ר"ע תיתד תונויצל ינויערה גוחה ,םולשו זוע

Oz Veshalom - Netivot Shalom
Annual Report 2000

Lectures

1. Professor David Kretschmer – Human Rights in Israel – Hebrew University, Mt Scopus Campus, January 10, 2000

Professor Kretschmer outlined the international and Israeli laws ensuring human rights and cited examples of their violations in Israel. 50 participants attended.

2. Professor Menachem Fisch – To Rule Another: The Halachic Challenge of Israeli Sovereignty – Ramat Gan, April 3, 2000

The speaker spoke about the need to develop an existing Halachic mechanism that would allow the state (from a religious point of view) to relate to other religions, peoples and states in a manner suitable and prudent for a modern sovereign state.

3. Prof. Daniel Statman – Who Has the Right to the Land from an ethical-religious perspective- Kiryat Ono, May 29, 2000

4. Dr. Menachem Klein “Jerusalem - City in Controversy. Reality and the future of Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations, Jerusalem. June 5, 2000

Dr. Klein brought maps and clearly explained how the demography and geography of Jerusalem influence possible solutions to the Jerusalem controversy and he discussed several possible ideas of shared control.

5. Lecture on peace and politics for an international group of Christian visitors – Dr. Devorah Weissman and Hanadi Younan, Jerusalem, June 23, 2000

6. Beit Midrash l’Shalom . Jerusalem - "The relation to the other".

Amid worryingly growing signs of racism in the society, Rav Yitzchak Bardea, Sephardi chief Rabbi of Ramat Gan spoke of the religious imperative to treat the Arab minority within Israel with respect and equality. He talked of the need to bring them into senior positions within mainstream Israeli society. Rabbi Benny Lau talked about dreams. He shared his personal journey through Bnei Akiva and the dreams of the settling and blooming of the greater Israel and the disappointment as the realization that such a dream is not possible when these areas are home to a Palestinian people striving for a homeland. However, he talked of the importance of dreams and their value in driving us forward even when they are not attainable. On the second night the "relationship to the other" was discussed by a panel comprising leading figures in different fields: a psychologist, a historian, a journalist and a Jewish philosopher.

August 2, 2000

August 3, 2000

7. Lecture on the peace process to a group of visiting Americans – Dr. Devorah Weissman

8. Succat Shalom

Sunday October 15, 2000

October 16, 2000

October 17, 2000

February 4-5, 2000, Neve Ilan Hotel

47 adults participated in this weekend. Lectures:

Prof. Uriel Simon -Seeking peace as a religious obligation

Yehuda Wachsman-To live with death

Tzvia Gruenfeld-All is Jewish Law or all is Adjudicable

March 17-18, 2000, Midreshet B’Yachad, Yerucham, Student seminar

25 young adults attended this weekend in the south of Israel. Lectures:

David Biton -Judgement, Rationality and Time-Rulings of Rabbi Moshe Machash from Traditional Religious Rulings in Changing Times

Dr. Avi Pikar- Rational Response to Emotional Distress

Dr. Henriette Dahan-Caleb and Leah Shakdiel -Women, Peace and Social Inequality

Tami Biton and Debbie Golan -Why was the Torah given in the Desert

Wildlife and Environment in Palestine/Israel, May 5, 2000, Biblical Zoo, Jerusalem

Israeli and Jahalin Bedouin families spent a day (including a picnic lunch) at the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem. There was a guided tour of the zoo and the children were taught about different animals native to this area and were allowed to handle some of them. The emphasis of the day, aside from having a good time together, was on our shared concern for the environment

Human rights fair - in honor of Yom Yerushalayim., May 31, 2000

A 4 hour fair with photo exhibits, tables of information, activities for children and speakers Leah Shakdiel, Naim Ashav, and Leah Zemel (Faissal Husseini and Shulamit Aloni cancelled at the last minute). Participating organizations were OzVeshalom/Netivot Shalom, The Israeli Coalition against Home Demolitions, Workers Rights Center, Jerusalem Youth Union, DCI Israel (the International Organization for Children’s rights), B’Tzelem, the Public Committee against Torture in Israel, Focus for the Defense of the Individual, Womens Voice, Doctors for Human Rights, Rabbis for Human Rights, Student Group, LAW, Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights, Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counselling

Tour for Meimad governing council of Bethlehem, Nahalin village and Beit Sahur June 30, 2000

A day spent meeting Palestinians and learning about their views on the peace process and their needs as residents of the Etzion Block (see enclosed description)

Protest in front of the Supreme Court against the decision to remove the Maon Cave Dwellers March 29, 2000, Jerusalem

