very long process. People start off with a sense of disentitlement and then move to being able to use the political system to change laws. She described how the program was responsible for the establishment of public housing law in Israel. Residents learnt to demonstrate, speak to the media, invite the Minister to their homes, lobby in Knesset and eventually be part of the coalition that successfully passed a law in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament). There are no steps taken without the community being an integral part of the process. They are training people about the skills of citizenship in a more universal language than that of kinship. They are not going to be coordinating on a regional level to advocate for social and economic rights where there are overlaps and interconnections across the region. She described how she has been slowly and strategically introducing her peacebuilding agenda to the college and acknowledged the support of the College leadership.

Eric Yellin took us to the place where we could see Northern Gaza. He has lived in Sderot for about 8 years. He is involved in Other Voices www.othervoice.org/info/eng/about-us.htm, an amazing organisation that tries to create dialogue between Jews of Sderot and Palestinians of Gaza amid a crazy reality. They are building a human connection to the other side of the border. Eric said that the only way to bring change is to create human connection. They don’t trust leaders to do it. And leaders certainly can’t do it alone. He said that Gaza is like the symbol of hell and that Israelis and very fearful of Gazans but that as neighbours they need to find a way to live together. They communicate through phone and facebook and through Operation Cast Lead through SMS. He acknowledged the courage of the Palestinians involved in the dialogue who because of internal politics can’t really have contact with Israelis. Sometimes the Gazans say they need to take a break from contact when they feel they are under surveillance or suspicion. There is 80% unemployment in Gaza. They have run seminars where Gazans have come in to Israeli with permits. It is a sensitive issue for Palestinians for work with Israelis because they get accused of ‘normalisation’ which means that they are accused of somehow accepting the occupation and the current status quo. The Palestinians involved don’t see it that way. They see dialogue as one part of a strategy out of the current situation.

Day 4: Morning Reflections

We have a little more time this morning which is much appreciated. Some students have gone off to the Church of the Nativity in the City Square of Bethlehem. Today is my 13th year wedding anniversary and it is fitting for me to acknowledge my joy, appreciation and gratitude for this relationship with Michael. I was thinking about yesterday during my yoga practice this morning and I realised that the thing that troubled me about the responses to Ardie Geldman, from Efrat, was that I felt like he was being personally targeted for being part of an oppressive system that is much bigger than him. On the one hand people need to be responsible for their actions and on the other hand, government policy and broader systems of oppression need to be targeted and challenged. There are no bad Jews (settlers) and good Jews (non-settlers). One may not accept the settlement policy but it's not like they're different. This came home to me when one Palestinian guide who we met in Hebron asked me if I was Jewish. He said he liked Jewish and that there were Jews and there were settlers. I was okay because I wasn't a settler. It's not right that in order for me to be liked as a Jew I need to disassociate myself from a settler. In a way doing that is like letting them own the distress and targeting of my people. It's a bit like good whites and bad whites. By splitting people off from each other we make certain people be visible in carrying the distresses of our people that we all carry. All white people carry recordings of racism because of the oppression that they have witnessed and grown up around. If we let one part of a group be targeted then we get stuck in our own pretense. As I was recognising this a few hours ago I realised that there was someone I met who reflected a similar point from the Palestinian perspective. On the first night we went to a Sulha tribal fire gathering http://www.sulha.com/ . One of the highlights was dancing around the fire. Several hundred Palestinians had come to the gathering which was held in Beit Jala (that may sound familiar because of shooting from there to Gilo in the Second Intifada). We met at the Everest Hotel, one of those rare places with access to Israeli Jews and Palestinians. I met a Palestinian guy, Muhammed, same age as me. He told me his story. He had been in jail for 7 years after stabbing an Israeli Jew. In jail he educated himself reading everything he could find including Gandhi who he said influenced him immensely. After that he changed his ways away from violence. He is now married with 2 children. He is struggling because he said he can't get employed by Palestinians because he is vocal about peacebuilding and non-violence and by Israelis because he has been in jail. He is in the process of searching out the person who he stabbed to be able to make amends with him. After being disturbed by this man's story, and his struggles for food for his family, I checked in with Aziz Abu Sarah (more about him later) our Palestinian guide who said that he didn't think it was true about Palestinians not being willing to employ peacebuilders. Aziz claimed that people can get in to these peacebuilding activities attached to their position of victim and trying to use it to get charity. That was difficult to sit with. Aziz also critiqued the whole notion of charity. Muhammed asked me for money but I had left my wallet in the room (by mistake) and asked him to email me.

