Oasis of Peace: The Village of Neve Shalom / Wahat al-Salam

A model of peaceful coexistence between Palestinians and Jews

In the Jewish-Palestinian village Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, an equal number of Jewish and Palestinian families live together. It is a model that demonstrates how these two peoples can live together in peace. Their children attend the same school where they learn each other’s languages and understand the way both sides have perceived the history of Palestine. It is essential for peace work that people from both sides have personal contact with one another and listen to each other. The fact that this village of peace continues to exist despite the difficult political situation, allows both Israelis and Palestinians to remain hopeful.

rw. The Israeli-Palestinian village of Neve Shalom /Wahat al-Salam was founded by the Dominican Father Bruno Hussar. The meaning of ‘Neve Shalom’, or ‘Wahat al-Salam’ is ‘source’ and also ‘oasis’. When he was sent to Jerusalem in the sixties by his Dominican Order, Hussar had a vision: a place where the followers of the three religions, Abraham’s children, could live together in peace. Born in Egypt and brought up in a Jewish family, Hussar emigrated to France where he converted to Christianity and became a Dominican priest. In Jerusalem he realised to his great unhappiness that all his own religious identities were constantly in conflict with each other.

The actual village of Neve Shalom /Wahat al-Salam was built in 1977 by a group of Jewish and Palestinian people who moved to what had formerly been a labour camp; among them was Evi Guggenheim, a Swiss Jew, who emigrated to Israel at the age of 19. In a program broadcast by the Swiss radio station DRS 1, she talked about Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam:

‘The village is situated in the Israeli region, on a hill between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. There are forty families today, half of which are Jewish, the other half are Palestinian families. That parity is chosen deliberately. There is equal representation of Jewish and Palestinian personnel in administration and school committees as well, which means that we have a Jewish headmaster and a Palestinian headmistress. The children attending primary school come from the surrounding villages, only 10 percent of the pupils are from Neve Shalom itself. The school is bi-national, as Jews and Palestinians go there, and they are taught in Hebrew as well as in Arabic, as a matter of principle.’

Model of peaceful coexistence

‘We are, truly speaking, a pedagogical institution. We live together in a village, thus offering a model for coexistence. We have a kindergarten and a primary school, which are cross-regional and also spread our message of peaceful coexistence. And we have our School for Peace, which is acknowledged as having paved the way for conflict management. When we started to construct Neve Shalom as a village, we decided that we didn’t just want to live on this hill, but that we also wanted to send a message to the world around us. In the beginning we naively believed that if we brought a group of Jews and a group of Arabs together, they would somehow get along. But after a while we had to realise that we first had to develop a specific methodology to reach our goal. This is hard work, and this is what we set out to develop in our School for Peace. It is a methodology that is internationally recognised today. We also train people who apply these methods to settle conflicts.’

Even with the bloody struggles going on around us right now, the inhabitants of this village live together peacefully. ‘All our community members came to this place because they wanted to live together. That is why coexistence is a very natural thing to us. There are conflicts, of course, but we have a very specific approach to handle them. If there are conflicts, we sit together and talk them over.’

Conflict potential has not increased in Neve Shalom, not even since the outbreak of the second Intifada: ‘... We all share the belief that conflicts cannot be settled that way. That is why we undertake common activities, like, for example, in our neighbouring villages in West Bank. These villages have been cut off from food and medical supplies since the new occupation and are now short of both food and medicine. So we help them, the whole village, all of us: Jews and Palestinians. We tried to provide them with food. Our physicians went there to give them medical care, together with our two assistant physicians. We collected money for them because we wanted to provide them with food and medicine. […] We also take part in peaceful demonstrations together to protest against the occupation.’

The members of Neve Shalom are demon­strating that it is possible for Jews and Palestinians to live together by developing a community based on mutual acceptance, respect and cooperation. They are demonstrating that there are non-violent ways to settle conflicts.

