Where Israelis and Palestinians unite and join hands to help Gaza

Humanity story in the midst of war

The United Nations Security Council on Monday (March 25) adopted a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. With 14 council members voting in favor and the United States, Israel’s closest ally, abstaining, the resolution could be seen as the strongest voice of the international community on the situation in Gaza to date.

The Israeli military is still keeping open the possibility of a ground attack on Rafah, Gaza's border city with Egypt, which is home to more than 1 million refugees. Photo: DW

But Israel appears not ready to listen. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a military graduation ceremony in southern Israel that Tel Aviv would not yield to international pressure and would continue its assault on Rafah.

Amid such extreme tensions, a very different story is unfolding in Europe: A group of Israelis and Palestinians living in Germany are… joining forces to provide basic sanitation facilities to displaced people in Gaza. They say the remote action helps them feel less anxious about the devastating effects of war.

The cubicles, measuring just 1 square meter and sealed with plastic sheets attached to simple wooden slats, offer a modicum of privacy in the Gaza village of Al-Mawasi, where thousands of displaced people are now clustered together. While the Israeli military may have designated the area a “safe zone,” the site lacks proper infrastructure.

Toilets provided by the “Clean Shelter” project to people in Gaza. Photo: DW

The founders of the initiative are Tom Kellner, an Israeli Jew from Haifa, and Abu Daqa, a Palestinian from Gaza. Both live in Germany. Daqa is in Munich, and Kellner is in Berlin.

The two would likely never have met in Israel or Gaza. But in Germany, they teamed up to solicit donations from friends, acquaintances and relatives in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Germany and beyond.

Abu Daqa used his network in Gaza to organize materials and build toilets and tents. From the start, they knew they could only work with what was available in the Al-Mawasi area on Gaza's southern coast, as even major aid organizations were unable to provide materials due to restrictions imposed by the Israeli military.

Since their “Clean Shelter” project began in January this year, 28 toilets, some with showers, have been installed, as well as 30 tents, each capable of housing 10 people. A toilet costs between 200 and 500 euros.

Dialogue not confrontation

The program’s founders met through a dialogue project for Israelis and Palestinians living in Europe. After meeting regularly online for weeks, they recently met in person for the first time at a joint workshop in Berlin.

The dialogue group was initiated by Slieman Halabi, a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship who holds a PhD in social psychology and, like Abu Daqa, now lives in Munich. “We live in Europe and feel very lonely, especially when there is war,” Halabi said.

Palestinian Slieman Halabi (left) recently met with Gali Blay, an Israeli Jew who attended the conference, and others in Berlin. Photo: DW

Halabi was trained to be a village coordinator in Neve Shalom, or Wahat al-Salam, which means "oasis of peace " in Hebrew and Arabic.

Located between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the purpose of the village's “School of Peace” is to facilitate meetings between Israelis and Palestinians.

“It’s a learning experience. It’s not about finding an immediate solution to the conflict, but we believe that finding a solution requires people to really understand each other’s perspectives and not act individually without knowing the underlying mechanisms that make people act in certain ways in relation to the conflict,” Halabi said.

Palestinians from Gaza, Syria and the occupied West Bank also participated in the first “Peace School” dialogue group outside Israel and met with Jewish Israelis. This was only possible because they all now live in Europe.

The idea of forming a group of “Israelis and Palestinians in exile” had been on Halabi’s mind for a long time when he scheduled his first online event for October 8, 2023.

But the 17 participants had no idea that they would experience that first meeting in shock after hundreds of Hamas gunmen stormed across the Israeli border on October 7, killing 1,160 people and taking some 250 hostages.

Halabi recalled watching the news that day. “There was nothing I could do but sit there and watch this and go crazy,” he said.

Many of those who had received invitations to the online meeting asked whether the meeting should be canceled. But Halabi didn't want to do that, under any circumstances. "I told them: Come. We need to talk—now more than ever," he said.

All 17 participants were on the video call the next day. “At the beginning of each new group, we decided on some ground rules for how we wanted to talk to each other,” Halabi said.

He added that no one wants to be offended or hurt. The most important principle is that people listen to each other. "For example, some Palestinians have asked: What is going on inside an Israeli soldier who is bombing Gaza?"

Such sensitive topics evoke strong emotions. Attendees said there were many tears at the Berlin meeting, but also hugs, among some Israelis and Palestinians who sat together in the same location online.

“It felt like we were living in a different reality, a world filled with love and respect for each other,” said Gali Blay, an Israeli whose cousin lives in Be'eri, one of the kibbutzim communities that saw many deaths after the Hamas attack, about the significance of the meeting.

Nguyen Khanh (according to Guardian, DW)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/noi-nguoi-israel-va-palestine-doan-ket-va-chung-tay-cuu-tro-gaza-post289247.html