However carefully crafted, governmental agreements cannot by themselves
serve as the creators and guarantors of a long-term peace process. What
is required is the parallel development of a people-to-people peace
process. A small, initial experiment in this direction was recently
successfully attempted in MASHAV's new extension, the Negev Institute
for Strategies of Peace and Development in the Negev area in southern
Israel.
Although there was a common denominator, the 28 Palestinians
participants comprised a mixed group. They all live in Palestinian
towns and cities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, they are all
volunteers in their local Palestinian Red Crescent (Islamic equivalent
of the Red Cross, headed by Dr. Fathi Arafat, brother of Yasser Arafat,
Chairman of the Palestinian Authority), and they are all concerned with
peace.
These young volunteers came to the Negev Institute in the south of
Israel, to participate in an innovative course tailored for people
active in non-governmental sectors. The course, the Role of the Civil
Society in the Peace Process - Voluntary Health Organizations, was held
under the auspices of the recently established Negev Institute for
Strategies of Peace and Development (NISPED) and was supported by
MASHAV, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Center for International
Cooperation.
NISPED was established in the summer of 1997 as an integral part of the
Negev College, an institute of higher learning serving the region. Its
scope is based on the concept that the search for peace and the issue of
conflict resolution remain central issues on humanity's global agenda.
The United Nations estimates that in 1995 there were more than 50
serious and extensive conflicts in the world. More than 4 million people
were killed in these conflicts and more than 30 million have become
refugees. In addition, tensions and frictions within nations and between
them require what may be termed pre-conflict resolution if they are not
to degenerate into violence. On the undisputed premise that peace on the
globe is an as yet unachieved goal, the Institute aims to develop
programs leading to mutual understanding and concrete partnership - in
short, a people-to-people peace process.
"We wanted the course to be pragmatic, to answer realistic needs," says
Abed Hamze, a Bedouin from the Galilee region of Israel, who coordinated
the course. "We asked the Red Crescent directors, 'What are your needs?'
And we designed the course accordingly. There were 80 candidates, out of
whom 28 were chosen across a broad geographic spectrum." Abed, who
specializes in informal education, is also head of the Arab Youth
Movement which currently has 2,000 members.
Classes were held at the Negev College near Sderot, while living
quarters were provided in the newly-built guest houses of nearby Kibbutz
Ruhama. For most of the participants it was the first time on Israeli
soil and for almost all it was their first exposure to a collective
settlement. Living two to a room, each room equipped with a private
shower and television, the young Palestinians ate their meals in the
communal kibbutz diningroom and could spend their evenings, if they so
wished, in the kibbutz discotheque. Asked how they felt about the course
and conditions of living, all expressed satisfaction on both counts.
They each received varied benefits from this first-of-its-kind stay in
Israel.
What appealed to Mohammed Daher from Jenin, who works and volunteers
with the Red Crescent, was seeing life in a kibbutz and meeting the
other course participants. Baheyeh Ateaq, wearing the traditional Moslem
head covering (five out of the seven women attending the course wore
traditional garb), works on projects with handicapped people in her
native Jenin. She felt that she is bringing back with her from the
course a better concept of how to organize time and how to improve group
communication.
Ashraf Alsaiglai, a student of business management at the Open
University, discovered some principles of how an individual can fit into
a group, how to be dynamic in a group and how to resolve conflicts
within it.
Emad Abu Seffen, a video photographer, who does volunteer work in his
spare time, said,"I learned how to organize my time. I also learned all
about this group - they are all good people. My hope is for real peace
soon."
"I have been able to express myself to the Israeli side, to tell them
what I think and how I feel," emphasized Ibrahim Abu Rayya, 38, a
physiologist from Tulkarm. "And, thanks to this course, I have learned a
little of how Israelis live and think." His only regret was that the
members of the group had too little opportunity to meet many young
kibbutzniks with whom they would have liked to hold discussions.
"Our young people are away at work during the day," explained Lelia, the
kibbutznik responsible for the guest houses. "In the evening, many are
too tired on weekdays to socialize." Nonetheless, the discotheque, the
diningroom and even the occasional barbeque evening did provide for
some interaction as did the studies at the Negev College with its over
6,500 students.
Mushrif Daraghmeh, who works in a primary health care center in his
native Tubas on the West Bank, was impressed with life on a kibbutz. As
for the course, "it was a fantastic experiment - it afforded us
knowledge about leadership, about how to design a project and how to
adapt it to our local communities." Mohammed Hijazi of Jericho, with a
BS degree in hospital administration, felt likewise: The major benefit
from the course for him was learning about leadership management which
he plans to apply in his local community of Khan Yunis.
"This course gave me what I needed to develop the skills for my job in
the bank," stated Ayman El Shair from Rafa. The 30-year-old holder of a
BS degree in commerce and accounting from a university in Egypt is head
of the check clearing department of the Bank of Palestine branch in his
town.
Awni Jubran, 27, from Bet Sahur near Bethlehem, who works as an
interviewer for a local radio program, stressed the communications side
of the course as well as the personal gains he garnered. He finds it
most important to cultivate personal relations between Israelis and
Palestinians and is active in ties established between the Universities
of Bethlehem and Tel Aviv."During this course I made a number of friends
in Kibbutz Ruhama. I plan to stay in contact with them. You know," he
turns to the subject of peace, "each side envisages and thinks of peace
for itself. We have to broaden our view and see how peace will look on
both sides."
