Students to share insights from Middle East

See our amazing video. Many thanks to the UCI staff who produced it for us and to the band Knossos for the music.

Daily Pilot, October 20, 2008

UCI students report on Israel-Palestine conflict http://www.dailypilot.com/articles/2008/10/20/topstory/dpt-uci10212008.txt

UCI mentioned:

UC Irvine student leaders from Islamic, Jewish, Christian, Druze and unaffiliated religious backgrounds took a joint trip to Israel and Palestine this September, after 18 months of planning and $60,000 of fundraising.

Beyond Stereotypes

Hello,

So by now you are all aware of my journey to Israel-Palestine. And many of you have asked me how it was. When asked this I don't know where to begin, so many amazing things happened there. And the question remains, after seeing all that I saw, experiencing all that I did, where do we go from here? Well, I just might finally have an answer to that question. Please join me and my fellow Muslim, Jewish, Druze, Christian and other students who embarked on this all important journey to recap where we have been and where we go from here.

BEYOND STEREOTYPES

Date:	Thursday, October 23, 2008
Time:	6:30pm - 8:30pm
Location:	UCI Student Center ~ Crystal Cove Auditorium
Street:	Pereira Dr & W Peltason Dr.
City/Town:	Irvine, CA

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This event is free and open to anyone. So invite your friends (and foes). I know I have lots of events going on but if you attend just one, make this it. This is truly one event for the books and it would mean so much to me to have you there. Call me if you have any questions or issues getting there. The invitation is attached. Please feel free to pass this along, even if you aren't sure someone would come, you never know.. this is a conflict that touches us all.

Lots of Love,

Kate


"...Human conversation is the most ancient and easiest way to cultivate the conditions for change – personal change, community and organizational change, planetary change. If we can sit together and talk about what's important to us, we begin to come alive. We share what we see, what we feel, and we listen to what others see and feel.... I believe we can change the world if we start listening to one another again. Simple, honest, human conversation. Not meditation, negotiation, problem solving, debate, or public meetings. Simple, truthful conversation where we each have a chance to speak, we each feel heard, and we each listen well."
-Margaret Wheatley

A letter from a friend in Israel

My Dear Friends,

It was only a week and a half ago that we greeted you with Ahlan WaSahlan and Salam Aleikum, with everyone landing in this country with preconceived notions, fears, ideologies from which we have grown and been shaped. We are the product of our environments, and yet, somehow, because of who you are, you transcended your environment, and the people I have grown to love and know over these last few weeks are people I am proud to call my friends. From the cool breezes wandering the alleyways of Aida refugee camp to the heights of the Ariel settlement in Samaria, you have broken every stereotype, and crossed every line people vow not to cross because of ideology for the sake of education and the vision and hope for something better.

We cannot afford to hate. We cannot afford to become stuck in our ideologies. We must always transcend. We must cross borders both in reality and in our minds and hearts to find mercy and constructive humility. Mercy knows how to forgive, and humility reminds us we are no better than the man/woman standing next to us, and we are all on our own path trying desperately to do right. Bitterness blinds us to be able to see PEOPLE. Please, help people not to become bitter, bitterness chokes hope. When I see you all dancing without inhibition, when I see you, especially some of you that have suffered so deeply in your lives dance, laugh, throw your hands up in the air, I find such freedom. Freedom is a state of mind. It is a daily choice no matter what our circumstances. Freedom is hope. No matter how bleak, because hope sets all captives free.

I encourage all of you not to forget. Not to forget that this place is layered, complex and very real. I encourage you to help others you know that didn't get the chance to come to learn how to research and widen their perspectives. For every one thing they hear or read, to fact check with many sources, to always get another angle another perspective. Because without that, we are irresponsible. Most people are not able to make such dramatic paradigm shifts from so many miles away. You are now, life-long Ambassadors. You are now, in your community, your circle the voice for "the other". Whichever voice is the one not heard in your community.

Most of all, remember the PEOPLE you met. Every time you see the news, every time you hear the soundbite. Close your eyes and remember the PEOPLE. See Avihu the crazy, funny settler guy that made you laugh by sharing his transformation. Remember Usama from Bethlehem standing the balcony speaking about his hopes for his unborn child. Remember Yuval the young Israeli soldier on the beach with sand between his toes. Remember Nazeer from Aida quietly graceful during Iftar meal. Remember that the reason why conflict is so complex is because people are not simple. Emotions are not simple. And memories have a long shelf-life. We are all human after-all.

I hope and pray that whatever perspective you came with, you saw into the eyes of the other to understand and never take anything at face value.

