On our way to the “lighthouse” we stopped at a lush fig tree. The fig trees are right here, in the immediate vicinity, outstretched and plucked. The figs have joined the Sabers bowl, also “made” by the nearby area as well as some of the inhabitants of the circle. Today Arie arrived for the first time in our circle, so we made it “properly” … I presented the circumstances that led to the initiative and the idea that has been leading it for almost three and a half years.
After Dina spoke. It matters to Dina what happens because she lives in the area. It is not acceptable for her to ignore the situation of the neighbors. Everyone is supposed to do the least they can to make things happen. Do not sit idly by. Since she is part of the circle she tells it everywhere. Each is a link in a chain. Need faith and perseverance and do not despair. No big things will happen here but …
Radir reads a song written by David Peretz, “There is a place within me.” The song, she says, represents her way. Israeli Palestinians have an important role to play in bridging. Connecting to Gazan companies and friends is extremely important. Feels like a family here and tells things she does not dare say elsewhere. Sometimes things are said in a circle that are difficult for her to hear. Radir cares for future generations. Education on both sides is very important. It is important that each side sees on the other side its humanity and not the negative.
Shmulik agrees with every word said so far. Believes in historical processes. Forgiveness and perfection have already been created in the past between peoples who hated and therefore the solution will reach us as well.
Malki loves to come here. Only 6 years in the area and a half of this time she also came here, to the “lighthouse” … from the first moment “sucked” … Gaza is a great despair and life next to it is conducted in two different worlds. Even if it is difficult to help, she at least wants to understand and be aware. It is possible to live our good lives and not look at the neighbors, but it is difficult for her, it is difficult to think that there is suffering there. It hurts. It’s good for her to share with people who see people the way she sees. It is difficult for her with the religion whose value system depends on the divine commandment. She can not respond to it rationally and it scares her.
Jaber lives in an unrecognized settlement in the State of Israel. A bit far from Gaza, but feels in the Gaza area … There is a lot of injustice in the country, even in his place of residence. Among the neighbors in Gaza, suffering is much more present. Jaber says that the suffering in Gaza brings him here, to our lighthouse, to sit with people who see people like him eye to eye. He came for his friends and family in Gaza.
Nahshi. Send this week, in the WhatsApp group, an article about three educated Gazan women from the village of Hiza’a in the “Gaza Strip” who did not find a livelihood in their field of study and decided to become farmers. Today they grow organic vegetables and sell them in the Gaza strip. It happens really close to us and Nahshi gets excited. He wrote to them and said how much he appreciates and admires their initiative. Nahshi is always looking for the good and the compromiser in life. And happy to discover such initiatives. The future is good and positive, he said.
Arie came because Nahshi told him about the project. His intense consciousness is not clear to him. At the moment, he is busy making peace with himself … he grew up in Kibbutz and they always talked to him about sharing and equality. Hopefully there will be leaders here who will push for speech. Gaza is a riddle. He reads and hears. Was never there. Human beings like him live there. Believes they want peace and quiet. They have a sea and he envies them for it … remembers very little from his childhood about Gaza. Because of the contradictory things he hears it is difficult for him to form an opinion. Maybe from here, from the “circle”, peace will grow …
Ramy arrived in the last hour after a night of revelry at his son’s wedding. When he greeted at the wedding, he talked about the transition from individual to together. On the power of the “together.” Choose the path of love, but together. And you loved your neighbor as yourself, and maybe just “and you loved” … This morning when he woke up he remembered the end of the wedding ceremony, breaking a glass. Usually the customs of the religion conflict with its inner truth. Yesterday it seemed right to him, breaking the glass symbolizes for him the broken and incomplete things that need to be healed. For him, on the weight of “If I forget you Jerusalem”, he says “If I forget you Gaza” … When he got up in the afternoon (fizzy at the wedding until four in the morning …) his feet carried him here to a place he would not give up. We live in abundance and against this background Gaza should be mentioned. This is the circle for him today, “If I forget you …”
Radir responded to what Malki said (“She has a hard time with religion” …) and told about her encounters with clerics of all religions and the search for the common and unifying. I said that I understand Malki’s difficulty and I also find it difficult to argue with arguments that rely on the words of God… A discussion has developed on the subject. Can religion mediate and bridge or is it a divisive factor. Of course with the nuances in between … until the clock struck four and we parted each one on its way.

Shmulik, Malki, Jaber, Radir, Rami, Dina, Oded, Nahshi, Arie.

Wrote: Oded