Kitty O. CohenFolklore of the Other: The Institute for the Study of Religion and Communities in Israel |
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Personal Story and Holocaust:
“ What I witnessed in Europe left a lasting impression on me. The war years shaped my views and my outlook on life. My work today has its roots in the traumas of my childhood. From family members I learned one can retain one's humanity. In spite of the persecutions and the fear, I was taught not to condemn any group or people. It was their humanity and their behavior to others that enabled our miraculous survival of the Holocaust [....] I knew what it was like to be discriminated against and be dispossessed of all that was mine. I said I understood their predicament and was trying, in my own small and modest way, to do what I can. People who have suffered from discrimination and oppression, people who could have been or have been refugees can identify with others and their suffering. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ The outbreak of the first intifada in 1987 was a turning point. Until that time, I had been concerned about the status of the Arabs in Israel. In 1987 the average Israelis, from their own living-rooms, were confronted with Palestinians face to face, as people and not merely as street cleaners, laborers or construction workers [....] There was excellent footage and very good reports (on the Palestinians). I became more aware than I had been before of our neighbors next door. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ This is another great difficulty in peaceful relations, if you want to have real dialogue and real peace, it is very important to be confident enough to stand there and say, I am Jewish, I am Israeli, and you are Muslim or you are Christian or Orthodox or Catholic, or Armenian, Palestinian. It is very important to establish where we come from and not say, “I am an Israeli woman who wants peace so I am willing to give up my narrative. I have no narrative” as if I had no story, no language, no culture. As if I were an alien come from another world, here to the Middle East, which is holy Muslim territory and I have nothing, no roots here. This is not conducive to peace. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Perceptions of the Other and Fear:
“ 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]
Community Responses to Peace Work and Perceptions of the Other:
“ This work contributes in that it reduces prejudices; it breaks down the wall of prejudice that lies between Palestinian and Israeli children and between their communities. As a result of the exhibitions, the children’s siblings and parents shared their pride and met in good spirits. This helped as well. The other child -- Jewish or Palestinian -- no longer was an enemy but a friend they loved to meet. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ I worked very quietly to be able to carry out projects with the Palestinians. When the intifada broke out, it was practically taboo. There were many parents who didn’t want it. I had a group of children and a group of parents and the parents said, “No. Our children meet with Palestinians? No, not at this time”. So I went to another group. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Political Peace Processes/Political Leadership:
“ I think that peace must be made between Palestinians and Israelis. The fewer outsiders are involved the better off we’d be. I don’t think a peace process can be achieved outside of Israel -- neither on the White House lawn, nor in Geneva and not in Paris or Oslo. It has to be negotiated and achieved here. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ There is this sense sometimes that peace should be coerced. There must be an outsider -- you hear this from time to time -- an outside power will impose it and then there will be peace. I don’t believe it and I don’t think it’s going to last. I think there’s going to be opposition, but if both peoples are educated, are convinced from within that it is possible, that it is to their advantage, that they will have peace with dignity and respect for their identity, peace has a chance. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Vision and Civil Society:
“ Everybody [must be involved in the peace process]! Beginning with kindergarten teachers, parents, reporters, businesses, everybody; all sectors of the population, everybody needs to be involved, in a totally different way. It has to be through the media and in businesses and in education on all levels. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ If they’re young people, I suggest they refresh their Arabic, take a year of spoken Arabic, and then in addition take a few courses in Arab civilization, Arab culture. All schools should teach Arabic and their schools must teach Hebrew. They must not learn Hebrew only in prison. Most Palestinians I meet who are fluent in Hebrew have been in prison. First learn the language and then meet without any preconceptions or ideas of reconciliation or dialogical methods that come from overseas. We need to listen to them, to take away the fear that the people have. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ There is a revival of religion all over the world, not only in Jewish and Muslim societies, there is a revival elsewhere as well, and this is dangerous - any absolutist view that only my belief and my faith and my culture is the true one that leads to God, any exclusivist view is very dangerous. This is one of one of the roots of this conflict. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ I personally would like to see a Palestinian state next to ours. I think that minor conflicts and even armed conflicts may erupt but I think if there is a Palestinian state it will survive and in the long run we may well reach a wider agreement, -- a federation -- with the states around us and create a Middle Eastern union. That would be the ideal. But for that again, we have to be accepted. Israel is being accepted, beginning to be accepted. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Education and Perceptions of the Other:
“ In Palestinian schools the “other” is the Christian, and sometimes the Jew is mentioned, not always positively, but Israel doesn’t exist, Tel Aviv doesn’t exist, the state doesn’t exist on the maps, in the curriculum. In the paintings of the children, they exist side by side. This is the marvelous change that occurred during those three years when they worked together, in a sustained project. There was a change, an educational process. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Vision and Civil Society:
“ In politically bad times there is more need for grassroots work, and when the political situation is positive then grassroots can be co-opted into the system. Then they can contribute. Their think tanks, their activists and their people can be integrated into the political vision. But in times of need, in times of trouble, there is great need for grassroots organizations precisely to counter the violence, the hatred between our peoples. The new friendships and honest dialogues between Palestinians and Israelis have given me the hope and courage to continue. As one of our second century Sages said, I need not complete the task, but neither am I at liberty to desist from it (Rabbi Tarfon, Avot,2,16). ” [Source in Complete Interview]
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