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Palestine Trip 6: Green Spaces
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Morgan Davie
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May 28, 2004 14:23 PDT
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Tuesday April 13, 2004
(New photos up at http://www.apocalypse.gen.nz/palestine/)
It's Tuesday. We get out of the cage.
It takes about an hour to get from Qalqilya to the heart of Tel Aviv.
We're here to talk to Windows (http://www.win-peace.org/), an organisation
that promotes understanding between Jews and Palestinians across the Green
Line. It uses art and education, and a beautiful magazine that is
co-created by children on both sides of the border and produced with Arab
and Hebrew text side by side.
We meet the young Windows person and head out to eat breakfast in a park
with some of her friends. There are trees everywhere and happy children
playing. It suddenly feels a bit like normal life again: sitting in a park
talking politics with informed and passionate people. But that is an
illusion. Tel Aviv isn't distant from the politics - it is caught right up
in it. The attacks happen here. Israeli society is full of worry. On the
inflight magazine coming over, there were six or seven full page
advertisements that referred to bombings of civilians. This is absolutely a
part of their world.
I talk about New Zealand a lot. They are interested in the Maori situation,
how New Zealand has managed and mismanaged its reparations, how politicians
make hay out of resentment and fear. There is also respect for the New
Zealand history curriculum, which had me at 15 studying Northern Ireland and
Palestine side by side.
Back at the little downstairs office, we get the spiel about Windows and its
mission. It is an incredibly valuable group doing important work. The hope
is refreshing.
Our next stop is Ein Karem, a lush suburb in the hills near Jerusalem.
There we meet Peretz Kidron, and talk about the refuseniks
(http://www.yesh-gvul.org/, which seems to be down right now). These are
Israeli soldiers who have refused to follow orders. Peretz comes across as
fiercely committed to his ideal of a conscious soldier who is informed and
able to make moral decisions. This is the best place for human rights to be
defended - history has shown that we can't expect those in power to give
account to human rights, so it falls to those who enact the orders to be the
moral guardians as well. Its a compelling argument, and while I don't agree
with every aspect of what he says, it is all insightful and worthwhile. One
interesting thing we talked through: he advocates a fair conscription into
military (not civil) service, because a professional army will never
question the orders received from their political masters. He's an
interesting figure and we take up most of his afternoon.
Then we head back to Beit Sahour. Samer and the ATG crew have organised for
us to spend the night with a local family. Cal and I are staying with
Johnny and Manar, a young couple, and their little daughter Nicole. They
are good people, welcoming us in, plying us with food, chatting about all
sorts of things. Johnny in particular is a born storyteller, full of tales.
He's pleased to see some more Kiwis, having worked with some New
Zealanders some years back in a casino in Jericho. He regrets never getting
a chance to play the promised rugby game with them. Eventually we sit
watching television, Saudi and Lebanese stations by satellite. Johnny
apologises that he can't take us out anywhere - there isn't anywhere to go.
No movies, no nightclubs. All of their stories end up talking about the
situation. It underlies every aspect of their lives.
Their house is beautiful. They're both lovely and smart, full of life.
They are absolutely like any random family here in the UK, or in New
Zealand, or, well, anywhere. They're just good people.
Under their roof that night, we sleep well.
_________________________________________________________________
Surf the net and talk on the phone with Xtra JetStream @
http://xtra.co.nz/jetstream
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