Greetings everybody,

It has been a busy last month – I have been living out of my bags but after a wonderful visit to Belgrade for a week followed by four days in Amman – I am finally returned to my own bed in Jerusalem! It is a great feeling to feel settled again…

Anyway, I wrote a blog post on the Kids4Peace blog about the trip to Amman – please check it out, and feel free to follow that blog as well, though I do not typically write blogs there (in fact I wrote this one under somebody else’s login) – http://k4pblog.org/2013/05/20/a-new-perspective/

The trip was amazing – seeing the Israeli and Palestinian youth, age 15-17, interacting with a group of Jordanian Palestinians who have never been to Palestine or Israel, or met a Jew for that matter, was remarkable. Everyone undoubtedly learned a huge amount, I know that I did – seeing the way an outsider with a vested interest in the conflict reacts to the people engaged in the Conflict on a daily basis and vice versa was fascinating. It made me draw a comparison to my own family. I realized that the people on the outside, who don’t deal with the realities of the Conflict on a regular basis but care deeply about it can’t engage in the same way. There is a different meaning for peace, for extremism, for reality. The Jordanian youth made me see how they fought and argued from an extreme angle and even the Palestinian youth from Israel/Palestine had trouble agreeing with them on most issues.

Dialoguing Youth

I think this is the same situation with the majority of Jews outside of Israel and even for this within Israel that don’t live near or interact with Arabs at all, or live in an area of danger. It is very useful to truly hear the other side, to listen to them and understand where they are coming from – to share your thoughts, ideas and interests and have the others’ returned to you. Hearing the Jordanian Palestinians opened up the understanding of the third stakeholder – the outsider with a vested interest…

Then we got to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for photos – very cool!

Me with President Mahmoud Abbas

Much more interesting though was sharing dinner with his son Yasser. If there is one way, we all decided, for Jews and Arabs to logically discuss peace – it is over a large and delicious meal! As extreme as he sounded in his speech to the youth, Yasser opened up in a much different and realistic way when in a small talk with us. For example, he argued strongly about how all Palestinians should have the right to returnand compensation, but when he talked with just us, he admitted that only 10% max would want to return, and they would only get to if certain conditions were met (as in, their home is unoccupied, they are willing to take on Israeli citizenship and others agreed upon). This is much more realistic, but not having these realistic opinions shared with a peace group makes the process difficult… But, this is the rhetoric coming from both sides.

2 cities. 3 homes. 3 neighborhoods. 5 beds. Its been a tough past few weeks as I’ve bounced around waiting for my room to return to me in exactly 2 weeks time.

And none of this counts the weekend in the north near Acre, the week I will spend in Belgrade starting tomorrow night, and the weekend after that I will be in Amman.

We’ve all heard it before – moving is stressful, it takes a toll on body, mind and spirit. But moving 3 times in as many weeks and living out of the suitcase is especially difficult. It feels kind of nice now that I am back in my own apartment although I am living on the couch for a few nights. It still returns a sense of normalcy.

The nice thing in all of this is that I have been able to get an idea for what it is like to live in Jaffa – a mixed Arab/Jewish neighborhood – and Beit Safafa – an entirely Arab neighborhood in the south of Jerusalem. But nonetheless, it has been a tough few weeks and I am looking forward to a little vacation time.

As I was in the process of all of this, I had an assignment due for school, long commutes through traffic from Jaffa (south of Tel Aviv) to Jerusalem, a couple of grant proposals to write, a budget to finalize, and my first activity to prepare for my first weekend seminar with a youth group – along with the normal haul of work.

I am looking forward to the 20th of May when I will finally return to my own bed in my own room in the boring old neighborhood of Talpiyot, when I can unpack my bag once again and feel settled in.

Well, what is the most divisive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict? Checkpoints? The wall? Security? Terrorism? It all adds up to one thing – the Israeli Defense Force.  It is the IDF that controls the checkpoints, patrols the walls, probes for terrorists and does all these things for the security of Israel.

