Barbara — Monday
Monday morning. In America, colleagues and friends are finding their way back to work after a long weekend. We do a briefer Thanksgiving here—turning it into a Friday night dinner with a proper turkey, cranberry-apple sauce and non-dairy pumpkin pie.
This morning began with a brit milah, called a bris in the US, the 8th [...]
Galia Golan
Commentator, author, professor, and co-founder of Peace Now
People aren’t afraid to use the word occupation today. I think people who don’t use the word are blind or unjust. I can’t understand them. There are, of course, people on the far Right who believe we liberated these territories in 1967—that the West Bank, Golan Heights, maybe even the Gaza Strip are God-given territories promised to Abraham. They would reject the word occupation. [...]
Nira Lamay
Deputy Commissioner of Knesset Commission for Future Generations
A few weeks ago I was stopped at a barrier on my way to work. I asked the policeman, “If I were blonde with blue eyes, would you have stopped me?” He was very embarrassed. My intuition says that, when there is trouble on this road, his intuition tells him that stopping someone who is dark, who might be Arab, is a natural thing to do. This is how it is. This is my existence in Israel. [...]
Trude Dothan
Archeologist, author, and professor
When we dig up cities, we get pottery. People were people—they were born, they grew up, they died. Life revolves around this. When we find burial grounds, fortifications, private houses, we get a sense of how they lived, how they ate. The fun of archeology is to make cities and civilizations of the past come alive. People are people are people. [..]
Anya Antopolski
Director of Meeting Point in Nokdim
I’ll tell you a story. About a year ago I was going through the checkpoint on my way home when I saw a very pretty Palestinian girl with a beautiful scarf covering her hair. She was standing next to the checkpoint holding a Palestinian flag and demonstrating against the security fence. I wanted to stand next to her holding an Israeli flag, because I’m also against the fence. If she’s against the fence, and I’m against the fence, then who is for it, really? That’s what I want to say. [...]
Inbal Avnon
Sergeant with Israeli Defense Force
To serve as a woman in a combat position is a big honor. Military service has always been important to me. Even at an early age I knew I wanted to join a combat unit. I had to cope with people asking, “Why?” and making fun of me because women weren’t in combat units then. But it is one of the most challenging things open to women in the army, and has given me a lot.
Noa Epstein
Coordinator for Peace Now
Politically, I’ve always been motivated, active, and opinionated. Whenever women have an opinion, they are considered to be opinionated. At least in Hebrew, it has a negative connotation. I have tried to translate words into action—happiness, compassion, care, and love. [...]
Molly Malekar
Director of Bat Shalom of The Jerusalem Link
As a peace activist, you have chances every day to feel angry. You deal with peace, but you deal with violations of peace and human rights. I’ve tried to build an internal discipline not to be angry. One thing that relieves me is—maybe it’s age—knowing that peace will not be achieved within my lifetime. We have a long way to go and will not necessarily see the fruits of our work. It’s a marathon—and anger destroys energy.
Amal Elsana Alh’jooj
Bedouin spokeswoman and Founder-Director of AJEEC
Now they are teaching adults how to listen. As a shepherd, I listened to everything and developed my senses from the air, earth, moon, and stars. Even though I was often without shoes and it was cold, I still want to send my kids to the field with three sheep and one cow and say, “This is the best school in your life.” [..]
Vivian Silver
Executive Director of Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development
For Israel, the critical issue internally is how the Jewish majority treats its Arab minority. We have a lot of answering to do. Once your eyes get opened, they can never be closed again. I have had the privilege of being exposed to life as Arabs and Palestinians live it, so I can never go back. For me as a Jew, it’s an existential moral question. All citizens have to be treated equally, with dignity and respect. [...]
