The Settlement Beit HaShalom was purchased for $1 million in 1991 and is nestled among 30,000 Palestinians. The settlers zealously defend their right to be near the tombs of the Patriarchs, arguing that they paid a fair price for their land. The slogan "Never Again!" means that, today, 2000 Israeli defenders protect a community of 400 Jewish settlers.
Over the years, the settlers of Beit HaShalom have dealt with eviction notices from their own government as well as tangible acts of violence from unhappy Palestinian neighbors. Simultaneously, these same settlers have initiated violence toward Palestinians. The cycles of violence have resulted in the Israeli military shutting down a large portion of the economic center of the area. Beit HaShalom is now completely surrounded by a locked down ghost town and is defended by several military camps and overlooks.
We spent a mere five minutes with David and heard, first hand, the voice of toxic Jewish extremism.
"This is ours...we will defend this no matter what it takes...we will pass this on to our children...our children will defend this no matter what it takes....Arabs stole this land...in the name of our God, we are taking it back."
While he talked at us, I looked down and was stunned by what I saw:
A 9mm and the threads of the tzitzit create a complex irony.
Numbers 15 and Deuteronomy 22 teach the people of Israel to wear the tzitzit as a tangible reminder to be the people of the Torah...to walk courageously in the Way of God...to be the living and active Torah on behalf of the watching world.
Within that Torah, God says to his people: "I will bless you and I will give you a land and I will bless the whole world through you." While the land is certainly a part of the blessing, the land is a means to the emphasized end: a people who will be a blessing to all nations.
Within the Torah, God says, "Don't multiply horses and chariots (tools of war)...you will always be the underdog and, when you trust Me and live in My Way, you will always come out on top...this is part of how the watching world will discover who I AM!" By this time, I'd grown accustomed to multiplied war tools in the hands of Israelis.
The presence of the tzitzit were to serve as a reminder of truths such as these.
The presence of the 9mm seems to indicate a misunderstanding of who God is and what it means to live the God-Life.
Myron is an American born Jew who migrated to Kfar Etzion, one of the original Kibbutz in Israel. Peacefully founded among Palestinian villages in 1943, Kfar Etzion, today, is a Settlement of approximately 1000 Jewish settlers. Myron is a peacemaking settler.
Coming from my encounter with David, I wondered to myself, "How is the possible? How can a settler also be a peacemaker?"
With much doubt and with much curiosity, I met Myron and his friend Janke. Rather than sitting around a table at Kfar Etzion, though, Myron decided to take us to the Palestinian village of Zechariahs, located just across the road. Here, we were met with the hospitality of Mohammed, the head of Zechariahs.
We stepped into a room together and I watched Myron answer my question.
As Mohammed's welcoming remarks flowed toward us, I noticed the difference between Janke's, Myron's and Mohammed's posture. Mohammed appeared to be relaxed and open; Myron seemed comfortable yet slightly tense; and Janke stood rigid with his arms crossed.
Myron spoke first: "Janke and I are very different. We think very differently about many things, but we have been very good friends for a very long time. Likewise, Mohammed and I are very different. We think very differently about many things, but we have been very good friends for a very long time. I have invited Janke here today to share with you all part of his story."
Janke, with arms still crossed, opened his mouth and, very softly, began to speak: "I've lived in Kfar Etzion for 41 years. I have driven past Zechariahs for 41 years. This is the first time I have ever stepped foot in Zechariahs."
With those words, I understood that we were participating in a massive moment in the lives of three individuals as well as in the lives of two villages. For years, Myron had been working with his friend Janke, an extremist settler the likes of David. Simultaneously, he had been working with his friend Mohammed, a leader of a village with an Israeli demolition order against it.
Janke continued: "My parents lived in Kfar Etzion when it was founded. They lived in peace with the surrounding Arab villages. Then, in May of 1948, Arabs from this village entered Kfar Etzion and slaughtered 129 people, including my parents."
My eyes shot over to Mohammed who stood by, far less relaxed than he had been ten minutes prior.
Back to Janke, arms still crossed: "This is Israel. We deserve to be here. We have a right to all of Israel...but I don't know what the answer is to the conflict between our people. "
In that moment, I understood how Myron could be a peacemaking settler. At great risk, being deeply misunderstood by his own people, he had sacrificed years of his life to set up this moment. A Jewish friend who believed that his parents had been massacred by a Muslim village now stood in the room with a Muslim who represented that very village. Being in the room together was, in and of itself, an act of peacemaking by Myron, Mohammed, and Janke. I recognized in that moment that Myron had to stay a settler because living in the Settlement meant that he could be a difference-maker from within.
I also recognized the threat that religious extremism is to the future of these two peoples: what is happening in Israel/Palestine is hurting everyone
Finally, I recognized that in Israel/Palestine, two peoples are trying to define who they are. In this effort, two peoples consistently return to their most deeply moving experiences: the Jews return to the Holocaust and massacres while the Palestinians return to the massacres and the occupation. These experiences define them and are leading to fatalism, violence, blame, projection, and indifference to the pain of the other.
Both David and Myron are stepping into the mess of this. The former is adding to the mess; the latter is building peace, one relationship at a time.
As to the Kfar Etzion massacre: Jordanian troops slaughtered the Jewish settlers, not the villagers from Zechariahs.
1 comment:
...speechless...
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