Rutie Atsmon
81
In terms of support, what's the most important thing that you are able to give to Aziz and to the work he's doing there?
Maybe you will hear something different from Aziz about the kind of support he needs from us. I feel that the main thing is to know that we care, that we really care about what's going on there, that they're not alone. I think that under a situation of daily violence of shooting and tanks, soldiers and closure, most of all you need to know that somebody out there, around the world, nearby but outside of your chaos, cares about you. And we really care. We really are worried; we really want to help. We really want to stop the situation, more than anything, just to end it. But as long as we cannot end it immediately, we like to believe that our general work is helping in the long term to create a change that will end the occupation. As long as we care, and we phone, "are you okay, what can we do," this feeling gives a lot of strength to people. We hear it from a lot of people after we phone, especially after a certain attack or something. "Are you okay, we heard that in your village or camp something happened, are you okay?" It gives people a lot of strength. They tell us that it changes everything. Also here, after every bomb, every explosion in Tel Aviv, I get phone calls from Palestinian friends asking if I'm okay. "We know that your kids like to hang around in this area, are they okay?" That's what it's all about. We really care about each other. Because we care, we can continue, and we will create a change. In spite of there being hardly any mention in the media about what we do, when people discover these activities in Windows and other organizations, they come and say we're looking for a place where people care about each other, and are together, and they want to join us. Every single day people join us here and in Tulkarm and in other places. They want to be part of a group of people that care about each other, and work together to create a change. I think that this is the biggest support that we can give them. Everything else helps of course, but most important is that they are not alone.