What you see is not what it is

Still writing report

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Desert Quest @ Har Amasa

@ Calandia checkpoint

After half an hour of pushing our backpack few millimeters ahead, trying to ignore the ugly smell of the women in front and the sighs of the guy in the back, listening to a panicking Dutch guy who is refused to pass and the endless comments of the people in the cue on that.
After half an hour of listening to the Israeli soldier yelling crappy Arab through the worst imaginable speakers, being pushed in between iron bars not unlike a pig farm, checking out and being checked out by countless American girls covered with a veil but full of make-up.
After half an hour when I finally arrive at the x-ray machine and the office with the yelling Israeli soldier in it and I'm struggling to get my passport out, mind my luggage and remain sanity at the same time the soldier smiles at me, beaming with happiness. I ask her what she needs from me, if my passport is ok like this but she keeps smiling, looks up from behind her bullet proof window and yells through the speakers: YOU ARE SO TALL!

Let the leaders to their work. We the people have to do ours.

Global Village Square meeting at Hotel Everest, Beit Yalla, no man's land between Israel and Palestine.

For two days Palestinians, Israeli's and compassionate internationals meet up in the hills of Beit Yalla. During the first introduction round one of the Palestinians stresses that: I believe we are not Israeli's and Palestinians and Europeans and Americans, those national and cultural borders don't have a meaning for me. I believe we are human beings and I want to meet you all as another human being, not as my enemies. He is received with applause. It sets the tone for the rest of the Global Village Square.



On a political level nothing seems to be moving towards peace. Bibi Netanyahu, Barack Obama, big shots but unable to envision a way forward. There's simply no idea of tomorrow. Perhaps it's the grass root level that needs take steps towards change. Global Village Square brings people together to meet, talk, work for peace. The meeting gives people a chance to share ideas, find partners in the field, learn about each other's struggle and suffering, make friends.

Eyal and Rigdi talk about how they brought their families together. The children didn't need words to understand each other. In no time they were out playing in the village. Ido and Mohammed have a heated debate about ending the occupation. They conclude that "we don't have to agree, we can still work together". Noami shares her struggle to come here: "Until the moment I walk in there's a voice in my head that tells me to turn around. Committing myself to peace means that I give up peace of mind. I have to step out of my bubble and that is complex and confusing."



The two days end with a presentation of the ideas that arose: learning Arab and Hebrew, working online through mepeace.org, Global Village Square in Europe, Global Village Square for families, women for human rights, a Middle Eastern recipe book, a protest march for peace. All these ideas will have a follow up in the next meeting.

Peace still has a long way to go. It is a long and difficult process with many emotions involved. But the first steps have to be taken by courageous people on all sides to make it happen for everyone.

Am a poor lonesome cowboy, far away from home

More and more I come to believe that we are in the Wild Wild West. The red Indians have turned into Bedouins, the pioneers wore similar dresses to the Orthodox Jews here, and the overall motto is: everyone for himself, and God for everyone.

A: One last question: why are you wearing a gun? I mean, in Holland nobody wears one, so am just curious...

B: You ever forgot your phone somewhere? Yes. You wouldn't want to loose your gun somewhere would you? No. Imagine loosing your gun around your children. Don't want that to happen do you? So I have it with me 24/7. It's my duty to do that. My work requires that I have one. It's kinda dangerous around here you see.



"You see this vineyard? Few weeks ago some Bedouin youth took all the sticks out. Just for vandalism. Their parents told us to give them a good beating if we wanted to. We haven't done so. But next time I see them around I know what to do."

As we drop off the little kid at Kindergarten another father is kissing his girl goodbye. His gun behind the elastic of his underwear. He makes sweet noises to reassure her that she don't need to cry. All is safe."

In the bus next to me an 18 year old in green uniform. M16 on his lap, heavy on his legs. He is texting his girlfriend, falls asleep later until the bus stops, drops him off at the army base.

In your opinion, what is the role of tourism in the development of the Makhteshim area? Why?

And so we are working again... Running from one interview to the other, rewriting our questionnaire after every talk, redefining our final outcome and scope twice a day.

What we do until now: Finding support in the Makhtesh area for the idea that eco tourism has potential here. Finding out why this place isn't the most popular destination for tourists in Israel when it is so beautiful and relaxing. Finding out how these things are related to the communities that are here.



We speak with Bedouins, Hebrew Israelites, Moroccans, Yemenites, Russians, French and many others that all came to this area for different reasons. Their world views, their ideas about tourism, their ideas of what their responsibility is, how they connect to other communities, business ideas, dreams for the future all these topics are in one way or the other covered in our questionnaire.

My world view changes a little with every interview that we do. The stories of all these people slowly give me a 360 degrees idea of this society. Almost too big to encompass. Too complex. Too much history in it. From the interview with one of the Hebrew Israelites today: "We have to untangle the big knot that the world is. Take the complexity out of it, make it straight, so that we can use it for its purpose." This is what we do. See the connections between the dots. Or what we try to at least.

