A Multiethnic Democratic Israel Will Not Be Deterred
Earlier this year, I traveled to Israel and the West Bank to learn about the work our grantee partners are doing to promote a multiethnic democratic society in Israel for all Israelis and Palestinians. This trip was an opportunity to get proximate to the people closest to the complex issues on the ground and to have courageous conversations with people I don’t often have the chance to meet.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the day I visited the small Palestinian village of Susya with Breaking the Silence and the Center for Jewish Nonviolence after I heard that the Trump administration overturned US policy on Israeli settlements. For anyone who has seen the effects of the occupation up close, this announcement is outrageous and heartbreaking.
It was a hot day in Susya, over 100 degrees, when we looked into a well that had been destroyed by Israeli soldiers. A family welcomed us into their home, a modest tent, and we ate a beautiful meal together, served with support from their young granddaughter, Dalia, who stole my heart. My heart sank when I heard the horrific stories of violence, restrictions on movement and access to water, because their community had been slated for demolition to make way for an Israeli settlement. The family said that they hoped someday Dalia would know peace, and that they were grateful to have Jewish allies working together with them to end the occupation.
This is not the first time the government has sought to deny the existence of the occupation and its crushing impact on Palestinians. Last year, the US Department of State removed the word “occupied” in reference to the Palestinian territories in its annual human rights report. Today the Israel and Palestine Director of Human Rights Watch, Omar Shakir, is being deported for his work to oppose the settlements. Seeing the occupation in real life makes it clear how far some US and Israeli politicians have gone to avoid telling the truth about the situation and how far they will go to silence dissenting views.
I remember how inspired I felt when I met Daoud Nassar at the Tent of Nations, an educational and environmental family farm and summer camp for Arab youth. Settlers have destroyed the Nassar family’s olive groves time and again in an attempt to run them off their ancestral land, but the Nassars have only become more committed to bringing people together across difference. Over the years, hundreds of volunteers have come to learn and restore the groves, including Jewish Israelis and Americans. On the table where young campers eat, this message was painted: We can only be human together.
Nathan Cummings Foundation supports efforts to bring the occupation to an end as soon as possible in a way that honors the dignity and humanity of Palestinians and ensures the continuation of Israel as a truly representative democracy of all its people through our strategic partnership with the New Israel Fund. The growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank represents an ongoing miscarriage of justice and deepens animus between Israeli and Palestinian people. I encourage anyone who is on the fence to see the occupation up close, and to meet the families who have been devastated and displaced. It is impossible to come away from the experience unchanged.
Despite the Israeli government’s persistent campaigns to undermine progressive efforts to create a just, vibrant, multiethnic democracy, our partners will not be deterred. They continue to build strong coalitions across difference and promote a vision of pluralism and peace.
As Ayman Odeh, the head of a coalition of Arab and Arab-Jewish political parties in the Israeli Parliament, recently wrote: “We have proven that cooperation between people, Arab and Jewish, is the only principled political strategy that will lead to a better future for all.”
Hate is an existential threat. And solidarity is the path to an inclusive society that values justice and equality. I urge others in philanthropy to call out moments like these that stand in the way of that path and to resource the civil society actors who are nonviolently resisting the status quo at great risk to their lives. These visionary leaders and social movements challenging racist, anti-democratic forces need our support.
Many of our partners have spoken out about the announcement, and I am incredibly proud of their bravery. It is an honor to stand with them — today and every day.
Sharon Alpert
For more in-depth analysis, read these statements from our grantee partners: