Ophra
08-11-2005, 04:30 AM
Tsav Piyus, Hebrew for 'Call to Reconcile,' brings together Israelis from different sectors for dialogue, new friendships; but the gaps aren't easy to bridge
By Reuters
Left-wing Israelis and Gush Katif settlers struggled to find some common ground during a heated debate on a sand dune in the Gaza Strip, ahead of next week’s planned pullout from Gaza and the northern West Bank.
"We don't even get each other's jokes," complained Hagit Bar-Tov, one of about a dozen left-wingers who went to Gush Katif to meet residents opposed to the withdrawal.
Participants tried to avoid raising their voices during the discussion organized by Tsav Piyus, a group founded to try to heal Israeli social rifts after the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin .
"Everyone looks at the same landscape but sees different things," Kfar Darom resident Dror Arieh said.
Israel intends to serve eviction notices to 8,500 Gaza settlers on Aug. 15 and begin forcibly removing those who refuse to leave the area's 21 settlements two days later. About 1.4 million Palestinians live in Gaza.
Opinion polls show a shrinking majority of Israelis support Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to unilaterally disengage from an area he says Israel has no chance of keeping in a final peace treaty with the Palestinians.
But a deep well of opposition to the move exists among settlers and their supporters, many of whom stake a biblical claim to Gaza and the West Bank - land Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War.
Moderates on both sides worry about what will happen when Israeli troops confront settlers who vow to resist removal and fear violence could widen already deep divisions amongst different sectors in Israel's Jewish population.
Fear of a national split
"If we don't start talking now the social rift could widen to the point where we split into two countries," said Leora Elon, of Tsav Piyus, Hebrew for "Call to Reconcile."
Not too long ago Elon had focused her efforts on persuading Israel's Jewish and Arab citizens to meet.
She said the gap between different sectors of Israeli society now seemed more ominous because they, too, rarely speak to each other.
Tsav Piyus members say the controversy also threatens to reignite a latent feud between Israel's secular majority and religious Jews, many of whom are either settlers or support them.
Rabin daughter: symbol, responsibility
Dalia Rabin-Pelosoff, daughter of the assassinated prime minister and a former lawmaker, was among the first to launch talks with settler leaders months ago, after death threats against Sharon over the Gaza pullout.
"I am a symbol and I know the responsibility. ... That's why I'm here," she said after a recent meeting with settlers that foundered in disagreement over unsuccessful settler demands to hold a national referendum on the withdrawal.
During the Gush Katif meeting, settlers took the visitors on a three-hour tour in a bullet-proof bus. Palestinian terrorists have frequently aimed mortar and rocket fire at the settlements, and last month, an Israeli couple was killed in an ambush.
The tour was fraught with tension. Settlers were uncomfortable with their guests' frequent questions about how they treated Palestinian neighbors who were in plain view.
Bi-lateral accusations
Talks held later outside a synagogue in Neve Dekalim, the largest of the Gush Katif communities, deteriorated quickly as each side hurled accusations at the other.
"I don't understand why you didn't build all of this (inside Israel) in the Galilee or the Negev," Ofer Baram of Kibbutz Kfar Aza said, referring to a hothouse filled with plants.
"It bothers me that you don't care, that you can look at what we have built here and it doesn't bother you at all that this will go .... I feel humiliated," Shlomo Asraf, 29, a resident of Kfar Darom said.
Yehuda Shachor, a 75-year-old farmer, told the settlers, "You want us to support you, but I don't support you. Without Israel, Gush Katif never would have existed, and now Israel has to give up Gush Katif to survive."
Agreeing to disagree, participants said they hoped to meet again once the pullout is over.
"After all, we were all together once at Mount Sinai," Asraf joked, referring to the site where the Bible says God gave Torah to the Jewish people, including the commandment to "Love thy neighbor."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3125965,00.html
By Reuters
Left-wing Israelis and Gush Katif settlers struggled to find some common ground during a heated debate on a sand dune in the Gaza Strip, ahead of next week’s planned pullout from Gaza and the northern West Bank.
"We don't even get each other's jokes," complained Hagit Bar-Tov, one of about a dozen left-wingers who went to Gush Katif to meet residents opposed to the withdrawal.
Participants tried to avoid raising their voices during the discussion organized by Tsav Piyus, a group founded to try to heal Israeli social rifts after the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin .
"Everyone looks at the same landscape but sees different things," Kfar Darom resident Dror Arieh said.
Israel intends to serve eviction notices to 8,500 Gaza settlers on Aug. 15 and begin forcibly removing those who refuse to leave the area's 21 settlements two days later. About 1.4 million Palestinians live in Gaza.
Opinion polls show a shrinking majority of Israelis support Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to unilaterally disengage from an area he says Israel has no chance of keeping in a final peace treaty with the Palestinians.
But a deep well of opposition to the move exists among settlers and their supporters, many of whom stake a biblical claim to Gaza and the West Bank - land Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War.
Moderates on both sides worry about what will happen when Israeli troops confront settlers who vow to resist removal and fear violence could widen already deep divisions amongst different sectors in Israel's Jewish population.
Fear of a national split
"If we don't start talking now the social rift could widen to the point where we split into two countries," said Leora Elon, of Tsav Piyus, Hebrew for "Call to Reconcile."
Not too long ago Elon had focused her efforts on persuading Israel's Jewish and Arab citizens to meet.
She said the gap between different sectors of Israeli society now seemed more ominous because they, too, rarely speak to each other.
Tsav Piyus members say the controversy also threatens to reignite a latent feud between Israel's secular majority and religious Jews, many of whom are either settlers or support them.
Rabin daughter: symbol, responsibility
Dalia Rabin-Pelosoff, daughter of the assassinated prime minister and a former lawmaker, was among the first to launch talks with settler leaders months ago, after death threats against Sharon over the Gaza pullout.
"I am a symbol and I know the responsibility. ... That's why I'm here," she said after a recent meeting with settlers that foundered in disagreement over unsuccessful settler demands to hold a national referendum on the withdrawal.
During the Gush Katif meeting, settlers took the visitors on a three-hour tour in a bullet-proof bus. Palestinian terrorists have frequently aimed mortar and rocket fire at the settlements, and last month, an Israeli couple was killed in an ambush.
The tour was fraught with tension. Settlers were uncomfortable with their guests' frequent questions about how they treated Palestinian neighbors who were in plain view.
Bi-lateral accusations
Talks held later outside a synagogue in Neve Dekalim, the largest of the Gush Katif communities, deteriorated quickly as each side hurled accusations at the other.
"I don't understand why you didn't build all of this (inside Israel) in the Galilee or the Negev," Ofer Baram of Kibbutz Kfar Aza said, referring to a hothouse filled with plants.
"It bothers me that you don't care, that you can look at what we have built here and it doesn't bother you at all that this will go .... I feel humiliated," Shlomo Asraf, 29, a resident of Kfar Darom said.
Yehuda Shachor, a 75-year-old farmer, told the settlers, "You want us to support you, but I don't support you. Without Israel, Gush Katif never would have existed, and now Israel has to give up Gush Katif to survive."
Agreeing to disagree, participants said they hoped to meet again once the pullout is over.
"After all, we were all together once at Mount Sinai," Asraf joked, referring to the site where the Bible says God gave Torah to the Jewish people, including the commandment to "Love thy neighbor."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3125965,00.html