Fear
Ayelet Shahak
Association for the Commemoration of Bat-Chen Shahak, Bereaved Families Forum
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ [Fear affects peace work] very much. The damage of the second intifada in the Israeli public is immeasurable. The fear caused many people to move to the Right. Many. I'm talking about people from the Left - not people who were undecided or from the Center. The fear, the distrust, the slap in the face. We are in a very deep crisis.” [Source in Complete Interview]
Helmi Kittani
Center for Jewish-Arab Economic Development
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ I am a businessman and I seek to advance business projects, but a long time ago I arrived at the conclusion that it is impossible to succeed in business projects if we do not simultaneously address the psychological and societal aspects. With regard to Arabs and Jews, in the beginning of my activities, in 1993, I approached Jewish businessmen and told them it was worthwhile for them to invest in Arab villages and towns. The Jews said, "Can we enter Arab villages and they won't through stones at us?" And the Arabs said "You want us to give our land to Jewish partners?" When we began those projects and showed them that we are all partners in this country, it became clear that the devil is not so evil.” [Source in Complete Interview]
Ayelet Shahak
Association for the Commemoration of Bat-Chen Shahak, Bereaved Families Forum
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ I remember the first meeting of the Bereaved Families Forum, close to twenty Israeli bereaved families gathered in Jerusalem, and Yitzhak Frankenthal, who was the advisor and the organizer, turned to us and said that tomorrow all of us that were gathered there would go to meet with Palestinian bereaved families. I remember that there were some families there that were really shocked by the idea, and they actually quit, they didn't continue with us anymore. To me also it seemed very scary and not really right to go to Gaza. Yitzhak tried to explain that it wasn't scary, that he had already gone a lot of times. He had arranged it, and there was a group that wanted to meet that was already expecting us. I got up and said that I was afraid. Yitzhak then understood that he had to do some preparation with us. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Ihsan Turkiyyeh
Arab-Hebrew Theatre in Jaffa
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ I feel the Israeli have more fear than us, although we have our fears. I feel they have fear more because they are the occupiers. If somebody steals something from somebody he will always be afraid that the person will come and take the thing back. So I feel fear belongs to them more because they are the occupiers. They stole the land and the land has to come back to its people. I always tell them, "You are afraid because you are the occupier-give them their land and you are not going to feel afraid." It is like an equation, they have to understand that.” [Source in Complete Interview]
Khulood Badawi
Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), Ta'ayush, Coalition of Women for Peace, Bat Shalom
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ I think that every nation fears for its existence, but the way the Israelis have dealt with it has created a psychological barrier that prevents them from dealing with facts on the ground. They feel the need to continuously remind themselves of those fears. Israeli policies and education are centered on the catastrophe that hit them. This leads them to constantly feel threatened and that's why they are always afraid of the "Arab world," which they have difficulty perceiving in any other way than as the enemy. It's not that the Jews' fears are illegitimate. As a Palestinian I have my own fears, too; I've been through the Nakba, the Naksa, the occupation, and attempts-- which are failing-- to wipe out my identity, but my past does not hold me back. One must move on.” [Source in Complete Interview]
Rutie Atsmon
Windows
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ I have been visiting the [Palestinian] Territories for almost 30 years, so we get used to things after such a long time. I'm used to walking around Palestinian cities, I have spent so much time in Palestinian villages and cities that it's normal for me, there's nothing strange about it. But maybe because I'm so used to it, I've lost my sense of danger. I don't know, and maybe I'm making a mistake! Some people tell me, "You're crazy, you're crazy, you're going there, you trust them?" I don't know, maybe I am, but I personally feel very comfortable.” [Source in Complete Interview]
Ibtisam Mahameed
Interfaith Encounter Association, Middleway
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ If I go to Tel Aviv in this outfit [the traditional Muslim woman's attire], I will feel unwanted. They will fear me and wonder what is in my bag. I also get checked more because of my dress, especially before getting on a bus or in a train station or just walking on the street. Once I was waiting at the lights and there was a woman who walked away from me, she thought I might do something. I felt her fear and felt sorry for her so I tried to comfort her with a smile. I was just waiting for a minute for the light to cross the street. Those are things you face on the streets, it is not written on my forehead that I am a peace activist, so everyone looks at me the way they want. I still become afraid when I pass a Jewish street or neighborhood. You never know how the other will respond.” [Source in Complete Interview]
Kitty O. Cohen
Folklore of the Other: The Institute for the Study of Religion and Communities in Israel
