the journey home....

As the OneVoice Glasgow team gave our goodbyes to our travelling companions of the last week; Osama, Julien, Johnthan Ivan & 'handsome John, thanking them for helping make our trip a memorable & enjoyable one, we headed home to Glasgow, Scotland.

Unfortunately our journey home wasn't without incident.

Picked up by a taxi at 02:00, we made our way from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv Airport, when it started to rain, rained turn to thunder & lighting (hardly good news in itself, as we'd soon be in flight) and then 30 miles away from the airport, we blew a tyre (or more accurately the car did).

Although we offered to help our driver was resolute that he needed no aid, till two helpful police officers came to help.

Unfortunately the security at Tel Aviv Airport were not so helpful or swift. In line before check in we were 'randomly selected' for additional questioning, then we were 'randomly selected' to have our luggage opened and searched through, and Hala, David & myself were 'randomly selected' to be taken to private quarters for a damn good frisking and whipping (only joking).

In fairness to the airport security the OVG crew did feel safer as we headed home to bonny Scotland, tired, travel weary but overall more enthused, optimistic, empathetic and richer for the experience.

Thank you for reading our blog.

Gary, Hala, Anthony & David

Day Nine- the final chapter

Our day started early, at Aida, a refugee camp where we were greeted by the site of the world's largest key (symbolising palestinians right to return) as well as a close up of the wall and the previous guard tower... walking through the refugee camp we were struck by sense of community yet the fear of the lack of basic security as the camp and school had previously been targeted by the Israeli forces during the second intifada. As a result, the local UN school had taken the precaution of removing their windows to ensure future safety of their children, even though it meant blocking out the sunlight.

After a presentation and heartfelt goodbyes, the OneVoice van headed onto Ramallah for a meeting with the Palestinian Authority Minister for Public Works & Housing.

The conversation was frank and engaging. Naturally he placed full blame on Israel for the lack of progress in the peace talks, however this was also the consensus of many other less partial speakers that we had met this week. Nontheless he was very encouraging of the vital work that OneVoice youth leaders in Palestine are carrying out.

The final journey in our trip was to Christian holy sites in Bethlehem. Beautiful architecture, inspiring works of art, a sense of unity and wonder, and a slightly cattle-like approach to herding the pilgrims quickly through, it was a slightly anti-climatic end to what had been a very eye opening trip.

So for us internationals, a lot of food for thought. One of the defining features of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the polarization of views on both sides and a lack of willingness to budge from the proverbial ‘armchair’ of each nation’s own narrative.

As four British students, we’ve been privileged this week to see, first hand, an initiative aimed at changing this reality and providing much needed impetus to the stagnating peace process. Hopefully these meetings have provoked and encouraged discussion of these ‘taboo’ issues in Israeli and Palestinian society. The leadership may not be listening yet; however, the voice of the moderate majority will not be silenced.

Gary, Anthony, David, & Hala

Day Eight

With the recent clashes at Al-Aqsa mosque, it was appropriate that our final townhall meeting concerned the holy sites. We were joined by three prominent religious leaders, all of whom agreed that it was, “a [territorial] conflict, not a religious conflict.”

In comparison to the previous two meetings, it was less heated and therefore possibly less effective as we were ‘preaching to the choir’.

After the meeting in Jerusalem, we travelled to Bethlehem where we were joined for dinner by the vice-chancellor of Bethlehem University, who expressed his solidarity with the work of the OneVoice Movement.

(sorry for the lack of blog-ness, we're trying to get it all typed up before we have to get to the airport!)

Day Seven

Salfeet, a Palestinian village in the West Bank, suffers from the continued expansion of settlements surrounding it. Today's townhall meeting was here.

“They want to make our lives a nightmare.” This statement was emblematic of the feeling in the room. The participants were evidently frustrated and angry, but rather animated at the prospect of having an audience of Western ‘ambassadors’, as they saw us.

Several parallels could be drawn between the people of Sderot and Salfeet, in that both felt the other side were unwilling to negotiate, that the whole world was against them, but also that both wanted peace in the direction of a two state solution.

Day Six

After a very pleasant experience with our colleagues at OVP yesterday, we were greeted in Tel Aviv by their Israeli counterparts, at the OneVoice Israel’s (OVI) offices in downtown Tel Aviv.

