Meir MargalitIsraeli Committee Against House Demolitions |
|
“ I fought in the Yom Kippur War and was wounded. I was hospitalized for a long period and had a lot of time on my hands to think. Gradually I understood that everything has its price and that the ideology of the complete Eretz Yisrael isn't really worth the price: taking lives, the deaths or the injuries. That is the toll, and every ideology has its price. I began a slow process of turning towards the peace camp. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Vision and Civil Society:
“ I believe in the concept of a "critical mass." Every person actively participating will at some point become part of a critical mass, which will then take hold. I can't claim that by saving any one house I've greatly contributed to advancing peace. I do believe that our work, if joined by scores of people and other organizations, can achieve a critical mass, and that will lead to favorable political change. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Political Peace Processes/Political Leadership:
“ Our work changes according to geopolitical changes in the region. There was a time when we had a more sympathetic ear in the government, for example, when Barak was Prime Minister. Usually when the Labor Party takes part in the coalition and controls the ministries relevant to our matters we could just pick up the phone to the ministers and say, 'look here, you've gone too far!' [...] Things have changed. We no longer have people who listen in important government posts, so we work less on lobbying and more on using the legal framework. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Violence and Security and Israeli Military Service:
“ I remember that when I was in youth group there was a classic question we debated. A soldier stands outside a cave in which a terrorist is hiding; he debates whether to throw a grenade because there are also a woman and child there, both innocent. He enters instead, and is wounded. The matter of the purity of arms used to be an important issue, as well as army morale, and it was very clear that when facing a terrorist accompanied by an innocent woman you wouldn't throw a grenade and kill her. Today we have a Chief of Staff who is capable of admitting he launched a one-tone bomb that killed 14 people and sensing only a slight jar in the plane. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ [It] depends on how you ask the questions. If you stay at the level of mythic dimensions, ask it as a slogan - "dividing Jerusalem" - then obviously [many people's] answer will be no. When you break it down into smaller questions, people can think differently. First we need to try and extract the mythic attributes from the conflict, then start at the lowest level; talk about Sawahre and not about East Jerusalem. Explain that with the money Sawahre costs we could build the kindergarten people have been struggling for and haven't received. […] When you ask people when they last visited Shuafat and they haven't ever been there, or when you show them the actual cost figures-- these places are so remote [to Israelis] that the municipality doesn't know whether to provide its services-- then people start thinking differently. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Community Responses to Peace Work:
“ When Israelis hear about house demolitions, they assume that it belonged to a terrorist. We're trying to say that not only are these people not terrorists, but these can be people who support peace, who could have Israeli friends, people involved in activities for coexistence, totally innocent people. When people see the woman crying with the baby by the house [in the photo] we want them to feel it has gone too far. From that point on we can introduce the rest of the [political] claims. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Occupation and Suicide Bombing:
“ We believe that demolishing the house of a terrorist's family, a family who is innocent, is a collective punishment that is forbidden. A family shouldn't take the blame for a son who went the wrong way. If you mean emotionally - how I approach the house demolition of a man who has eight children and cleans for the municipality and how I approach the demolition of the house of a terrorist's family, I admit I have a certain problem, emotionally speaking. I was asked to appeal the demolition of the house belonging to the suicide bomber who blew up Frank Sinatra cafeteria in the middle of the Mount Scopus campus, in the university's cafeteria. I couldn't make the same effort, put up the same fight for it as I would for an innocent person's house. I know people who were killed in that bombing. It touched me personally. The Committee Against House Demolitions doesn't differentiate between instances though. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Settlements and Jerusalem:
“ First of all, the belt [of new and planned Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem] severs the continuity of East Jerusalem. Second, it encircles the Old City from all sides so that if, or rather when, a Palestinian state is established, its capital - Jerusalem - will be cut off from the hinterland, from the neighboring cities. Imagine how a state capital is meant to function if travel from Ramallah to Jerusalem entails crossing a series of Jewish outposts? It's all there in order to prevent any chance of a just solution to the conflict. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ Unlike other people, I'm not referring to territorial separation between East and West Jerusalem - a wall down the center - but about a functional divide. It would be one city, undivided, no barriers between East and West. In West Jerusalem there would be an Israeli flag, the Israeli capital, Israeli rule. In East Jerusalem there would be a Palestinian flag, the municipality would be called "Biladiyat al-Quds" and it would host the Palestinian capital. I don't believe Jerusalem can be divided now; things are so closely knit that we can't artificially impose physical separation. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Separation Barrier and Security and Suicide Bombing:
“ People say, "but there will be suicide bombings," and I can't promise them that there won't be suicide attacks on buses. I can promise them though that if we don't reach a solution, thousands of terrorists will detonate bombs in the streets of Jerusalem. That's clear to me. There is no wall that can prevent that, no targeted killings or checkpoints either; people who are motivated to do such a thing will slip by easily. I can't promise that there won't be suicide bombings or that there will be peace, yet I can assure you that if we don't reach a solution there will be unprecedented bloodshed. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Community Responses to Peace Work:
