University of Calgary undergraduate Megan Martin alongside the security fence near Mei Ami and looking over the Palestinian West Bank village of Anin and the Jezreel Valley beyond

 

When Canadian student and Academic Commissioner-Elect Megan Martin received a grant from the University of Calgary in order to carry out research work in Israel during the summer break she contacted Givat Haviva’s International Department.

Megan was familiar with Givat Haviva from a previous visit to Israel with the Canadian National Jewish Campus Life “Political Leaders Experience Program” in the past when she and her group at that time met with International Department staff member Lydia Aisenberg who also accompanied them on a short tour of Wadi Ara.

“I found the experience then incredibly informative and when speaking to Alexis Pavlich from the NJCL about this present trip she suggested that I get in touch with Givat Haviva again,” Megan told Lydia and her departmental colleague Dr. David Mendelsohn during her second visit to the campus last week.

“I am studying the environmental sustainability and resource distribution in the region and the prospects for resource division between Israelis and Palestinians in the event of a two-state solution.  I am also studying the effect the security barrier might have on resource allocation in the event of a settlement,” explained Megan who had spent some time with representatives of US Aid and other organizations prior to her day at Givat Haviva and was meeting with the Middle East Friends of the Earth the following day.

Fortunate for Megan the day she visited the staff were assisting a documentary film maker from Britain who was concentrating on Palestinian schools – teachers and pupils - in the West Bank and sought out the International Department for guidance in setting up and carrying out meetings.

Together with the film maker and International Department staff Megan was able to visit the Reichan Checkpoint in the security barrier near the village of Barta’a (divided in to two sections, one inside the State of Israel and one these days Area B in the West Bank) as well as tour around the Shaked group of Jewish settlements on the Amir mountain range.

During the visit to East Barta’a an opportunity arose to speak with Palestinian brothers Osama and Raed Kabha who both lived abroad for some years, Osama in Belfast (and holder of an Irish passport) and Raed who studied business management in India.

Raed has Israeli citizenship through marriage but also has Jordanian citizenship and a Palestinian identity card!  He lives with his wife and family in East Barta’a over the home of his retired parents, the former headmaster and headmistress of the high schools in East Barta’a belonging to the Palestinian Ministry of Education.

In an interesting and in-depth conversation with regard the special situation of the village of Barta’a and the complexities that the local population on either side of the divide have to deal with, Osama – who did not know the subject Megan was researching – stated that the major issue in the conflict in his opinion was – water!

 

Osama (left) and Raed Kabha chatting with Megan Martin on the veranda of the family home in East Barta’a

 

“I really appreciate the opportunity so much.  If not for Givat Haviva I never would have had some of the amazing interactions with diverse people in Israel and the West Bank as I have had today,” stated Megan.

“Givat Haviva is an admirable organization and doing such important work,” she concluded after an exhausting but well satisfying day.

 

JULY 2008