I had the opportunity to experience just how divisive the IDF is.  My first official facilitation was not an easy one, that’s for certain, as four eleventh graders nearing the end of their Kids4Peace time came together to discuss the issue as the 2 Jews prepare for their entry in to the Army.

It is clearly not a topic that is often discussed and certainly not one discussed across the boundary of identity.  Kids4Peace is such a young organization, this is the first time they have had youth go through the program to reach this point in their lives, and I felt truly honored to be trusted as the first facilitator of the topic.

As can only be expected, the 2 Jews and the 2 Palestinians were miles apart in their opinions, and it was the fact that they are all friends and have worked together for years that allowed a respectful space for discussion.  Nonetheless, the conversation got heated at times and we can only hope that they went home without being pushed apart further.

The first meeting was only an hour of discussion, but they truly opened up and discussed issues that are very close to their hearts, sharing personal stories of pain and pride alike; stories of their family members’ service and stories of their family members’ being discriminated.  The beginning actually saw some level of agreement when discussing violence in general, but once it was brought to the context of the Conflict, it changed.  Obviously, I don’t feel comfortable telling specifics of what was discussed, but it was a fascinating experience and I look forward to a second meeting at the end of the month where the youth will have the opportunity to elaborate on their feelings and thoughts regarding justifying violence, nationalism, the realities of the IDF and the types of soldiers that the Jewish youth will be among other topics.

Happy Pesach to all… in retrospect.

Pesach in Jerusalem was an interesting eight days I can honestly say I hope never to experience again.  Three of the eight days are national holidays, meaning that the entire city shuts down, nothing is open, there is no public transportation and nobody works – it is simply not the most exciting time, not to mention that throughout the eight-day period it is illegal to buy or sell any product with bread!!

It seems to me that must really hurt some businesses that are forced to close down – places that sell bagels, falafal, schwarma, pizza, sandwiches, baked goods, etc… but such is life.

Anyway, I did have the luck to experience a new and interesting seder.  The only ones I have gone to in my life have been with my own Reform family which means let’s get through, mostly in English, so we can enjoy each other’s company and Papa’s amazing food!

I went to the home of the family of my supervisor – a nuclear family that feels like a Twilight Zone version of my own (four sisters vs. three brothers; very liberal vs. very conservative; father obsessive over the dog compared to mother; the siblings are similar to my brothers and i but in a reverse order; and craziest of all – largely vegetarian vs. meat eaters!). Included in the celebration was extended family from Sweden and America as well as another future Kids4Peace intern from Ireland.

The seder was certainly different from what I am used to – a long, 5 hour affair that was conducted thoroughly from the Passover Haggadah to the point that every single word was written and all instructions were followed in order (and almost entirely in Hebrew).  Thankfully, that meant stopping after 3 hours for dinner!

The Four Questions were by far the most fascinating section as the whole troupe worked together in reciting them in as many different languages as possible – Hebrew, Yiddish, English, Arabic, Swedish, Irish, French, and Russian! It was quite impressive.

But for the most part, it was truly just an affair of the big Jewish family like I am so used to. I walked in to the home and was told to poor myself a screwdriver. The siblings kept yelling at each other and getting exhausted of having to sit at the long event.  Everyone fussed over the baby.  It is enjoyable to be in the Twilight Zone because in this case, at least it brings me back to my own home on the holidays in a way and allowed me the opportunity to share with everyone our own customs – the similarities and differences (and of course I was so nice as to say their food was better…. sometimes you just have to tell a little white lie – nothing would have been so nice as to be home for Papa’s brisket and matzoh ball soup!)

Next year in Jerusalem – well, hopefully not in the literal sense personally, but it is nice that the Jewish people have a home to celebrate in.

A couple weeks ago, I had the great privilege of meeting Jill Levenfeld, a woman originally of Los Angeles who works tirelessly with many organizations around Israel.  I was telling her my story and my interest in getting involved in more conflict situations in the country – God knows there are plenty.  The one I brought up was the refugee situation that is largely based in South Tel Aviv – she offered to get me on a tour of the refugee center that a friend of hers was putting together.

