Gush Etzion

This is a thrilling and intense week of meeting people around Israel to discuss issues connected to Israel as Jewish and Democratic state.

Yesterday we headed east to an area that has many names: Gush Etzion, Judaea, the West Bank, and more. We went to hear the stories of the many people that live there. We began by heading to an organization called Roots, which fosters dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian residents of the region. We heard from Shaul, who currently lives in Tekoa, and Nur, who currently lives in Bethlehem. The organization was founded by Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger and Ali Abu-Awad, whose family owns the farm that serves as a base for the programming. We heard about their visions for coexistence on a local level and students pushed them to explain their visions more fully on national levels.

We continued by meeting with Bob Lang, who works on the City Council of Efrat and formerly was a spokesman for the Yesha Council (Judaea, Sumeria, Gaza). Lang describes the Jewish attachment to this land. the variety of Jewish communities in the area, and some of the political possibilities for now and the future. Students again were particularly curious and asked great questions for him to further explain his points.

Unfortunately there was a funeral in the area so we were not able to meet with Chamed in his home community of Beit Zakarya, so we returned to Roots to speak with him about his Palestinian community. After a day of political discussions students were most curious to about Chamed’s thoughts on future potential solutions in the area.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1ebp-ea7mqFQgesAOZbj0sy4zUWCqs0gahttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=15xBxih0lO_LGBZlh-aTG_zzElrnToyE_https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1ROUoM0taZ_IOjAJRhEVxK_D3ug8yWF3Shttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1PKzY6DKP5tnRkzZYe6pmICztfz-RtoLjhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1c5xE7QsCoWGIWEhLl_XNqTtyEbVkAzbS

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