(Palestinian/Israeli)
Faces of the Conflict(Palestinian/Israeli)
FORWARDWhen I established the program for international education exchange which bears myname, my main purpose was to find a way to persuade people that war was not a sensiblemethod of influencing the peoples of other nations. When the United States droppedatomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it showed the world that the art of killing hadsuddenly been raised to ethereal heights. The introduction of nuclear weapons meant thatany major conflict would bring about the destruction of the planet and of the human race.As Einstein said, “Now all has changed but our manner of thinking. If the human racecannot change its manner of thinking, it will lead to incalculable chaos.”Today we need a leadership that recognizes that the fundamental challenge in this nuclearhi-tech era is one of psychology and education in the field of human relations. Theattributes upon which we must draw are the human attributes of common sense andcompassion, of intellect and creative imagination, and of empathy and understandingbetween cultures. The time has come to lay down our weapons and begin the long slowprocess of talking to one another, of trying mediation instead of machine guns.The photos and captions contained in “Faces of the Conflict” by Beverly A. Orr and EllenHosmer are a testimony to the need for a peaceful settlement of ancient quarrels. Thesefaces show more eloquently than words the effect of the conflict thrust upon them.Perhaps it should be required reading for those about to sit at the conference table.J.W. FulbrightJuly 24, 1991
Everyday the headlines in the newspapers report the numbers dead in Israel and theOccupied Territories, the bloody and sometimes brutal confrontations and the endlessinternational efforts to restore an illusive peace to the area.But behind these headlines are the lives of the 4.2 million Israelis and the 1.3 millionPalestinians in the Occupied Territories who together inhabit an area only slightly largerthan the state of New Jersey.Their stories are the stories of those caught in the crossfire of a war that has raged for aslong as they can remember. It is the story of average people trying to lead ordinary liveswhile the countryside explodes around them. It is the story of Israeli and Palestinianmen, women and children and their lives in the Holy Land. It is a story of mothersjoining together to forge common ground between Arabs and Jews. It is the story ofpoliticians anxious for a final confrontation so once and for all a resolution will be athand.In the Spring of 1988, Ellen Hosmer and Beverly Orr traveled to Israel to record the facesand words of the victims of a conflict that has torn the region apart and divided the twopeoples for more than 40 years. What is represented here is a small portion of the 150interviews conducted. With photographs and direct quotes, they have tried to create abalanced but diverse portrait of Israel and the Occupied Territories. The photographs arearranged alternately Palestinian, Israeli, Palestinian, Israeli, etc.The voices of these individuals are rarely heard, their faces never seen. They are bothIsraeli and Palestinian forced to live together, but living apart. Their pain and sufferingas well as their hopes and dreams go unreported. But through their words we can beginto understand how deep the fears are, how wide the gulf of mistrust and how, in theirdesperation, they are very much the same.
Sobhia Hussain HamidMazarah-el-SharqiyaPalestinianHe died the night he turned 18. He was shot by a settler. I will never forgive them. Theland will get me my vengeance and the land will give the Shabab the strength to get thevengeance. Either we have a totally independent Palestinian state or we all die.
Yehezkel LandauOZ veShalomIsraeliTo me there is no inherent contradiction between guaranteeing the security of Israel instrategic terms, and allowing Arab sovereignty again west of the Jordan River. Whatshould happen, if the Israeli government were united and wise? It should allow freeelections in the territories and then negotiate with the people who are elected. That’swhat the Israeli government should do. But it won’t, and that’s a tragedy. We have aschizophrenic government that can’t speak with one voice. It’s pulling in oppositedirections. So we are paralyzed. That means that we have no political program to offerthese people, we just have guns and billy-clubs.
Demonstration in Kufer-MallekPalestinianIn the remote West Bank village of Kufer-Mallek, the boys and girls demonstrate dailyfor the liberation of Palestine. Due to the hilly terrain and narrow road leading into thetown, it has not been visited by Israeli soldiers in over two months. Palestinian flags,illegal under Israeli law, fly everywhere. They are painted on houses, wrapped aroundelectricity wires and strapped to every tree.
