Our Day of Solidarity

          To meet people who live in the area surrounding Gaza and to hear the personal stories reinforces the complexity of the situation demonstrated through their real life experiences.  Our mission visited Moshav Netiv HaAsarah, Kibbutz Kfar Aza and the town of Sderot on Election Day.

          This was similar to part of day in November when I visited some of the same sights.  The addition of the excitement of Election Day added to the entire experience.  I believe this was the first time I have ever been in Israel on Election Day.  Our guide almost had to meet up with the group along our journey so he could cast his vote.  He ended up opening is local voting place to be the first one a 6:00 am.  When we arrived to Netiv HaAsarah we were joined by a solidarity mission from the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan with their rabbi, Ami Hirsch, a past executive director of ARZA.  Another colleague Allen Bennett was with this group.

            Raz Shmilovitz, a tour educator and farmer from Netiv HaAsarah spoke of his parents being part of this community when it was established in 1975 in the Sinai. The uprooting of the moshav after the peace treaty with Egypt led to their present location on the northern border of Gaza within the original boundaries of Israel. They chose this locale so that no one would dispute their right to live on that land.  He used an expression based on two Hebrew words which have similar pronunciation but different spelling.  “If you don’t work (eebeyd with an ayin) the land, you will lose (eebeyd with an alef) the land.  He reminded us that they lived so close that at times the bombs exploded before the alarm sounded.

Another member, Roni, spoke of her participation in The Other Voice. She continues to believe that they must dialogue with Gazans.  During Pillar of Defense a friend from Gaza called her to ask how she and her family were doing.  Roni told of her time living in Cairo when her daughter became friendly with a Palestinian girl. It took three years before they could visit each other outside of school due to the distrust of what the other supposedly represented.  Her comment was that if it took 2 families three years to get together how much harder it is for 2 nations. She calls herself a realist and not a dreamer.  According to her the dreamers are those who think they can continue in the present state of affairs.

          At Kfar Aza, Chen Avraham, who works for the IMPJ, came back to the Kibbutz to raise her son in this wonderful environment.  Now her challenge is to keep his perspective to not hate all Arabs.  During the war a rocket landed just outside of her grandmother’s home who was safe with her caretaker in the shelter but found her bed covered with ash and broken glass. When Chen gazes across the border she believes there are Gazans who are looking back at the beautiful setting of the kibbutz hoping they too could enjoy such a life.  From both of these communities we were able to look out across the border, a few hundred yards away, not only viewing Gaza city but even seeing a few Gazans who were chased away from approaching too closely to the security fencing. 

In both communities many of the women and children were evacuated during Pillar of Defense but others remained.  We witnessed people of tremendous resilience as many continue to suffer from traumatic stress disorders.  And yet on this sunny day we saw children and adults seemingly living a normal life.  At Netiv HaAsarah an artist designed a peace mosaic to which we able to add pieces of ceramics. It was a symbol of hope placed on a barrier wall of defense.

          Upon entering Sderot, a town most heavily bombarded in the area we had the opportunity to see a voting center.  In “High Tech” Israel the paper tabs placed in envelopes for ballots was about as low tech as one can get.  It was a new experience to also see the people still campaigning ad the posters for the different parties.

After lunch we met with Noam Bedin of the Sderot Media Center.  His message was to get out the truth on what he called the “rocket reality.” We were taken behind the police station to see the remains of rockets.  Some were painted different colors representing different militant factions such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, el Aqsa Brigade and el Kuds.

 Not only has the greater area had over 12,000 rockets shot during the past 7 years since the disengagement from Gaza, but we were told that 97% were shot from civilian areas.  He also spoke of the many dilemmas such as the mother who hears the alert while in a car and has to decide which child to pull out first to bring them to a shelter.  Anat, who works with Noam, was evacuated from a community just across the border from Netiv HaAsarah, which now lies entirely in ruins.  She loves the area but spoke of the anxiety and fears that she and others have at such minor things as a clicking sound which reminds them of the tzevah adom (Red Alert) warnings.

          Noam summed up his feeling as we looked at a playground and soccer field surrounded by bomb shelters.  His claim is that those images together are in and of themselves an abomination.

          After visiting a Magen David Adom center and learning of their work we boarded the bus for the almost three hour ride to Kibbutz Lotan.  Lotan was the second Reform Jewish kibbutz founded in the early 1980’s in the Arava north of Eilat.  It is known for its work in environmental pursuits and a great place to view the thousands upon thousands of migrating birds in the Fall and Spring.  More about Lotan tomorrow.