Friday August 5, 2005

“A country is not only what it does, it is what it tolerates.” - Kurt Tucholsky, German essayist of Jewish origin - quoted at Yad V’Shem.

We began our journey today at Yad V’Shem, the Holocaust Memorial and Museum in Israel. Yad V’Shem has recently opened a new main exhibit space to explain the cruelties of World War II on world Jewry. The museum, which is shaped like a large train, goes over the process of Hitler’s rise to power, the life in Jewish ghettos and Jewish resistance, and finally the Nazi death camps.

Going to the Holocaust Museum in the middle of our study of Israeli occupation always brings up interesting thoughts in our delegations, and this was no exception. While we each in our own way honor the history of the Holocaust, we cannot but take a moment to reflect upon the suffering all around us as well. One delegate confided that she felt, after a certain time in the museum, that her emotions were so stirred she felt herself beginning to lose her rationality. This, she reflected, was similar to how many people felt after September 11. Just as the U.S. government had used the tragedy of September 11 to engage in an aggressive war in Afghanistan and Iraq, she felt Israel used the trauma of the Holocaust to blind the Israeli population to Israeli government actions in Palestine.

I noticed a man at the museum wearing a bracelet with the Palestinian flag on it. Having received a similar bracelet in one of our meetings I had wondered about the prudence of wearing it at Yad V’Shem. Would people see my support of Palestinian nationalism as a rebuke of the suffering of the Jewish people? It is always constant work for me to hold both Holocaust history and Palestinian reality and see that these are not mutually exclusive but mutually supportive pieces that can coexist in the struggle for justice.

In all, the museum made us reflect on the nature of suffering and how we must create a place to acknowledge all peoples that have suffered unjustly. 

After lunch, we made a quick decision to visit the Women in Black protest and vigil that is held every Friday afternoon for one hour. (http://coalitionofwomen.org/home/english/organizations/women_in_black).  

At the vigil, women (with their male supporters) hold up signs that spell out ‘end the occupation’ in Hebrew, Arabic and English. The FOR delegates stood holding a Women in Black banner, proud to be able to stand in solidarity with activists from all countries who have decided to make justice for Palestinians and Israelis a top priority.

At the protest there were also groups of students in blue from a youth movement in Israel who were protesting against the Jewish solider who just the day before had shot Israeli Palestinians (Palestinians that have Israeli citizenship) while they were on a bus on their way home to Nazareth. There were also counter-protesters wearing orange, the now ubiquitous sign of support for the settlers of Gaza, as the days inch forward towards Israeli disengagement from Gaza.

After the vigil, we met Nurit Steinfield of Machsom Watch, who boarded our bus to take us to a variety of checkpoints in the area (www.machsomwatch.org). We had visited Abu Dis the previous day, and now we went to Qalandia, an Israeli checkpoint complete with turnstiles that Palestinians must pass through on their route from Jerusalem to Ramallah.

As we were leaving the checkpoint, one delegate was stopped for extra questioning and our guide Rimon and I stayed with her.  While waiting, we watched as Israeli soldiers checked Palestinian identity papers and looked in their bags before they were able to pass through the turnstiles.  As a soldier checked a mother’s bag, her little boy — perhaps two feet tall — became pressed up against the soldier’s gun. I couldn’t believe the image that presented itself to me and I was unable to look away from the sight.  The picture of a young boy staring up at a gun is now permanently etched in my mind. These are the images we carry with us now, and will be forced to spill out when we return. They will stay with us forever.

After our time with Machsom Watch, we headed over to the synagogue Kol HaNeshema in West Jerusalem in order to attend Shabbat service and meet with Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR), an organization of Israeli rabbis working for human rights in Israel and Palestine.  (www.rhr.israel.net).  Ascherman did a wonderful job of explaining to the group step by step what to expect in the upcoming service, as well as giving a brief overview of the work of RHR.

When talking about his work with RHR, Arik described a time when he saw an Israeli soldier beating a young Palestinian boy. When Ascherman came to intervene he was also beaten. Later, when the boy was asked what happened to him that day he responded that a tall man with a kippa saved him. Arik says that this moment inspires his activism. That a young Palestinian boy, who would usually only associate Judaism with soldiers and settlers, is able to redefine what a religious Jew is capable of, is a motivating force in a generally thankless position. We were happy to hear from Arik and were also inspired by his work. Although the delegates range from the daughter of a rabbi, to non-religious people, to people of all different faiths, everyone felt relaxed by the music and generous atmosphere that exuded from the gathering at the synagogue.

When we returned to our hotel, we were able to have an off-the-cuff meeting with Mordechai Vanunu, the famous man who exposed the secret of Israeli nuclear weapons and was jailed for almost two decades. The group was impressed by his sharpness and ability to maintain his human dignity and wit through all the years in prison. Although Vanunu was under tight restrictions by the Israeli government and not allowed to speak with any internationals, he took the risk to speak with us about his experiences. Delegate Tom Ellis writes:

Meeting Mordechai Vanunu was a high point. Vanunu spent 18 years in an Israeli prison, with 11 ½ of those years in solitary confinement, for trying to prevent another holocaust. His ‘crime’ was exposing Israel’s secret atomic and hydrogen bomb programs.

Vanunu told us that under no circumstances will he surrender his freedom of speech. He frequently speaks to the press, despite orders from the Israeli government that he not do so.

He lives in East Jerusalem and desires to move to the United States or another nation so that, as he says, ‘I can be fully free.’

Vanunu’s desire to live freely echoed what we had heard earlier from Fatma Assad, a Palestinian math teacher who lives near the checkpoint at Qalandia that we’d visited. Her beautiful home is only 100 meters from the Wall that Israel is building through the West Bank. Two years ago, Israeli authorities cut down 180 olive trees in her yard to make way for the Wall.

Ms. Asad told the FOR delegation that “I would like to live a normal life. The occupation ruins our lives and the Wall separates families.”

Later in the evening, delegates could still be found discussing maps of East Jerusalem with Angela Godfrey of ICAHD. I am constantly impressed at the commitment of the fabulous group of individuals that are taking every inch of their day to better understand the conflict. The group finished the day by reflecting on their shared experiences and the suffering that permeates the entire area. What we are gaining are the stories, and perhaps they will change the lives of people at home, as they have ours. 

-- report submitted by Kendra Froshman for the delegation