As busy as Day 1 was, Day 2 was even busier. Today was a story of conflicting narratives, and once again, what an incredible job by AIPAC's Educational Foundation for exposing us to such a broad range of experts.
The day started at 5 in the morning with a visit to one of the many checkpoints in the Security Fence. built to prevent suicide bombers from coming to Israel. We got to hear about it from the main architect of the entire project, Col. Danny Tirza, as we observed what was a relatively smooth day of Palestinians coming into work from the West Bank. Most of the time it is an efficient operation, though it can feel humiliating for Palestinians to have to pass such a checkpoint every day. Most of the time it runs very smoothly, though Col. Tirza explained how they actually have prevented 22 pipe bombs in the past year at this checkpoint alone, including one found in a 7 year old's backpack. At most places, it is a fence, not a wall. He hopes it will come down one day, but for now, his goal is to balance security with the dignity of those who have to go through the process.
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| Col Danny Tirza, Main Architect of Israel's Security Fence |
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Palestinians workers having passed the
checkpoint, waiting for rides to Israel |
We next met with Saeb Erekat, Chief Negotiator for the Palestinians. He has been involved from Oslo until now and has seen it all. He represents an odd combination of hope and despair, believing that peace is both right around the corner yet perhaps never really achievable. He is still fully committed to the idea that a 2 State solution is the only way. He is certainly anti-extremist, at least theoretically, and it was important to hear his differing perspective and narrative. The pictures below, from a pamphlet given to each of us by his office, are illustrative of this. What we call a security fence he calls a wall. His version of the map of Israel/Palestine is very different from the ones we usually see, and that is something we need to unders But when we asked him his thoughts on why Palestinians keep naming streets and schools after terrorists/martyrs (which we asked him in several different ways), his answer was always to blame Israel for not making peace.
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| Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Arekat |
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| A map paints a thousand words |
Our meeting with Palestinian pollster Kalil Shikaki was another combination of optimism and pessimism. I love numbers and polls, so I enjoyed his presentation immensely. He talked about the idea that 67% of Palestinians actually support the idea of a two state solution, a number that is up versus 2 years ago (I should point out that what that means to them, in terms of borders is very different than Israel's view), but it was fascinating to hear and gives us some reason for hope. Unfortunately, about 50% support violence against civilians, which is problematic, to say the least.
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| Palestinian Pollster Professor Kalil Shikaki |
Our next visit was to Rawabi, a new city built from scratch in the West Bank with entirely private capital. It is beautiful,with arcades and soccer fields and fancy stores and restaurants. Its founder, entrepreneur Bashar Masri, is a fascinating guy, straight out of Tech Central Casting (he looks and sounds like a venture capitalist from Silicon Valley). Of course he would love a peace process, but he's not waiting for it. His view is that you have to improve the lives of Palestinians through economic investment. You can't wait for peace to do that, so he isn't.
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| Palestinian Entrepreneur Bashar Masri of Rawabi |
Not so far away in terms of kilometers but a world apart in terms of everything else is the Israeli West Bank City of Efrat. Efrat, next to Bethlehem, is essentially a suburb of Jerusalem but is over the "green line," and thus considered an illegal settlement. In any theoretical 2 state solution, however, it will be "swapped" to be part of Israel. Uniquely, there is no security wall around it, thus allowing relatively free access to surrounding Palestinian villages. According to their colorful Mayor, Oded Ravivi, he and leaders of the villages made their case to people like Danny Tirza (see above), not to build it there, so plans were scrapped. He claims to have excellent relations with the villages (hard to tell for sure, because he is quite the storyteller), but he has evidence. See the fascinating story below, whereby he invited leaders of the surrounding village to his Sukkot party. They ended up taking selfies with Israeli soldiers and police, for which they were promptly arrested by the Palestinian authority.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/pa-releases-palestinians-arrested-over-sukka-visit/. Arrested for grass roots relationships without permission? We have a long way to go.
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| Efrat Mayor Oded Ravivi |
Finally, our evening concluded with a talk from Times of Israel Editor-in-Chief and Founder David Horowitz (not to be confused with right wing columnist David Horovitz). If you don't read this publication, you should. It provides multiple perspectives on all aspects of Israel.
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Times of Israel Editor and Founder David Horowitz
And, finally, a little video message from yours truly.
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The polls say that 67% of Palestinians actually support the idea of a two state solution--did the pollster ask how many believe that is an end-state solution and not just on the path to a single state that isn't predominantly Jewish?
ReplyDeleteWould have been a good question to ask, but with 18 other rabbis asking questions, it's hard to get one in!
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