Bedouin wedding

Wednesday night we attended the wedding of a Bedouin girl and her husband. Both were from different areas, the one from a more modern tribe than the other. Dinner is hardly over when everyone starts to dance, and from there on pictures have to tell the story.

In the desert..

At one of the world's most beautiful places is a town. Less than a town it is a village. Ugly apartments and a gas station are in strong contrast with the biggest Maktesh crater in the world. In the middle of the Negev is where you find Mitzpe Ramon. 4000 people from all over the world live together in this forgotten place.

I am here for a project. And as the days pass by I discover the treasures. In big hangars, in small side streets, behind the second hill is where there is a chocolate bar, and a dance school, huts for retreat, an alpaca farm, a soap factory and more. Strong and visionary people that were attracted to the emptiness, the silence and the challenge of the area. Every morning again they wake up, clean their place to wait for customers.

Others came here involuntary. When they arrived to Israel they were put on a bus and dropped in Mitzpe Ramon in the middle of the night. They came from Russia and Chicago and didn't find anything to appreciate in the desert. No culture, no jobs, nothing for the future of their children. They would leave yesterday if they had the money for it.

Around the village are other houses, sheds sometimes. Bedouins live there in between their traditional nomad way of living and the modern life with TV's, houses and jobs. In search for their new identity they have been in a struggle with the government for the past 60 years. They hold the secrets of nature and survival but are a threat to the system.

My job is to go round and interview all these different people about their visions. How can eco tourism and social tourism contribute to a better life for all? How can a sleepy desert town realize its potential and become attractive for tourists again?

Mitzpe Ramon

of women and chicken

So we went into the last phase with our women group. Windows had asked us to make a manual that could guide them in any project that they want to undertake. Our idea was to make worksheets that help think of preparation, network and money.

After introducing the first sheet we soon found out that the women wanted to work on individual projects. A little anxious as to how that would contribute to 'community building' we introduced more personal sheets and worked on them in small groups. One for chicken, one for a greenhouse and one for goats.

The last session we looked back at the whole month and did a tip top on our way of working from which we got only compliments. Nobody here would ever be critical in your face.

On the side we have been developing a recipe book for Palestinian food. Many women have written their recipes down for us and we were invited for lunch so that we could take pictures of lovely grape leave wraps with chicken.

We will be back in June for a follow up. For now am half satisfied with our work. Still a long way to go to be an effective 'community builder'.

schooltrip to Gaza

Today was about going to Gaza. It's not possible, not allowed and not wise and therefore very interesting to do.
Arriving at the checkpoint we were welcomed with a big sign:

Welcome to Erev Crossing Point

As at any checkpoint there is a big wall, discontinued by watch towers. In a little glass house sits a soldier with a microphone. He decides for who to open the gate. What is different here is that there is a huge building with UN flags behind the wall. And the silence. Most checkpoints are full of traffic, people in cars, on foot, going in and out, waiting in long lines. Here there is one family in a car. They push a luggage cart full of suitcases, boxes, blankets. With them is a little boy who apparently just had eye surgery. He holds tightly to his new toy.

Before us in line is an Irish guy. Tattoos, safari clothes, typical journalist. After some checking of the papers and waiting he passes and disappears into the building.

The family waits and waits and then turns around. All the boxes go back into the car and they leave.

When it's our turn we get a snappy 'no'. We sit a bit longer in the sun, in the awkward silence. The most dangerous place in the world? Really?

On the boulevard

I had a few hours to myself today. Sat down at the beach staring at the end of the world. When I got up to walk back I met Tomer. 67 years old, former policeman. Biking along the boulevard on his silver mountain bike. We start walking and talking together and he points out the bottles that he is collecting. 'For the homeless' he explains 'I collect bottles for the homeless'. He bends over and picks up a screw that he adds to his basket. Shows me pictures of his wife and son, they look like old pictures, very old. When we say goodbye he asks me for a contribution. 'Some money for the homeless?' I empty my wallet into his hands. Like he said, it's not good to be without a job. His toothless mouth smiles me a goodbye as I walk on.

Desert Generation

From our talk with Ron Dvir and Ziv Spektor yesterday:

When Moses left Egypt he could only arrive in Israel after forty years. Why? A whole new generation needed to grow up that was not born in Egypt befor change was possible. It's Ziv's hypothesis that every big change needs a 'desert generation'.

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When we think of making the Negev attractive for outsiders we often think of making it into some sort of attraction park. Adding things to the desert. But what really is attractive about the Negev is the Negev. Just that.

Project of chicken

The word is out: We want project of chicken. What? Project of chicken!

Our women's group will put together the little savings they have and buy chicken together. After keeping them in a chicken house, feeding them chicken food and having chicken light bulbs shining over them for 40 days they will be ready to sell.