I love each and every one of you. Truly. And you always have a friend and a place to turn to here. Whether to have a place to crash if you come back, or just to e-mail with millions of questions. Lets generate ideas and things we can do together to keep the momentum! I already have billions of ideas spilling over!!!!!!!!!!!!! I miss you guys so much, and am trying to get to Irvine soon to see all of your cute little faces!!!!!

And now as we end, I leave you with a Lehitrahot......a "see you soon" because since you had the courage to face reality in person, this place will always somehow be home for you, a part of you. And I know I will see many of you again soon. Lets become the answer through being the responsible voice.

All My Love and Respect,

Shannon M. Shibata

The Centre for New Diplomacy

Attempting to understand…

We had lunch at the Maxim restaurant today. It was a wonderful meal with several courses and a lovely view of the sea. But as you walk to the entrance you immediately get the idea that there is something different about this place. You are greeted by a security guard who searches you bags and runs a hand held metal detector over you body. We sit and eat the plates of hummus, kabob, falafel and such and notice that the restaurant was filled with Jewish and Arab staff who are taking orders from Jewish and Arab patrons. We are joined by the owner of the restaurant who tells us about the history of the restaurant as we sip Turkish coffee. The Maxim restaurant was started by an Arab couple and a Jewish couple who were friends. Many people told them they were crazy for such an idea but it turned out they were immediately successful. In October 2003 an Arab women came into the restaurant and ordered lunch from her Arab server. The restaurant was full, much like today. Two families were having lunch, Arabs and Jews. After she had sat there for 20 minutes, presumable watching the people, family’s of grandparents, children and grandchildren, laugh and talk she walked to the center of the restaurant and detonated the bomb. 21 people were killed. Jewish and Arab blood was mixed together on the floor.

The owners of the restaurant were traumatized, they couldn’t bear to restart the restaurant… but they did bc they realized that if they didn’t, the terror would win. Slowly the patrons and staff came back. Apparently, going back would help them move on, if they could. We thanked him for sharing his story and as we traveled to the Haifa cemetery I tried to imagine how that woman at there observing the children for 20 minutes and decided to do such a horrible thing. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.

We met with 2 fathers at the cemetery. Both had lost a child in when a suicide bomber had attacked a bus that their child was on in separate incidents. Both children were teenagers. I sat in that cemetery looking at a special section for terror victims, taking in the eerie twisted grave markers that were clearly unlike the others in the cemetery. Each on was intricate. I couldn’t read what was written on them bc it was in Hebrew so my mind tried to picture what I would right if I lost a child. I would probably be at a loss of words, as I am now.

I asked the fathers how the events had changed their view on the conflict. They told me that they hadn’t changed much. They said it was common that if you were right wing you stay right wing, and vice versa, “you just have receipts now.” Both fathers discussed their support of the “security fence”. They said we should build it tall and leave it there. He said it would take many, many years for the sides to talk. “They voted for Hamas, he said, how am I supposed to take that? As a sign they want to talk?” I understood. One said that it wasn’t that he didn’t care about the human rights of the people being walled in, but his daughters’ right to life was taken from her without any vote, and his right was to protect his other children in the best way he can. The tears that I had managed to hold back fell. This last week, I saw with my own eyes what it was like for those walled him, and it made me so angry to see them imprisoned like that. And now I sat there ashamed of my audacity to even presume to understand what was going on. What it was like to lose a child that way; to fear constantly for the lives of my other children. These fathers were forever imprisoned in their pain, and that fence was a lot more difficult to take down. I remembered something I had heard from our tour guide Shannon. She came to Palestine from Japan as an activist for the Palestinians 8 years ago. She hated Jews, until she met them and heard their stories and did what we are doing now. She volunteered for an organization that responded to terrorist bombings. She had seen a lot of blood. Her words to us, as the international onlookers of the conflict, were this, “How dare we come here and choose a side, how dare we join in the hate for the other. We do not have the right, nor the luxury of time to pick sides. We need to be pro-people, pro-life!” This, I think is my conclusion of the conflict. And so I am back to my final promise to myself, the best thing I can do for the Israel/Palestine conflict is NOT choose a side.

www.tal-smile.com
www.blondi.co.il

Haifa:

We met with Rami Levi who is the Vice-Mayor of Haifa. He is Arab, which is uncommon in Israel, I think. He said that they often try to hire Arabs and women in the city council of Haifa. Haifa is said to be one of the biggest cities where Jews, Arabs, Druze, Baha’i’ and others live and work side by side with little conflict. There are many projects happening to increase this and it seems it isn’t complete harmony but they are getting there. I asked what made Haifa work so well when places like Jerusalem only seemed to be dividing. His response was that it was not the religious center of the world. Haifa was a very cool city. The Baha’i gardens were amazing. I highly suggest you Google it. It reminded me of Lombard street in San Francisco, although this is definitely more beautiful. The view from the city was amazing, it looked much like San Fran on one large hill surrounded by the bay. It was extremely hot and humid though, even well into the night, unlike Frisco.

