Tuesday, towards the end of Ramadan. This month I hardly go on regular visits to the southern Hebron Mountains. Instead we come to be hosted for the fast-breaking meal - Iftar, with families who invite us.
One Iftar in the desert particularly moved me; With the support of the "Roots" organization, we met in the evening together about 60 women - men, women and children. Israelis, Arabs, Jews, Muslims, settlers, Bedouins, land workers, to recognize the roots of each of us and the connection to the land. This is the first time in the southern Hebron Mountains that neighbors met at such an event and it was definitely very exciting. I sincerely hope that this meeting will kick-start positive neighborly relationships and usher in a new era of caring and mutual humanity on Mount Hebron.
In the meantime, since I haven't gone on the usual visit with many families, things to be given have been accumulating at home and I decide to load the van and go down to the area to bring wooden rugs, clothes, medicine and food products to some of my friends. Dubik, a settler from the area, joins me to visit to see with his own eyes how his neighbors live. He is impressed by the simplicity of their lives and the warmth and kindness with which he was received.
Quite at the beginning of the trip, the road is blocked by large rocks that other settlers have left there, but we bypass them. In the middle of the road we are stopped by some young soldiers at a temporary checkpoint in the heart of the mountain. We are delayed a bit until they check if we can continue. In the end, they allow us to move on, we are Israelis ....
Dubik points out that the beautiful scenic spot in the area is dominated by extremists and it is not possible to enter and visit the village in an attempt to contact sympathetic neighbors who may be able to reduce the hatred. He adds: "I really liked the simplicity and authenticity of the cave and I regret that the soldiers acted in the same way they acted regardless of the security of the area and the country."
Down in the field, army bulldozers are working. I travel a little further to see up close how much work is invested in truncating the roads that connect Israel and Palestine. The only roads that remain open without a fence and a ban are so thanks to the Nature Reserve Authority, which protects the deer population that needs to reproduce .... Blessed are the deer in our world and I wish you can continue to reproduce freely and multiply well for humans too!
I look at the wide and deep canals dug in the name of the fear and terror that are going on in us at this time. Instead of finding the common ground and getting stronger, we are dividing, cutting and severing this land.
I take pictures and send them to some friends and write to them: "A blocked or truncated road on earth is like a meridian stuck in the human body - it only brings pain and illness."
As a practitioner of Chinese medicine and Shiatsu for over 30 years, the blockages of the energy channels (meridians) in our bodies are the ones that cause pain, suffering and illness and prevent the person from flowing and continuing normal in his life. And behold, in one day it is possible to cut the ground. But closing the wound later takes many, many years.
This month comes after a cold but not rainy enough winter. The soil is already yellowing and the water cisterns are not full enough. Palestinian farmers are definitely worried. Without water in the pits this year will have to buy more water to irrigate their herds.
Along with the opening of Ramadan and the warming of the weather, the atmosphere is "warming up" and a series of terrorist attacks are hitting various places in Israel. Men and women are murdered, others are harmed. There is a lot of fear, pressure and resentment in the air. A few individuals who went insane and decided to commit suicide and take with them a few more people make the feeling more difficult and further undermine the trust that was already wounded severely before. How in one moment, someone takes on the mandate to hurt and destroy. On both sides people are suffering. These individuals control fear, anxiety and hysteria among their surroundings, and in my humble opinion receive amplification with the help of the media and politicians. All of these prevent the normal sequence of life for all of us - Muslims and Jews.
Throughout the last period - checkpoints at the entrance to each settlement, strict inspections of the permits, of the cars. Suddenly everyone becomes suspicious - not yet proven otherwise.
The "hole" in the fence near the main checkpoint, the one that was no problem to pass through, was closed, and along the fence young soldiers are scattered every 100 meters, especially in places where they used to pass.
Many people can not move from place to place, many do not work, and in the background the war in Ukraine raises the price of everything: fuel, metal, animal food, human food, water ... Of all my Arab friends I heard only condemnation of the acts of violence. Everyone sadly understands how such hostilities directly affect them and the chances of maintaining a sane human fabric within this chaos.
And on the other hand? On the other hand there are those who talk about "them" and put everyone who is not "we" into one group represented by lone lunatics holding weapons to kill and injure the human chances to heal the wounded trust of us all. Instead of living a simple life, full of respect for all saint beings.
And in this atmosphere, I end two months of encounters in Israel in various communities together with Palestinians and settlers, those who are willing to come and say unanimously that they are against any demonstration of evil and violence, and that they hurt the suffering we all bear.
It is not taken for granted. See two people that in any other situation were defined by many as enemies sitting, laughing together and listening to each other's story. It's a bit of the light we're sowing here in our beautiful little country and even though it's a drop in the ocean and even though the media has not mentioned it at all - wonderful things are happening here by many brave people who do not give up the possibility of living here together.
You can read this post and throw it away like a lot of things you receive or keep rolling out our basic human goodness message to as many people as possible.
And if you want to join me, support and meet those who believe that despite everything it is possible - you are welcome.
When I leave the area a local storm and rain begins - wow surprising, what a beauty I think, the desert wakes up, but in the evening I get a message from a friend that the storm has uprooted the roof of his house.
And yet life goes on,
With the help of God, Beezrat Hashem, Ilhammedolila,
Eyal
to support PeaceBearer out of Israel:
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