Amal Bassa, 23, has just finished her university studies at Bethlehem
University where she acquired a BS in analytical chemistry. Speaking in
perfect Hebrew (she had studied three years at the Hebrew University in
Jerusalem), Amal spoke with enthusiasm about her chosen field. "Ever
since I was a little girl, I was attracted to chemistry. Now that I got
my degree, I will look for work. But at the same time I plan to
volunteer in a community center which will also have added health clinic
facilities and which is to open in my neighborhood in about two months.
How do I envisage peace? Peace is to be able to go to university and not
be stopped at a checkpoint and looked upon as though I had a bomb in my
bag. Peace is a Palestine that will represent my identity, my culture
and my character and which will treat me as a citizen of that state - a
democratic state - and which will defend my human rights so I can live
as a human being like everyone in every other country."
All this discussion took place in an air-conditioned room in Kibbutz
Ruhama. Some 11 kilometres away, in another air-conditioned room - his
office - sat Dr. Yehuda Paz, chairman of NISPED and its academic
director, as well as spiritual father of the current innovative program
dealing with conflict resolution. From 1980 he was the director of the
Afro-Asian Institute and thereafter the International Institute -
Histadrut, until his recent retirement.
"Political agreements could become mere paper declarations," commented
Paz, who immigrated from the United States some 48 years ago and has
been a member of the southern Kibbutz Kissufim ever since. "The
continuity of the peace process depends on people. Particularly at times
when the political peace process is weaker can an ongoing
people-to-people process strengthen it. It's a kind of positive
underpinning," he added with a smile. "Our Institute is therefore based
on these two major principles:
1. The intersection of the political peace process with the people's
peace process, and,
2. The intersection between sustainable human development and conflict
resolution. What happens is that people anticipate that peace will mean
an immediate improvement in living standard, health, housing,
employment, food, educational and cultural opportunities. Peace opens a
window of opportunity for development - but if it is missed then
significant sectors of the population, just recently liberated from a
conflict situation, may be tempted to turn to crime or to return to the
conflict once again. Where poverty and despair remain as they were, the
danger of a drift towards the renewal of old hatreds, toward religious
fanaticism, toward extreme nationalism is all too real."
In addition to workshops such as the one concluded in the spring of 1998
with Palestinians - the second of its kind - the Institute is planning
to bring groups from countries where there are internal or external
conflicts - such as Bosnia, as well as from countries like Guatemala,
where a civil war was recently ended, and from countries with major
social transitions, such as those from the former Soviet Union. In all
these one of the most important roles is that of non-governmental and
voluntary organizations such as those working in the following areas:
- Medical and social fields - this includes doctors and nurses, first
aid providers, groups offering support for the handicapped, medical
institutions, the aged, victims of various diseases and organizations
designed to provide information and guidance to the general public.
- Elements of the civil society (i.e., non-governmental groups)
concerned with the rights and interests of women, in the areas of
education, financial and business initiative, public information, etc.
- Environmental protection and ecology - almost everywhere in the
world, voluntary groups are spearheading the struggle for the protection
of nature and the promotion of ecological well-being.
- Education - voluntary organizations operate in the field of education
on all levels, from pre-kindergarten through university - they consist
of teachers, education workers, students, parents and concerned
citizens, active in both formal and informal education.
- The arts - theater, music, dance, the fine arts and the media -
volunteers are on the spot within all these frameworks.
- Rural and agricultural development - there is a great need for
cooperation between farmers' organizations, agricultural and other
cooperatives, workers' organizations and employers' associations.
- Youth - organizations and movements of young people as well as other
groups drawn from the sphere of informal education are important
components of the civil society and can make a significant contribution
to the peace process.
- Business and commerce - here lie possibilities for creative joint
endeavors on the part of chambers of commerce, industrial associations,
mercantile groupings, etc., particularly in the area of small and medium
enterprises.
- Universities and research - cooperation here is vital not only in
and of itself, but also as a vehicle for the support of activities of
all the above.
In November 1998, the Institute will host a Bosnian workshop on conflict
resolution and sustainable human development. This will bring to NISPED
members of non-governmental organizations from five sectors of
population in the former Yugoslavia: Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian Moslems,
Serbian Serbs, Albanians from Kosovo and a group from Macedonia.
Earlier, in September, a 2-week course on cooperation in societies in
transition will be aimed at a group coming from the Czech Republic. "All
our participants will be staying at the guest houses of Kibbutz Ruhama
with whom we have a really symbiotic relationship," added Yehuda Paz.
"They do not have to do any marketing - we provide them with a full
house 10 months of the year and we have comfortable quarters for our
participants. (Ruhama's income is supplemented by agriculture, cows, a
large factory for brushes and, most recently, by producing wooden
pre-fab housing.) But beyond the 'business' aspect, they are really
outgoing, friendly, concerned - it matters to them."
In the pipeline for the Institute is a project in conjunction with
UNESCO, as well as an academic training program for Israelis, focusing
on strategies of conflict resolution and of sustainable human
development and, at a later stage, eventually conducting research into
these two topics which are the Institute's raison d'etre. "By the year
1999 we hope to conduct our workshops in four languages," concluded Paz:
"English, Arabic, Russian and Spanish, in addition to our own Hebrew."