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Ordinarily I don't like to write about political issues, but
yesterday was no ordinary day: I took part in a tour of the Israeli occupied
territories in the West Bank, and here are some of my impressions.
For years Israel was
paralyzed by Islamic terrorism, it included, among others, exploding cars,
suicide bombs inside buses and at crowded places, such as shopping malls. All
of us were scared to congregate and to travel by buses. Till this day the
United States Military,for example, does not allow American soldiers to use
public transportation in Israel.
The threat of terrorism
was our difficult reality until recently, and when finally it almost
ceased we heard that Jewish settlers started to attack their Palestinian
neighbours. Many of us were shocked: we were unprepared, perhaps even
unwilling, to associate the word "terrorist" with an Israeli.
Ariel, The only
Israeli city across the green line, is
less than half an hour east of Tel Aviv, but most Israelis, including me, have
never been there, we do not have a reason to go there.
That's why when I read
that Peace Now was organizing bus tours
to educate The public about the effects of Israeli terrorism in the occupied
territories, I immediately signed up. I needed to see for myself the other
side, to check how the map looked in reality, and to hear more about this
disturbing phenomenon.
Peace Now is an non-partisan political movement which was
founded in 1978. Its main objective is to end Israeli occupation and to promote
peace agreement between the israelis and the Palestinians, which consists of
two states for the two nations.
The tour's destination were the areas which were the targets
of settlers’ terrorism. We visited the Palestinian village of Kousra where only
recently ten settlers from a nearby settlement were caught after they had come
to vandalize the village
Then we drove up to the next hill to see the area where the settlers came from. On the way
up we saw a group of young women and men with their small children engaged in
some educational activity. They seemed
peaceful and devoted to their children. Watching those settlers it was hard to
imagine that among them were the 10
extremists who went attacking their neighbours.
The Peace Now guide was a knowledgeable and dedicated young
man; his explanations were professional,
and he kept reminding us that
most settlers were not terrorists. But he also said that too often, although
the identity of the criminals is known, they are not brought to justice. He
didn't offer the reasons but, I assume that having a right wing government in
Israel doesn't help much.
I had a feeling that in spite of the gravity of the actions,
he did not want us to forget that there were human beings on both sides. The
even tempered and straight forward way he talked is typical to the discourse of
the Peace Now movement.
Out of thev 325,000 people who live beyond the green line only few take part in
terrorist activities, and those acts vary in the degrees of severity. According
to the dictionary, destroying a neighbour’s olive tree may not qualify as an
act of terrorism, but symbolically and
practically it is. The olive tree is a symbol of stability for both
Palestinians and Israelis and most Palestinians in the rural areas which we
visited were farmers who worked the land.
The Israeli terrorists are young men, and as religious
people they marry young and many of them are already parents; what kind of
example will they set for the next generation?
I feel that as an Israeli it is my responsibility to know
about the criminal offences of the settlers and to protest against them; hence
I declare: those rotten apples do not belong to me!
I was never a member of a political movement, but in light
of the recent events, I seriously consider joining Peace Now.
PS. for information on Peace Now: http://peacenow.org.il/eng/
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