Noemie Nalbandian
Deputy Head Nurse at Hadassah Medical Center-Mount Scopus
People ask if I hate the Turks. I do not hate the Turks, I hate what they did to my grandparents. They have to recognize what they did and apologize. I live in a world where the Arabs and Jews fear each other and can’t depend on each other. The wounds and the sorrow are continuous—the way my ancestors were treated and the way Jews, Christians, and Muslims treat each other. It goes on and on. I teach my children, “If you strike the person who hit you, you are no better than he is.” We can’t get out of this mess if we strike back. [..]
Tal Kramer
Former Executive Director of Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel
Working with women who have been raped or sexually abused, you must listen to hear their particular needs, desires, and voices. They are so varied and so different from each other. Everyone reacts differently in the world of sexual abuse, and each person has a different way of coping. [..]
Siham Chalabi
Facilitator at Daliat El-Carmel Community Center
The Druze are conservative people who believe in one god. There are religious Druze and secular Druze. One of our principles is that wherever we are, in whatever country, we have to be loyal to that country. We are concerned not only with our own interests but with the interests of the country. We do everything “Israeli,” everything. We have people in senior positions and regular jobs in the government. Our children serve in the army. We are Arab Druze, but we have a good life with the Jews. We love our country. [..]
Ilanit Melchior
Co-Director of StartUp Jerusalem
When you invest in the economy, you invest in relationships. The market is the creator and founder of relationships. Jerusalem is the poorest city in Israel, young people are leaving. You find a lot of ultra-Orthodox who are not part of the working labor. We want to make sure in years to come that this will not be an empty city. And we want realistic operations between East and West Jerusalem, a reality where people respect each other and work together. The economy is a primary way to do this. [..]
Gita Hazani
Director General of Mosaica Center for Inter-Religious Cooperation
When the fears are gone and both sides say what they really feel, they open their hearts and say very difficult things. Someone says, “When you talk about your ownership of the holy temple, I feel someone put a knife in my heart and turned it. It’s so difficult to hear you talking this way about my holy place.” [..]
Rachel Aspir
Chair of NAAMAT for the Jerusalem area
I was born in Iraq, and arrived here at age four or five. It was traumatic, my parents fled from Iraq secretly. If I have a recollection of that aliyah, of that journey to Israel, it is of my father being separated from my mother. The men had to leave on their own, and my mother stayed behind with my brother and me. My brother was a baby in her arms. My parents never spoke badly of Arabs. Abdullah—I remember him as a nice uncle who brought us sweets—helped my mother cross the border to get my brother and me where we needed to go. [..]
Rivka Grabovski
Director of Daycare Center in Sderot
I hear the noise of the Qassam rocket, and the loudspeaker and the red alert, and my heart’s beating quickly, and I can’t catch my breath, and what do I do now? It can happen anywhere. You can be at home, at the center, in the street. I live in fear. I feel I have a sixth sense with which I can hear better, concentrate better. I’m so frightened and tense—but courage is key. Don’t give up, despite everything. I continue to walk for exercise, do my shopping, take classes, visit my girlfriends, and come to work despite the fears, anxiety, and trembling. I tell myself not to give up, but to get up and do the impossible. [...]
Sarai Aharoni
Facilitator with Isha L’Isha-Haifa Feminist Center
Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security was accepted by the United Nations Security Council in October 2000 and is seen by the international women’s movement as one of the biggest achievements of the movement during the last decade. It officially recognizes the need to incorporate women in all peace negotiations and everything to do with conflicts—prevention, management, and resolution. [...]
Silvia Margia
Program director with women’s intercultural organizations
There are voices inside myself. Some can be very ugly. In the last war, I found myself angry with the Jewish people. Will they wake up and see that security is not about the army? Peace is about economic security, not about an army. I was shocked. How I am thinking this way? How did I give myself even permission to say these things? I want to heal myself of this voice of the wounds of the little Arab girl inside. Sometimes you need to meet the other side and say, “Help me to heal myself and I will offer my help for you to do the same.’’ [...]
Michal Cafrey
Lawyer and Senior Advisor to Ministers in the Knesset
I am Israeli, a right-winger, and a feminist. I am not for the building of the Wall, I think Jews and Arabs should co-exist. I don’t see an end or solution right now, but I know my policies. Menachem Begin, a right-wing president, brokered the first peace treaty with an Arab country, Egypt, and it continues to this day. Maybe it’s a cold peace, but it’s a peace for 30 years. [...]
