Rutie Atsmon
4
Who is involved in Windows?
Nina and I began to meet people in order to learn more about joint activities, to see how people felt about our ideas and to look for people who might join us. One thing was clear from the beginning-- the only way to make it right would be as an equally joint organization of Jews and Arabs. (Only later did I begin to understand the "Arab - Palestinian" questions of identity) Most people we talked with thought we were crazy, ranging from "it won't work" to "it isn't necessary" to "it's dangerous." The more negative the responses were, the more determined we became to continue. Slowly people began to join in and we began to take action. It was then the first intifada and we had no connections with Palestinians from the Territories. As a joint group of Jews and Palestinian citizens of Israel, it took us over a year to get recognition as an NGO because the assumption was at the time that any joint group was a security risk. Only then were we able to begin fundraising. It took a couple of more years to actually raise some funds because only when the Oslo process began did the atmosphere change and there was more funding for people-to-people activities. Until then, even the foundations we approached reacted with "What are you talking about - a joint magazine?! Why?" So, only people with real commitment had the strength to keep working when it seemed so impossible to make it happen. And this has not changed. In this kind of activity you need to be an optimist, to have a lot of patience and not get discouraged by anything. Fortunately, there were always enough people around who deeply believed in our ideas to help us move on, develop and achieve more. From the beginning it was clear to us that the magazine we wanted to produce would be written mostly by children. Kids would be the center of our organization. In 1994, we organized a group of kids from Tel Aviv-Jaffa-- Muslim, Jewish and Christian kids-- to work together to create the first issue. We wanted it to be a forum for kids to express themselves and communicate with the least possible interference from adults. When the first issue of the magazine came out in January 1995 it was sold in newsstands and Palestinian workers from Gaza and the West Bank bought copies to take home. We received letters from Gaza that we happily published in the following issues, and soon enough we had kids coming from Gaza to join the young editors board. The kids from both sides of the Green Line were followed by friends and family members who wanted to be active too, and Windows became a volunteer-organization with hundreds of activists and volunteers, first from Israel and then also from the Occupied Territories, ranging from little kids to adults, even over 80 years old.