Promoting peace, tearing down barriers
SOUTHBURY — The impos ing concrete barrier that sepa rates Israel and Palestine along the border of the West Bank was supposed to discourage ter rorist attacks on Israeli civil ians. The Israeli government, which paid for its construction, contends the yet-to-be-finished wall has reduced bloodshed, but there’s no denying it has promoted fierce division on both sides.
That appears to be changing, at least in one area on the north ern fringe of the West Bank near the Jenin District. The region’s governor, Qaddoura Moussa, has built a relationship with the mayor of Gilboa, a small town on the other side of the barrier in Northern Israel. Together they are attempting to reverse a his tory of violence between the two peoples by promoting friend ship, trust and understanding.
Their goal is to improve eco nomic ties and prosperity be tween their two communities to increase political stability and — they hope — bring about last ing peace.
The alliance between Moussa and his counterpart in Israeli, Mayor Daniel Attar, has been well chronicled by the interna tional media. Supporters of the partnership here in Connecticut have closely followed the progress, and have arranged for the men to travel to the United States to share their vision for change, and explain how it could work.
“They realize there needs to be a warm border, a living bridge if you will,” said Robert Zwang, executive director of The Federation-Jewish Com munities of Western CT in Southbury. “They really work as a team.”
Zwang and other members of the federation met with Moussa and Attar during a visit to the region in November. Zwang said he was inspired by what he calls a “bold experiment in Israeli Palestinian relations,” as de signed by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and he in vited Moussa to make his first visit to the United States to talk about it. Moussa agreed, but only if Attar would come, too.
That set in motion plans for a whirlwind four-day visit this week that will include a public conversation with the men at the Jewish community center on Main Street North. The PBS documentary “Now,” which featured the two men, will also be shown. There will be time for questions and answers.
Zwang said the men will also have meetings in New York and with Jewish federations else where in New England to make business connections. Since the crux of their plan is to improve economic independence and job creation on both sides of the wall, it will be important for the men to build a business network in North America, he said.
He hopes anybody interested in peace in the Middle East will attend next Sunday’s forum, which will be preceded by a $365-per-person reception with the two men at the Jewish center. He said people will be amazed to learn how mortal en emies on either side of a securi ty fence can learn to trust and tolerate each other and coexist in an area where suicide bomb ings were once commonplace.
Rather than debate, he said, the men have put their words into action by creating plans for an industrial zone in Jenin and medical services in Gilboa. The proposal would encourage trav el between both sides of the wall — something the Israeli government has discouraged elsewhere, but appears it will tolerate in Jenin and Gilboa.
“People will see what’s really a ground-up approach. It’s really a smart idea,” Zwang said.