Next week in (East) Jerusalem

My most recent memory of Jerusalem stretches back more than 20 years. I had just spent a year studying in Israel — first Hebrew in Jerusalem and then architecture in Haifa — and had decided to return home to Johannesburg. I was visiting friends at the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which is separated from the Old City by a string of Palestinian villages, from where we witnessed the beginnings of the first intifadah. I have not been back since.

Tomorrow night I will join a group of more than twenty human rights activists from South Africa on a tour to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. I am both excited and terrified. I have very many fond memories of my year in Israel and feel a deep attachment to the place and many of its people. But I also feel a great sense of shame about ongoing human rights abuses, particularly in the occupied territories, and a deep regret that “my people” appear to have learnt little from their past.

To some extent, I have a good idea of what to expect. Our Israeli and Palestinian hosts — organisations that are committed to ending the occupation non-violently and upholding human rights values — have provided us with a series of well-documented research reports on various aspects of the conflict. I’ve also made it my business to keep up to date with recent developments, including the Gaza blockade, the prisoner exchange and the recent bulldozer attack in West Jerusalem.

But mere knowledge of facts and figures is not going to be enough. From the little I already know, the conflict is not just about rights and wrongs. It appears to be equally about perceptions, fears, mistrust and hatred, on and within both sides. It also appears to be more complex than simply “us” versus “them”. Both Israeli and Palestinian societies appear to be deeply divided and traumatised. Acts of violence are perpetrated by, on behalf of and on both sides. Whilst occupation is worst for the occupied, it is also bad for the occupier.

My hope is to understand better the complexities and nuance of non-violent Israeli and Palestinian struggles, as well as the dynamics within both societies. My rational lawyerly mind easily comes to grips with the legalities of the occupation. My activist persona is quick to identify unjustifiable infringements of human rights. But my culturally Jewish identity — I’m not a believer — instinctively becomes defensive and often battles to distinguish legitimate criticism from thinly veiled hate.

By this time next week, the first phase of the tour will be over. Then comes the hard part: engaging local communities in a way that facilitates debate and discussion. I don’t expect to have any answers to any final settlement. Instead, I would like to engage Jewish South Africans in particular about why criticism of Israeli government policies, laws and actions is not necessarily anti-Semitic and why the occupation can and should end. But first, I’ll have to overcome my own biases.