Day 3: Turning Point

Today was yet another intense and packed day. I led a yoga class that went really well. Our first stop today was Efrat, which is in the Occupied Territories (Area captured by Israel in 1967 but not annexed) although many people who live there don’t consider themselves as settlers. Many of them did not move there for ideological reasons but for economic reasons and because of government incentives at the time. Many of the teachers from Pardes, the yeshivah (religious seminary) where I spent time in Jerusalem, live there. Ardie Geldman was our guide. He spoke to us from a synagogue in Efrat. Later he told us that he specialises in giving tours to hostile overseas groups, usually from the US, who have spent 10 days looking at the Palestinian narrative and then (in his words) ‘want to pat them on the back for going to listen to a “settler” ‘, a term which Ardie himself does not identify with. He spoke about his life journey and moving after personal losses of his parents to Israel and the Zionist longing that was fulfilled when he looked around on an Egged bus, and so many of the people were Jewish and there as such diversity among them. He wanted to be part of the Jewish people and ‘come back to my people’s land given to us by God’. Part of his argument as to why he didn’t agree with the term ‘Occupied Territories’ was because although he can establish an undisputed clearly established Jewish civilization in the land, he can’t recognise the Palestinian connection to the land. He cited the Jerusalem Post from yesterday that reported on the Palestinian Authority ‘study’ (their quotation marks) that found that the Kotel (Wailing Wall) was not part of the Temple Mount. Jews had returned to an area that was not a state whereas although they had been absent, Jews had established Jewish dominion many years before. He quoted Michael Oren’s ‘Power, Faith and Fantasy’ and gave some Orientalist descriptions of travellers to the Ottoman Empire finding nothing but ‘a backwater of thistles and dust’. As one student acknowledged, it had echoes of ‘Terra Nullius’. After the talk and a drive around Efrat, we met in the park with the whole group to discuss what the students thought about the presentation. Interestingly the student response to Ardie was almost more challenging for me than his talk itself. To hear students hyper-criticism of him ( I also didn’t sympathise with his position) was challenging for me. It brought up something about the responsibility of creating this trip and bringing people here and presenting them with access points to the dual narratives and also to the complexity of the layers of experience, not wanting to reinforce stereotypes, being heartbroken if people would use this as a hook for some latent antisemitism. Lucky for me I was able to swap some time (that means we listen to each other and can have expression of emotions) with my co-leader and I was able to laugh and cry for 4 minutes which helped things a lot.

Our next stop was Hebron, Areas A (H1 under Palestinian Authority) and B (H2 under Palestinian Civil Administration and Israeli Military Control). Hebron is considered to be the biggest ‘hotspot’ that is on our itinerary. There has been much tension in Hebron, much of it surrounding the 400 Jewish people who live in a large Palestinian city, with at least the protection of 2000 Israeli military. After my experiences yesterday I wasn’t up for going in the Abrahimi Mosque or the Ma’arat Hamachpela. Apparently both of the sacred sites for Jews and Muslims open out on to the one shared holy of holies which is the tomb. Mark Baker commented that inside this wound that is the deep divisions in Hebron is also the healing. It is a messianic vision to imagine Jews and Muslims being able to pray together at this site- to open it up as the headquarters of interfaith engagement and cooperation for the greater good. At the moment Jews are not allowed inside the mosque and Muslims not allowed in the Jewish side.

