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The call went out from on high and Hannah, Ric and I were invited, along with mazkirim and roshei chinuch from Habo Dror worldwide to a week long ideological pummelling in Israel. From what I could discern, the trip had a duel purpose- discussion and exploration of movement ideology and an investigation and critique of our own personal hagshama. Additionally, much to our delight, there was a chinuch content, appropriate for a youth movement such as ours that believes in an on-going educational process. And so we were treated to some really great sessions, two in particular of which immediately come to mind.
One was Ron Shatzberg’s tour of the separation fence. It became increasingly apparent that our ex-shaliach was clearly doing us a considerable favour and is definitely too important to do such tours on a regular basis when, standing in Gilo overlooking Rachel’s tomb, he explained, pointing occasionally to various outposts and hotspots, what the strategy that he had devised for the areas had been, how he had commanded his troops and what he had advised the army to do about it! From various vantage points Ron traced the path of the separation fence for us, explaining the official justification for its positioning in each instance, before taking us to a section where the 9-metre concrete wall towered above us. The messages of solidarity daubed on the wall should have given the impression that there is a considerable international feeling against the separation fence. However, upon closer inspection their credibility crumbled and we were amused to read, “Milton Keynes is with you”, “Preston supports the Palestinians” and, best of all, “Mancs against the tanks”!
It was so exciting for us to be chanichim for the duration of the trip, leave all the logistical worries to someone else and only have to worry about whether we would get pastries with our next coffee break, and how we could make friends with the South Americans despite our limited Hebrew and less than impressive Spanish (yes, Ric, we KNOW that you did a Spanish GCSE!). And so we were in a jovial mood when we embarked on our tour of Jaffa. But as time passed and we delved deeper into this snapshot of Israeli society, the acute social problems of Israeli society became glaringly obvious. We were all already aware that Israeli society is far from the perfect vision we too often paint it as, but standing there in the midst of it all had a tremendous impact. We visited the area of the old bus station to learn about the exploitation of foreign workers. They are forced to battle not only against the mal-practice of their employers but also against government legislation effectively condoning such practices. We were also taken to the red light district where the police and society at large simply choose to turn a blind eye to the illegality and exploitation.
In terms of Habo Dror ideology and movement hagshama, amazing things are happening now in Israel. Last year the number of HD kvutsot leapt to four and participants on the Kennes were lucky to be able to spend time with their members to enable us to really get a feel for kvutsah living. With the tnuat bogrim going strong and big plans in the pipeline, HD is now well and truly getting back into the kibbutz-building business.
The Kennes experience was intensified by our fellow participants. Learning about how HD functions in other, very different, parts of the world was great, and having time to hang out with its leaders was even better. The three of us realised how comparatively easy we in Britain have things. We were humbled by tales from some of our Spanish-speaking counterparts. They explained that they arrange for the chaverim take a small amount of food home with them after every ken meeting, so that they can ensure that at least once a week the family can eat a proper meal. It is a long way from our comfortable homes, private schooling…
There is so much more to report in terms of the developments in Israel and I urge you to ask any of us if you have any questions. We had a great week, and are certainly happy to chat to any of you further about it.
B’Shalom,
Michal
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