Israel ShahakHebrew University ProfessorIsraeliPeople here have perceived that we can do things to Palestinians and the Americanestablishment (the Congress, the presidency and the top politicians) will continue tosupport us without any limitation. This is the secret behind the hardening of Israelipolicies. In the West Bank and Gaza you see Nazi-like brutality, many of the acts are sohorrifying that there is no other word in the current language but to use it.I am a Holocaust survivor myself. It reminds me of the essence of Nazism – which is acomplete absence of law. The first thing they did to Jews in the conquest of Austria in1938, exactly 50 years ago now, was to catch Jews and make them clean the streets.[This] is done to Palestinian ladies and gentlemen all the time. The occupied territoriesare characterized by a complete absence of law and any guarantee of human dignity.A very great mistake of what I call the debating of the Holocaust is that you begin withthe end product and not the beginning. The beginning is denying any guaranty of lawand any notion of human dignity and then extermination. In Israel, we are very muchpast the beginning.
Salweh NabanJalazun Refugee CampPalestinianEvery four or five days they open the camp for one hour. The water they have not cut,but the electricity is off all the time. Under the curfew the soldiers shoot when they seeanything. When people go to the window they shoot. One man lost his eye. They foundan old lady in the street and hit her with their guns. The doctor is only allowed to comein for one hour each day.At the beginning of the curfew when people tried to take vegetables to neighbors orrelatives the soldiers would take it and stomp on it. For the necessary things we have hadenough. But the flour is finished.Always we are looking out the windows for the soldiers. Always we are afraid.
Dr. Baruch GoldsteinKiriyat Arba SettlerIsraeliA few years ago Rabbi Kahane’s ideas were looked down upon and his followers wereostracized but now things are different because people see the Arab problem morevividly.People say you can’t live with the Arabs and you can’t keep so many soldiers [on theWest Bank and Gaza] permanently so the solution is to remove the Jews and you don’thave to worry about co-existence. I say the land belongs to us and Arabs don’t belong tous, so the land we should keep and the Arabs we should let go. I think it’s feasible todayto do. Militarily it’s no problem. There was an episode a little while ago in Africa,where 2 million people were driven out in two weeks. As Westerners it seems very cruel,very unrealistic and very barbaric to do this but you have to realize that the Arab mind isnot the Western mind. They are a cruel people. They are a people who want to spillblood. I don’t feel towards a people like that we have any obligations.Will the world accept us driving them out? Eventually we’re going to have to drive themout or we’ll be driven out. Much of the world will be against us, maybe all the world,maybe not.
Rasha Yousel Sa’edEl BirehPalestinian“I want to buy you [her brother] a revolver so you can shoot the eyes of the soldiers. Wewant to shoot the Jews”. – RashaRashs’ aunt: About one week ago, the settlers came. The Shabab went out to protect thehouses. We hid inside the house and locked all the doors. We heard some Arab voices.So we came out. Rasha’s mother was baking. Rasha was playing with the key to thedoor. All of a sudden the Shabab were running away and soldiers were following them.One soldier lifted up his rifle and he aimed at Rasha. I realized what he was going to doand I tried to grab her but it was too late. I didn’t realize what happened. There wererubber bullets all over the veranda. She was hit. Rasha started screaming. All the fleshof the eye was outside, hanging. There was blood all over. We were terrified. Iscreamed at the soldier. “Why do you shoot the little girl. Why don’t you shoot me.”The soldiers stayed for about 15 minutes then they left.
Olga NessisJerusalemIsraeliI was born in Russia. I came as a child. It was Palestine when I came. For me it was achallenge to build a country. We [had] to have a place of our own. When I came it wasnot developed. We cultured the Arabs. We built schools for them. We used to takeArabs to work in our houses. You know the Arabs, they are very primitive. Their IQ isvery, very low. When I came to Israel the Arabs used to be so poor. An Arab never sleptin a bed. We taught them how to sleep in a bed. How to buy furniture. They never hadfurniture. They never had a table in their house. We taught them all. Now they have hotwater and cold water. During the time I’ve been here they’ve come so [far].
Father Audeh RantisiFather of the Anglican ChurchRamallah, West BankPalestinianWe as Palestinians were not born to be occupied, to be suppressed and oppressed. Weare human beings. There will be no peace for anybody until we have our own state.I feel sorry for Israel because Israel is deepening the hatred in the hearts and minds ofyoung and old Palestinians. According to the gospel, what ever a man sows he alsoreaps. You cannot treat people like this. This is a struggle, but the will of the peoplesooner or later through God’s help will succeed.
