Gidon BrombergEcoPeace/Friends of the Earth Middle East |
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Economic/Environmental Resources:
“ From the people-to-people perspective, understanding one's shared environment, understanding the fact that the environment knows no borders, that water flows according to its natural flow, and the border is actually irrelevant-that's something people comprehend. There is a common interest; we are dependent on each other, and that is particularly true in a small region such as this one, where each of the countries is incredibly small, where all the water resources of all three countries-certainly Israel, Palestine and Jordan-cross borders; there is no water source that is purely Israeli or purely Palestinian or purely Jordanian. The environment is something that creates interdependence, and interdependence requires a common understanding if we're to manage that environmental resource properly. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Conceptions of Peace and Economic/Environmental Resources:
“ We focus on communities on either side of the Green Line or on either side of the border between Israel and Jordan, that share a water resource-a river, a stream, a wadi that runs through them. The communities utilize that common resource to try and better understand each other's reality-their water or environmental reality-but also to improve the environment they share and in the process build good neighborly relations. That's what peace is all about, being good neighbors. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Human Rights and Economic/Environmental Resources:
“ Environmental justice includes issues of human rights, and fairness, and some sort of just notion of the division of natural resources. If one side grabs all the natural resources then the other side is going to lose out, not only on the natural resources themselves, but also on their economic potential. So there's a realization that we're not only dealing with the environment here, we're also dealing with political issues too. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Economic/Environmental Resources:
“ If you look at Sharon's plans for the West Bank, where he says that he is willing to give back 40% of the West Bank, that other 60% that he doesn't want to give back has strategic value, and much of it deals with water. Certainly all the areas on the western side [of the West Bank] deal with controlling water resources. The settlements were built with control of water resources in mind. The desire not to give back any of the Jordan Valley to Palestine is partly to have a barrier between Palestine and Jordan, but another big reason for it is in order not to share the waters of the River Jordan with Palestine. So water is a crucial aspect of the peace process. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ Our Jordanian director was shot at in Amman outside our office at the very start of the intifada. That was incredibly scary. I was calling from Tel Aviv saying, "Well, let's close the office for a few days until we find out from the police what's happening," maybe they would arrest the individuals concerned, because the bullet missed two of our staff members by millimeters. But to the credit of the office as a whole, the staff said, "No, if we close the office, we're giving in, and we're not giving in." They didn't close the office, not even for a day. They changed the way they came to work, they didn't come at the same hours, they didn't come together so that they wouldn't be a large target. For a while we had a security person in front of our offices. Several of our Palestinian staff have been threatened by representatives of their own communities. This office has received not quite threats, but certainly ugly messages that we're collaborators, that we're despicable. I've had my tires slashed. But I have no doubt that our Palestinian and Jordanian staff face the greatest risks. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Community Responses to Peace Work:
“ We've had events with adults in community groups and someone stands up and says, "This is a project that's working with the enemy, and people should stop and get out." Those involved in the project or attending the meeting have had to deal with that. We had one school principal respond to an individual like this by saying, "Well, this project is benefiting my community. This project has actually improved the water situation for this school, and has brought drinking water to our sons and daughters. What are you doing for my school? What are you doing that allows you to tell others to get up and leave?" ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ Dialogue for dialogue's sake is part of peace building. But if you're also able to have dialogue that shows real on-the-ground, concrete change, then you're more empowered to respond to the critics, because there are so many critics, and the critics are very powerful. And I think that's one of the secrets of the success of our work. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Political Peace Processes/Political Leadership and Conceptions of Peace and Civil Society:
“ Peace, and sustainable development. That's the mandate of the organization; we're working at creating peace between peoples. We're very much aware that if you only focus on the prime ministers or the presidents signing some sort of accord, it's meaningless. Israel and Jordan have had a peace treaty for ten years. There's no peace between Israelis and Jordanians; it doesn't exist, it's a fallacy. Most Jordanians are hostile toward Israel, and most Israelis are unaware of anything that's really going on in Jordan. It's not peace, and if it stays at that artificial, governmental level, with a change of government, it will all crumble, it will all disappear. The type of peace process that involves people, that involves communities and the shared environment, creates real foundations for peace, it builds understanding. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Political Peace Processes/Political Leadership and Conceptions of Peace and Reconcilation:
“ I think we have to forgive each other for horrible things that we've done to each other, and that hasn't happened. We need to go through that process. We also need our leaders to make those political statements to help create the environment for forgiveness, and to stop the suffering that we impose on each other, but peace is about reconciliation, forgiveness, understanding. We've got a long way to go. It's going to take years; it's going to take generations. It's a marriage, and a marriage, a partnership, requires working at it every day at every level, and that's what peacemaking is about, that's what peace is about. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Obstacles and Challenges and Vision and International Involvement:
“ I think that every dollar that has been allocated to this region-and we're talking about billions of dollars a year-should identify a peace dividend, and they don't. The whole concept of "how is a given activity going to help create peace" is not sufficiently thought through. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Obstacles and Challenges and International Involvement:
“ People from outside shouldn't be coming here in order to tell one or the other of us off. They should be coming here in order to help both. Of course they can be critical, but if the attitude is not "We're here to help both of you resolve this horrible conflict," then they're not doing any good. They're not helping anyone by being biased for the benefit of one or the other. [...] People come out here with great intentions to help the process, but they haven't been trained to work in a conflict situation. And I've seen it first hand; they become haters. They hate the other side sometimes even more than the Israelis or the Palestinians, and therefore they become of no value. They become really damaging to the process, to any prospects of peace building. And that is terrible. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
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