It turned out to be more of an informational meeting than a tour, which makes sense because there is not really anything to tour and certainly not a refugee center.  A worker from The African Refugee Development Center (ARDC) met us and talked to us about the situation and the work they do – it turns out they are one of two organizations in place that work on the refugee situation in Israel, but all they can do is offer help supplying the basic needs of the asylum seekers.

There are more than 60,000 refugees in Israel seeking asylum – due to immense pressure the Ministry of the Interior agreed to interview asylum seekers on an individual basis about a decade back – thus far they have interviewed almost 20,000 individuals and granted asylum and rights to 19 individuals.

The vast majority of the asylum seekers are Eritrean (60%) and Sudanese (25%) – none of whom are interviewed, they are kept in a sort of limbo in which every three months they are granted three month tourist visas on which is printed “no work allowed.” Yet, the country does not deport these people, does not punish those who employ them, and, in fact, the city of Tel Aviv is their largest employer, as hypocritical as that seems.  Because of this ‘status,’ the asylum seekers are easily taken advantage of – there are stories such as: a group of refugees was bused to the north where they worked for a month with housing and food supplied and promise of pay – when they were returned to Levinsky Park (the center of situation, an outdoor area where thousands gather every night to sleep), they were abandoned without any pay;

a second story – an employer hires an asylum seeker until one day before his pay his due, he then reports the refugee to the police for any excuse such as “I expect him of stealing my tools” or “He may have broken in one night,” and the refugee is arrested and detained, without any rights he/she has no ability to hire a lawyer or go through due process – simply he/she goes to the detention center.

Speaking of the detention center, the Negev will soon boast the largest one in the world – able to hold some 15,000 people – basically it will be a huge prison for refugees.

Israel knows it can not return the Eritrean and Sudanese nationals back to their countries at this point – these are two of the most dangerous countries on Earth with two of the most oppressive regimes on Earth, and for that matter, Israel and Sudan do not even share diplomatic relations so it would be impossible.  A scary fact – as of January 2012, “the rate of recognition in the world for Eritrean asylum seekers is 84 percent. The global rate of recognition for Sudanese asylum seekers is 64 percent” (Berman and Feller).  How is it possible that Israel does not recognize 1 out of some 45,000…

A Seder put on for the refugees at Levinsky Park

We as Jews have a responsibility to these refugees of the world, especially with the onset of Pesach.  These are human beings who crossed the Sinai to escape oppression, torture, likely death to reach the land they judge to be the safest in the world (in Israel there is little risk of human trafficking).  We are taught to remember OUR escape from Egypt, OUR exile through the desert to get to Israel as if we actually did it ourselves, yet there is little pressure put on a Jewish government to accept the people who actually made that journey, risking everything.

I have pledged to make an effort myself, to get involved to some degree in Tel Aviv and help the refugees to achieve basic needs and spread the word of their struggle.  The government must open itself and this land, to some human beings at least, and not keep them stuck in a position of “acceptable poverty.”  There is nowhere to go after reaching Israel, move on forward, you reach Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia… unsafe countries themselves, and back only gets you back to the dangers of Africa.

Recently, in response to this problem, Canada in coordination with other countries of the world made an offer to Israel – accept a number you deem acceptable, and we will take every other refugee off your hands – the answer: No.

Sorry for the late update – it has been a busy week or so.

Last Tuesday, we had our final set of 2 workshops to see how the potential new kids interacted together and participated for the final selection (starting in a few minutes!).  Just a few hours before it was set to begin, one of the two facilitators called in sick and I got the call to step up and facilitate.

Certainly I was nervous – with just a little time to speak with my co-facilitator in advance – to step in to two sessions of 21 kids and run a workshop.  It got off to a bit of a rough start when the icebreaker game of the first workshop went off with a lack of energy… but as soon as the next activity started it went very smoothly the rest of the way and the second one even better!

The layout was set in advance and only one small change was made for the second workshop, in order to get some pep in to the kids and make them more energetic.  That change was the first activity – a quick game of Simon Says, followed by a fun name game. We followed it up with an activity where the kids split in to groups and use nothing but balloons and tape to build as big a tower as possible without speaking – an interesting activity to see how they do with communication and interaction.  We played another game and then did a one-on-one activity where the kids get to know someone from another religion and introduce them to the group and end with feedback.

