I am sitting in a hall in Arara. Many of my Jewish friends and relatives think for some reason that this is a dangerous place. Then again, many of the people here think it is irresponsible to raise a family on the violent streets of Chicago. Arara is in Wadi Ara, the Ara valley, where the main road passes if you want to drive from Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean coast up north to Tiberias and even further to where Sara works by Kiryat Shmona. This valley has been the scene of violence time and time again. Stones have been thrown at cars by local Arab residents. Arab teenagers have been killed by police. Although these events are few and far between, people tend to focus on the negative and violent. So I know that your local papers and news channels will not take a second to tell you what is happening here tonight. Over 200 Arab and Jewish citizens of this state - religious, ultra religious, secular, and any other definition you can think of - met for an evening of talking and trying to move the situation in this country forward. The first part of the evening was listening to speeches, thankfully short speeches. Writers, local politicians, artists, and community activists told their stories and wishes. The most common messages were the following: We have already spent enough time talking about peace, democracy, and equality. We have exhausted the subject in the past 50 years. It is time for decisions and action. We need to move forward to instill democracy and equality before the current wave of racism pushes us back to the Middle Ages. We must act. It is no longer OK to just talk, but it is time to do something. These 200+ people are acting. They could have spent this cold evening at home, watching TV or catching up on work. Instead, they showed up to listen. They showed up to enjoy music created by Jews and Arabs who work together. They showed up to eat some really tasty local cuisine. Most of all, they showed up for the round table groups that will start in 10 minutes. In small functional groups we will all discuss the options of either fighting racism, participating in civil discussion to create a plan for a joint society, or building a plan to live side by side. We all have to find our preferred direction and start an action plan. This is the third large conference of this kind held in the past few months. You can find it on the internet under the Jaffa Convention. This forum has held many events since 2012, but you didnt hear about it on the news. In the past month I have received invites for no less than 12 coexistence events happening in Israel. I have attended a few, and will attend another on Thursday. I know these events do not make the news, but they are happening all over Israel, more and more. And to my surprise, people arent afraid to go to Wadi Ara any more. It has become a pipeline towards democracy and equality, or in the simpler words used at my table, getting along. Enjoy the video. I am going to grab another falafel. Its really good, and you need a lot of energy to break taboos and make a plan to change the world.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 20:40:59 +0000
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