Cindy blogged about the Ethiopians and gave more details than I in my previous post so if you are interested check her out at her link at the bottom of the page.
After we left Gedera we headed south to Sderot and Moshe Netiv Haasarah located on the Israeli Gaza border. Again I urge you to read Cindy's blog about the details of the visit and her reaction to being so close to a war zone. Her pictures also depict how vital and prosperous the moshav is.
Being so close to the border it is impossible to not be political. Even choosing this particular place to build the moshav tells you much about the values of these families that live here. The original moshav was in the Sinai but after the agreement with Egypt the moshav was dismantled and the families moved north. Some families resettled in Gaza or the West Bank but Raz's family chose to live in land that was indisputably Israel's land. (based on the UN resolution in 1947). He did not want to move again, assuming at some level that were would be an exchange of land for peace some day. From his family's decision I had the feeling that he was a realist. Some of the land taken in 67 was going into a Palestinian state. Israel could not keep it all.
We got a good understanding of what it was like to live within the range of Kassim rockets and mortars. That people can get killed coming home from work and the worst part: living with the possibility. We toured the area and while Raz was showing us the view of Gaza from the land, soldiers came by and asked us to leave: that something was going on. They seemed to know Raz.
That evening our group discussed our reactions to being so close to Gaza and being around the military. What I found particularly interesting was our different opinions in the group. Some shared in the group, others were reluctant to express; perhaps the fear of not saying the right thing. We all saw that this guy was real; that he chose to live there near Gaza and did not move when things got bad; that he felt he had a right to live there and even by international law he did. These were not the disputed territories. If he couldn’t live here then he might as well live in Italy.
And we all were impressed with how well the members were doing trying to live an ordinary life in a war zone. However, some found our experience highlighted how unfavorable the press is to Israel. That it is not simply a weak little boy David (Gaza) against the evil large Goliath (Israel). That the rockets from Gaza on a frequent but irregular basis was really an act of war and Israel should tell the world this.She needs better PR. Israel is just not fighting with Gaza for the sake of getting rid of Palestinians. Israel is protecting herself; protecting her people.
Others felt Raz should just move away from the border; that he has not right to raise his child that way. Or that they could not live there. It was too frightening. Maybe there would be a rocket attack while we were there. Could we please just leave?
I had another reaction. I personally got a new appreciation of what it is like to live under siege. And it does make me understand Israel’s need to respond to Gaza although in my mind it does not justify the way they bombed Gaza in 2008. But that was my opinion and we did not talk about that particularly. We were more interested in how people lived with the threat. I was not afraid of a rocket attack but in a way I might have just dissociated, thinking it just would not happen. And while some of the people felt comfort from the solders, they reminded me of the solders coming by and telling us to leave when I was with a group planting trees in the Palestinian territories. I had no idea why the solders bothered us. There did not seem to be any activity around the border where we were. I could not help but think that they were using their power. And I wondered how nice they would have been if they had not known Raz or if we were with a guide who happened to be Palestinian Israeli instead of Jewish Israeli. Would then "the policeman be my friend?"
Our different reactions are a reflection of the projective test that we call life. Although we are born with more or less the same brain structure and biochemistry, we have many unique experiences and probably some inborn personality that contributes to create the orientation from which we interpret what we see and hear and do. That may explain why some of us love Noam Chomsky and others love Sarah Palin.
That night we drove over to Kibbutz Mashabei Sade in the Negev where we sojourned for two nights. It was not a 5 star hotel but clean and the food was good. But no internet. Also at the kibbutz was a bus load of people from Anshe Emeth the Reform temple in New Brunswick, NJ near where I grew up. One guy even knew my cousin on my mother's side. Jewish Geography
I am catching up. But there is lots I have missed. On Monday we spent most of the day doing nature. We hiked in the wilderness of Ramon Crater during the day and then spent the late afternoon in Yerucham a town in the Negev settled originally by Holocaust survivors who thought they were going to Jerusalem or Haifa or Tel Aviv but ended up here with other refugees from Arab countries. The town has struggled economically for a long time and considered the end of the universe. I think I mentioned it on another post and hope to get my thoughts together about it when I write again. After Yerucham we traveled out of the desert to two Bedouin villages, one a legal village/town and one an illegal village. Again we met amazing people.
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