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Rabbi in Israel: Confronting the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

11/04/2021 02:09:46 PM

Nov4

Rabbi Jonathan Biatch 

L to R, Beth Shuman, executive director of Combatants for Peace, with activists Avner and Suli, on the roof of the Holy Land Hotel in East Jerusalem.

Two men, similar in age and temperament, in a continuing struggle for their ideals. On the first afternoon of our journey to understand the current level of conflict between Israel and Palestine, we met with these two activists who have spent the better paper of the last 16 years in peace work. Avner is a former officer of the Israeli army, and he underscored the need for both Israelis and Palestinians to reduce the trauma of being both the occupier and the occupied. They discussed the great difficulty of two peoples being subject to two separate seta of laws, one civilian and the other military. And, yes, they carefully (they say) use certain verbiage to define this situation as having “elements of colonialism”.

Suli is a former Palestinian prisoner who was jailed at age 14 for a sentence of ten years, but now is one of many who can admit his crimes and can also move on to attempt to bring healing to these two peoples. As they said, the simplest things in life are different and difficult for these two peoples: the simple task of returning home from this evening’ encounter—for Avner, a simple bike ride through Jerusalem’s terrible rush hour traffic,and for Suli, his drive through a demeaning checkpoint to his home which would otherwise be a seven-minute drive—defines the difficulties of life for these two peoples.

I look forward to bringing all of this back to report to TBE and the Madison community.

April 25, 2024 17 Nisan 5784