A COUNTRY OF CONTRAST

Halfway through our placement, we return to Jerusalem and get opportunities to meet members of Israeli civil society, sadly nobody from Ta’yaoush mentioned earlier and who, I must specify, are an Israelo-Palestinian peace initiative.

We did however get the chance to check out a settlement outside Jerusalem, Efrat and to meet one of its members, Bob Lange who had been PR to Netanyahou and proceeded to persuade us that the lovely “community” he lived in (and very nice it was too) had every right to settle wherever they please in the land God gave his people. His settlement admittedly lives in good intelligence with its Arab neighbours who have had the good taste not to hold it against the incomers that they are in breach of international humanitarian law – so much so that they now want to expand so that families may live close together, … on whose land? You may well ask.

This laudable need to keep communities together somehow does not translate into Palestinian. There, the “natural growth” to which foreign powers are expected to bow cuts no ice as families wait for years for planning permissions that never come (but are never rejected either as this could lead to lawsuits the planers might loose). Before going to Jerusalem, we visited the village of Fa’roun where their vicinity to the wall has condemned several houses; some already lay in ruins and other have destruction orders imposed on them and may receive the visit of the bulldozers at any time. (a court ruling has just today ordered the State to dismantle and reroute sections of the Separation Barrier affecting this village but nobody is holding their breath: such decisions will take some time to be acted upon – if ever). And by the way,  the owners of houses destroyed by the Israeli authorities are charged costs, however, they can be spared this infamy by carrying out the destruction themselves.

Israel’s constant insistence on rights it denies others makes empathy with its people difficult. Fortunately, when we went to Sderot we met one of its inspiring citizens, where you could be forgiven, perhaps, for finding little sympathy for Palestine. With remarkable equanimity, Eric Yellin presented us with the frightening aspects of living in  place targeted by missiles, the sense of insecurity, the fear for your children, the trauma they suffer, without ever seeking to detract from the  much worse plight of the Palestinians. On the contrary, he acknowledged the desperate situation in Gaza and had created an association called “Other Voices” set up to communicate with is entrapped population, to exchange and to offer support. During the war, he stated his opposition to it in a television interview, which earned him few friends. The street he lives on in Sderot is a co-housing project.

He took us on a little tour to places from where you could see Gaza, and whence we saw last winter the international press, organised by the IDF, report on the mayhem beyond. However, as the coach pulled in by a place flying British flags, the military informed us that some VIP was present and that we were not welcome.

It turns out that this could have been the British Chief of Staff (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/171569). It would appear that Israel would be keen to return his visit – provided the risk of lawsuits against military personnel could be waved .Indeed, “report by the United Nations Human Rights Council alleging Israeli abuses during Operation Cast Lead could hamper British anti-terror efforts.” I shall leave this to your interpretation.

The UN has, to date rarely kerbed Israel’s style so Netanyahou, with his sights on European backers (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1104513.html), is busy with “legislation that would ban foreign government funding for groups such as Breaking the Silence*”, that is Israeli groups who do all they can to palliate to the abuses their country indulges in (from Eric’s Alternative Voices to Rabbis for Human Rights).

And why not? Haven’t the powers that be always shown willing to dance to Israel’s tune? When the “only democracy in the Middle East” is closing in on its admirable but depressingly thin on the ground opposition, freedom of expression has obviously gone out the window.

Or is it permitted to hope that, at long last, those powers will wake up to reality?

*Breaking the Silence (http://www.shovrimshtika.org/index_e.asp) is an organisation formed by a remarkable 25 years old. At the age of 21-22, Jehuda Saul, preparing to re-enter civil life at the end of his military service (3 years) came to realise that, as a soldier he had done things the man he wanted to be would be ashamed of and proceeded to analyse his feelings with his friends. From the shock of their realisation came their organisation which invites soldiers to speak about their experience, anonymously if they choose. What they eventually publish is carefully verified and corroborated. Needless to say, the establishment did not much like what BtS published about Gaza…