The Wall

Half of the 80% of Jews are of Arab descent.
65%-85% unemployment in the West Bank, the region largely relies on tourism but obviously that industry has been hit hard due to the check points and stigmas about the region. I felt completely safe there. We talked to Palestinians there and they talked about how Americans aren’t informed about what is going on in Palestine. I find this to be true, why is why I am here. www.PalestineRemembered.com

“The Wall”: The dividing barrier that Israel built to separate the Palestinian regions from the Israeli regions intended to diminish suicide bombings. This barrier is about 15% actually brick wall and the rest is actually a large fence or layers of fences with security towers, cameras and barbed wire. Israelis say that the fence has a reduced the number of terrorists attacks by 90%. One Palestinian asked if the wall is actually about security then why would it run through Palestinian villages, dividing them in two. Why is one side of the village safe and the other not. Palestinians see the wall as an “apartheid” wall (apartheid as in segregation) to cause such strife in the lives of Palestinians that they leave the country. This is what is thought of the check points as well since check points aren’t just between Israeli city’s and Palestinian cities but between neighboring Palestinian city’s. They also argue that the wall cuts into Palestinian land as way of Israel slowly pushing the Palestinians back. There is also the opinion that the wall is illegal.

These Palestinians were optimistic about a solution, thought they differed on whether it should be a 2 state or one state solution.

DRUZE

We had lunch in a Druze village today. A family opened there house to us for lunch. They talked about their religion and beliefs. It is a very interesting religion. They believe in reincarnation and do not take converts. I am slightly familiar with this bc two of my closest friends on the trip, Dana and Amanda, are Druze. The come from Lebanon. The family served us dishes of local food such as hummus, eggplant dishes and lamb. I like these meals the best.

SETTLEMENT

We visited another Jewish Settlement called Ariel and met with its mayor and former Knesset member, Ron Nachman. It was pretty cool to meet this high profile politicians. He was a very interesting and funny man and the group as a whole really enjoyed meeting with him. He knew Irvine very well and was please we came to Ariel to see what was going on there bc, as he stressed, the media only publishes negative stories and Ariel seemed to be very different than the negative portrayal of the settlements. Aiel is the capital of Samaria, Nachman came to this land in what some call the West Bank, but Nachman stresses that this was the valley of Jordan and never Palestine. The mayor came to this vacant land, and didn’t push any Arabs off it. They built Ariel from the ground up. In 1947, US President Carter came to Israel and agreed that 8 settlements were needed in Israel and Ariel was one of these. Nachman stresses that the ’67 line is not a border, it is a cease-fire line. He said he is not an occupier.

I found it very interesting when the mayor told us about his not only fine with Arabs staying in the Palestinian territories. He said he is responsible for Palestinians here having water, electricity, and roads. He says he is currently employing Arab Muslims as high position in his city municipality. He also spoke of an industrial plant that he had built in which 2,000 Palestinians are employed.

In Talking about peace, he criticized Peace Now hasn’t done anything productive except be against things. He said he has been constructive in creating peace. I feel this fits in with my idea that with economic security comes less radicalism. Nachman doesn’t believe that the “land for peace” idea brings peace, rather it brings war. He thinks Gaza should be annexed to Egypt and Palestinians there can go south to work rather than into Israel. A unique point he had was that the 2 state solution that is being negotiated in Annapolis is not a 2 state solution but rather a 3 state solution: Israel, Jordan Valley, and Palestine.

