I admit that I chose the movies. Whether it was a conscious choice
or a result of unacknowledged masochism I'm not sure, but my
husband and I found ourselves at a recent Jerusalem Film Festival
having our hearts ripped out by scene after scene of inter-ethnic
violence: Hindus against Muslims in Bombay, Serbs against Croats in
Serbo-Croatia, Albanians against Macedonians, Protestants against
Catholics in Belfast - burning, shooting, stabbing and bombing
drowning out the cries of pain and protest of the peacemakers.
After I catch my breath, how does this make me feel about us,
Israelis and Palestinians who are trying to find ways to lessen the
suffering here, to create a livable framework now, as soon as
possible, before the pain is unbearable? Are we contributing
anything?
Facing Reality
One of the creations of the Intifada turmoil was grass-roots
dialogue between Palestinians in the occupied territories and
Israelis. As I look back, I see it was an avenue for middle-aged
participation in the uprising: none of us was political leaders,
another approved middle-age stance, but neither were we IDF
soldiers or shebab. So we took part by talking, and the talking in
small groups led to large-scale non-violent activities, such as the
Prayer for Peace uttered by thousands in a church in Beit Sahur or
the mass picnic on Mount Gerizim in Nablus.
Eventually we formed an organization, the Rapprochement Dialogue
Center. While continuing to organize small dialogue meetings, we
wanted to demonstrate in the mass activities that there are a good
many people who aren't afraid of each other, who feel they have a
common goal that isn't completely expressed by political slogans,
but also has a moral basis, and this moral sense is strong on both
sides. After all, the movies reminded me that the actual level of
violence here is relatively low, although the expectation of
violence and fear of harm is extraordinarily high - and here I
speak as an Israeli. This expectation of the worst clouds
perception of reality, and it is just this sense of reality that we
hope to provide in face-to-face meetings.
'The Transformation of Suffering'
There were a lot of very pale faces, stomachaches and cases of
motion sickness among the Israelis on the bus to a full-day
dialogue in Nablus. This was one of a series of intensive contact
workshops, running from a full day to two- or three-day stays in
the West Bank, organized on the theme of "The transformation of
suffering." We are trying to bring in people from the mental health
field, alternative medicine and others who were not politically
involved in the past. They are often really scared. Even a
documentary filmmaker, who had done a film on Middle East
peacemakers, admitted her fantasies of the impending horrors:
"After 500 previous bus trips in the Middle East, I was certain
this was the one to explode. After 18 months of going all over the
West Bank, I imagined we'd be assaulted by furious Palestinians
driving us back over the Green Line...." Instead, by lunchtime she
found herself in a group wandering with our hosts in the notorious
Casbah, eating falafel and chatting about politics and peace with
other shoppers.
One Palestinian who stopped to talk identified himself as from a
small village near Nablus. Which village? "You probably never heard
of it: Beita." A full circle. He had just finished four years in
jail as a result of the day trip of the teenagers from Elon Moreh,
one of the most dramatic and wrenching incidents of the early
Intifada. Two of us in the group had spent many hours in' the
military court in Nablus at the time, "witnessing" the proceedings
between the settlers and the accused Palestinian boys. For us, it
Israelis to Nablus on that day four years later; for him, it was
the beginning of a jail term. When he heard what we were doing
there, he asked to join . the dialogue in the afternoon. So we are
still traveling on the same track, or somehow parallel
tracks.
Second Generation
The workshops in Nablus have taken place in one of the women's
centers, where there are educational programs for women, and
children are treated by speech therapists, and receive other kinds
of treatments, massage and healing techniques to overcome traumas
of the occupation. Some of these techniques have been brought to
Nablus by Israelis, and others by teachers we have imported to
train dialogue facilitators: Christopher Titmuss, from the
International Buddhist Peace Fellowship; Dr. Paula Green, from the
Karuna Institute; and Dr. Louise Diamond, from the Institute for
Multitrack Diplomacy. In Beit Sahur, Christopher spent two days at
the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement with a group of youth
leaders. They've created for themselves an ambitious project to
deepen a positive Palestinian identity, increase contact among
youth in different areas of the West Bank and Gaza through travel
and discussion groups and to instill democratic values. The Beit
Sahur youth group is the second generation of our original set of,
as I described it, middle-aged Intifada workers. Now we see
ourselves more as chaperons of the dialogue, as it takes on new
forms with different age groups.
Maybe the "peace of the brave" was more than a sales pitch by
Arafat for the Oslo agreements. Are Israelis brave to venture into
the West Bank to meet Palestinians? From within, I feel this is a
ridiculous description. On the other hand, I know how hard it is to
seduce Israelis into coming, even a fraction of those who would
stand for hours in a crowded square in Tel Aviv with peace signs.
Of course, the whole business of peacemaking is hopping on one
foot: we cannot invite equally "brave" Palestinians to us, since
they have been officially uninvited to Israel.
Bethlehem - No!
A friend of mine is visiting now, a (Jewish) research physician who
is trying to organize a two-day conference on the effect of dioxin
in the environment on human health in the Middle East. When he
realized that Palestinians would not be able to attend the
conference as planned in Beersheba, he agreed that Bethlehem would
be the most convenient location for everyone. I was most curious to
hear the response of his Israeli colleagues. An immediate no. Much
too dangerous, they wouldn't set foot in the Palestinian Autonomy
area and he is certainly out of his mind to think they would sleep
there. And what is more, they said, any such Palestinians seen to
be meeting with Israelis would certainly be putting themselves in
great danger. (Of course we were invited to hold the conference in
Bethlehem by Palestinians.) Is this real fear, or is it cowardice?
Whichever, it is a stark denial of reality and as much an obstacle
to peace as our prime minister.
Here are some comments of participants in a recent Rapprochement
workshop which may give a sense of the impact of dialogue:
Palestinians:
"These years have been a tragedy for me. However, I am learning how
to make use of my suffering. To use it as a path to peace."
"With the closure, our people feel depressed. We gave up everything
for peace, but we are still in prison. My will for peace collapsed.
However, coming here has helped me to feel that there is hope. It
gave me the motivation to continue, because it restored my trust in
people."
"During the many years I spent in jail, I struggled constantly not
to allow anger and hate to destroy my faith. Now I have a chance to
build on that for peace."
"I now understand that to achieve peace is to reach reality. We
have both been living a big lie all these years."
Israelis:
"I know now that the purpose of this workshop is not only to make
peace, but also to know what peace really is. This gives a
tremendous energy."
"It is amazing to be here [in Nablus] and feel the sense of
security and warmth and protection. They look after us as their
children."
"Though I am immensely frustrated at what is happening now, after
two days I have received a big motivation to continue.
Peace-building is the most important thing that we can do."
There is an appropriate sneer in Israel to express skepticism about
every kind of political activity on the left: dialogues,
demonstrations, letters of protest, vigils, solidarity visits,
appeals to the court... We are so abundantly self-critical, and
impatient with other's efforts, that we can easily become
paralyzed. One thing makes me feel easy about our work: coming back
on the bus from Nablus, there are no stomachaches, but lots of talk
and laughter, sounds out of which peace can emerge.