A little chicken costs 3.5 NES, a big chicken makes 27 NES. Good money! And everyone eats chicken all the time. Chicken soup, chicken with rice, chicken with everything. So no problem to get rid of them and get rich.



Sometimes the chicken die. They get illnesses. Last time there was project of chicken all 400 died. The women are not very eager to have this experience again. All the money they put in was lost.

What will we do? Little bit of teaching planning and bookkeeping. Little bit of ensuring commitment to invest, to work, to sell. Little bit of making sure there are arrangements for dividing the profit. But also connections to other chicken farms, ideas for product differentiation and other difficult words. But first: project of chicken!

Visiting Ala's place

I join Robin and Joris to Ala’s house. We have a question for him and I’m curious to see how he lives. Ala is our translator and one of our bridges to the community. He studies at the Arab American University. He is one of those people whose bright eyes betray a busy inner life. It’s after sunset and as we walk the streetlights switch off. Power cut.



There are around 10 people in the room, all men. Brothers, cousins, Ala’s father an uncle, and a neighbor. We sit down and at once I feel tense about the situation. Where do I hide my female self? Some more men come in and shake hands with Robin, shake hands with Joris and then sit down. Not even a glance in my direction. How do I get out of here? Ala steals my flushed face and smiles. “It’s okay, just stay”. He shows Joris his essay, his books and tells about his professor. Robin makes jokes with the guys around. They bring him three cups of tea because he likes it so much. He tries to memorize the words that men whisper while praying the beads. Ala gives him the beads, from Mecca! When the father leaves Ala lifts up the artificial flowers and gets a pack of cigarettes from the vase. All men sit contently smoking, laughing, discussing how to pick up a girl. I keep myself busy reading the books, smile about the jokes and attempt to make myself invisible.

When we leave, finally leave everyone shakes hands. I nod to few guys but without reaction. Ala walks us to the road. All the time he seems conscious about not being too close to me. He shakes hands with Robin, with Joris, and we walk home.

Community building in the Westbank

“Have you ever been in a country more miserable than ours?”

I am facilitating a meeting with Palestinian women in the Westbank. They are describing me their situation. Their village is a 2000 heads big community up in the hills with very few facilities. The Israeli occupation has a big impact on their daily lives. It is impossible to travel outside the Westbank without a special permit. The men who used to work in Israel until few years ago are now sitting at home idly. There is an unemployment rate of 58% in the area. The women keep their heads up and work hard to keep their big families fed and educated.

I am in the Westbank to do community building for a month. The first few meetings have been about setting the right expectations on both sides. A group of Europeans come to live in a little village for a month: that must mean money! In reality we are a group of students without any money of our own or access to funds. Our intention is to guide the community to work with the available resources. We teach new ways of project planning to support them in realizing their dreams. Our aim is to create groups of empowered men, women and youth inspired to continue improving the village.



“Have you ever been in a country more miserable then this?” the women try to figure out what is worse: the situation in poor Africa as they see it on television or their lack of freedom. I tell them about having to fetch water from a well, not having access to electricity or education, lack of rain and other challenges in Africa. In return we listen to their stories about Israeli soldiers that destroy their crops with jeeps just before harvest time. Olive trees take 20 years before the investment pays off but are cut by soldiers after 10. Israel compensates its lack of water by forbidding Palestinians to pump up water from their wells. Husbands and sons are in jail suspected of affiliation with the Hamas. A brother misses his leg because he was stopped at a checkpoint on his way to the hospital and sent back home. It’s a discussion without conclusion.

The last words have not been said about the situation in Westbank. We will continue working here for two more weeks and I will continue reporting about our experiences.

Landing Zone

Our first two weeks in Israel are almost over. Walking around in town is easy peasy now, even I know my way around...

I'm used now to my sofa in the living room, listening to the sounds of our neighborhood while falling asleep. Walking to our lectures in the morning I recognize the people in the street. The taxi driver taking a nap in his car, the owner of the café on the corner, the Sudanese that sit on the lawn, waiting for something to happen.

During the day we have had lectures from all kinds of people. About Zen meditation, about future centers, about the mastermind method. But more than anything we have listened to all kinds of life stories of people that chose to be different.

We have spent our evenings in Tsila's garden, discussing our project, watching a movie with the director. But also gone for dinners, explored the beach, learned about conducting orchestra's and a hundred other things.

Today is Pesach, which started Wednesday evening with a grand dinner at Ora's place. Her ancient father read the holy verses, the girls served 10 different courses all with their own special meaning and we sang songs reminiscing the exodus from Egypt. Everyone shouted at the same time about what to do next, total chaos in the house.

Sunday we are off to Jalkamus, a village of 2000 people in the Westbank, near Jenin. That's when our project really takes off...

Lunch at the Hub