An Arab peace initiative

Today I met a guy who told me about an Arab peace initiative, an offer made by Arab states in 2002 to end the Arab-Israeli conflict, establish peaceful relations with Israel, in exchange for a complete withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and a just settlement to the Palestinian refugee crisis. Sounds pretty good, no?

Think again. The initiative never really got off the ground. The day before the initiative was tabled, a massive terrorist attack, the Passover Massacre, was carried out by the Hamas military wing. Thirty Israeli civilians were killed and 140 injured. The attack sent shockwaves through the Israeli society. It completely overshadowed the initiative.

Since then, the Arab peace initiative has laid dormant, although it was re-endorsed by the Arab states in 2007.

I feel conflicted. On the one hand, to accompany a proposal for peace with a massive terrorist attack does not instill any confidence in the sincerity of the initiative. In fact, it stinks. But on the other hand, this was the first time that all Arab states came together to offer such a comprehensive peace deal with Israel. Can we really let a Hamas terrorist attack destroy this opportunity?

I wonder, does there have to be zero violence before a peace initiative can be considered? Does there have to be complete trust and confidence before a deal is possible? Or is it time to breath new life into the Arab peace initiative?

14 days to go...

The other voice

Today I went to Sderot to meet a guy who refuses to give in to the hatred. And believe me, this guy has a lot of cause for hatred. When the second intifada broke out in 2000, qassam rockets started coming over from Gaza into Sderot. At first, people in Sderot thought the rocket attacks would only last for a short time. No-one ever imagined that they would become an ongoing, long-lasting, and almost daily reality. Between 2005 and 2008, rocket attacks were particularly intensive. On good days, Sderot received two or three rockets, on bad days, up to sixty rockets.

The guy I met lives in Sderot with his wife and three children. His twins were three years old and his eldest daughter was six when the rocket attacks started. They are now 12 and 15 respectively. They do not know any other kind of reality. There are bunkers and shelters every few hundred metres. Many people receive ongoing trauma counselling.

When Justice Goldstone conducted a fact-finding mission earlier this year, he found Hamas militants guilty of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, for their indiscriminate and incessant rocket attacks at civilians in southern Israel. And rightly so. He called on them to investigate and prosecute those responsible.

Three years ago, the guy from Sderot, met two people from Gaza at a peace dialogue in Jerusalem. It was the first time he had met someone from Gaza since the rocket attacks had started, and it was an eye-opening experience. The three men promised to stay in contact.

And for the past three years they have kept the channel of communication open. They spoke, emailed and blogged together daily during the war in Gaza, from December to January.

They set up an organisation called the Other Voice, which is dedicated to bringing together people from Sderot and Gaza, if not in person, then by phone, skype, email or even through loudspeakers across the wall that divides Gaza from Israel!

They are trying to fight the demonisation of the other. They are concerned with the consequences of the dehumanisation, of treating everyone from the other side as an enemy. They believe that ongoing and sustained contact with people is key to remembering that human beings live on the other side.

What affects me so strongly about the story of Sderot and Gaza is how the situation has led to the blurring between military and civilian targets, between combatants and civilians. On the Hamas side, the enemy is the State of Israel, and they deliberately target civilians. On the Israeli side, the enemy is the Gaza Strip, which was declared "hostile territory" in 2007, and whose people have been severely punished ever since Hamas was elected.

The result: terrorized and traumatized civilian populations on both sides. 3 civilian deaths in Sderot and 773 civilian deaths in Gaza, including 320 children, during the last period of hostilities.

What I love about the work of the Other Voice, is that its members resist the blur. It is simple, yet incredibly powerful. They are a minority, but just imagine what could happen if these voices could got louder.

15 days to go…

Sorry guys...

I am exhausted. See you tomorrow.

16 days to go...

Who are the settlers?

Tonight I want to take a closer look at Israeli settlers. There are currently 479, 500 Israelis living in settlements in in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

But first a map from B'Tselem. The dark blue areas are settlements (homes, schools, synagogues, medical clinics etc...). The light blue areas are the municipal boundaries. The dark brown areas are Palestinian towns and villages. The light brown areas are administered by the Palestinian authority. The even lighter brown areas are under Israeli security control and Palestinian civilian control. And the white areas are controlled by Israel.

Settlements

Israelis choose to live in settlements for economic, religious and ideological reasons, all strongly encouraged by political parties and the government (through both financial incentives, infrastructure and other support). Peace Now defines ideological settlers as those who live in settlements to settle Eretz Israel and prevent implementation of a two-state solution. A second category choose to live in settlements for their low housing prices and relatively high quality of life. The third category are ultra-Orthodox Jews who live in settlements built especially for them, for example, Modi’in Illit and Beitar Illit, but who are not ideologically motivated.