It was a little bit of a nerve racking to see how it would all go with the last second call, but it was exciting to see the success of it all!  Now, I am joining the final selection committee to decide which 24 out of some 90 kids will be selected – an extremely difficult job indeed.

Other good highlights of the past week: a successful meeting with Rebecca that determined my work for the next 6 months decisively and a decision of my job titles – I am the Director of Monitoring and Evaluation and the Co-Director of Camp Logistics. Speaking of the camp – I met the Roots4Peace kids (3rd year participants) who will be in the camp I am co-planning and then drove down south to Kibbutz Ketura where we will be putting it on for the weekend.  It was beautiful but SO HOT!  We are all set now to plan out a daily schedule and finalize the budget – we are all so excited for this fist ever local camp which will be based on nature and culture and include solo time in the desert, visiting the sand dunes, a night in Eilat with water sports, and so many other excellent activities.

Great things happening with life in Israel right now!!!

Hey, to anybody interested in reading more about the inequality I mentioned in my last post – check out this article that was written about an hour ago http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/is-civility-breaking-out-in-israel-s-politics.premium-1.506417 – by the founder and director of Merchavim: The Institute for the Advancement of Shared Citizenship in Israel.

So, it has been one month (roughly) since coming to Israel – here is what I have learned and seen in my time so far (in no particular order):

1. Jerusalem is the jean skirt capital of the world.

2. There are A LOT of Seth Rogen look-alikes throughout the country. You can really find them just about anywhere.  This guy is on a random bus – I would guess that I have noticed something like 5 Seth Rogens at this point…

3. Falafel is good, but schwarma is delicious. The pita and hummus are amazing! And the best of all of this is found in the West Bank.

4. I miss pork.

5. A burger is just not the same without cheese. Go to Tel Aviv to escape kosher food.

6. I enjoy the company of Russians and they cook wonderfully.

7. Warm winter days bring out all of the pregnant women – the city brims with life, happiness and potential.

8. A lot of young Americans make me embarrassed to be American when I hear them in public…

9. On the other hand, there are a lot of young Americans in less crowded public places that not only are not foolish, but are filled with excitement, ingenuity and are truly interesting people – they make me proud of the future that could be.

10. The Israeli government is unique. Sadly, this is largely in a negative way – it is incredibly bureaucratic (but then again which government isn’t?), but it is selective in its use of this bureaucracy which creates the immense inequality that exists here.  The government chooses not to actively support small organizations like Kids4Peace that are trying to create a culture of peace by not allowing Jewish outreach, lessening the participation of Jewish youth.  At the same time, it apathetically endorses apartheid by making it nearly impossible to get housing permits (in certain neighborhoods – guess which ones).

While visiting the Ramallah and Jericho in the West Bank a few weeks ago, it is easy to see that the people want to live in peace – they are clearly tired of constant fighting and military presence, and a major push in that direction would be for the Israeli government to take a step forward and say “yes, we will promote peace NGO’s; yes, we will actively allow Arabs to go through the same amount of bureaucracy as Jews; yes, we will stop building our governmental buildings in lands that are under Palestinian control creating even more havoc.”

12. I miss the sight of knees. The tendinitis in my knees has been acting up lately, I think it is because my knees miss the sight of other knees too.11. When asking directions, Arabs are the first choice – they usually walk you at least part of the way (even if not the right way) to where you are going and invite you for tea and dinner at their home along the way.  If there are no Arabs around, find an immigrant – they are friendly and tend to give good directions.  Only if desperate, ask a local Israeli, not only are the directions usually poor, but they are rushed and, although they are not actually angry about being asked, it just feels that way sometimes.

13. Its nice to get lost, you never know where you’ll end up or who you’ll meet.

14. Do not leave home between 2 on a Friday and 7 on a Saturday (winter times) – the entire city shuts down. Speaking of which, Shabbat is boring.