Hannah FriedmanJerusalemIsraeliAll the time you hear from the government that there is no one to talk with. [But] when a[Palestinian] leader stands up, they deport him. Then they say that there is nobody to talkwith. It’s ridiculous.
These children throw stones at the Israeli soldiers because they drink and eat theoccupation the whole day. It’s like their daily bread. The stone is the only weapon wehave. Even the Arab countries couldn’t do anything about the Palestinian problem, butthese children they did by throwing stones at the Israelis.God willing we are going to get back Palestine. If we don’t get it, our children will. Ifour children don’t, their children will. Generation after generation, we will continue tostruggle until we get Palestine back.Fatima Shehadeh al-Ja’aFariDheisheh Refugee CampPalestinian
Sampson ElamJerusalemIsraeliI think the main sin that we [committed] here was that we didn’t treat the Arabs withrespect, we didn’t honor them. Very often we abused them to enlarge our fortunes. Youknow the Arabs are a very religious people. When they see our way of life I think that itoffends them that we are the rulers here. We don’t behave as we should behave. We livein a very low moral way. It offends me. Something in the quality of the Jewish peoplehas been damaged here in Israel. The Jewish story was always a story of not of quantity,but of quality. And the quality here is very, very low.It’s one of the things that happens in any revolution. The Zionist movement and ourcoming back here was a revolution. People had to change their way of life. We left ourown culture our own beliefs and we don’t have new ones instead. So people are leftwithout anything. The spiritual life here in Israel is very weak, compared to materialthings. After 2000 years of spiritualism people need to feel power, to feel in possessionof something, but I think it is temporary. I think more and more the questions, theproblems, will be more spiritual. What is the content, what is the image, what is the aimof this country? What makes the Jewish people a people is religion, belief. We are anation of one book. Take the Bible from the Jewish people and it’s just an occasionalgathering of people, without any glue.
Rationally, life in Israel is impossible. If you consider it in a rational way you say it’s asmall country, a few million people surrounded by so many Arab enemies and with somany problems. Rationally, it is hopeless. But faithfully, it is the biggest story in theworld. My living here, my being here is a triumph, a special triumph of people, ofnations.
Lamis Abu NahlehRamallah, West BankPalestinianThe uprising mobilizes women. It has broken the fear of the Palestinians. We would bestupid to say this is going to go on forever, but the Palestinians will never go back to thesituation they were in before the uprising.Women are becoming so brave. They say, “there is no freedom without sacrifice. Theson who I lost is not my son, his name is Palestine.” They say, “thank God he died amartyr.” What makes mothers stronger is the camp village that surrounds them. Theuprising has made it clear to people that we have a right to end the occupation. Ourchildren are suffering so much. All they know is war, tear gas, and rubber bullets.
Baruch NachsonKiriyat ArbaIsraeliWithout the words of our old sages in the old scriptures, nobody would stay here becauseit’s very frightening to live with such people from the jungle. [The Arabs] have no mercyon their own relatives. They are a very, very cruel people. If they could make genocidethey would do it. Their supreme leader, the mufti of Jerusalem was a friend of Hitler. Inthe time of the British blockade after the second world war, the Nazi Arabs helped the[British] to send all the Jewish refugees back to the Ocean. So if you ask me about mercyfor these people, yes, of course you have to have mercy for a man who used to live onthis ground and he has to leave. Nobody has mercy on our people. We were in exile for2000 years, moving from country to country. They robbed and stole all our riches andthey burned our people and our culture. Most of the so-called human world let it[happen]. So I have no mercy for anybody. We’re finished with mercy. We want onlyto survive.
Hind HusseiniFounder and President of theDar El Tifl El ArabiOrphanage and SchoolJerusalemPalestinianIf the Israelis were not such narrow thinkers they would be very happy if we accepted tohave only the West Bank and Gaza and to leave them. We are still very hurt from [the1948] division. It was an unjust division because in what is called Israel they have thebest of the land. They have the plains, they have the sea, they have Jaffa. All their part isvery arable land, it’s very good land. We’re not satisfied but what can we do?
They say that 2000 years ago they lived here. They say God gave them the land. WasGod so narrow-minded?
Asi Hirsit, 14JerusalemIsraeliThe [Palestinians] make us hate them. Their parents tell them that we are living in theircountry, It is our country, it’s a small country. We have a right to it. We won the war.
