My first introduction to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict came from my third grade Hebrew school teacher. She had cool crimped hair and was young so I liked her. To boot she had an Israeli boyfriend who wore hip jean jackets, and whenever she went to visit him in Jerusalem she brought us back small wooden camels from the Old City. These were our lone connotations with the region, and they satisfied our hintings of curiosity.
After an internationally broadcasted rally in support of the Oslo Accords, I remember our teacher gathering us into the center of the classroom and telling us, “we can’t give them more land. If we do, they will just keep wanting more.” We weren’t really sure who “they” were, but the explanation was sufficient enough to a room full of third graders who only semi-understood the meaning of the Hebrew prayers we crawled our way through each week.
A formerly Palestinian house, Villa Haroun al-Rashid, stands in the West Jerusalem. Photo courtesy of Zochrot Website neighborhood of Talbieh
Until my junior year in college when I took a course on Palestinian literature, I had scarcely been given the opportunity in school, synagogue, or with family and friends to hear a Palestinian perspective. To this day it is my fascination with why and how this narrative was deleted from my extensive religious education that propels my interest in the region. The answer is complex, and can’t only be blamed on one factor like ignorance, or pride, or fear. Yet before the age of twenty, I was taught indirectly or by omission that Palestinians were peripheral and amorphous; that they were instigators. The gaping holes in my own education underscore the need for organizations that work within Jewish society to promote a more complex story.
Last month I had the chance to interview Eitan Bronstein, the director of Zochrot (meaning “remembering” in Hebrew), an organization that teaches Israeli citizens about the Palestinian Nakba, or commemoration of the 1948 displacement and expulsion of Palestinians from their land. Zochrot’s mission is to supplement the traditional narrative Jews are taught about the founding of Israel with one that is more complex and inclusive.
Brochure designed by Zochrot to educate Jewish Israelis about the Palestinian Nakba. Photo courtesy of Zochrot
For those who haven’t been been keeping up with Israeli news in the last several weeks, members of the Knesset have recently passed two bills, one that outlaws government funding of all organizations that commemorate the Nakba, and another that bans the use of the word “Nakba” in textbooks that are used within Arab schools.
Adopting precisely the opposite mantra, Zochrot speaks loudly about the Nakba so that the Jewish collective memory can include acknowledgment of Palestinian history. Representatives from Zochrot also hold gallery exhibits and give tours of former Arab villages throughout the country, marking tour sites with signs that delineate the original Arabic names of destroyed villages.
Zochrot holds a gallery exhibition about the Palestinian Nakba. Photo courtesy of Zochrot
According to Eitan, while some version of a two-state solution may be imminent, reconciliation can not occur unless Israel formally and informally acknowledges the Nakba. In this sense, every Jewish child that is taught only one narrative, whether in Israel or the United States, becomes another barrier to reconciliation.
But just as important as acknowledging the Naqba within mainstream society is understanding that the event does not stand alone as a historical occurrence that was left behind in 1948. The continuing struggle of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza for statehood and recognition is equally a part of acknowledging the Nakba.
As part of the AIC’s efforts to connect their work with that of other Israeli organizations, I had a chance to travel to Tel Aviv to interview Eitan for a podcast. Below is the fruit of the interview. Enjoy!
