Abdelfattah does not believe mixing Israeli and Palestinian kids helps the Palestinian cause, and I tend to agree with him. I like programs like Seeds of Peace, but I wonder what they accomplish. As he says, when kids get together, they have fun. If they come from opposing sides of a conflict, as is the case with Seeds of Peace and programs like it, and if the program is well managed, as Seeds of Peace certainly is, the kids will have fun. However, when such programs end, the young people go back to their home environments. In the case of Israeli and Palestinian youth, the Israeli youth return and when they're of age, go into the army. They are the soldiers who man - and woman - the road blocks. The Palestinian youth return to confront those roadblocks. Abdelfattah related a recent story of a Seeds of Peace Palestinian youth who was killed near a road block by Israeli soldiers and a facebook message from a Seeds of Peace Israeli youth saying, "You can relax now that I'm carrying a gun," or words to that effect.
I'm relating a story I heard, so it's third hand, and I can't attest to its accuracy. However, Israeli youth do go into the army and do confront Palestinians in an occupation that has gone on for decades, and Palestinian youth are confronted with roadblocks and armed occupying Israeli soldiers daily. When there is an incursion into Palestinian territory on the West Bank or in Gaza, it is Israeli soldiers, some of whom may have been in Seeds of Peace and similar programs, who are driving the tanks, carrying the guns, killing the Palestinians. While talking with Abdelfattah, I recalled Stokely Carmichael during the civil rights struggle saying white people who want to help should work with white people. Abdelfattah's point is that: Israelis who want to help should work convincing Israelis that the occupation is unjust and that Palestinians have a right to their own state.
"On the ground" here, it is difficult - no, impossible - to defend American policy regarding Israel and Palestine. I do not hear people calling for the demise of Israel, nor do I think they're being careful what they say around me. On the contrary, I think they're speaking their mind and at first may be surprised I'm listening and mostly agreeing. The likelihood of a Palestinian state's being established diminishes daily. Israeli settlements have carved Palestine into an archipelago of city states, not only unconnected but often separated by roadblocks as well. The current map brings
no hope to Palestinians.
However, there is hope in the work Abdulfattah is doing. There is hope in the work Khitam is doing with teachers and students in Palestine, using the arts to help them grow, to help them teach, to help them heal. There is hope in the work Nasser is doing with his students in the middle school a few blocks from Khitam's house. Still, the occupation is depressing.
Driving into Jerusalem today, after I worked with Nasser for a couple of hours, Khitam commented on a checkpoint we pass through every day we go to Jerusalem: "One day, three lanes are open, one day two, most days only one. We never know what to expect." A few days ago, on our drive into Jerusalem, Khitam said: "I am lucky to go through Hezma checkpointI don't have to go through Qalandia," which is close to her home and tedious, at best, to pass through. Then her eyes lit up, she shook her head and said: "Did you hear what I just said? I said I was lucky to go through the other checkpoint. 'Lucky!' I can't believe I said it, that I am lucky to go through a checkpoint!" She told Abdelfattah and we laughed about it, ironically. Abdelfattah's point: Don't get used to the occupation, however long it lasts.
I leave tonight. I'm in Jerusalem now, at the Hebrew University, sitting in a cafe while Khitam swims and has a sauna, to take care of her back. "I have to take care of myself so I can do my work." I agree and tell her to be sure to do just that.
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