As the Middle East spirals out of control, a letter from Neve Shalom – the Israeli village where Jews and Arabs strive to live in peace

Sunday Express, December 16 2001

(entire article, printed as it appeared)

(Interviews by Andrea Perry)

Last week we reported from Neve Shalom – a unique Israeli village where Arabs and Jews attempt to live in harmony. But since then, the situation in the Middle East has descended into anarchy, with 10 Israelis killed in one suicide bombing and 30 wounded in another. Meanwhile the Arab death toll has continued to rise under an Israeli bombardment and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon severed links with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. As the region teeters on the brink of war, we revisit Neve Shalom, 20 miles from Tel Aviv, to ask if there’s any hope for the future...
THE ARAB VIEW

Ahmad Hijazi, 34, a sociologist, is the manager of the School for Peace, where Israeli Jews and Arabs come to study the problems of people in conflict.

In all these events we, like the international community, tend to forget the suffering of people under occupation. It’s everyday suffering. Palestinians don’t see the past 10 days as a major change from what has been happening all this year.

The game between the Palestinian authority and the Israeli government is not what changes the everyday suffering of people here. Instead of focusing on the detail of one incident or the other, people forget to see the whole picture.

In the past 14 months, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed, along with 200 Israelis. But it seems that for the international community, especially most people in the West, the blood has different colours.

For me, the blood of Palestinian children is the same as that of Israeli children, as Afghan children or Iraqi children.

The question is not about Yasser Arafat. He is just one person among 2.5 million who live under this situation — even when there are no explosions, even when there are no army operations. If Arafat is kicked out, resigns or dies for some reason, what is next? The Israeli government has no long-term policy, just a day-to-day one of being reactive rather than proactive.

In the village, what we try to do is make people aware of what is going on around them and to see the occupation is bad for both people, not only for one side. Of course, the Palestinians suffer more in their everyday living, but it destroys both communities. Recently it seems people have become more blasé about blood and killing, and that scares me. People are now used to killing and the devaluation of life.

If it was up to me, my dream would be of one state for everybody but it doesn’t seem a reality for the short-term.

There is no solution other burn to talk. The international community has to be more involved - the two sides can’t solve the problems by themselves.

If Palestinians are blaming Israelis and vice versa, send in independent observers - because they will see what is going on and be the first step toward stopping the violence.

I don’t see that a solution is imminent. I hope it won’t take more than five years, and that the Israeli public wakes up and make the change.
THE JEWISH VIEW

Michael Zak, a 45-year-old Jewish mother of three, works alongside Mr Hijazi at the school.

WHAT my government is doing is very irresponsible. It is bringing us to a dead end and a very tragic situation. The one thing that brings Jews and Arabs together now is that there is a lot of pessimism about things getting any better. These are very dark times.

There is a lot of anxiety about how things are going to pan out because it is becoming so violent. The way I see it, Israel is abusing its power. I feel there has to be some kind of intervention.

Among the Jewish public there is such a consensus. People have become very similar in their opinions but I think everybody agrees how it will end.

There will be a Palestinian state. There will have to be peace but, for some reason, it seems there has to be so much violence to get there. I don’t like to call it a war because there is only one side that really has the power to call it a war. We (Israel) have an air force, we have tanks in there. I think what the Palestinians are doing is resisting. I don’t think it is like a war between two powers who have declared it as such and are fighting each other.

When you hear members of the Jewish public, they fear they are under threat of survival. But I think that is part of having the power and being afraid to lose it.

The only thing that has to happen is that Israel has to give up its control of land in the West Bank and get the settlers out. There is no other way and then, of course, there will be years and years of negotiation.

I realise it has to be bad before it is good but I hope this is the bad period we’re going through. I hope it doesn’t have to be worse before it gets better.

We are in very dark times. I am sitting here in a very nice home but we hear jets and helicopters going overhead. I try to protect my children from knowing too much but it is very hard.

The only good thing about the conflict is that the rest of the world is interested in it, too. There are so many conflicts that are not in anyone’s mind — at least that is the chance we have here. We have to be hopeful.