15. Soda is expensive. But that doesn’t stop me from drinking it… a lot.

16. No offense Kenya, but its nice not to have to take a bucket shower and to always have hot water.

17. Just because the carton says milk doesn’t mean it is milk.

18. Its nice to be able to drink the tap water.

19. The major local beers are awful, but the micro-brews are outstanding.

20. Most importantly, I have learned that I am doing what I was meant to do with my life.  I am happy at work, I enjoy what I do, I love the people and the kids, and I believe that this work can truly make a difference and hopefully will.  There is a lot of work to be done and a lot to get down about, but staying positive and energetic is the most important thing – we are making change in the community and therefore the world, even if only one life at a time.  Who knows what that person will do in the future to carry on the tradition, skills and knowledge they have gained through the K4P program.

Much love and Happy on-coming Spring from Jerusalem.

I am taking a large role in helping to improve the efficiency, reach, and desire for continuation of the first year program, for 6th graders, at Kids4Peace (monitoring and evaluation).  This past week, on Valentine’s Day and my birthday, we conducted interviews for some 70 youth – marking the beginning of the selection process.

The days were long and full of activity and stress for the children and staff alike, but we found plenty of time to enjoy ourselves as well.  On both evenings, I worked the check-in getting the opportunity to meet all the youth interested in joining the K4P first year program – and on the second evening my roommate Noa joined me for much of the time.

I did get the opportunity to step in to a handful of interviews in order to get a good impression of what goes on, the questions being asked and the pressure the kids must feel.  It can not be an easy situation for an 11-12 year old to go through an interview mostly in their second language, but some of these kids are really something else!

In the back of the office, we set up a nice room for the parents and children to socialize with the rest of the staff and some of the high schoolers who have been through the K4P program.

It did not make for the happiest birthday of my life certainly, but it was a very interesting one and a great experience to learn and see what the organization does on a more intimate level.  Because of the craziness of the day, the staff decided to delay my birthday celebration until next week – which is just fine by me – now it will feel like I get 2 birthdays this year!

Also, we will be continuing the selection process next week as we begin the workshops where the youth get the opportunity to interact with one another in smaller groups in order to showcase their eagerness to participate and socialize, their knowledge and skill sets – particularly in language.

It is an exciting time at the Kids4Peace Jerusalem office and we are looking forward to seeing the new group of youth that will join us this year – and sad to have to say no to so many others.

ALSO – DON’T FORGET TO PLEASE VOTE FOR THE KIDS4PEACE VIDEO – THE WINNER GETS A NICE DONATION: tellusworld.org/entry/kids4peace – it only takes a couple minutes!!!

Just imagine the Los Angeles Lakers still refused to take on African American players…

Major news arose early in my time in Jerusalem: Beitar, the Jerusalem soccer team, desegregated for the first time in its history with the signing of two Muslim players from Chechnya- its first non-Jewish players in its 77 years.

The fans of the Beitar football team with the sign: “Beitar: Pure Forever”

In response, a portion of the Beitar fan base created a xenophobic uproar – “Beitar: pure forever.”  This disturbing image brings back shades of Nazism – from Jewish supporters of a Jewish sports team in Israel of all places…  It just goes to show that hatred comes from anybody at anytime.

A demonstration was put together to “say no to racism” in Israel with a number of influential speakers voicing their opinions on the subject.  I attended the rally at Teddy Stadium along with my two supervisors, Rebecca and Mohammad, decked out in our Kids4Peace T-shirts while Beitar played across the street.

Sadly, the demonstration was held on a freezing night and attracted small numbers, but the message was sent in front of numerous television cameras and newspaper reporters while a handful of angry fans yelled from the street and the stadium.  One line that I took to heart from the speakers: “Jerusalem shows the best of humanity and the worst of humanity.”

More recently, some Beitar fans torched the Beitar soccer offices – but this has only strengthened the resolve of the ownership of the team and the leadership of the country as even PM Netanyahu has now stepped up to speak out against the xenophobia.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/12/angry-fans-torch-jerusalem-soccer-offices-over-signing-of-two-muslim-players/