Arab and Jew find friendship in ’Oasis’ from Israel hostilities

By Nick Perry
Seattle Times Eastside bureau

As an Arab Israeli, Laila Najjar is used to small indignities such as being
refused
entry into bars, having other passengers step off the bus when she begins
speaking Arabic, and getting turned down at job interviews.

Yet the 20-year-old believes there can be peace and understanding between
Palestinians and Jews. She and her Jewish friend Adi Frish, 21, will return
home from Seattle tomorrow after an 18-day tour of the United States in
which they talked about their unusual bond.

The two grew up together in a unique community called Neve Shalom/Wahat
al-Salam, or the "Oasis of Peace," midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
The community consists of 25 Jewish and 25 Palestinian families whose aim is
to foster a common trust, understanding and respect.

The community is "a beautiful thing to have in this kind of reality," said
Najjar, who is studying jewelry design at a Jerusalem academy.

Community members — whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim — can worship side
by side at a spiritual sanctuary. Children, including many from surrounding
towns, attend a primary school where subjects are taught in both Arabic and
Hebrew.

While the community has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize five times
in its 32-year history, it has gotten little support from successive Israeli
governments. Frish said the community is feeling particularly marginalized
by the current government, led by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Speaking yesterday to about 50 people at the University Congregational
United Church of Christ — one of 58 speaking engagements on their tour — the
young women said Israelis have mixed reactions to the Oasis community.

Some are curious, others are cynical.

"We are not living in a bubble," said Frish, a health-club manager. "We are
living in Israel and we see what’s happening in the news and with our own
eyes. We feel sadness, anger and pain."

She still believes peace is possible.

"It starts from little steps, from talking with each other and sharing with
each other," Frish said. "If every person does one step, it will be the
beginning to bigger steps. Violence is not a solution."

Frish said she is not a politician and cannot answer how disputes over land
and other issues could be resolved. But any solution would need to involve
both Palestinians and Jews having equal rights, mutual respect and an
acceptance of each other’s differences, she said.

Both Frish and Najjar said that it was tough to cope with some attitudes at
their respective high schools, which were largely segregated.

"In my high school we didn’t learn about the other side," Frish said.
"Unfortunately, I lost a lot of my Arabic."

Najjar said she invited some of her high-school friends to visit the
community. "I think they were in shock from the place," she said.

Like most Jewish Israelis, Frish was drafted into the army at age 18,
serving about 21 months as an electronic technician. Luckily, she said, she
was not asked to go to the occupied territories or use a weapon — requests
she said she would have refused despite the possible consequence of being
sent to jail.

Both Frish and Najjar represent the second generation at the community,
which has a waiting list of 300 families.

Both intend to make a future there. Frish is building an apartment above her
parents home, while Najjar is planning to move back from Jerusalem when she
finishes school.

Both women said that people can be close in the community yet still retain
their heritage. Najjar said that she doubts she would ever marry a Jewish
man because that would not be accepted in her Muslim tradition.

"We keep strongly our own identity," Frish said. "We are not trying to be
the same."

The women’s visit was organized by the American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat
al-Salam. The nonprofit group is one of 11 such support groups throughout
the world that help raise more than $2 million annually to support programs
at the community.

Last night the women were due to speak at a potluck dinner party at the home
of Seattle philanthropist Kay Bullitt.

Bullitt is organizing a third annual summer camp in which 20 children of
Arabic heritage mingle with 20 children of Jewish heritage for a week in the
yard of her Capitol Hill home. She said mostly local kids attend.