Israel Speaks
In November 2010 an exceptional event was held near Jerusalem.
A few dozen religious Jews and Mouslims gathered together
to pray for rain for the land.
What made the event even more interesting was that most of the
worshipers live in Judea and Samaria, the so called Westbank.
Judea and Samaria is considered the core issue
of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel is expected to give up these areas to a future Palestinian state.
The gathering was initiated by an organization called The Land of Peace.
This unpolitical movement was estab- lished by a group of Jewish settlers.
They believe that the improvement to relations between Jews and Arabs
can start from themselves and not so much from outside involvement.
The Land of Peace is led by Nachum Pechenick.
I was born in Kiryat Arba in the midst of this dispute.
Judea and Samaria is my mother coun- try and I've been here all my life.
My friends and neighbours have been killed here.
The same is with the Palestinians.
You have to let life win.
I was earlier in my opinions strictly anti-Palestinian.
I wanted to drive them all out.
They also want us to go away.
The reality, however, is stronger.
We are here and they are here. A Jewish and Arab village side by side.
It's wisdom to be good and equal neighbours.
Good neighbour-relations are not only talk, but also acts of peace.
Peace for me means good neighbours. This is what the Land of Peace does.
The worshipers gathered at the spring of El Chinia
which after many years of little rain has almost entirely dried up.
This is the first bud of peace.
Prayer is a uniting force, because God is one.
We have had 7 years of drought. Ecologists speak of desertification.
The land of Israel or Palestine, I prefer the term Holy Land, -
is located geographically exactly on the border of the desert zone.
The Saharan desert is located Southwest from us and
the Arabian desert is in the Southeast.
North of us, from Lebanon to Europe, there is a green zone.
The Zohar-book of Judaic mysticism explains
why Jerusalem is geographically speaking located right on the border
of a green mountain and a desert.
Contrary to what most believe, the truth is always found on the edge.
The truth is not in the center, where the established systems are.
On the other side of Jerusalem there is a desert and on the other -
green mountains.
The message of the Land of Peace movement comes from the edge,
from the Jewish and Mouslim minorities.
Both have to give up their dream that the other would go away.
Neither will go away. We are here to become good neighbours.
There are thousands of peace move- ments in the land and in the world
but nothing happens in practice.
Ever since the Oslo accord there have been 5 rounds of negotiations.
They have cost a few dozens of billions of dollars.
Half a million pages of peace initiati- ves have been thrown to the garbage
and peace seems farther every moment.
In The Land of Peace, for the first time, the core issue of the dispute
also tries to become the key to its solution.
It is one of the key issues we discuss with the Palestinians.
It is not the wisdom that comes from outside.
Secular movements have nothing to do with the dispute.
Outsiders try to make peace between two fighters.
The Jews say: God is one. The Mouslims say: God is great.
There are many similarities in our lan- guages. Shalom and Salam mean peace.
The Hebrew Shalom and Arabic Salaam both refer to God.
To our misfortune maybe our similari- ties are the reason for the conflict.
Fights between brothers are sometimes the worst;
Jaacob and Esau, Isaac and Ishmael.
We are all descendants of our forefather, Abraham.
Nachum Pechenick and other members of the organization often have
meetings with the Palestinian residents of the Westbank.
One of them is Muhammad Abu Ayash who introduces himself
as a Palestinian peace activist.
The meeting takes place in Muhammad's house in Beit Omar close to Hebron.
We have 5 groups consisting of Jewish settlers and local Arabs, -
who meet together.
The media does not know of this, because publicity may sometimes
endanger the people, and privacy also increases trust.
We have a group of religious people
and there are also several projects on the way to which we need support
both from Finland and the rest of the world.
There is a great lack of medical supplies.
We are going to establish joint centers for borrowing equipment
for Jews and for Arabs.
We lack wheelchairs, oxygen tanks and so on.
We also have a joint language project.
We want to have Arabic classes in Jewish schools
and Hebrew classes in Arabic schools.
If we learn a common language, with the help of God, -
it can be a way to peace.
These are projects of the future to which we need support.
We are here and they are here. Let us learn to accept each other
and be good neighbours.
This is justice and peace, of which the prophets of the Bible spoke.
We represent minorities. We are only in the beginning, -
but already nearly 1000 Jewish settlers have joined us.
There are a few hundred Mouslims also.
Think about it, if there were 50 000 Jews and 50 000 Mouslims.
Then many could admit without fear that they belong to our movement.
Many are afraid to join, because they don't want to be in a minority.
It's not a question of ideology, but of fear of being rejected.
With the help of God the Land of Peace will be a central movement.
Politicians are thinking of different solutions, -
but unfortunately nothing seems to change.
We have to do our best to support those who want peace, -
who take your hand and are brave and not afraid of each other.
If there will be two states, this is still my land, the land of the Bible.
I am ready to live as a Jew in a Palestinian state.
If it happens, I and many others, are willing to live as a minority.
We will pay taxes and maybe it will even strengthen their democracy.
I'm not saying this in the name of the Land of Peace, because we don't
mess with politics.