After warmly exchanging pleasantries, the Glasgow crew were given a presentation by the office staff of OVI.

They talked about their activities (their main aim was to push the two state peace process rather than brand recognition of OV) & their endorsement from high profile public figures such as Tony Blair, Paul McCartney, Jason Alexander (George from Seinfeild), Paul Reise, Craig Newmark, Kina Maztlieck & the Eurovision underated music sensation Mira & Noa from Israel & Palestine.

They explained how they brought OVP Youth Leaders from Ramallah to the University of Tel Aviv. Which was especially significant as Israeli’s are forbidden from entering the West Bank, which makes meeting each other somewhat difficult.

Just like their OVP counterpoints, they left us enthused & inspired with their activities, relentless enthusiasm and their dedication.

We were then joined for lunch by two national celebrities of the polling and peace process world. Video interviews with Dr Mina Tzemach and the former chief negotiator between Israel and Syria will be uploaded at a later junction of time.

Roi, a OVI Youth Leader, kept the OV van entertained with his anecdotes & antics from Brussels, while we took the long road down to Sderot.

We'd had a relaxing morning with our friends at OVI, but we knew Sderot would be more challenging for us all.

Sderot could arguably be viewed as a microcosm of the problems facing the peace process:

Since the 2nd intifada thousands of rockets, fired from Gaza, have landed on Sderot, killing 15 and wounding many more, including young children. So, there we have violence and death. Adding to this microcosm is the disparity between the extremists having the platform, and a lack of voice for moderates. And then there's propaganda - myths, rumours and exaggerations. Evidence of each of these obstacles to peace was, sadly, obvious in Sderot.

Shalom, a representative of Sderot, stood before us in the municipal council's bomb shelter. "My parents came from Yemen in 1902... I have no other country."

He began by describing the history of the area and its inhabitants, who came from all over the Middle East.

They had social economic difficulties, he said, but they could live with those. What they could not tolerate were Qassam rocket attacks, he asserted. We were told that not a single area of Sderot had not been hit. Fortunately there have been very few rocket attacks in the last few months, but the residents of Sderot still feel the threat daily, with the last rocket falling on the 21st October, just a few days ago. It was stated that 70%+ of Sderot's children suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

When presented with stories of innocent human tragedy, like the 2 year old and 4 year old killed whilst playing together in Sderot, one can only feel sympathy for those suffering in such a situation. However, it seemed that the tactics employed by this representative were of political point-scoring, and propaganda. This was unfortunate, as the many genuine fears and facts expressed were somewhat undermined by myths and rumours.

The idea that Gazans had not rebuilt their thousands of destroyed homes since January, simply to show the world a cruel view of Israel, was one example of our speaker's claims. It seems more likely that a lack of resources, due to the blockade of Gaza, is the main reason why people's homes might not have yet been rebuilt.

The plight of Gazans was mentioned once: "They suffer not less than us." However, blame was completely apportioned upon Hamas, with Israel portrayed as innocent, despite January's invasion.

Shalom stated that the solution was to "throw out the terror organisations from Gaza". He didn't have a response when challenged by Anthony, that Hamas was far larger and more significant to Palestinian society than just a 'terror' group.

Similarly, his repeated statements that "Terror is terror" and that "Gazans bring up their children to be militants" failed to acknowledge the violence of the other side, and that it could be suggested that Israeli youths are also highly militarised, given that every Israeli has to serve in the IDF. Some of our group also felt that just as Hamas could be viewed as security for Gaza and terror for Israel, the IDF could be viewed similarly, as security for Israel but terror for Gaza.

Our group was also shown a video produced by the Sderot Media Centre. Again, the feeling of propaganda spoilt what could be a very powerful message. Footage of rocket attacks was shown, children terrified and screaming, buildings damaged. Unedited, these are powerful images and speak volumes about the situation for Sderot's residents. Unfortunately, the video was dubbed with 'Full Metal Jacket' style music, and action movie screen-slamming statistics.

We left the shelter to view a disturbingly-real collection of hundreds of exploded Qassams, kept as a demonstration to politicians of Sderot's plight.

We headed on through Sderot for a hebrew-language Townhall Meeting, arranged by OneVoice Israel. There were plenty of people there, both from OVI and the general public. After a quick snack and conversation with the guests, we headed into the meeting. Those who did not speak hebrew (like us) were sat next to a translator. There were several speakers on different topics, from free-speech, tolerance, media coverage, and finally to the reality of the conflict.