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ At the beginning they didn’t want to meet each other. They were afraid. “The others are different from us, they dress differently, they talk differently”. The Palestinians knew the Israeli as a soldier with a gun, the Israelis knew the Palestinian as someone who plants bombs on Ben Yehuda Street and on buses. Those were the mutual images, the perceptions they had of each other. Quite understandably so: this was on the news, this is what happened. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Majed Tbeileh
Nablus Youth Federation, The Future Generation Hands Committee
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ I think that every side has its own fears. The Palestinians don’t fear violence and arrests. The Israelis are very afraid of the suicide bombings. Many Palestinians don’t fear death, because they don’t feel they are alive anyway.” [Source in Complete Interview]
The Late Professor Dan Bar-On
PRIME (Peace Research Institute in the Middle East)
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ The fear that listening to the other will de-legitimize their own position... their own experiences, their own feelings... that [is] a major fear of both groups, I think. The success was that they could listen to each other and not de-legitimize either their own or the other point of view. It's very difficult to contain in yourself both stories.” [Source in Complete Interview]
Ali Abu Awwad
Bereaved Families Forum, Al Tareek (The Way)
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ In daily life as well as in politics, the fear of tomorrow destroys today. If we are confident today, we will build a good tomorrow. Because we are afraid of the future, we are destroying the present, which hampers the efforts of building the future. The past also has a major role. Our bloody past in which we paid a high price is what causes us to be fearful today. We are even afraid of meeting others. We are afraid of being accused [of treason], are afraid that they might convince us, and are afraid of not being able to face them or being undermined by them. Fear is no simple issue.” [Source in Complete Interview]
Melisse Lewine-Boskovich
Peace Child Israel
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ [The real fear is] extinction. It’s very primal. Yeah, it’s basically that they want to get rid of us. Not trusting that they don’t want to annihilate us if given the slightest chance. And there are enough people out there saying it, if not violently, then politically, “make this a bi-national state from the Jordan to the Mediterranean, why should there be a Jewish majority here at all?” This kind of statement didn’t exist 10 years ago, and it's not helping Jews that have this fear get over it and start trusting. It’s doing the opposite. That’s why I don’t go to demonstrations; I began to think that demonstrations are counterproductive. These trapped animals-that’s the way they’re feeling-see their own people betraying them, and it just makes them feel more fear that they can’t even trust their own. I was in a few demonstrations and I was called all kinds of names, and I decided it wasn't helping.” [Source in Complete Interview]
Rutie Atsmon
Windows
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ People are so afraid to go on buses, but there are more chances that a bus will flip over because of an accident than that it will be exploded. So what are we afraid of, why are we afraid of things? Who makes us afraid? What information is being pushed to our brain all the time that makes us afraid of one thing and not the other?” [Source in Complete Interview]
Devorah Brous
Bustan
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ I feel that fear is a tactic that’s used to control the population, and it also generates a lot of funding from Jewish communities around the world, to strengthen and buttress the state, and so on. When you live here and you realize how much fear is fed to you - it’s in the air that you’re supposed to fear the other... I feel like one of the major aspects of life here that I’m inspired to discuss with other Israelis and with Jewish Americans is that it has been very, very paralyzing to be fed fear all the time. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Rutie Atsmon
Windows
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ Many of our members will tell you, "Yeah I trust the Palestinian members [of the organization], but what about the neighbors, what if someone you know, does something?" And it's very hard to discuss it, what are the options, how to do it, what can happen, to make people feel comfortable enough to do it [go to Palestinian villages]. And of course, I cannot take the responsibility to tell anyone nothing is going to happen, because I don't know. So the question is, are we willing to take the risk? Do we trust our host Windows members that they will do all they can to protect us and to make sure that nothing will happen. And you can never know.” [Source in Complete Interview]
Melisse Lewine-Boskovich
Peace Child Israel
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ I believe that the Jews are behaving as those who suffered from child abuse: if you were hit, you hit back, and you hit before you get hit again. And it's going to take a huge, monumental effort to be able to let that go. That's going to also require the discriminated, downtrodden minority to kick in and help and prove that it can happen.” [Source in Complete Interview]
Melisse Lewine-Boskovich
Peace Child Israel
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ For the Palestinians it would be good to recognize that there's this little thing in the back of every Jew's head that has to do with fear. If you keep doing the things that reinforce that fear, it's not going to do you any good.” [Source in Complete Interview]
Professor Sami Adwan
PRIME (Peace Research Institute in the Middle East)
