[Note from Kathie Malley-Morrison: Today, October 21, is Conflict Resolution Day, established by the Association for Conflict Resolution to “promote awareness of mediation, arbitration, conciliation and other creative, peaceful means of resolving conflict.” Conceived in 2005, Conflict Resolution Day has been celebrated on the third Thursday of October since 2006. This year, events are jointly sponsored by the United States Institute of Peace.
[In honor of this day, we present the second in an intermittent series of “stories of engagement,” case examples from morally engaged workers for peace. Today we welcome guest contributor, Dalit Yassour-Borochowitz, a member of GIPGAP who co-authored the Israel chapter in State Violence and the Right to Peace: An International Survey of the Views of Ordinary People.]
A few years ago I joined “Checkpoint Watch,” an Israeli human rights organization of women who monitor and report human rights violations towards Palestinians who move from the occupied territories of Palestine to Israel.
Two women friends and I used to go for an early morning shift once a week. We watched the soldiers’ actions and reported what we saw to the Israeli public and to the international community (none of which – I must add – showed great interest). So we got to know some of the Palestinians through that action.
One day I responded to a call to harvest olives in a Palestinian village that was located in an area under military control and constantly harassed by Jewish fanatics who lived nearby.
It is well known in Israel that if olives in these areas are picked by Israeli citizens the fanatics don’t attack and harass them because they are well protected by Israeli police. When the Palestinian farmers work their groves they are often harassed, including having their crops taken and burned.
So during the harvest season we got organized and went to pick the olives together with their growers. They showed us what to do and managed the work while we protected them with our presence.
When we arrived at the groves I was surprised how many people showed up. It was a hot day, the work was tedious and hard, and most of us were not used to farming. Still we did very well and managed to pick quite a large area, and then the farmer came and took the big full sacks of olives with his tractor to the village.
I went with my friends few more times that season. I feel it was a small step towards solidarity between Israelis and Palestinians, but a real one, done by people who want to live in peace and grow olives (how symbolic!) and who are fed up with politicians and generals who talk the talk but never walk the walk.
Dalit Yassour-Borochowitz, Ph.D., Head of the Department of Human Services, Emek Yezreel College, Israel