Signs of hope

Julia Chaitin

It was a heartening sign of hope to hear an Israeli peace advocate call for an end to violence by both Israel and Palestine. Julia Chaitin, a social psychologist born in the United States, has lived since 1973 in Urim Kibbutz in the Negev Desert, only eight miles from Gaza. Since rockets from Gaza often explode near her kibbutz--70 hit this week--and families are warned to stay in or near a safe room, Julia says "It drives you crazy; this is no way to live." One might think she would call for massive retaliation. No way. She is in One Voice,a grass roots group of people in Israel and Gaza who contact each other regularly, especially during the bombings, by phone, e-mail, and Facebook. The group just sent a letter urging the Prime Minister to "stop playing with our lives and begin talks with Hamas....We are tired of  being sitting ducks in the firing range that serves political interests." She says she became an activist because her parents instilled values of dignity, empathy, democracy, and social justice, and she realized that her government's policy does not meet those criteria.

Mural on new bomb shelter at Urim Kibbutz

Another sign of hope today. We drove past (but did not visit) the Oasis of Peace, a village of 50 families of Jews and Palestinian Arabs of Israeli citizenship living together in a community based on mutual acceptance, respect, and cooperation. Our guide Said told us that they had a hard time at the outset 35 years ago with criticism from their families, and the government did not give them access to electricity, water, and sewer for a long time because of its policy of discouraging co-existence. The Oasis of Peace has a web site (nswas.org) that tells about its School for Peace, Children's Education Program, and Pluralistic Spiritual Center. What a great example!

We saw the Erez Crossing, the only door to Israel for the 1.5 million Palestinians in the sealed prison called Gaza. Nobody came out while we were there, but the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says on average 152 have been allowed to leave each day this year. Back in 2000, the daily average was 26,000! Since then, Israel has prohibited entry unless the Gaza residents meet its criteria for a special permit.  Last month Israel's High Court ruled that Israel is not obligated to allow them to study in the West  Bank, and may treat them as "enemy citizens" for purposes of passage. One member of our delegation, a U.S. citizen, recalls they "toyed"with her for 3 hours when she went through Erez to exit Gaza after a humanitarian mission two years ago. I think this is a tragic and disgraceful containment policy in the name of security.