The turning point that the title of this blog refers to is a common pattern I have noticed in the peacebuilders we have encountered who can mark the moment when they moved to the perspective of non-violence. Nayef Hashlamoun, President of the Alwatan Centre http://www.alwatan.org/part1/peace.html shared some of his journey with me over lunch. Basically he was at a Fatah training, shooting a tree and his officer mentioned something about imagining it was an animal or people and needing to get the aim right (if I understood him correctly). And he said that he was so uncomfortable with that thought that he couldn’t continue in the training. He told his officer that he couldn’t do it anymore and then he just left and from then started pursuing work in non-violence. I was also really excited to hear how he has a 10 dunam (10, 000 sq.m) organic farm that has olives, pomegranates, kiwi fruit and a lot more. Unfortunately though water is a big problem. According to him Israel uses most of the water and sometimes it is really hard for him to get the water he needs for his farm. Control of water and access to water is an important part of conceiving interim plans and long term resolution.

The final stop for the day was at Deheishe Refugee camp, in the Bethlehem precinct. We met with Mazen, who is also Project Officer for the Parents Circle- Bereaved Families Forum http://www.theparentscircle.com/ . It is an amazing organisation that brings Jews and Palestinians together who have lost a family member in the crisis to talk about peacebuilding . They have a unique credibility because they have paid the highest price possible. The most striking thing about Deheishe was the graffiti of photos of youth outside many houses, remembering usually young boys who have died in the struggle. Mazen talked about losing his father as a consequence of Israeli army shooting on his way back from Jerusalem to the camp and how because of the curfew he was prevented by the Israeli army from going to the hospital once he found out that his father has passed away. He said ‘this is what we mean by occupation, all we have to do is follow orders to save ourselves’. He waited till morning. After the passing of his father, he was still left with the hatred, and the fears. He didn’t believe in revenge. When he started going to the Parents Circle- Family Forum meetings he thought about Israeli Jews, ‘what do you know about pain, I’ve suffered more’, but that has changed for him. He said that some people think that cooperating with Israelis, even in this venture is normalisation as if you agree with the whole story and with the occupation but he said it is not about forgetting or agreeing but that this work will transform the nature of agreement in the future. Another important point that came up was the significance of the Arab States abandonment of the Palestinian refugees and also the maintenance of their status so they could be used as a scapegoat for further targeting Israel.

Day 2: Dual Narratives and the Challenges of Recognition

Today was the second day of our trip. After visiting the Australian Ambassador, Andrea Faulkner we went to Jaffo for a tour with Zochrot http://www.zochrot.org/index.php?lang=english. The guide was Tamar from Germany who moved to Israel twenty years ago. She talked about Jaffo, the largest Arab city in Palestine before 1948, with a current population of 48,000 of which one third are Palestinian. As we moved through the streets we were reminded that each remembrance of history is a selective one. There was a plaque on the wall to mark an 18^th Century mikvah and its reclaiming by the Jews of Libya. The Arab houses on which the plaque stands are either empty or consist of an artist’s quarter but the life has been drained out of the city. Expensive developments with secured entrances are lining the seashore and once-again displacing and dislocating the formation of communities. Tamar came to this work through her initial work researching German Jewish history. Zochrot recognises that where most Israeli towns and villages sit today, there was a Palestinian people and a town in their place. To this end they go and put up signs acknowledging where a Palestinian town was and how many inhabitants it had. Apparently the signs do not survive long before being torn up. Zochrot have a policy of supporting a one state solution- binationalism- which means that they do not want to preserve the Jewish nature of the state, rather they want Israel/Palestine to be a ‘country for all its inhabitants’. I don’t think that binationalism is the only possible outcome from their position. It is possible to advocate for the two state solution and simultaneously recognise those Palestinian villages on which the State of Israel was built. This may also include the need to bring an offering of compensation in addition to the recognition that any reconciliation will require.

