Thematic Quotes from Chaym Feldman
I combined environmentally friendly farming with anti-fence and pro-peace work. When I was involved in anti-fence activities, we got really beaten up by border policemen. Our activities were in solidarity with people who had lost a lot of land in the West Bank because of the separation fence, which isn’t built on the 1967 border, but took a lot of land from Palestinians. Anti-fence protests were meant to demonstrate our solidarity with the Palestinians’ struggle against the discrimination that is evidenced by the fence’s construction.
From a general and humane perspective, walls are problematic ecologically. Fences that aim cruelly to separate two peoples won’t succeed. Fences don’t contribute to harmony or to human productivity. You discover that through agriculture, too.
I think the [family in Budrus] is growing four times the amount it used to, without wasting much water. They have a recycling system for water that comes from their neighbors, they make their own compost, mulch and germinate. These techniques don’t come from falha. In terms of falha methods, they use local seeds from the village and plow with their donkey, methods that really make a difference. Bio-falha is a combination of intensive ecologically-friendly techniques and local methods.
On both sides, I try to create change and that begins with treating food differently. From there, I try changing people’s approaches to family and politics and encourage them not just to leave things alone.
People find it difficult to classify this kind of work. For example, the settlers of Itamar see us working with people from Yanoun and they don’t know how to react. What could we possibly be doing there? Growing eggplants together? What are we doing there? It’s hard for them to digest our work.
Our work is in the fields where there are no Molotov cocktails. It’s totally different and the settlers don’t understand what we are doing together. By working the land, we are overcoming hatred because it’s so simple. It’s both simple and very constructive, sustainable and fruitful.
I would have worked with more families in Budrus, even if it was difficult to do. If we had worked with even one more family it would have signified that we care about all the people in the village. I’m really sorry I can’t hold workshops in Budrus. Maybe in the future we will be able to do so. If I could speak better Arabic, I think that would make things better. My Arabic is good but it’s not the best.
I’m a teacher and I meet kids who don’t know what plants are. These kids have no idea where plants grow, what they eat, what they breathe and they’re afraid to touch the ground. But they have no problem clicking or talking on mobile phones, which pollute and emit radiation. Kids here know how to pound away at the computer from the first grade and that’s a problem. If kids can’t prepare food – let alone grow food – what kind of people will kids become? They’ll be detached from family, community and certainly from their neighbors.
Israel is on a high-tech track, as though the future is figures and computers and robots. But we have nearly no water here; our oil supply is going to run dry soon; we have a problem with the Palestinians; we have a serious environmental problem with pollution and waste but everyone is entranced by high-tech, which is a kind of illusion. Yesterday, I guided a group to where we harvested crops and the kids hardly wanted to come to the field. They were scared of the field and the harvest. They were afraid of the bugs and weeds; they didn’t want to touch anything and I see that as a negative sign.
What I’m saying is, don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid to come and be willing to meet. That in itself is a start.
In the settlements of Sussiya or Itamar, for instance, people could work with people from the villages nearby and achieve beautiful things, such as CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) but they don’t. They want everything to be for Jews only and that’s horrifying.
To people who live abroad I say, first of all don’t buy settlers’ produce. Look closely at labels. Second, change your eating habits. Look at organic food in terms of the environment. Get involved in not doing certain things from an environmentally friendly perspective. Don’t be fanatical. Join the global environmental and social struggle. If you want to work for Israel-Palestine, work with Arabs in your region. If you live in Holland, work with Moroccans; if you are from Germany, work with Turks. If you live in the US, work with Palestinians or Iranians there. Get involved in these communities. Learn a little bit of their languages and a little bit about their cultures. Watch their films, eat their foods [....] Look for organizations that promote these things and I’m sure you’ll find them.
In terms of the environment, this many people can’t be contained here. This can’t be a homeland just for the Jewish people. If there are 16 million Jews and 7 million Palestinians here, we won’t have any land, open spaces, water or clean air. So what of this idea of a homeland? You have to consider where you are. That’s why Zionism needs to develop and mature and not send thousands of Jews here without enough water, to a place on the brink of war. It’s like sending them to destruction.
