Parent's Circle - Family Forum Weekend...In the middle of the week!

Shalom! As of today, I have been in Israel for a complete 3 weeks! I'm sorry for the delay in posting, however classes are just now getting into full swing and this weekend was dedicated to a workshop which took up a vast amount of time.  This workshop was designed as part of our Peace-Building and Environmental Leadership seminar, and was run by a group called the Parents' Circle - Family Forum, or Israeli Palestinian Bereaved Families for Peace.  It was the first of a new set of seminars which focuses on developing each person's personal narrative, and then sharing those narratives to bring a humanity and sense of mutual respect to the conflicts in this area of the world.  We were all required to attend this session, which lasted all day both Friday and Saturday. 

At this point, it is probably a good idea to share just whom makes up my fellow students, and the places in the world they come from.  About 34% of the students are North American, with one from Canada and the rest from various parts of the United States. We have both a western (Washington and Montana) and eastern (New York, New Jersey, North Carolina) presence, however here we are all simply Americans.  The other students are from a variety of places, including Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, South Africa, the Kyrgyz Republic, and of course Israel.  We also have a few students that although they were born in one country, have been moving around the world since a young age, and are in a classification by themselves due the sheer amount of world travel they've done.  In age our group ranges from 20 years old to over 30, with most people between the ages of 22 and 27.  It's strange though, the differences in age are not as obvious as perhaps they would be in a different situation; I believe since we are all taking the same classes, and have the same goals, the age differences are simply not as important.  Not only do we vary in age and nationality, our academic achievements also differ.  There are several of us who are undergraduates doing a semester abroad, myself included, however there are more of us who already have a bachelor's degree, or a master's degree, or haven't completed any college at all.  The one thing we all have in common is a desire to learn, about the environment and about each other.  This diverse mix of individuals is one of the most fascinating groups I've ever had the privilege to work with, and so far it has been nothing except fun and educational.  If I stop and think about the people I am surrounded with and the opportunities which present themselves through interacting with them each day, I am always struck by how lucky I am. 

The workshop this past weekend drew out our differences and highlighted our lack of knowledge in certain areas, and challenged the ideas which we harbor about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  It was facilitated by a pair of women who had both lost loved ones in the conflict, one an Israeli and one a Palestinian.  They shared their stories, which were different in setting, but so very similar in suffering.  Over the course of the two days, we analyzed our own lives, including which emotions represented our history, the dates that we considered important to our own narratives, and finally a few of us shared the complete narratives, from each person's own perspective.  It was shocking and sad to hear the tales of checkpoints and violent police from the Palestinians of our group, and the tales of rockets raining into border towns from the Israelis were equally so.  It highlighted an essential difference between myself (and presumably all the American students, however I will not talk for them) and my classmates: I have never had those experiences, and I pray that I never will.  There is no doubt that what has shaped these personal narratives have made these individuals stronger, and in a strange way I admire the way life continues for both Israelis and Palestinians through the occasional violence.

Another part of the weekend was a dual lecture by two historians from the region, one who is Israeli and the other Palestinian. They each went through the early modern history of the region, and then highlighted the differences in narrative which have developed.  The most fascinating part of these dual narratives, I believe, is the differing language used by each faction.  An example of this is the date which Israel was declared a state, which Israelis celebrate but the Palestinians refer to as 'Nakba', or 'catastrophe'.  The lesson of listening to these two stories together at the same time was to teach that each narrative is legitimate, and that histories are not set in stone or absolute, but change according to perspective.  Another side effect of these lectures was the discovery of what knowledge wasn't known prior to this weekend.  As an American, I was in the unique situation of being able to watch as Palestinians learned about the lingering societal effects of the Holocaust hanging over the Israeli collective psyche, and the Israelis heard the Palestinian side of the story, of the immigrations and loss, which had not made it into their school history books or the news.  It was a great learning experience all around.



Another weekend is approaching, and there are no workshops planned.  In fact, most people are taking advantage of the free time to go home or travel, anywhere from Tel Aviv, to Sinai, to Jerusalem, the West Bank, or Jordan.  I am staying on the Kibbutz with some other people, however we have our own plans, including a potluck dinner on our lawn and a possible night hike, since the weather has been so nice and the moon is beautiful.  A trip to Eilat may come on Sunday, but that is still only a thought at the moment.  I can't wait to see the rest of Israel, and hopefully fall in love with all of it as I've fallen for this desert!  Until next time, shalom!