There are no official statistics, but Peace Now estimates that 40 percent are ideological settlers and 60 percent are there for economic reasons, both the ultra-Orthodox and secular Israelis.

All this is good and bad news. The good news is that the majority of settlers are not there for ideological reasons, which means that if the time comes to establish an independent Palestinian state, it will be relatively easy to move these people back into Israel (so long as the government provides financial incentives).

The bad news is that these figures show just how extensively the settlement enterprise is driven by government policy and support (and not by a bunch of whacky Jewish cowboys). The majority of Israelis move to settlements because it is financially more attractive for low-income families.

So it makes me wonder: why does the government provide such strong support for settlements? Why are they supported by both the left and right? And what does this mean for the prospects of an independent Palestinian state?

17 days to go...

Extreme measures

Tonight I have no words, I just ask you to watch. Each film is around 9 minutes long. If you do not have time for both, watch a few minutes of each one (it is important to see the end of the second film to understand the message).

18 days to go...

The festival of lights (or the modern Jew)

Last night I celebrated the first night of Channukah, the Jewish festival of lights. Channukah is not really a religious festival, it is a celebration of the victory of light over darkness, and a reminder of the history of the Jewish people.

I went to a really cool Channukah party in Tel Aviv organised by a group of arty Israelis at "the hub." I met people who are involved in all sorts of peace initiatives, actors, artists and journalists. And there we were all celebrating Channukah!

We sang Channukah songs, heard a few Channukah stories, and ate lots of food fried in oil (which ain't so good for the hips, but at least reminded me of the oil that miraculously lasted for eight days when it should have only lasted for one).

I am not a religious Jew. I found my connection to G-d outside of Judaism. And whilst I do not reject the religious aspects of the Jewish people, I feel there is so much more to us that is often hidden in the shadow of the religion. Last night's Channukah party was a celebration of Jewish identity rather than the religion. And I loved it! It is one of the reasons why I also love the festival of Pesach so much. Pesach is essentially a reminder of the injustice of slavery, and a celebration of freedom (although it does have a religious aspect to it as well).

Most of the "jewish" stuff I do here is with my religious friends. I enjoy it but it doesn't feel like me. Even when I celebrate religious Jewish festivals with my atheist family in Australia, again, I love it, but it feels like I am being transported back to the shtetl in Lithuania where my great grandparents came from. It is more about tradition than an expression of my Jewish identity today.

Last night was something different. And I only realised it today: one of the amazing things about Israel is that it has created a space for a more modern expression of what it means to be Jewish. And it was wonderful to be a part of that.

19 days to go...

The music of life

You know what? I am exhausted. It feels like I never stop. My journeys into the West Bank are long and tiring. But what can I say? I am addicted. And today was a particularly special day. I would not have missed it for the world. I went to a place where I personally feel part of the peace efforts, and where many of you are personally part of the peace efforts.

I went to Salem, a Palestinian village in the northern part of the West Bank, around 2km from the major city of Nablus. I joined two kibbutzniks, Erella and Ehud, from the Villages Group for their weekly family visits. The main reason we went to Salem was to visit Jubier Ishtayya, a local musician and teacher who is starting a music centre with your help.

Erella met Jubier a few years ago. They connected over a common dream to create peace through music. Well, peace is actually the word I chose. Erella and Jubier are more grounded than that. They do not have any grandiose ideas about peace. Instead, they believe in the transformative power of music. They believe that music is a tool for developing creative minds, rather than destructive ones. The music centre will be a place of learning, artistic expression and concerts; a centre for healing and hope.

I met Ehud, Erella and Jubier earlier this year and I was blown away. Not by the idea of the project, that was not new to me, but by the spirit, the energy and the relationship between these three people. Their idea was well thought out, realistic, and targeted at a particularly vulnerable group: boys and girls in their late teens, living in extreme conditions, with few employment opportunities, and nothing to do in the afternoons. The centre will start small, but they have big plans for the future.

And the dream was made possible because of support from many of you. So tonight, even YOU can put smiles on your faces. The music center will open in January, half the students will be girls and half boys. The head of the village has provided the space and political support for the project.

It is wonderful to feel part of a concrete project on the ground; particularly one that I so strongly believe in. This gives me hope. And I promise, before I finish this journey, I will provide you with plenty more ideas for how you can stay engaged.

20 days to go...