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Eretz Acheret (Another Land) is a bi-monthly periodical "about Israeli-ness and Judaism," according to the masthead. It is edited by Bambi Sheleg, a religious Zionist woman who attracted a lot of attention last summer with this article that was highly critical of the direction religious Zionism has taken. Each edition of Eretz Acheret is dedicated to a single subject - like democracy, or Israel's relationship with Europe. A variety of opinions on each subject is expressed in a collection of articles, written by journalists and authors who represent a broad political spectrum.
The May-June 2005 edition is called "A Letter to the Palestinians." Contributors include Avi Gisher, the rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Ofra; Gur Solomon, a journalist for the right-wing Israeli newspaper Makor Rishon; Sayed Kashua, the Israeli-Arab novelist (and Haaretz columnist) who wrote Dancing Arabs; and the renowned novelist A.B. Yehoshua, as well as many other highly respected writers. I was so impressed by "Letter to the Palestinians" that I called Bambi and asked if she had plans to translate it into English, because I wanted to send it to some of my friends. She laughed with pleasure at my enthusiasm, then sighed and said she did not have the budget for a translated version. Then she added half-jokingly that if I knew anyone who'd like to volunteer to translate, I should please call her.
I wish I had the skill and time necessary to translate all 85 pages of this periodical, but I don't. So I decided to translate just one article - written by Nazir Majli, a journalist who was born in Nazareth and lives in London. He is a commentator on Israeli affairs for Al Sharq Al Awsat as well as several Arab television stations. The article is called "Enough With the Hatred," and if you've already read it in Hebrew then please forgive my less-than-elegant translation. And please note that the article was written before Israel's withdrawal from Gaza; you'll understand why I mention this when you read the text.
Enough With the Hatred
By Nazir Majli
To my three lovely sisters,
Fada, Wataf and Hitam -
Al Husun Refugee Camp (Jordan)
Permit me to address you in this roundabout way, in the Hebrew language. I am doing this because this time I want to include my Jewish friends in my thoughts about you. It’s clear that you still haven’t digested the fact that your brother, who has Israeli citizenship, has Jewish friends. The question that you and your children asked me still rings in my ears: “How can you trust them?” And so I make my request again: Please get used to it. Some day you will understand, and that day will probably arrive sooner than you think. This friendship is wonderful, and soon you will enjoy it too.
This is a friendship between human beings. It goes beyond borders and fences; it is not limited by nationality or race. It’s a friendship based on the values that form the base of the Arab culture that flows in our veins – values from which we have disassociated ourselves. These friendships are not the alliances of Arabs against Jews, but rather alliances between Arabs and Jews who value humanity above all. They are different from alliances that have nothing holy about them - those of Jews and of Arabs who place a supreme and sacred value on land and on personal interests.
You will no doubt ask how I can talk about alliances and friendship between Arabs and Jews at a time when a wall the height of a three-story building is being built between us. And how can I talk about humanistic values when people are choosing total disengagement, the hard way – through sweat and blood – and the evacuation of thousands of families from the homes in which they lived for tens of years? You only think of one thing – returning to your house in Bisan, which is today called Beit Shean, from which you were uprooted. And that dream has become for you the measure of all things.
My response will surprise you, as usual. But for you, because I love you so much, I am prepared to face it all.
The principle of shattering the fear
I do not oppose the separation barrier, because I understand that the Jews need it in order to feel secure. I argue with them about the route, because I don’t want it to swallow additional Arab lands. I also accept the unilateral disengagement. Not because I think it’s a good thing, and not because I see it as a solution. I even admit to the fact that the person who initiated the disengagement, the prime minister of Israel, may make a hard right turn after its implementation and hurt the West Bank – which in Israel is called Judea and Samaria. But if the Jews see the disengagement as a solution to their security problems, I will accept it. I will look for the good in it, in order to see a sovereign Gaza liberated from the burden of the occupation. Did you know that perhaps you will, for the first time in your lives, be able to go there and live in houses that are on the seaside, instead of the miserable homes you live in today?
But more than that, I am prepared to understand the settlers who protest being evicted from their homes. You also understand their rage, because we were uprooted from our home before them.
To be accurate, you, who were uprooted with your entire family from your home in Beit Shean, will understand better than anyone else the pain and suffering of the settlers. And if you express that understanding candidly and publicly, you will help a lot of them to understand your own pain. They were never able to consider your pain, the pain that hasn’t left you for 57 years.
Israeli society doesn’t think about you at all. It’s reasonable to say that Israelis are in fact frightened of the refugees. They cannot face the historical facts with which you live. So you have a task and a historical responsibility to alleviate that fear, so that the Israelis will be forced to start facing the history of Palestinian Arabs and look for a creative solution to their problems.
Liberation from prejudice
My dear sisters, working to alleviate the Jews’ fears is the right thing to do. The Jews went through 2,000 years of dispersion and persecution. In Europe they went through the terrible Shoah during the Second World War. They lost faith in other nations; and today many of them see us - the Arabs in general and the Palestinians specifically - as the new enemy that threatens their existence. It does not say good things about us – it is not flattering to us – to have this aggressive image. And the most important thing is that if the Jews stop fearing us, we’ll start to discover the good and beautiful things about them. And they will start to discover the good and beautiful things about us. Maybe we will even start to compete to see who can be nicer to the other.
Do you think I’m living in a dream world? That I’m naïve? That I’m trying to escape from our gloomy reality?