This place is definitely different from common ideas of a settlement, it is pretty big and very permanent and well developed. This meeting challenged my conclusions of settlements that I developed yesterday. Just when you think you have come to a conclusion…

THE PRISON CITY

WED DAY 9 Visiting Palestinian city Qalqilyah with Captain Shadi Yassin Druze IDF captain who was also in charge of all Israeli operations in Gaza. In Israel, army service is obligatory for Jewish men and women. Muslims rarely serve but Druze sometimes volunteer. Qalqilyah is a Palestinian city that is controlled by Hamas so in order to stop potential suicide bombings, which where said to be coming from Qalqilyah, the IDF built an illegal fence around the city, closing it off illegally. The IDF allows people to pass in and out of the city at 3 periods of the day for one hour intervals. At 6am-7am, 12pm-1pm, and 5pm- 6pm, the gate is open and those with permits can go out to farm their land which is outside the fence. They are not supposed to go into the city to work. Captain Shadi said that Israel is trying to help keep the economy there stable so that the people there can live and not become so poor that they have nothing to live for and resort to terrorist groups. Therefore, the IDF also allows people to come into the city on Fridays and Saturdays to shop in the village market. Shadi talked about how the fence not being a solution to the problem but helping stabilize the situation so that the two sides can work out their issues. I am trying to understand what it is like for the Israeli’s to fear terrorist attacks all the time but I can’t my thoughts are taken over with sadness for the people in Qalqilyah, and all of Palestine who are a non-violent majority and want peace with Israel. These people are being punished for the actions of a few sick people and as much as the IDF is trying to do to ameliorate the living situation of the citizens of Qalqilyah, I feel that their control over the city only increases the hatred of the Palestinians and pushes them into the arms of groups like Hamas. The IDF solider says that those non-violent people understand why this is being done but I don’t think they accept it at all. Putting myself in their shoes, I know Americans would fight to the death if some other nation were to imprison us like that. I use the word imprison intentionally bc the city of Qalqilyah is just that, a large prison.

Aida Refugee Camp

The refugee issue is a big and complicated issues in the overall conflict. I will try to keep my facts straight in all this but it is my understanding that just after the extablishment

PALESTINE: THE WEST BANK: Bethlehem

Today we went to the holy city of Bethlehem. This region has 65%-85% unemployment. This region largely relies on tourism but obviously not many people travel to Palestine these days. I didn’t feel in danger at all. We went to the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People, an NGO in Palestine working for Peace. We met with it’s founder, Mazih Qumsiyeh. He talked about his support of a one state solution arguing that a two state is unrealistic bc it would be nearly impossible to divide the capital. He also talked about how American media avoids reporting about Palestine to the Americans. He used an example of 2 editions of Time Magazine from the same month. One was printed in Europe and one in the US. All the stories were the same except for one called Plight of the Palestinians which was presented as a cover story in the European edition and was replaced by an article about cooking in the US edition.

BEGIN CENTER

At the Begin Center, we met with Gavriel Cohen and Ysrael Medad, two Zionist, settlers. They talked about how Israel is not occupying Palestinian land and think that can be full opportunities and rights to Arabs in “their” land. They talked about the idea of Israel as an apartheid state. I have heard this word used often by both Israeli’s and Palestinians. It is interesting how words can really have such heavy meanings in this conflict. Ysrael is originally from South Africa and states that this is nothing like it. He cited the fact that there are 11 Arab Knesset members, arab judges and that Arab Israeli citizens do have rights. They argue that where they live is not a settlement though this is a point that both Israeli’s and Palestinians go back and forth about. Some say that they are illegal under international law but Zionists believe that the Bible/Torah is historical truth that it is the land of the Jews. I have some difficulty with this because I personally do not take the bible as historical fact but rather an interpretation written by imperfect human beings and open to personal interpretation. Yisrael said that the “green line” is a cease-fire line and temporary rather than a border. He stressed that “we” cannot continuously sub-divide a land that is sub-divided. He also said that there is no 2 state solution but a 4 state solution meaning that the land is actual not only 2 regions but Israel, Fatah-istan, Hamas-istan, and Gaza-Jordania. This was an interesting point that I had never heard before.

PEACE NOW

We had dinner in Jerusalem with Noa Epstein who is an activist for an Israeli NGO called Peace Now. This organization advocates for Israeli peace with its neighbors. Just before the war between Israel and Lebanon, Peace Now organized something like 400,000 people who protested against the war. They are Zionists- they believe in Israeli’s right to exist. Now they are supporting a 2 state solution bc they feel that with a one state solution there will be no Israeli state. This is bc the Arab population in Israel is sure to surpass the Israeli population in Israel and the Israeli government ruling party is chosen by a majority population, meaning the Arabs will control the state. Peace Now also believes that the Israeli settlements are a huge detriment to peace and are against the expansion of them, which I agree. If a two state solution is implemented than some kind of land swap can be negotiated if Israel wants to keep some of their settlements. U gad a great conversation with Noa, but the thing I really took with me is something he said before he left us. He reminded us that though the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a huge problem and affects many, it is by no means the most pressing or most horrible conflict going on in the world today. He cited Darfur as an example. I think that is an important point to keep in perspective.