“ Being a left-wing activist in Jerusalem is not easy. It's simpler in Tel Aviv or Haifa-- anywhere else. People here view me as a traitor. I can guarantee that. I worked for the Municipality for twenty years; at a certain point I stopped being promoted because of my political views. How do I know that? I applied for many positions, which people less qualified than I received. They got the jobs I wanted. I also was told straightforwardly. My superior said, "Meir, why don't you stop applying - they won't allow you to be promoted. You are outside the consensus as far as the Municipality is concerned." I heard it straight and I can show you documents that attest to it. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ There was a period in which there were hundreds or thousands of Palestinians [residents of Jerusalem] who lived here without IDs. The state confiscated their IDs. They were walking around Jerusalem without any identification and if a policeman or border policeman stopped them they would go through hell. Some would get beaten up, some would be arrested, some got fined. The person would say, "I'm a resident of Jerusalem," but the policeman would tell them to prove it. That is how it went. I tried to obtain alternative papers for them to prove their residency using all the means I could, and I really do mean that. I tried through the Municipality, the Ministry of Interior Affairs, the Prime Minister's Office, and the Ministry of Defense. When I couldn't bear it any longer, I myself wrote letters using the Municipality's logo, attesting to that person being a resident of Jerusalem despite not having an ID. I signed my name as council member. I was told that sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. If in 50% of the cases a policeman read the letter and was satisfied, then I was happy. When the Mayor found out he was very angry. He filed a complaint with the police for me overstepping my authority. [He said] my responsibilities didn't include giving IDs to people. A journalist wrote "who knows who Meir Margalit gave these letters to, who knows who got their hands on them." This was during a period of suicide bombings, and their supposition was that more than one suicide bomber slipped in using my letters. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Community Responses to Peace Work and Family:
“ My children were in seventh and eight grade. They told me, "Daddy, people are saying you help terrorists." That broke me. Even if they did realize it wasn't true, that's it. It clings to you and continues with you and your children have to deal with other kids saying, "My dad read in the paper that your dad collaborates with terrorists." This is a pretty radical example, but I think it represents the price you pay when you go all the way with your opinions, when you don't skimp on anything. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Personal Story and Holocaust:
“ When I'm asked [why I keep doing this work] instinctively I say it's because my father is a Holocaust survivor. The fact that my father lost his family because of racial discrimination drives me to fight such phenomena here with all that I have in me. Some would say, "Why are you comparing? There isn't anything to compare here." True, there is no comparison. But there are too many things taking place here that remind me of the Germany of 1933. Having been infused with all the grief and pain of people who have suffered excessively, and because I can't remain impassive to such inequities, I am fighting for what I see as basic social justice on the humanitarian level, not even on the level of politics. This is why I cannot remain impassive, nor can I give up. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ [Peace] means leading quiet, peaceful lives, considering a future without fear. For Jerusalemites, it means going out for coffee or getting on a bus without any fear. I admit that when I think about peace I'm mostly thinking of my children. What scares me most is that my children will have to go through the same things we did. It's time for them to enlist, and they decided they will - not to combat units or units stationed in the Territories, they don't want to deal with oppression. I'm afraid of a situation where they will have to go through the same cycle we did: the Yom Kippur War and so on, wars that will get worse over time. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Family and Israeli Military Service:
“ First of all, I'm afraid [regarding my children's military service]. I certainly am afraid of their military service. Second, I respect their decision. Third, I wish they would refuse to serve. But I do understand the pressure. At that age, growing up in a place like Jerusalem, peer pressure has the ultimate say and I can't force them to start paying the price now, excluding themselves, fighting with friends, all because they would refuse to serve. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Occupation and Separation Barrier:
“ One of the horrible things that happened over this last decade is that the Green Line was erased; it became so natural that people forgot we are occupiers and that we've got a problem. Now, because of the debate regarding the separation barrier, people grasp the meaning; they understand we need separation. Even thought they're talking about physical separation and not about political separation, it's clear that the separation barrier is the basis for future political separation. The wall will come down eventually, but even when it does, it will be etched in people's minds that we need to separate the two peoples. Given my dialectical approach, it's a paradox that it can make people understand that we need total separation: two states for two peoples. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ [In Al-Bustan, an expanding Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem] there's a struggle between King David and Fakhri Abu-Diab, the Chair of Silwan's Land Defense Committee, over who has first rights and who has the right to exist here: King David's bones or Fakhri Abu-Diab's house. It's the struggle between Jewish history and the Palestinian present. The problem is that during the struggle between the present and the past, our future is being sacrificed. I understand those who say this site is so important for the Jewish people, but there are 1,000 people living there; with all due respect to what is under the ground, I still prefer what exists above ground! I think we need to be careful with the question of roots because it keeps tripping us up. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ I want a democratic state, first and foremost. If we don't become a democracy then the Jewish part of it will fall apart and we'll become an Ayatollah version, like in Iran. That's not the Judaism I believe in; I believe in Buber's Judaism, that of the prophets, of "Love thy neighbor as thyself." I'm in favor of moral Judaism and not the settlers' version. If we continue this way it is very clear that we won't be a democracy, but we won't be a Jewish state either. In order to save something of Judaism and be a Jewish state that we can be proud to live in, first of all we need to return to democracy, otherwise it will all fall apart. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ I don't believe we can reach a peace agreement on our own at present. We lack both the will and the capacity to do so. I believe we've arrived at a point in history where we can't dislodge ourselves from this situation without the intervention of an international actor or actors - it could be the Quartet if they wanted. The withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is proof of that. We would never go through with it without the massive pressure that the US is applying. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ When Clinton was in office it was easier for us to ring up the American Consulate or Embassy and tell them that a housing complex was scheduled to be demolished in Hebron, Jerusalem or some remote town in Samaria. They would pick up the phone and speak to Peres, Ben-Ami, or Beilin, and things were sorted out. We still update the Americans and they are very keen on knowing what's happening, but they no longer pick up the phone and solve problems. Everything is changing; our work changes according to both the internal and international reality. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
^ back to top