Meeting with members of the International Peace Council to discuss NGO activity in peace work in Israel, Sisters of Zion Church, En Karem, Jerusalem, May 3, 2000

The Majority Support Peace demonstration, Jerusalem, July 11, 2000

Reading of the Book of Lamentations at Yitzhak Rabin’s grave for the 9^th of Av, Mt. Herzl, Jerusalem, August 9, 2000

Morning Prayers and program for the fast of Gedalya, Rabin Square, Tel Aviv, October 2, 2000. Lecture by Prof. Uriel Simon

Conference – Religion and the Environment, Jerusalem, October 30, 2000

Conference of Israeli Dialogue Groups, Maale HaHamisha, November 1, 2000

Conference of Israeli Dialogue Groups, Maale HaHamisha, November 27, 2000

Publication of a weekly commentary on the Torah reading; 10,000 copies are distributed to over 400 synagogues weekly. Since October it is translated into English and distributed overseas via email and the Internet.

The following two projects have been temporarily suspended until the violence stops.

“Basket Children”

Project to provide afternoon lessons in computers, and arts and crafts by Oz veShalom/Netivot Shalom university students to Arab Israeli and Palestinian children who live and work in the Mahane Yehuda market. This project isthe beginning of a much larger project designed to assist the children and enlist the support of the employers, parents and Palestinian Authority.

OzveShalom/Netivot Shalom families are “adopting” families in the village of Wallaje to help them through Israeli bureaucracy and to advocate for them when they need to confront the Israeli legal system.

I wouldn’t want to be a Palestinian living under Israeli rule, was my conclusion after the day we spent being hosted and guided by Ghassan Andoni from Bet Sahur and by Yusef Najara from Nahalin. We began the day with a lecture by a young man, Nazir Farsakh, at the Alternative Jerusalem Information Center in Bethlehem. Nazir was very honest and began his talk by saying that we wouldn’t like what he had to say, but that he was going to show us how Palestinians view history, the occupation, Israeli settlements, water issues etc. He showed us one overhead slide after another - I wish I had a copy of some of the maps - diagrams and details I had never seen before. Sure, the information was one-sided, but how often can we talk to Palestinians who want to make peace and are willing to explain their grievances, argue their point of view and discuss the solutions that they want? He spoke for about 30 minutes, and we had to stop the question and answer session after 45 minutes in order to maintain our schedule.

We were then introduced to Yusef Najara. Yusef comes from the tiny village of Nahalin nestled in a valley between Rosh Tzurim and Beitar Ilit. He is currently finishing his doctorate in Chemistry at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. As we drove from Bethlehem to Nahalin, Yusef pointed out the ever expanding Jewish settlements with their red roofs and private gardens, and the Palestinian villages and former grazing land and olive groves. We drove on the Palestinian roads (one lane and poorly paved) since Palestinians can’t use the new 4 lane bypass roads.

Yusef was bitter. He wants equal rights. Why can’t families build homes in Nahalin for their growing familiies when the settlers can take over hill after hill to expand? Why don’t they have a proper sewage system? At least in Nahalin water isn’t a problem, since they are connected to the same water pipe that supplies water to Betar Ilit. It was hard for us to feel anything but empathy for the plight of the Palestinians.

We had lunch in an open tent in Beit Sahur with several town residents who have been members of an Israeli-Palestinian dialogue group for many years - Ghassan Andoni teaches physics at Bir Zeit University and is president of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between people, Mazan Badra is a consultant for economics and tourism, Abdullah Awwah is a former principal and current teacher at the Lutheren School, Michael Rishawi is a teacher at the Lutheran School and Ayad, Palestinian ‘refugee’ is a physician living in Sweden whose family comes from Nahalin. We went around the circle and introduced ourselves and made a brief statement about our impressions of the day, our hopes and concerns about making peace. The Palestinians stressed the need for equality, being treated with dignity, and getting their demands in the peace process. They made maximalist demands - 1967 borders, Jerusalem as capitol, and the right of return for refugees. I think we felt that, on the one hand, here it is possible to sit and chat and be friendly with Palestinians, and, on the other hand, we seem so far apart in our positions on a reasonable solution to the conflict between us.

On the bus on the way home we discussed amongst ourselves how to bring more people on such tours. Meeting Palestinians contributes to changing our images of the “other”. It doesn’t make resolving the conflict any easier, but it turns the “enemy” and “terrorist” into a neighbor with whom one can talk and agree to disagree. It is an important first step in a slow process of decreasing hostility and becoming neighbors.

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