The Other Voice

Today we travelled south, to Sderot, which is an Israeli town right on the border of the Gaza strip. Sderot is somewhat infamous as it is a town which regularly is bombarded with Kassam rockets shot from the Gaza strip. We met with representatives from two different Kibbutzim, and one representative of a community organization that tries to work with marginalized groups in the Sderot kibbutzim communities.

As we drove out of Bethlehem and onto a “settler” road heading south, it was palpable how different was the landscape. In the Palestinian territories, the buildings and the villages are tired, worn, dirty, crumbling – they look much like any ghetto in urban America to a great extent. As soon as we were on a settler road and passing through Israeli settlements and developments, the scenery was much more like any main highway strip in Middle America, with clean, well equipped gas stations, well trimmed landscaping, middle class homes and the like. One of our members quipped as we were moving along, “When do we get to Palm Beach?” It does look a lot like Florida! Obviously, because Israel is such a young country and because it was a planned country, everything that has been built by the Israelis is new (relatively speaking) and of good quality and clearly built for and inhabited by well to do people.

We arrived at the offices of Gvanim, a community organization located near the Kibbutz Migvan, an urban kibbutz, that has been in existence only 21 years. Chen Abrahams gave us a presentation on the work they do at Gvanim, which is a mixture of programs for pre school children, for youth, for disabled children and youth, for parents, for the elderly and the like. The Kibbutz Migvan community and much of Sderot is a multicultural community, comprised of Jews from Morroco, Russia, Ethiopia and other developing countries. Because of the multiculturalism, the standard of living is lower than in many Israeli settlements and the social issues they face are more complex because of the diversity of the population they serve. Chen described life in Sderot and it is a hard life, despite the fact that these people obviously are considerably better off than the Palestinian villagers we’ve been talking to the past few days. Sderot is so close to the Gaza strip that it has been the locus of continuous attacks by Kassam rockets for several years now. Chen described how the entire population is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, particularly the children. There are cement shelters all over the neighborhoods and many people have cement shelters in their homes to which they flee when the sirens go off signaling an attack by kassams. Chen described how her 9 year old son will not sleep alone because he is so afraid of hearing the siren during the night that he won’t sleep away from his parents. Apparently, he is not alone in that chronic fear. And it is not unfounded fear. These Israelis are justifiably fearful because rockets really do land in their backyards with alarming regularity. Chen was quite candid when questioned about what she hopes for in terms of a future for Israel and Palestine. She expressed a hope for a one state solution. She understands why the Palestinians resent the Israelis and she expressed a desire to find a way for all of them to share the land and live in peace. She was very clear that she would love to see them find a path to non-violent co-existence and was adamant that she wishes her child could grow up in a climate not marked by extreme fear and not polluted by hatred.
We then heard from Eric Yellin of the Migvan Community who has founded an organization called “Other Voices” dedicated to instigating and facilitating dialogue between Israelis and Gaza strip Palestinians. This is a group of citizens on both sides of the border who want to engage in dialogue to find a solution to their conflict and who believe that violence is not the answer and that neither the Palestinian Authority nor the Israeli government are capable of fixing the problems. They are a real grass roots movement, and they have recruited members from diverse constituencies in both Israel and the Gaza strip. They are staging an event this Friday, a bike rally, to draw attention to their call for peace through dialogue and bridge building. Eric told us how frustrating it is that the folks on the other side of the border will not be able to participate in the bike rally because Gazans are under house curfew due to recent violence that has broken out in the Gaza strip amongst Palestinian factions there. He did say some of his contacts over there are hoping to participate by phone on Friday, even though they can’t come to Israel or even stage their own parallel event. He related how the Palestinians in the Gaza strip have difficulty even meeting together as a group because of the ban on public assembly. Listening to him gave many of us hope. His willingness to befriend Palestinians in the Gaza strip and his witness that there are groups of people on both sides of the border who want to work for peace was very encouraging. What he said was that the reason Other Voices has been founded is because the people on both sides of the border have concluded that their governmental leaders are not going to bring peace. They really believe that they have to form relationships and build bridges at the grass roots level and hope that they can bring about change from the bottom up.

We then visited another kibbutz, Kibbutz Zikim, a traditional agricultural kibbutz, a stone’s throw from the Gaza border. There an older woman, Edna, who came to the kibbutz in 1957 spoke to us about kibbutz life. This is truly the old school kibbutz – “from each according to his ability to each according to his need.” Everyone works on the kibbutz and all receive the same “salary” whether they serve as a janitor or the principal of the school. Children go to school on the kibbutz but now live with their parents, unlike in the early years when they were raised in a children’s house so as to free their mothers up to participate fully in kibbutz life. Now, because of the kassam rockets and the fear that that incurs in both children and parents, the raising of children has returned to the private nuclear family unit. They get housing, medical care, social and cultural events, household services like cleaning and laundry. They are now into the third generation on the kibbutz, and while things have changed since Edna arrived in 1957, she believes they have more or less kept to their original principles and ideology. She described them as very “left wing” politically. She also described the constant bombardment with kassam rockets and how that affects their lives. There are cement shelters all over the kibbutz so that people can dive for cover if there is an attack. When asked about the Israeli Palestinian conflict Edna was equivocal. To some degree she seemed to give the Israeli “party line” and yet she also acknowledged that the Palestinians in Gaza are suffering at the hands of the Israelis but believed that the Israelis have no choice given the constant rocket bombardments. She is of the belief that the only solution is a two state solution, because she believes the two sides are just too antagonistic ever to be able to live together in one state. It was clear listening to her and to Mayan, the guide who drove us around the kibbutz, that they are affected by the atmosphere of violence in which they constantly live. To a much lesser degree than David Wilder in Hebron, they manifest a kind of bunker mentality, or a siege mentality – rightfully so given the realities on the ground for them – which colors their view of the bigger picture of the Israeli Palestinian conflict and definitely leaves them disinclined to be critical of the Israeli government or military.

We ended our travels today by visiting the Erez Checkpoint, the only border crossing that is open between Israel and the Gaza strip. Almost no one gets through at this point – usually only people who can prove some humanitarian reason for needing to go across. The checkpoint is a fortress, heavily guarded and the guards shouted at us to stop photographing the checkpoint when we got out of the bus. A few Palestinians were going through the checkpoint, but they had been driven there by a United Nations vehicle, so we assumed that they had somehow enlisted UN assistance in getting across into Gaza for some family reason. The checkpoint was yet another vivid symbol of all that is wrong in this terrible conflict – as if cement and barbed wire and armed guards could possibly bring peace or security to either side.

These past three days have been a whirlwind of meeting people deeply involved at all levels in this intractable conflict. If there is any hope to be found in the midst of all the tragedy on the ground, it is the fact that we heard a number of people on both sides express a desire for a one state solution and a willingness to live peacefully, side by side with the other. If only we could figure out how to get past the rhetoric and the pain of the past on both sides, to facilitate the relationship building on the ground we might make that dream a reality someday. Therein lies the kernel of hope.