We are building relationships and removing prejudices.
We change our attitude to the land from owning to connecting.
An owner says: - This is mine! - Yours? Everything belongs to God.
Faith can separate. One Jew might say: - God is only ours.
Some Mouslims say that also.
Both sides have also those who say that God is one.
We want to support these forces and build peace.
I'm telling everyone in Finland and everywhere: When there is peace here
there will be peace in the world. I believe in that with all my heart.
Osama Bin Laden said after the September 11th attacks
that it happened because of the situation in Jerusalem.
When there is peace here, it spreads to the rest of the world -
with the help of God.
There are now around 300 000 Jewish settlers living in Judea and Samaria.
Most of them are religious people who have settled here believing
that the entire land belongs to the Jewish people.
Alon Shvut is located around 10 km South of Jerusalem.
It is one of the settlements belonging to Gush Etzion.
It has a yeshiva-school where young religious men study Judaism.
The security situation demands the continuous presence of an armed guard
at the school's entrance.
The leader of the yeshiva is rabbi Yaakov Medan.
I've lived in Gush Etzion ever since its beginning.
There were settlements in Gush Etzion already before
the War of Independence.
The Jews bought land from the Arabs and settled here.
There were also Jewish refugees from Europe.
They built amazing settlements on these rocky lands.
One day these settlements were occupied
and all of their pioneer residents were killed.
The death toll here was 240 people.
The small children of the settle- ments had been evacuated earlier
and they became orpahns aged between 1 to 4.
Every year they gathered in a speci- fic location outside of Jerusalem
to look at the Lone Tree far away in the horizon.
The tree is almost 700 years old.
Every year they promised they would once return to their homes
and reclaim the land of their fathers.
After the 1967 War they asked Prime Minister Eshkol for a permission
to return.
He answered them in Yiddish: -Kinderlach (children), return!
So this is how the settlements were established here.
"Alon Shvut" in Hebrew literally means "oak" and "return".
Contrary to what the media has depic- ted, most of the Jewish settlements
live in harmony with their Mouslim neighbours.
Our closest neighbours are Palestinian villages, -
and we are in very friendly terms with them.
We invite them to our family celebrations.
Recently I was in a village close by paying my condolences, -
after a granddaughter of a friend of mine had died tragically.
Many of them work with us here. We take trips together, -
and do all sorts of free-time activities together
and vacate together.
Every day we eat together around the same table.
We know each other by name and greet everyone.
When necessary, we provide practical assistance
and help them also with regards to the authorities.
We have good neighboring relations with them.
A little farther away there are a few very hostile Arab villages.
They continue the tradition of those who killed
the pioneer generation of Jewish settlers, 240 people altogether.
We are not looking for revenge, but their sons are very hostile.
If we are attacked we, unfortu- nately, need to defend ourselves.
However, there are many who want to live with us in peace.
We live in harmony with them, we are good friends
and we have a lot of joint activities.
There are those who believe that the conflict between Jews and Mouslims
stems from the early pages of the Bible.
The of story of Isaac and Ishmael is very relevant.
People don't know how to read this story in the scriptures correctly.
Genesis 25:11: "It came about after the death of Abraham
that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac lived by Beer-lahai-roi."
Do you remember who lived at the well of Lahai-Roi? Hagar and Ishmael.
There was a covenant between Isaac and Ishmael.
In the beginning in the family they argued about education, -
but later on Isaac and Ishmael had good cooperation.
Ishmael was a caravaner and Isaac was a farmer.
The cooperation between the producer and the retailer was very good.
If I read these verses in light of the teachings of our scholars, -
Isaac and Ishmael's relationship is very relevant in a positive sense.
I fear that Islam, to what it is developing now, -
won't allow cooperation.
The foundational problem is who this land belongs to.
This is the land of our forefathers, the land God gave to us.
This is the only Jewish country in the world.
How many countries does Islam have? The places are endless.
We live in this small country. We give people the opportunity
to live in the land of Israel which is the only country for the Jews.
They don't want us to be part of it. They see us as a small island
of Jews who should return to where they came from.
They would give rights only to those who have been here before
World War I. All the rest should leave.
They don't want us here, in the land of our forefathers, the promised land
which we have been cultivating, bought the lands and dried the swamps.
It is the land of our forefathers.
It is also our only refuge. You see, we are hated everywhere.
With "They" I mean their politicians.
We could get along with the simple people.
Their politicians, today, are in the leash of Iran.
Iran hates Israel and tells the leaders what to do.
The problem is with these politicians, their leaders.
We could get along very well with the regular Arabs on the streets.
Both sides lack brave leaders.
The leaders lack courage and the government is weak.
We also have to accept the fact that we cannot know everything.
You cannot push a process, if you want to know the exact end result.
Uncertainty is part of the process. You stand before God and say: -
I'm just your messenger. I am in the hands of God.
Both religions teach: -
If you humble yourself before God, He will help you.
Trust in the LORD and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate
faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the
desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him,
and He will do it. - Psalm 37:3-5
Translation: Sonja Mattayev