The results were outstanding; the challenges are great

Interview with Rita Boulos, incoming chairperson of the Municipal Society

On 10 March 2021 the village held elections for the chairperson and the board of the municipal society (a two-year term). Rita Boulos was elected as the chairperson along with six new members of the board: Tom Edlund (representing the educational association board), Reem Haj Yehia, Walid Hasanin, Eldad Joffe, Shireen Najjar and Omer Schwartz.

The board’s role is largely unpaid; the board members, as well as the chairperson continue with their day jobs. (In Rita Boulos’s case, this means continuing to work in the Communications and Development Center and managing the Visitor’s Center.)

Tell us a little about yourself

I grew up and went to school in nearby Lydda/Lid/Lod, Later I attended the University of Haifa, where I studied English and Hebrew literature. I was always politically active and at University I was on the student committee, helping to organize actions and demonstrations.

After marrying Daoud, we lived in Tel Aviv and then in Jerusalem. During the first few years of our marriage, I was busy raising our young children. However, during the first intifada (from 1987), I decided it was time to be active again to seek change in the country. As Palestinian citizens of Israel, we encountered racism and discrimination. I thought this should be countered by a struggle for change, ideally by speaking out and educating children for a different future. I had known about Wahat al-Salam – Neve Shalom for several years, and now we reached out to the community to learn about the possibility of living there. We were warmly accepted, and moved in. That was in 1989. At the time there were just 14 families living here. Three of our children, Suliman, Ranin and Natalie were quite young. Our fourth child, Muna was born in the village, so they all grew up and went to school here.

Which 2 moments during your life in the village have been most meaningful to you?

There have been so many!

It meant a lot to me when, in around 1990 we opened the primary school to children from outside the village for the first time.

I remember how, during the first Gulf War, we sat together, Arabs and Jews, in the same bomb shelter, during those first nights when we were bombarded by missiles. In fact, all the wars have only brought us closer together. Also in the last war on Gaza (in 2014), we went out and demonstrated, in united opposition against the violence taking place.

What previous experience do you bring to your new role?

I was active in the community from the first days. In 1990 I began to manage the municipal office, fulfilling a range of functions, among the most important of which was translating between Arabic, Hebrew and English. It was a natural role as I knew well the three languages. I also did various kinds of voluntary work; teaching sometimes in the school, managing the swimming pool, running our volunteer program for ten years, sitting on the building committee and the acceptance committee. For three periods throughout the village’s history, I have also served on the municipal board, so I feel like I know the community inside out. In the meantime, I increased my organizational knowledge, completing a year-long course in multi-cultural organizational management given by Shatil.

In 2000, I started to work in the Communications and Development Office, where I began to manage the programs for visitors. From 2002, I upgraded these programs to create the WASNS Visitors Center, which we see as an important tool in the village’s educational outreach. Working with a team of experienced freelance presenters, we started to host more and more domestic Jewish and Arab audiences, rather than mainly groups of foreigners. Then, instead of hosting mainly groups of pensioners, we began to receive a large number of educators who are sent by their institutions. Today, the Visitors Center helps to spread the village’s educational message and brings in much-needed income.

Among my other responsibilities in the Communications and Development Office has been maintaining contact with the WASNS friends associations and joining delegations abroad.

What attracted you to the position?

The village is my home; I have given half my adult years to it. I want the village to succeed, see it grow and have a real impact. I decided to propose my candidacy out of concern for the village during a very difficult period. Politically, we are working in an environment where the country is less and less concerned with the issues upon which the community was based. During the past year we have been fighting a vicious pandemic whose repercussions will play out for many years to come. There are huge economic, social and educational challenges for both the country as a whole, and the community in particular. The village suffered unsolved arson attacks on our educational institutions. Groups stopped visiting. The hotel was closed for long months. The school suffered from extended closures. Severe deficits mounted. The village expansion stalled, so new families who are waiting to move in see that the chances of their children being educated at the school are fading. I want to take up the challenge and do my best to improve things.

Although the heads of most of our village institutions are women, there has never been an Arab woman as the head of our municipal board. I thought that it is time for a woman to take this role. The responsibility is great and I hope I will succeed. For the community to elect a Palestinian woman as its leader is a very important step towards equality and change. If you look around the country, you see few women as mayors or council heads and certainly no Arab women; maybe we can set a positive example.

What would you say about the composition of the board?

Before the elections, I spoke to many people who I thought would be suitable. I wanted to see young people, members of new families and women take up the responsibility and join the board. I am happy to say that the result has been a good gender balance, an even number of Jews and Arabs and, significantly, more representatives of the younger generation and of new families than ever before. We have brought in new blood and a fresh vision. I am very happy to work with this talented team.

What do you hope to accomplish during your term?

Besides the immediate issues, there are many matters of great and pressing concern to the community. One is to continue the effort to obtain additional lands for the growth of the village. That will have to be private land, since the Israel Lands Administration refuses to give state lands to the village. We will continue to work with our Regional Council to make sure that we get access to all available funding, as well as their support for new projects such as our long-term vision to establish a high school.

I want the community to see the municipal board as a responsible leadership with full transparency in its operations. This means maintaining excellent communications. For example, we see frustrations over the delays in implementing the expansion plan, without full understanding of the issues. I will work to change that.

I want to see the social bonds between community members grow, for people to grow closer together, for our young people to be active and involved.

What are the most urgent issues you need to deal with?

The matter of primary urgency is the expansion plan; to move it forward quickly, as the delays are affecting many families. This means speaking with many functionaries, contractors and agencies and getting them to work together efficiently and in harmony.

There are also complicated issues involving taxation, use of state land and other matters that would require long explanation, for which we don’t have room here.

How is the atmosphere in the village?

There are many difficulties that result from the pandemic and its aftermath. There are huge expectations on the board, which people want to see fulfilled quickly. There have also been some great initiatives by members, such as a weekly social evening that is well attended, and a community mediation effort, that is helping to resolve some important social issues. I am optimistic that the community is resilient enough to overcome all our difficulties.

We probably take too much for granted in the village. When I originally came here, it was so small and vulnerable that we could take nothing for granted. Now we are ten times bigger, and there is an ever increasing number of people who are desperate to move in. Many are attracted by the special qualities of the village and its educational institutions. When people arrive, even as renters, they love living here and don’t ever want to move out. Our children, once they have experienced living outside for a while, also want to move back in. We need to appreciate what we have, and spread the positive message of the village. It offers the same hope as it did from the beginning as a real model for changing the reality of Arab-Jewish relations in this country.

In my work for the Visitors center, I see that when people are exposed to the community, they appreciate this model and value it – perhaps more than we do ourselves. When I tell them our personal stories, some of them cry and want to hug me. The influence spreads from their personal testimony and ripples outward through the larger society. Our educational institutions, based, as they are, on a real model of joint living, rather than on empty talk, boost this influence. This is why the community deserves to succeed and grow.

How would you compare the elections in the village to the national elections that have just taken place in the country?

Ha ha – there are huge differences obviously. The national elections pitted every party and population sector against one-another. Here we don’t marginalize any group. We work together as Arabs and Jews for the same cause. We look out for the good of the village rather than personal interests. We think about how to grow the village, and how to best to raise our children together. Women play a much bigger role. During their campaigning, hardly any politician put peace on the agenda, whereas here we deal with it all the time. Then, in contrast to the poor results in the national elections and the deadlock reached, here in WAS/NS, the results were outstanding; we have a gender-balanced and age-balanced Arab-Jewish team under the leadership of an Arab woman for the first time.