Searching for Middle (East) Ground: Part III

Disclaimer: This is the third in a series of posts dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Obviously, this is an extremely sensitive issue for many people back home as well as every single person living in this part of the world. It is also an incredibly complex and important issue, and needs to be given the time and full discussion that it deserves. I am hoping that this will present the conflict in terms that are easy to understand, and I fully intend to approach this from an impartial and fair point of view.

Part III - Real World: West Bank

At this point, our weekend shifted gears for Shabbat. But we wouldn’t be spending Shabbat together – that would be too easy! No, for this Shabbat we would be headed to the settlements of Tekoa and Nokdim. Along with Joseph, another OTZMAnikim, I was sent to Nokdim to stay with the Mescheloff family. Here’s a picture of me and the family:

(Truly, the faces of evil.)

In total, about 12 of us were in Nokdim with various families. After being dropped off, we were told to follow two of the Mescheloff kids to their house, where we met their (English-speaking!) parents. As you can see, they had 5 kids (all boys!) from the oldest in high school all the way down to a baby of a couple of months. While only the oldest spoke a little English, the parents were both American-born, so they spoke fluently. Just like the rest of the settlement, the family was religious, which meant they kept Shomer Shabbat. For the non-Jews out there, this means that they do absolutely no work of any kind from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, and that includes driving a car, using any sort of electricity, cooking, whatever. Most Shomer families today use timers on the lights in their homes, cook dinner and lunch before Shabbat begins, and choose to walk to wherever they need to go. It might sound odd, but it can actually be quite peaceful and a nice change of pace.

Now, when most people think of settlements in the West Bank, they think of caravans, or what basically amounts to trailer homes that can move immediately if needed. When it came to the Mescheloff family, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, it was probably the biggest and nicest home I’ve stayed in all year! Not only did every child have their own room, but Joseph and I had our own rooms also, which is practically unheard of in most Israeli homes. Truthfully, if I had shown you pictures of Nokdim without telling you where it was, you would never have guessed that it was a settlement. Now, this isn’t to say that those caravans don’t exist – Allie actually stayed in one in Tekoa! It was quite an experience for her, but we’ve got enough going on here without me telling other people’s stories too. More pertinent to me, there was a group of caravans clustered in one part of Nokdim. We were told that most of Nokdim’s residents actually want them to get out of their town – simply put, that isn’t the image they want associated with their community. In talking to the various people I met in Nokdim, I found that none of them moved there out of some sort of political statement. Instead, most of them were new families that wanted a small community close to Jerusalem (just a 20 minute drive).

It turned out that a number of families wanted to host OTZMAnikim, so Joseph and I went to a different family for lunch the next day. It was a very different experience, as the family was our age and had a 10-month old baby. We were also joined by some of their friends who were visiting from Jerusalem. Really, I can’t stress enough the normalcy of this family. When you hear about Israeli settlements, you don’t hear about this. It really is hard to say that these families, who have done nothing but start a life in a quiet home, should be evicted from their homes so that there might be peace. It goes back to that idea that the Palestinian side of the story is easier to report due to the sensationalist side to it, but there is a human face to the Israeli side, and this was it.

After lunch with family number two, we headed back to our original family for a nice, relaxing, and above all normal Shabbat afternoon. Because it was Tu B’Shavat (the Jewish festival celebrating nature), we met up with the other OTZMAnikim for a small seder (ceremonial/religious meal) with the entire community. Unfortunately, neither one of our two families decided to attend, but we were still able to see what a strong and tight-knit community Nokdim was. It’s clear that this was a town where everyone knew each other and truly considered one another to be family.

Look, I’m honestly not trying to sway opinion one way or another with this blog series. In truth, I’m trying to do the opposite – present the facts, tell what I saw, and let you make your own decisions. Honestly, this entire conflict is far too complicated and has far too many sides to do anything else, and anyone who tells you differently is selling something. But I will say this – no matter what your feelings, no matter if you call this the West Bank, the Occupied Territories, Judea-Sameria, or whatever else, don’t blame these people. The majority of settlers are just families looking for a quiet community to call home, no different then the Americans who moved out west back in the 1800s. Why are these people in Nokdim? Because it’s a 20 minute drive from their jobs in Jerusalem. Not one of them said they are there because of any sort of political or even religious reason. Just a place to raise their children. So again, think what you want. Draw your own conclusions. You can even scream to the heavens about injustice if you want.

But don’t blame the Mescheloff family.

Coming up in Part IV... The left-wing has their day in court, but we learn first-hand the importance of how you deliver your message as tempers start to flair. Also, the next post will be up in a few days, likely sometime on Saturday.