A member of Congregation Beth El poses for a photograph with a Palestinian carpet salesman from Jenin and curious local Arab youth
A group of congregants from Congregation Beth El in Berkeley, California recently visited Givat Haviva and also participated in a short tour of Wadi Ara and Barta'a village with a staff member of Givat Haviva's International Department.
Accompanied by Congregation Beth El Rabbi Yoel Kahan the group not only visited Israel but also spent 2 days in neighboring Jordan.
In Givat Haviva after a short talk about the region and the Arab citizens of Israel, lunch in what was that day a very busy dining-room, the group left for the tour – first stopping at the Katzir observation point on Mt. Amir and then to the village of Barta'a below.
Walking down the main road of West Barta'a the Californian's asked a barrage of questions of their Givat Haviva guide. After a short time they were able to direct their questions to Palestinian businessmen and youths operating small shops selling a multitude of items on the Israeli side of the divided village.
The Palestinians, none of whom having permission to be on the Israeli side of the security fence never mind the Green Line, were delighted at the opportunity to meet with Jewish folks from America, and the US visitors equally if not more so delighted to have the opportunity to openly discuss with Palestinians more than sensitive issues.
A number of the group members participated in writing a daily blog of their tour to Israel and Jordan and Amy Oppenheimer wrote the following with regard the visit to Givat Haviva and Barta'a.
"First we had a lecture from Lydia Aisenberg, a British woman in her 60's who made Aliya forty years ago. She was able to articulate the conundrum of the Arabs whose village, Barta'a was in Israel and suddenly divided between Israel and the West Bank. She took us to speak with Arab shopkeepers, there illegally because they are just on the other side of the green line, yet live on the Israeli side of the fence. They are in no-man's land. By the way, we have yet to meet any Israeli who is opposed to the fence. They see it as a security necessity.
The shopkeeper we met just wants to make a living. He sees the fence as an impediment to that. He understands that without the fence there would be some deaths due to terrorism (my word, not his), but people die in traffic accidents in San Francisco all the time – right? These things happen.
He would recognize Israel if we went by the UN boundaries from 1947 and Jerusalem was an international zone. Or he would accept East Palestine for the Arabs and West for the Jews. But he thinks that given all the right-wingers on both sides, peace is unlikely.
I began to speak to him about women in Arab society but we ran out of time. He gave me his email (a yahoo account) and suggested we continue the discussion via the net."
Group member Bob Epstein wrote the following in the Congregation Beth El blog:
"Our group visited the Givat Haviva seminar center which focuses on Arab-Jewish co-existence. We met with Lydia Aisenberg who took us to the town of West Barta'a to talk with Palestinians in the street.
The towns of East Barta'a and West Barta'a were separated by the armistice lines drawn at the end of the war of independence in 1948. For the next 19 years, East Barta'a was controlled by Jordan and West Barta'a was in Israel. Families were separated by an arbitrary political boundary chosen because of a mountain valley that ends at the base of the town.
After the 1967 war, Israel took over the west bank and for the first time the physical boundary was removed and families could freely see each other again but they already had different experiences which continue to this day.
East Bata'a is not part of Israel but is also no longer a part of Jordan. West Barta'a is part of Israel. Lydia gave us many examples of how this makes life complicated for everyone and used the town as a case study of just how complicated is it to define the boundaries of Israel and Palestine.
While walking through the streets, we met up with a group of young men working the stalls selling rugs. We asked them questions about their daily lives and what it would take to create a peaceful co-existence. We did not reach any conclusions."
Rabbi Yoel Kahn (far right) shaking hands with Palestinian businessman in Barta'a village
March 2009