Understanding each other’s identity, culture and traditions

The Israeli Independence Day, Jom Hazmauth, is a day which Evi Guggenheim finds difficult to enjoy much this year. The current situation makes it a rather disquieting day for her: ‘I can’t be happy today if my people and my country are doing such things as they have done during the past weeks. I’m normally glad I’m able to live in my own state but I also wish the Palestinians had a state of their own because I know how important this is to me. But this is a good example of the specific way we deal with the complexity of this conflict: We have two different histories, we have two different realities and we have different emotions. I’m usually happy on such a day. But I can also understand that the Palestinians here are not happy because for them it’s the day of catastrophe. If you live together and talk to each other, you become more sensitive to the feelings of the other side. You have to respect their emotions, their opinions and their specific identity. This is what we are trying to teach at our primary school. At primary school at the time of Jom Hazmauth we tell a story about the War of Independence but also a story of Nakhba, the catastrophe. We tell both stories, and this way the children learn to understand the complexity of the situation. The conflict can only be solved by dealing with this question in all the complexity it requires.’

‘At present, while the current struggles are going on outside, the children are allowed to speak their minds and talk about their feelings at school during one special hour every day. When they come and say: ‘The Arabs have set fire to our field’ or ‘The Jews are annihilating us,’ then there is a Jewish or Arab child sitting at the desk next to them saying: ‘Yes, but I’m not!’ This way they have a chance to learn that not all Jews and Arabs are alike. They play and do things together—for the children the coexistence of two nationalities is a natural thing. So here things aren’t just painted black and white like the media is doing right now and generally always does when depicting such fierce conflicts and violent clashes. Our children live in a different reality.’

Evi Guggenheim points out that it is easy to preach against prejudices on a theoretical level, ‘but if you do not really get to know each other and grow up together, it will remain mere theory. Here the friendship between Jews and Palestinians is everyday reality. They go to school together and do things together so that prejudices are no longer foremost in their minds.’

Discussing conflicts in the village community

‘If a conflict arises in our village community, we organise a dialogue and we talk it over together. Maybe we won’t settle it at the first meeting but everybody has an opportunity to tell the others what he feels and what he or she personally believes. People listen carefully to one another and take each other seriously. This is what dialogue is all about. Together, we look for solutions, we may set up a committee, etc. Neve Shalom has gained a lot of experience on how to settle conflicts from the School for Peace. The situation in Israel/Palestine is a complete tangle, but still, when I step back and look at the situation, I can see similar phases that we go through in our meetings at the School for Peace—and the School for Peace works with people from outside and is not part of our primary school.’

According to Evi Guggenheim, the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict resembles a bullfight, in which both sides have ploughed into each other with such aggression that they are now unable to free their horns any more. Unless we can step back, we will not be able to develop a new perspective. This is exactly what happens in our encounters, if the Jews are prepared to acknowledge the fact that injustice has been done to the Palestinians, and if they also take responsibility for the injustice inflicted on the Palestinian people by the founding of the State of Israel and by the expulsion of Palestinians from the Occupied Territories. But that’s a truth we are hardly prepared to admit. Being a Jew myself, I can tell you that it is extremely difficult to share the collective responsibility of the Jewish people. But we have to undergo this painful process. And when this has been done, attitudes will soften and an honest, genuine discussion can take place. That is what we experience at all our meetings, and it’s a dialogue of a different kind.’

The result of such dialogues is that they start taking a real interest in other people, they want to know what they really need. Evi Guggenheim firmly believes that if this is possible—on a modest scale—in Neve Shalom, then there is a chance that it could also be realised on a grand scale. Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam provides a glimmer of hope to both sides in this conflict. People are relieved when they hear that this village still exists. ‘I firmly believe that we are giving the people around us a flicker of hope. Since our situation looks so desperate at the moment, it is essential that Neve Shalom continues to exist and that we continue to live together in peace.’

Evi Guggenheim also advises foreign countries not to adopt a biased point of view, but to look into the issues thoroughly. ‘Unless you understand both sides’ point of view, you won’t be able to do justice to either of them.’ According to Mrs Guggenheim, people can help by supporting peace organisations such as Neve Shalom, which really work for peace and fight against the occupation. In addition, humanitarian aid is necessary for Palestinians in need.