Two Worlds Between Two Seas

The second part of the project, Rese­ar­ching iden­tity in/​between Israel, Pales­tine and Germany, took place in Israel and Pales­tine. We met again with our young jour­na­lists from each of the three regions and conducted an intense, 10-day program about history, reli­gion, culture, and war. And we learned what it means to really get in contact, and to see each other as people.

​„How did you choose the parti­ci­pants?“ This might be the hardest ques­tion the inter­ro­gator at the airport is asking me. How can I explain to her that this project is actually about under­stan­ding, and not about taking sides? Israel is known for its rigo­rous secu­rity checks at the airport, inclu­ding awkward ques­tions about every little detail of your travel. ​„Where were you? Whom did you talk to? What were you doing in Morocco three years ago, and with whom, and why?“ The back­ground of this ques­tio­ning involves a long and compli­cated history between Israel and its Arab neigh­bors, dating back to the crea­tion of the Jewish state in 1948. Part of the work­shop, Rese­ar­ching iden­tity, was to absorb the variety of multi­layered perspec­tives and narra­tives on the conflict. Warfare is basi­cally written into the gene­tics of Israel, a country that lives in constant defense mode for fear of its neigh­bors. But the heavy weapons carried by soldiers on every street corner of Israel and the West Bank – inclu­ding those in the hands of mili­tant Israeli sett­lers – are not the main tools of domi­nance and autho­rity. For the young German jour­na­lists in our group, some were expe­ri­en­cing the world of open racial profiling and secu­rity check­points for the first time in their lives: ​„Why do we have to feel guilty for staying in Ramallah? For visi­ting Beth­lehem and Nablus?“ ​„Why do we only mention our partner orga­niza­tion Jeru­salem Press Club, and try not to speak openly about our other partner, the Pales­ti­nian Peace Coali­tion?“ Ever­y­body wants peace, on paper, right?

The trip which I would be defen­ding in front of Israeli airport secu­rity, actually began years ago. In August, 2018, a group of poli­ti­ko­range parti­ci­pants were sche­duled to travel to Israel and the West Bank to meet with other, young Israeli and Pales­ti­nian jour­na­lists. Several conver­sa­tions with sponsor insti­tu­tions and foun­da­tions resulted in a number of make­overs to the program concept, and a two-part plan. First, two groups of young jour­na­lists chosen by the Jeru­salem Press Club and the Pales­ti­nian Peace Coali­tion would come to Berlin in November 2018 for an eight-day program about Jewish and Arab life in Berlin, and the media land­scape in Germany. They spoke with jour­na­lists, visited media outlets and orga­niza­tions, and articles were written by groups of three: one Israeli, one Pales­ti­nian, and one German. It took another full year to realize the second part of the plan. Stories about loss ​„I came here not knowing much about the compli­ca­tions of the conflict. Now I know even less“, admitted a parti­ci­pant from the German group during the feed­back round on our final day after finally visi­ting Israel and Pales­tine last month. The conflict wasn’t supposed to be the main focus of the program. Above all, we wanted to bring young people toge­ther – who normally wouldn’t have the oppor­tu­nity to meet – through their writing. The central theme of the work­shop – iden­tity – can be very poli­tical, but doesn’t neces­s­a­rily have to be. What we expe­ri­enced during our time in Israel and Pales­tine, however, was how deeply peoples‘ feeling of iden­tity is connected with the back­ground, the begin­ning, the deve­lo­p­ment, and the casu­al­ties of the conflict. Prima­rily we heard stories about loss. Loss of land for one, but also loss of homes, family, reli­gion and culture.

