Last week, we had a ‘mid-term break’ – not sure why ‘break’ is associated with this particular week as it was anything but a ‘break’! We were on the go from sun-up to sun-down. Many relatives and friends (about 15 extras) of Group 34 joined us in Jerusalem on Sunday and participated in most events with the exception of Group meetings. Many of the visitors finished their journeys in the West Bank placements with whomever they had come to visit.
First stop on Monday morning was at Efrat Settlement where we were invited the home of ‘Settler’ Bob Lang, the Public Relations man for the settlement, who told us his story. He was born in the US but came to Israel as a young man, married and had four children. He has lived in Efrat Settlement for about 35 years where he and his family live a good life – upper middle class. He sees nothing wrong with the Israeli government policies which have allowed settlements to dot the West Bank to the detriment of the Palestinians. He was quite passionate about the fact that he has every right to live in a settlement and categorically stated that UN Conventions are simply wrong. He was convincing in some ways; however, went over the top with extreme statements.
This is Bob, the Efrat settler, walking with my colleague, Sabine. That's my Canadian colleague, David 'made in Taiwan' Pan, from Toronto in the hat in front. Great guy.
Efrat settlement has 9000 residents 60% of which are native born Israelis and 40% have immigrated from all over the world, according to Bob. He said that the residents of the settlement have a good relationship with their Palestinian neighbours – two small villages – but the route of the proposed Wall will separate them. He said that both the villages and the settlers have petitioned to stop the building of the Wall which has not yet been completed. Bob stated that it is the desire for good relations which caused them to petition but one has to question whether that is the real reason or could it be that it would limit the expansion of the settlement. Who knows?
He will not refer to the West Bank as the West Bank but calls it ‘Judea-Samaria’, a term coined by the Jordanians at the time that they ruled the west bank of the Jordan River. A few quotable quotes from Bob: “Israel has lost the PR War”; “the Israeli army is the most humane army in the world”, “there will be no peace in the Middle East until all the dictatorships of the Arab countries are replaced by democracies” and “settlements in Judea-Samaria are not obstacles to peace to rather they are bridges to peace”. He ought to share this notion with the armed settlers of Hebron and elsewhere in the West Bank!!!!
The week continued with a visit to Yad Vesham, the Holocaust Museum, led by Tamar Avraham. She is a very impressive, soft-spoken woman who is a member of the EAPPI local reference group and an Israeli peace activist.
On Wednesday, we left for Sderot, the Israeli city which was the favoured landing pad for Qassam rockets launched by Hamas from Gaza. There we were addressed by Nomika Zion who lived on the ‘urban’ Kibbutz (a kibbutz in the city) of Migvan in Sderot and founded a grassroots organization called Other Voice which seeks to bring people from Sderot and Gaza together, promoting dialogue and creating relationships. She told us that from 2001-2008, with the exception of a 5 month cease fire, Hamas was launching between 5 and 60 rockets per day into Sderot. All the residents were traumatized, victims of shock and anxiety. She said that all houses built bunkers where families slept, disrupting private life completely. Schools had to re-inforce their roofs, playground equipment creatively became bomb shelters.
Nomika told us that the focus Other Voice (http://www.othervoice.org/welcome-eng.htm) has three parts: 1) Speak to ourselves about seeing each other as people, not Palestinians or Israelis 2) Try to influence public opinion in this way and 3) Try to influence decision makers in the same way. She wrote an article which was published in the main stream Israeli daily, Ha’aretz, and translated and published around the world about the bombing of Gaza. She pleaded with her government – “not in my name” and “not for my security” – referring to the bombing. She was ready to pay the price of social isolation but the response was overwhelmingly supportive. She said that since the bombing of Gaza in late December 2008 and January 2009, things have been quiet in Sderot with only occasional Qassams being fired.
From Sderot we went on to Zikim Kibbutz, also on the border of Gaza. There we met with Arieh Zimmerman, who told us that there have only been 12 Qassams land in the Kibbutz and even though the Israeli government provided each family with a bomb shelter, he has never been in his. We were about 1 km from the Gaza border and could see the Gaza Strip very clearly in the distance. He said that the Qassam is a very primitive weapon, which, over the years, injured one child on Zikim and killed seven cows.
That's Gaza in the background. (Apologies for the poor quality, hazy day, lousy camera.)
In Kibbutz Zikim, they got creative with the Qassams which landed there and built a menorah out of them.
Arieh did not speak well of his own government’s policies, which he compared to an Israeli driver saying, they are “aggressive, impolite, bumbling, stupid”. He continued, “they break the law and get angry if reproached”. He favoured a boycott suggesting that our countries should boycott the Israeli population by not allowing them into our countries. More of Arieh’s views can be found at http://www.ariehzimmerman.net/. Interesting guy!
It was then on to Haifa for one day of work and finally, a day off! Our bus was taking a group to Akka for the day off but those of us who wished to remain in Haifa, could. Since I had gone to Akka in December 2008, I chose to go shopping with two EAPPI staff, Anya and Pauline, at the Grand Canyon Mall in Haifa. No different from Bayshore or Rideau Centre, except for Hebrew being spoken. I was still managed to extract some cash out of an ATM in Hebrew – where there is a will there is a way!
Lunch at 'Faces' in Haifa'
So folks, that’s what you missed! Bet you’re sorry, right? Or maybe you are nodding off from boredom.
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