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ Although it saddens me to say it, I think that the Israeli political system has yet to reexamine or reconsider the driving concept of the Zionist movement; that of the Promised Land and so on. One of the fundamental reasons for this, that we as Palestinians tend to neglect, is the history of the Jews in Europe. Those experiences continue to cause fear among Israelis today. What happened in Europe - the Holocaust and the oppression of the Jews - still frightens them. This plays a large role in their attention to acquiring military power.” [Source in Complete Interview]
Rutie Atsmon
Windows
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ There's not much difference between the psychology of an individual and the society. One of the things that we try to explain to the Palestinians is the very deep built-in fear Israelis, or Jews in general, have because of our history. We to help Israelis feel the fears, and frustrations, and anger of the Palestinians because of their history, which is connected to us, because we are part of it. Dealing with the fears, understanding the fears helps people a lot to understand each other. To overcome the fear is part of healing, is part of working towards reconciliation. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Adele Zumot
All for Peace Radio
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ What is happening in the Palestinian Territories is definitely more than what is happening in Israel. However, the Israelis are also afraid of the bombings that happen inside Israel; even the soldier at the checkpoint is afraid, terrified. The soldier at the checkpoint that terrifies thousands of people is terrified himself.” [Source in Complete Interview]
Eliyahu McLean
The Sulha Peace Project, Jerusalem Peacemakers, Middleway
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ Both societies are committing violence-Israel sending in missiles to kill Hamas leaders and Hamas sending in bombers. Ibrahim Abu El Hawal from the Mount of Olives, with whom I also work, says, "God chose two of the most stubborn people in the world, the Arabs and the Jews, to live in this land." We both refuse to budge. We are two deeply wounded peoples sharing this land. We act out of wounded-ness and fear, not what's really in our best interest, and in fact we make the wounds deeper. We Israelis are traumatized by our history, the Shoah, the Holocaust. Palestinians have been displaced and traumatized. You can't talk rationality to someone who's traumatized. I think it's a huge obstacle, the collective national traumas that we are both oozing, and it's perpetuating the way we behave.” [Source in Complete Interview]
Rutie Atsmon
Windows
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ We invite people to come to Palestinian villages with us to overcome the fear that something may happen to them, we can get shot or something. Some people are afraid they can get shot by Palestinians, others are afraid they can get shot by soldiers, it is to overcome the fear of coping with what you see there, what we do as Israelis to the Palestinians, and overcoming the fear, the very basic fear that we have to do those things because otherwise Israel will not survive. This is the main fear that we try to help people overcome. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Ofer Shinar
Independent advisor and researcher in Transitional Justice, former consultant to the Bereaved Families' Forum
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ I cannot describe the experience of hearing a suicide attack; to hear it- it's the worst thing that can happen to you. My girlfriend lives in Jerusalem and I really am very fearful for her life.” [Source in Complete Interview]
Ibrahim Issa
Hope Flowers School
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ [The] reason for founding the psychological support program is that a lot of the students started to come with fear, hyper-activity, aggressiveness, lack of sleep, nightmares, all these symptoms. And there's psychological stress and you have to deal with that. […] What we're doing here is giving them space to feel psychologically and physically safe. And this is the basis of peace education. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Shwanesh Maniov
Seeds of Peace, Children of Abraham
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ I think the [peace] process should be interpersonal. Hate often comes from ignorance - I'm afraid of what I don't know, when I don't know the other side I'm afraid, and I build a wall. I think that if you break the wall then peace can be achieved, much more authentically than a politician signing a peace treaty…” [Source in Complete Interview]
George Sa'adeh
Bereaved Families Forum
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ Fear can have an effect, but I think the interests of one people that come at the expense of another is the cause for wars. When one people exploits and occupies another, conflicts are created. But when people live alongside each other with mutual respect, I don't see any reason for fear or hostility.” [Source in Complete Interview]
Professor Sami Adwan
PRIME (Peace Research Institute in the Middle East)
Portrait »
Interview Highlights »
“ The situation will worsen in the years to come, and the Palestinian condition in particular will get much worse. I am not very optimistic these days. The fear that I have now is similar to the fear that existed in 1948. That is to say, I fear that I will become like a Native American Indian, or like one of the indigenous peoples of Australia or Canada. When I was in Canada, natives there said, “our places are disappearing.” As a Palestinian, I also feel that my places are disappearing. Now, when I look out my office window, I see the wall. I cannot see beyond it. The wall is also very close to my house, no more than 100 meters away. So I feel like my land and the places that should belong to me have begun to disappear.” [Source in Complete Interview]