During our odyssey of talks, input, visits and conver­sa­tions all over Israel and the West Bank, we met with sett­lers who coope­rate with the Pales­ti­nians, and are convinced that they are a part of the peace buil­ding process – even though sett­le­ments repre­sent Israeli land-grab poli­tics, taken at large. We met a woman from a Bedouin commu­nity in the Israeli desert who single-handedly runs a cate­ring busi­ness, unbe­knownst to her husband, but has never heard the word ​„femi­nism“ before. We met a talka­tive secu­rity analyst at the border of Gaza who has dedi­cated his life to keeping Israel secure using all the latest tech­no­lo­gies and tactics. ​„When a civi­lian is closing up on the border, Israeli soldiers would yell ​‘stop’ once. When the person doesn’t back off then, they would yell ​‘stop’ a second time, and when the person is still not listening to the order, shoot in the ground first.“ The noise from a mili­tary trai­ning camp echoes over the empty fields that sepa­rate us from the massive sand piles on which soldiers are supposed to lie on for their lookout. Strive for inde­pen­dence We also met Sharon Shelly who used to live with her two children in the little town of Sderot – the place most likely to get hit by rockets fired from Gaza. In her view, mili­tary protec­tion methods are not the solu­tion to keeping humans safe: ​„We must come to an agree­ment. A solu­tion. That would be an inde­pen­dent Pales­ti­nian state.“

Cut to Beth­lehem a couple of days later. We’re sitting at a table in the beau­tiful café of the Walled Off Hotel and are talking to Dr. Suli­eman Abu Dayyeh, head of the Pales­ti­nian depart­ment of the Fried­rich Naumann-Stif­tung. His wife is the Pales­ti­nian ambassador in Berlin, who we already met during our work­shop one year ago. ​„With all the inner-Arab conflicts in the Middle East, why is the whole world so obsessed with the one between Israel and the Pales­ti­nians?“, the group asked him. ARD corre­spon­dent Mike Lingen­felser, who is curr­ently stationed in Tel Aviv and who we met at the ARD studio, pointed out that there are more jour­na­lists living and working in Israel than in Washington or Brussels – two places repre­sen­ta­tive of the news and poli­tics for all of USA and Europe. Still, more people are curious about what’s new in this tiny and compli­cated area of the world. ​„I’ll tell you why“, Dr. Dayyeh replies, ​„because Jews are involved.“ We were waiting for him to elabo­rate but nothing happened. ​„Because the whole world has some sort of special rela­ti­onship with Jewish people?“ ​„Exactly“, he replied. So much more would need be said – espe­ci­ally regar­ding the rela­ti­onship of the Western world with Israel, the Zionist idea, the bond of the Pales­ti­nian people with the Arab world, and again their history in rela­tion to the Jewish mino­ri­ties that lived in each of those count­ries. But our time for each talk is limited. We have to work with the frag­mented – and in parts contra­dic­tory – insights we get.

From the red rocks of the desert to the skyscra­pers in Tel Aviv, from the scents of herbs and soaps in Nablus to the cele­bra­tory light­ning of the Christmas tree in Ramallah. We visited two very diffe­rent places. Two diffe­rent count­ries, if you want. As much as Israeli and Pales­ti­nian history, reli­gion, and culture have in common, in the same way do these people and places have a diffe­rent speed and take on life. Mostly, both groups have a diffe­rent narra­tive on their common history and each is righ­teous and relatable in its own way. That will be the essence of many articles from our parti­ci­pants. A life between borders What do borders mean in a poli­tical situa­tion like this? Does the night­life wash away the pres­sure of check­points, colored pass­ports, and red signs that segre­gate people and foster fear? What role does the modern woman play in socie­ties like these? And can money alone free the Pales­ti­nians, like the project of the city Rawabi suggests? Or is it actually about fighting all toge­ther for basic human rights, like the Pales­ti­nian initia­tors of the ​„Right to Move­ment“, who simply want people to be able to run without being constantly stopped by sett­le­ments and check­points. They are fighting for the freedom of move­ment, and they are fighting for women’s freedom in a tradi­tional, Muslim society. The ques­tion of power and resources plays a key role in the analysis of the poli­tical situa­tion. On our travel we learned about how reli­gion, history, and iden­tity tie-in with land and owner­ship to inform govern­ment policy and shape economy.

The tree in Ramallah shines bright till Christmas – and so will the poli­ti­ko­range blog with various insights into the life and culture of a deeply divided land between the Dead and the Medi­ter­ra­nean Seas. My answer to the airport autho­ri­ty’s ques­tion on how we chose the parti­ci­pants: ​„On their writing.“