After having some time off in Tel Aviv/Jaffo (I had a beautiful swim) we went to Tel Aviv University to meet with Professor Eyal Naveh http://www.idi.org.il/sites/english/AboutIDI/Staff/Pages/BioEyalNaveh.aspx

Most notably he has been involved in an interesting and controversial project of writing a textbook for Israeli schools and learning institutions that involves the dual narrative of the Jewish Israelis and Palestinian people. He said that we can be captive in our own narratives and he sees recognition of the other as even having a story as a first and necessary step in a process of reconciliation. His expertise is in History and Education and he proposed that each person put their skills and passions towards reconciliation, and that this way, through the process of writing dual narrative history books, is the way that he can contribute. The books were written through a process of workshops between six Jewish and six Palestinian teachers. Then each person had to read the others’ drafts and then another Jewish-Palestinian group looked over both the drafts. Two main preconditions for accepting the narrative of the other were (1) that one group doesn’t impose on the narrative of the other and (2) that the narrative is not inciteful or offensive. He pointed out though how tricky this is when the nature of each narrative often delegitimizes the other. He acknowledged the difference in tone between the two narratives (the Israeli being more self-critical and the Palestinian using history in a more emotive and victim-oriented way) and attributed that mainly to the asymmetry in power relations, that Palestine is still under occupation and that Israel has had over 60 years of independence. The book has caused a lot of controversy which I won’t go in to. See http://www.religionnews.com/index.php?/rnstext/professor_tries_to_teach_peace_two_pages_at_a_time/

We ended a full day with a visit to Kever Rahel (Tomb of Rachel). We just read about her in the weekly parsha (Torah portion). Because of the separation barrier (the Wall) in Bethlehem, and in order to protect Jewish visitors to this sacred site, the way in to the site and the site itself is surrounded by the large wall as an enclave inside Palestine with almost sole Jewish access. This site is considered to be an important place for prayer especially for women wanting to conceive (and for healing) because of Rachel’s prayer and struggle with her own fertility. Its hard for me as a modern feminist to connect to the sacred sites and separate them from their political context as well as from the ultra- Orthodox domination of them. What that meant for me last night was that while the men were there and singing, the women were silent. I wanted to invite my co-leader, Ilana Meallem to join me in song but I knew that women’s voices in song would not have been received well in that space. The group also got a big fright when on our way to the bus from there a loud voice boomed from the tall watch tower that overlooks the Tomb and the wall. The soldier was just asking us to wait for the bus and not to walk but in the confusion the experience was quite surreal.

(After the first day my entry got lost because internet connection got lost but I’ll try to pick it up in the next few days)

Welcome

Thanks for taking an interest in my upcoming Monash University trip to Israel and the Palestinian Territories. I have been working on the itinerary for several months and making contact with the other facilitators as well as the students. They'll be about 30 of us on the trip, mainly undergraduate students. We'll all get a deeper appreciation of the challenges facing the Jewish and Palestinian people building a future of peace. I have lived in Jerusalem for 4 years (both our children were born there) and I have been to Bethlehem and Hebron with Encounter- a wondeful organisation that takes Jews from the diaspora (and now also Israeli Jews) to Palestinian cities to meet people and  learn about their lives and their stories (Deep gratitude to Rabbi Melissa Weintraub and Illana Sumka). My experiences on those trips have been central to my thinking about this one. One of my heroes, Rabbi Michael Melchior said that nowadays we can't choose between Jews and Palestinians but that if we love and want peace we need to choose both. I don't have a clear idea of what choosing both amounts to in practical terms but it is a direction in which to approach this trip and all people we meet. We'll be processing our experiences in dyads, smaller groups and at times in the large group. This is a journey of the spirit. What happens when we enter conflict-ridden spaces with open-heartedness and compassion. It is a journey also of the inside. I've lost my voice. My friend and teacher Jasmine Lance gave me a reading that evoked a sense of me giving up some old battles, finding my power in new/old places and residing in the place of feeling, going inside and taking inspiration from natural beauty.