There were a mixed collection of views, attitudes and reactions on show, from both the guest speakers and the public. This variety, and a distinct lack of so much of the reactionary propaganda we had seen earlier, was a welcome relief. We had been concerned that the view of Shalom was the mainstream in Sderot.

One of the first comments on the floor was: "We can tolerate the existence of a Palestinian state" - which, whilst hardly enthusiastic, is nothing less than what OneVoice ask for. OV don't require that people forgive and forget, or even like each other, just that a two-state solution is accepted on the terms of the masses.

There were, however, some statements from a few that were either based on ignorance, fear or both. For example, in reference to Palestinians:

"all they do is terror... every time we give them something they attack... keep kidnapping..."

"who should I talk to, a terror organisation?! They are killing our children in cold blood."

Hope was not lost, however, as there were many optimistic and empathetic contributions, talking about the bloodshed on both sides, and objecting to the insinuations that Palestinians had been rewarded for shelling Israeli land: "I'm not giving them something new, I'm giving it (land) back to them."

All in all, it was an enlightening experience, and left us feeling tired but enthusiastic about the meeting's objective. We were amazed that such an open and broad discussion, in such an emotionally-heightened scenario as Sderot, had been facilitated so well by OneVoice.

Day Five

The first four days had been enthralling, but today was when the real work started. Work doesn’t imply a chore - on the contrary, writing this back at the guesthouse we’re all feeling tired, inspired and dare we say it, a tad optimistic?

Our journey started from Jerusalem to Ramallah where we would encounter our first check point and the separation wall, on the way to meet the leaders of OneVoice Palestine (OVP). Driving alongside the wall reminded us of the tangible effect of this conflict as we passed through Beit Hanan; an area which had been sliced in half and where many families were faced with a new barrier to getting on with their daily routines. This included simple things we take for granted like easy access to going to school, their local doctors or even visiting the bank.

Half an hour later we had entered the busy atmosphere of Ramallah and were explained to the difference in the colour of car registration plates. Israeli plates were yellow and Palestinian were white/green. This difference was significant in highlighting that the Palestinian plates could not pass through check points Israel.

Once we arrived at the OVP offices, we were greeted by some enthusiastic youth leaders and briefed about their work over some delicious hummous and falafel. Their passion and dedication was apparent whilst explaining what events they had organised and participated in, such as a role play peace negotiation simulations. In this event, Israelis had to act as the Palestinian negotiations and vice versa. Their main focus was targeted at reaching and representing the youth in their communities. One leader expressed how OneVoice had not only helped him to amplify his voice but had given him the opportunity to learn about his rights, the Geneva and Oslo accords, and given him a wider understanding of Palestinian history.

We’d been told previously to expect an inspiring and committed bunch of people from OneVoice in Nablus, and our hopes were not dashed. It wouldn’t be hard to lose hope, even as a day-tripper, in the West Bank. Sprawling refugee camps, the growth of illegal settlements, and the internal clashes between Hamas and Fatah, do not make optimism easy. We were privilledged, however, to be in the company of 20 or so ‘reasons to be cheerful’ (blame Anthony for that phrase) - the OneVoice youth leaders in Nablus are simply brilliant.

Sitting around a table in a Nablus café, with a shinning mountainous backdrop, we listened to these young people explain what brought them to OneVoice, what they’ve achieved so far, and what drives them to carry on. We’ll cover this a lot more easily in our video diary (coming soon!) but the discussion involved:

· Their support for a 2-state solution, and how they see it as the best option for Palestinian rights, as well as Palestinian-Israeli cohesion

· They were curious to know how Palestinians are perceived abroad

· What they want from UK students, not just protests, but real change that makes a difference to the lives of Palestinians

· The impact of Israel’s invasion of Gaza

Politics aside, it was Palestinians and OneVoice advocates, it’s easy to forget that these are also just normal young people, who love music, sport and, well, normal ‘stuff.’ In fact, we got a great impromptu Syrian song from one guy, who has insisted that the video recording go up on YouTube, it’ll be up nest week.