Feras ElshabatyHebronPalestinianI will continue to struggle for my home. When I woke and found they occupied my homeI began to struggle. It’s like I’m in jail. When I’m better, I’ll throw stones until I die. Iwish that one day there will be peace and freedom, without any problem, prejudice orsadness. I’m not sad because I got shot. I’m sad for my people.
Dr. Pesach SchindlerUnited Synagogue of AmericaWorld Council of SynagoguesJerusalemIsraeliIn Munich when I walked as a young kid, I walked in fear. An Arab citizen walks less infear in any Jewish community here than you might be able to walk at 6:00 at night inCentral Park. When rock throwing stops and when incitement stops, the kind of thingthat no democracy can tolerate, then you will not have a need for the detention. You willnot have a need for massive camps to hold these prisoners. I have to ask myself wherewas the world between 1948 and 1967 when these territories – Gaza and the West Bank –were under total Arab control. Egypt had the Gaza and Jordan had the rest of it. Whywere they not concerned with their brethern? How come they didn’t set up a Palestinianentity at that time? I plead for patience. Give us the opportunity to work things out. Ihave great faith in Israel’s democracy.
Tawfik Abu GhazalehLawyerGazaPalestinianIt is very difficult to practice law here. I am an actor in the military court because it is afarce. [But] I am optimistic. Look at history. Where is the British Empire? Where is theOttoman Empire?
Janet AviadPeace NowIsraeliIsrael has lost the war of the West Bank basically. They haven’t put it down; theyhaven’t managed to scare it out. The soldiers are frustrated and in an intolerable position.World opinion is massively against us. Jewish opinion in America is broken.One of the original slogans of Peace Now was that occupation corrupts. It corrupts theoccupiers because they are forced to use methods which contradict their own fundamentalvalues. You can’t have democracy within the Green Line and non-democracy over theGreen Line.The moral damage is deep and long term. The only thing that will change it is Palestinianliberation, Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, and the withdrawal from the situationof colonization. I think that colonization made the English brutal, made the Frenchbrutal, made the Germans brutal and makes the Jews brutal. The Jews are not anydifferent than anybody else in this respect.
Mona RishmawiLawyerRamallahPalestinianWar cannot be against civilians and whether they like it or not, unless they arm us we arecivilians. We are unarmed. This is not a state of war. It’s an army against civilians. It isa resistance to occupation.
Dan TichonLikud Party, Knesset MemberIsraeliThere is no consensus between the Labor and Likud. The Israeli Defense Forces don’tknow what the official policy of the government is. Fifty percent of the government [is]saying we should be polite, we should not do anything very active in order to stop theriots. And the other half is saying we should shoot, and do lots of other things to subduethe Arabs. You can see the results. It is going down very, very slowly. We are not usingthe IDF forces at all. What are we doing? We are fighting with sticks. Have you everheard about our tanks? Our artilleries? I’ll show you something. This is a special tank.It’s called the Merkava. It’s the most advanced tank in the world. [But] we can’t usecertain measures.I can tell you another tragedy is coming to the Arabs. Probably you heard about theaccident in Beita. Tomorrow they will do the same thing to one of the buses goingbetween Jerusalem and Nablus and 30 Jews will be killed. It is coming. And that will bethe end of the story for the Arabs. Then even Mr. Perez will understand there is a warbetween the Jews and Arabs.
Suher Badir Abu SnenehEl EsawehPalestinianDuring a midnight visit to the town of El Esaweh, Israeli soldiers picked up three-yearold Suher from her bed, scratching her arm. When asked what she thought of thesoldiers, Suher responded: “I hate the Jewish.”
Israeli Defense OfficerChecking identity cardsJerusalemIsraeli“I am embarrassed. We don’t what this job. We do it because we have no choice.”
Hanna SinioraEditor Al-FajrPalestinianPeace is made with enemies, it’s not made between friends. [The] enemies in thisconflict are the representatives of both people. The representatives of the Israeli people isthe government they elect and [although] we are not allowed elections, the choice of thepeople, as they have clearly indicated, is the PLO. Actually, here there is no differencebetween Palestinians and the PLO. The PLO is a reflection of the national exp
Palestinian In the remote West Bank village of Kufer-Mallek, the boys and girls demonstrate daily for the liberation of Palestine. Due to the hilly terrain and narrow road leading into the town, it has not been visited by Israeli soldiers in over two months. Palestinian flags, il
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