Bethlahem

There are a flood of emotions that I am trying to process following my almost 36 hours in Bethlehem. I am trying to figure out what it means to have a two state solution, what it means to claim a right to the land- either with a promise from God or a key to a vacant lot, and how language plays into sympathies or hatred.

So for those who do not know, I spent a day and a half, about 20 minutes South of where I live, in Bethlehem. I went with Encounter- "an educational organization dedicated to providing Jewish Diaspora leaders from across the religious and political spectrum with exposure to Palestinian life. Motivated by the relentless Jewish pursuit of hokhma (wisdom) and binah (understanding), Encounter programs bring participants on journeys to engage with Palestinians face-to-face and witness realities first hand. Within a supportive, uniquely caring, and pluralistic framework, Encounter invites participants to ask questions and grapple with fresh perspectives, in order to create human connections across lines of enmity, and expand personal and political understanding." (http://encounterprograms.org/about.html#mission)

Asside from being on a hunt to see if they were decorating for Christmas yet, there were many deeper issues that I was looking to discover. (To answer the question, they were starting to decorate.)

If that was the only goals of the program, then I think that they were successful but if I look at what I took away from the program, I think that it may have made me more confused and angry. One of the main issues that I struggled with was the issue of language. I found myself often asking for clarification- when you ask me if you as a Palestinian have a right to this land, can you please clarify if you are referring to the Middle East, Israel, Bethlehem or here in the den of your home. There were also vast generalizations made about the enemy and who that is. I had visceral reactions when I heard some of our speakers stating that they hate all Jews, Israelis, or soldiers. While sometimes the terms were used interchangeably, one speaker seemed to love the generalizations. She one clarified hating all Israelis so far as to say- "not all soldiers, just the one who killed my brother", yet she still turned around and said that she hates the soldiers that come into her house and take away (arrest) her mother and brother and if the soldiers did not raid, then there would be no reason to throw rocks and hate them. I think that they will always find a reason to hate Israel or something about Israel. I also felt that the generalizations were sort of like a few Americans who had the view that all Muslims were terrorists post 9/11.

I also struggled with the issues of what it means to disband settlements if that is what it takes to have a two state solution, and with thinking that the biggest mistake of the Palestinians was not accepting the pre 1948 plan which would have let them have something to start the negotiations/independence.

I think that the program was really good about showing me more about the issues that continue to make this a conflict. Part of this was the comment about giving the Palestinians a reason to throw rocks. I related this to my group in the analogy of Facebook “pokes.” On Facebook, if you poke someone, they have the option to poke back or ignore. If you poke back, then the poked has the same decision to make. Eventually you forget who poked whom first and it becomes what is known as a poke war. In our context- if you invade our homes, we will throw rocks and cause terror that causes you to raid our homes and make arrests that cause us to throw more rocks, etc.

I also gained a better understanding about the Muslim and Christian claims to the land. From what I was told, according to Muslim law, once you own land, you are not allowed to give it up to a non-Muslim. I was also told that they believe that God’s promise to Abraham has expired. The Jews were given many chances and then finally blew it. (This is interesting especially because today I studied in the Shulchan Aruch that Jews are not allowed to sell or rent land to non-Jews in the land of Israel.)

There were other things that stirred certain feelings or emotions in me. When we were walking around the security barrier, I could not help but think about seeing what was left of the Berlin wall in January and the healing that has been happening in Berlin since the fall of the wall not so long ago.

Another emotion that was stirred was that of security. It was a shocker that my bags were not checked as I walked into the hotel for the group sessions. I have gotten so used to having my bags checked when I walk into buildings because of a concern of terrorist attacks as is set in the Israeli mindset. That, pitted against the individual who shared her personal narrative stating that she would like to invite the soldier who killed her brother to come and live with her for two days, made me feel that I would like to invite her to come and visit with me for a few days so she can know what it means to have ongoing security concerns- that not everything is peachy on the Israeli side. There was one other thing that stirred certain emotions in me. Our first stop with Encounter was the Hope Flowers School. While we were there, one of the heads of school spoke to us and mentioned that one of the programs that they have had to implement since 2000 was psychological counseling and an attention to learning disabilities that they have found in the students since they have been distracted by security concerns and changes to their lifestyles. Near the school were posters honoring "martyrs."

When she was asked if there was education given at this school, that teaches coexistence and Hebrew language, about the Holocaust or Zionism, she responded with “we can’t teach that to children.” I would have to respectfully disagree that maybe the lack of processing issues like this is part of the need to have such a focus on counseling. I remember discussions at Ramah in terms of trying to decide if we should teach about Tisha B’Av to the 7-8 year olds. I think that if done properly, no topic is too difficult to teach.

The activity that I liked the best was on Thursday evening when a bunch of Palestinians came to the hotel and we played “games.” These were great. It was a way to break down barriers before we went to dinner together. We started with a game involving eye contact and no speaking where we were in a circle and had to make eye contact with an individual and switch spots with them. As the game got more complicated, with a monkey in the middle component, there was lots of laughter. In short, we were laughing before talking. In the last “game” that we played, we stood in the circle and then statements were read aloud and we had to step into the circle if the statement was true. One of the main things that I learned here was that we are not so different. The biggest difference was language. The statements about family were particularly strong. I noticed that I was stepping into the middle a lot but that the reasons that I was walking into the middle was not the same as others. One example was “I have a family member who has been in jail.” The reason that I stepped into the middle was because of a little fiasco of a certain uncle in a South American country and drugs. Others were stepping into the middle because they threw rocks.

I spent the night with a Palestinian family outside of Bethlehem. We spent some time drinking Taybeh Beer (brewed in Ramallah), trying Absenth, watching youtube videos and discussing politics and religion. It was a fun time and the most comfy bed in one of the most amazing houses that I have stayed in since getting to Israel.

The final component of the program, in the final debriefing was what is our next step. Given what I learned made me think back a few weeks to when I was in Zichron Yaakov at the Masorti shul and we heard Hillel Halkin speak about his experience in Selma, Alabama during the civil rights movement in the ‘60s. He said that there was a sour taste towards him from the locals in the south because the reality of the situation was that no mater how hard he worked on behalf of the people and equality, at the end of the day he was still white and still heading back north. I feel that the same is true regarding Israel and Israeli politics. I have a vested interest in ensuring Israel’s survival however I am not a citizen and I have no voting rights so I struggle with what sort of position and actions to take seeing as I will be going back to the US in a few months. I think that there is a difference between the Jewish community in American and the Jewish community in Israel and I anticipate trying to balance the two and my connection between the two for many more years.

(Photos are on facebook.)