We were practically dragged from this gathering by our driver, as time had flown by and we were already late and we were already late for our next stop. A 2 hour trip unfortunately delayed by road works led us to Jericho to meet Palestinian Youth Leaders (PYL) for coffee and cake before quickly leaving to Ramallah.

As 8o’clock approached a travel weary and hungry OneVoice group were more than grateful to arrive at El Darna restaurant, a popular hangout for the highest echelons of the Palestinian political elite.

Greated by the President of the Al-Quds bank, the OneVoice group sat down to break bread and have supper with OVP colleagues we’d met during the course of the day, as well as a few new ones like, Rami Rabagah, a charismatic, likeable and well spoken youth leader from Jenin.

Feeling fully contented and ready to call it a night, the OneVoice Europe crew headed home to get some R&R whilst mulling over the day with some Shisha and Palestinian beer.

Day Four

Our last morning in Jaffa saw us awake for sunrise and take a farewell walk to absorb some of the sights and sounds, such as the miraculous floating tree, which shall be depicted in photo-form for you soon!

Having enjoyed our stroll, but thoroughly regretting our 5AM start we went back to bed before being woken by an agitated hostel manager at 11 o'clock, given that this was their checkout time.

With our suitcases filled, David very helpfully hailed the most expensive and pushy taxi driver in the Middle East. After debating (or rather being talked at) about the jumbo-sized price, we settled for what we knew was about double the normal amount. This driver also demonstrated his people-skills, staring daggers at a fellow driver who happened to commit the crime of asking for directions. We can only speculate, whether this reaction was because the enquiry came from an Arab...

Skipping forward in time a few hours finds us wandering the streets and multi-storey carparks (yes, really) of Jerusalem. After an hour of walking we finally reached our guesthouse, and with it, a stunning and sobering view of Jerusalem, the 'Holy City'. To the West, the ancient walls of the old city, home to some of the world's most famous religious monuments. To the East, the grey monolith that divides the West Bank from Israel, aka the separation wall. A sobering sight, indeed, and a constant reminder of the conflict that brings us here.

Not that you can escape the nuances of the conflict that easily. On our first walk from the Old City to Sheikh Jarrah, in the East, we encountered:

• A group of haredi Jews being verbally assaulted in Arabic from a car window
• 2 Israeli soldiers asserting their authority by stealing pizza from a takeaway
• and a micro-settlement

The latter was on the site of a former Palestinian home, that had been demolished by the IDF. A single Israeli home, in this neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem, has now been erected in its place, complete with its own on-site security office next door. Sheikh Jarrah has been the focus of much news attention lately, due to these house demolitions - we hope to explore this for ourselves later on in the week.

And that's about the end of our first day in Jerusalem, having barely scratched the surface of this place. Tomorrow we head East to the West Bank, we'll let you know how that goes.

Best wishes from Jerusalem!

- Anthony, Gary, Hala and David

Day Three

Today's post was meant to be discussing the interview with the Australian IDF soldier, however, he later revealed to us that he suffers from several mental disorders - Asperger's syndrome, post traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder - and we felt it inappropriate for us to prostitute his experiences or to present him as a typical IDF soldier. This does however bring into question as to why the IDF would accept someone as unstable as he into such a volatile and high intensity situation.

The interview went on till 5am and then we all headed to bed for a long and immediate sleep. Waking around 1pm, Anthony and Gary set off to explore the cosmopolitan centre of Tel Aviv, leaving David and Hala to discover the beauty of the traditional Jaffa. Jaffa offered quant architecture, old docks, awe inspiring vistas and a floating tree (pictures to come). We finished the day watching the sunset on the beach, returning later for sunrise.

See you again,

Hala, Anthony, Gary and David

Day Two

An early start to the day had us chatting from 5am, joking about the surrealism of being in Israel and soon to see Palestine. Once we were ready (around 8am) we set off in search of breakfast and a bus to the Dead Sea, the latter being much harder to locate than the former.

Eventually we were on our way to the first destination, Mitzpe Shalem; a kibbutz, settlement and home to Ahava.

Ahava is a cosmetics company which has been the focus of many boycotts back in the UK. The argument made against the company is that they’re an illegal settlement, established on Palestinian land, which now uses the natural resources of the area (specifically the Dead Sea) to make a profit. Having now actually visited the area, much of this is brought into question.