Perhaps. But dreams, and liberation from the limitations of our generation’s prejudices, are preferable to the terrible situation we find ourselves in – this situation of enmity and vengeance. Enough with the hatred, let’s let it go; because we don’t have much time left. We need every day, every hour and every minute we have left to find a change in direction. We want our children to think about their studies and about advancing themselves. We don’t want them to grow up without experiencing childhood. We want our children to hug computers and bicycles, not stones. We want our society to sanctify life, not death. We want to sanctify humans more than land.
My dear, beloved sisters,
As one who knows you so well, and knows your dreams for your sons and daughters, and as a father who wants the best for his children, I am sure that we all share the same hopes. We shouldn’t be afraid to express them, because these are the hopes and dreams of the vast majority of Palestinian Arabs. But the voice that most people hear is the loud voice of the extremists. That voice frequently drowns out the voice of conscience, and sometimes drowns out the voice of wisdom. It has its gangs and its mafias, and we’ve had enough of them. And even though we have tarried and perhaps we have failed along the way, nevertheless this is the time to act and to cry out: No more silence. The majority must control the street.
By Nazir Majli
To my three lovely sisters,
Fada, Wataf and Hitam -
Al Husun Refugee Camp (Jordan)
Permit me to address you in this roundabout way, in the Hebrew language. I am doing this because this time I want to include my Jewish friends in my thoughts about you. It’s clear that you still haven’t digested the fact that your brother, who has Israeli citizenship, has Jewish friends. The question that you and your children asked me still rings in my ears: “How can you trust them?” And so I make my request again: Please get used to it. Some day you will understand, and that day will probably arrive sooner than you think. This friendship is wonderful, and soon you will enjoy it too.
This is a friendship between human beings. It goes beyond borders and fences; it is not limited by nationality or race. It’s a friendship based on the values that form the base of the Arab culture that flows in our veins – values from which we have disassociated ourselves. These friendships are not the alliances of Arabs against Jews, but rather alliances between Arabs and Jews who value humanity above all. They are different from alliances that have nothing holy about them - those of Jews and of Arabs who place a supreme and sacred value on land and on personal interests.
You will no doubt ask how I can talk about alliances and friendship between Arabs and Jews at a time when a wall the height of a three-story building is being built between us. And how can I talk about humanistic values when people are choosing total disengagement, the hard way – through sweat and blood – and the evacuation of thousands of families from the homes in which they lived for tens of years? You only think of one thing – returning to your house in Bisan, which is today called Beit Shean, from which you were uprooted. And that dream has become for you the measure of all things.
My response will surprise you, as usual. But for you, because I love you so much, I am prepared to face it all.
The principle of shattering the fear
I do not oppose the separation barrier, because I understand that the Jews need it in order to feel secure. I argue with them about the route, because I don’t want it to swallow additional Arab lands. I also accept the unilateral disengagement. Not because I think it’s a good thing, and not because I see it as a solution. I even admit to the fact that the person who initiated the disengagement, the prime minister of Israel, may make a hard right turn after its implementation and hurt the West Bank – which in Israel is called Judea and Samaria. But if the Jews see the disengagement as a solution to their security problems, I will accept it. I will look for the good in it, in order to see a sovereign Gaza liberated from the burden of the occupation. Did you know that perhaps you will, for the first time in your lives, be able to go there and live in houses that are on the seaside, instead of the miserable homes you live in today?
But more than that, I am prepared to understand the settlers who protest being evicted from their homes. You also understand their rage, because we were uprooted from our home before them.
To be accurate, you, who were uprooted with your entire family from your home in Beit Shean, will understand better than anyone else the pain and suffering of the settlers. And if you express that understanding candidly and publicly, you will help a lot of them to understand your own pain. They were never able to consider your pain, the pain that hasn’t left you for 57 years.
Israeli society doesn’t think about you at all. It’s reasonable to say that Israelis are in fact frightened of the refugees. They cannot face the historical facts with which you live. So you have a task and a historical responsibility to alleviate that fear, so that the Israelis will be forced to start facing the history of Palestinian Arabs and look for a creative solution to their problems.
Liberation from prejudice
My dear sisters, working to alleviate the Jews’ fears is the right thing to do. The Jews went through 2,000 years of dispersion and persecution. In Europe they went through the terrible Shoah during the Second World War. They lost faith in other nations; and today many of them see us - the Arabs in general and the Palestinians specifically - as the new enemy that threatens their existence. It does not say good things about us – it is not flattering to us – to have this aggressive image. And the most important thing is that if the Jews stop fearing us, we’ll start to discover the good and beautiful things about them. And they will start to discover the good and beautiful things about us. Maybe we will even start to compete to see who can be nicer to the other.
Do you think I’m living in a dream world? That I’m naïve? That I’m trying to escape from our gloomy reality?
Perhaps. But dreams, and liberation from the limitations of our generation’s prejudices, are preferable to the terrible situation we find ourselves in – this situation of enmity and vengeance. Enough with the hatred, let’s let it go; because we don’t have much time left. We need every day, every hour and every minute we have left to find a change in direction. We want our children to think about their studies and about advancing themselves. We don’t want them to grow up without experiencing childhood. We want our children to hug computers and bicycles, not stones. We want our society to sanctify life, not death. We want to sanctify humans more than land.
My dear, beloved sisters,
As one who knows you so well, and knows your dreams for your sons and daughters, and as a father who wants the best for his children, I am sure that we all share the same hopes. We shouldn’t be afraid to express them, because these are the hopes and dreams of the vast majority of Palestinian Arabs. But the voice that most people hear is the loud voice of the extremists. That voice frequently drowns out the voice of conscience, and sometimes drowns out the voice of wisdom. It has its gangs and its mafias, and we’ve had enough of them. And even though we have tarried and perhaps we have failed along the way, nevertheless this is the time to act and to cry out: No more silence. The majority must control the street.