With the beautiful backdrop of the Dead Sea, any establishment would find it hard to compete, but the visitor centre came nowhere close, it was essentially just a gift shop and a small canteen. We tried to ask one member of staff if they spoke English or perhaps Arabic and were met with the indignant response of, “No! This is Israel, my country, why would I speak Arabic? I speak only Hebrew.” Ironically enough, her nationalistic response was in English. Fortunately we were eventually pointed towards the manager’s office where we met Dr Miriam Oron Mingelgrin, Chief Chemist. Miriam give up half an hour of a clearly very busy schedule to talk to the four of us, something we’re grateful for as it was enlightening and we had turned up uninvited.

The following is what we learnt about the past, present and possible future running of Ahava which we gained from the interview:

Ahava, Hebrew for ‘love’, was established 20 years ago, around the same time as the kibbutz. Originally a family business, Ahava is a multi-national corporation, owned by the largest cosmetics company in Israel. Up until the second Intifada, Ahava employed many Jericho Arabs, only ceasing due to the lack of freedom of movement they suffered, leaving only two Bedouin Muslims in their employment today.

As a supporter and cofounder of bilingual schools in the region and a self confessed lefty, she spoke out against, what she termed as, ‘highly ineffective’ boycotts against Israel, especially academic boycotts. She believes that the universities are one of the few places which are an open forum for Palestinians, letting them be treated as equals with their Israeli colleagues, allowing open discussion, a free flow of ideas and giving an opportunity to discuss their own narratives. This is unrivalled in any other sector of wider Palestinian-Israeli society.

She urged students, or in fact anyone, in support of the Palestinian people to redirect their efforts to more practical measures such as helping cross border groups or sending aid in the form of clothes, medicines, books or medical and legal volunteering. She reiterated that any protest should directed at embassies and political leaders, not people as this only leads to more damage and hurt. Boycotts against companies such as Ahava, she believes, have very little effect, and Ahava has noticed no drop in sales.

We then shifted the interview to topic of settlements as one of the main criticisms of Ahava was it being an illegal settlement. Miriam had quite a clear view that the religious right who lived in the multiple, illegal settlements creeping into the Occupied Palestinian Territories, are just as much in the wrong and to blame as the suicide bombers on the other side. She also saw these settlements as blocking any path to peace between these two peoples, and was happily surprised when presented with our broad polling statistic that 77% of Israelis would agree to a freeze on settlements. She added that in the past, the people of Mitzpe Shalem have stated that they’d happily move if it was needed to progress peace.

Miriam’s closing remark was to say that the real obstacles to peace is the leaders on both sides.

After the interview we took a few photos with Miriam (to be uploaded later), had a more casual conversation, exchanged contact details and said goodbye. We then waited for the right bus, while in the process Gary attempted to flag down every other one using all his assets (which turned out just to be his hat). Once on the bus we headed to Ein Gedi, a beach resort on the Dead Sea. We had a short lunch and then Gary and Anthony went...floating, while David and Hala paddled and applied their own black mud face packs, after climbing through barbed wire fencing. Extreme spa treatment, eh?

After a long bus trip home we rested on the terrace roof, talking about the day’s events and taking advantage of having free internet. We were later joined by an Australian member of the IDF and talked to him at length, but we’ll cover that tomorrow.

Talk soon,

David, Hala, Gary and Anthony

OneVoice Glasgow

Day One

We’d hardly been in Israel for two minutes before some realities became blatantly evident to us.

Before passing through Tel Aviv Airport we’d already been ‘randomly’ selected for additional security screening, unsurprisingly the focus was on Hala, our Muslim colleague. She was detained for questioning three times by passport control, with the rest of us passing swiftly through.

Of course, it's scenarios like these that will confront us daily here; there is little in Israel that lacks political charge. The question of security vs. liberty is certainly just as prominent here, if not far more, than at home. Palestinians would argue that 'security' is used as a pretext for oppression. Israelis point to a list of hostile neighbour states and militia groups, each dedicated to Israel's destruction, to argue that their fears are not just paranoia. That debate will inevitably go on, but for now back to our arrival...

After a half hour wait, we’re pleased to say that our 12 hour journey in the air, through Glasgow, Heathrow and Tel Aviv airports, and finally escaping the overly eager grasp of a dodgy taxi driver, we, the merry few, had arrived in Israel.

-Gary