They were on the road for an entire day because of flights blocked by Amman and Tel Aviv due to the war now raging in Lebanon as well as in Gaza. A very difficult journey that saw them land at different airports and then finally reach Italy, keeping the organizers of the initiative, primarily Mao Valpiana, in uncertainty until the very last. And indeed they were all visibly tired at yesterday morning’s press conference at Cascina Nascosta in Milan, and more so at the late afternoon meeting at the packed Acli headquarters.
Their names are Sofia Orr and Daniel Mizrahi, Israeli conscientious objectors who refer to the Mesarvot support network we have covered several times in this newspaper. Also affiliated with the same network is Palestinian Aisha Omar, while Tarteel Al-Junaidi is a member of Community Peacemaker Teams. Last night, in front of an attentive audience, they told their difficult stories of peacemaking in an area that has always been torn by conflict and is now irreparably poisoned by hatred, methodical enemy-building, and brainwashing that starts from the moment you are born and admits no horizon other than weapons. All wearing helmets from the age of 18 for the obligatory two years of military service without which in Israel you are a pariah, a parasite, a traitor, an enemy of your own people, an enemy to the entire community, the bearer of a thought incompatible with the very idea of homeland and therefore to be punished by imprisonment.
This is the case of the very young Sofia Orr, whom readers of this newspaper have come to know since she was sentenced to prison a first time in February this year for refusing to enlist in the IDF, a sentence she was given again when she confirmed her choice. In total, she served 85 days in prison until she was granted an exemption. “It was not a sudden choice, but an awareness that had been matured since I was 15 years old. And I can consider myself fortunate because I have a family that has always supported me, from which I have not received any pressure, who on the contrary shared my choice with all the difficult consequences, even in the face of general ostracism when my case came out of invisibility even in international newspapers, while for several of my peers who would agree with me the situation is quite different and one of great suffering,” she recounted, describing the very heavy psychological pressure to which everyone is subjected in the Israeli educational system, from an early age. “It has always been very clear to me that there is really nothing to be won by war, while we can all win if we choose peace,” he then added amid applause. And he concluded with the remark about the possibility that we from afar can have “to see everything that is happening in real time, and yet realizing it in person is different: if ever any of you want to come and see what is happening where we live, it will be an important thing not only for him, because he will not be able to help but tell and share, and perhaps sow some seeds of change.”
Quite different is the case of Daniel Mizrahi, who landed in occupied Palestine when he was a teenager as part of an ‘insertion program in the Holy Land’ for Jewish residents of Latin America, in short, aspiring settlers. Growing up in a context of perennial and ‘natural’ tension, he then attended university in Jerusalem and slowly became aware of the reality of apartheid and denial of the most basic rights, connected with the settlements of so many families like his in the occupied territories, and when the call to military service came he decided to refuse. For him, too, there was prison, 50 days.
“I am well aware that the prison I experienced is nothing compared to what Palestinian prisoners have to go through, but there were hard times for me, too, for example when I was summoned by the management of my ward to warn me that if I continued to freely express my anti-militarist sentiments with my fellow inmates, who were not conscientious objectors but ordinary prisoners, I would risk solitary confinement… And still even after serving my prison term, freedom never returned: for example in my work environment I carefully avoid saying how I think, the psychological pressure within Israeli society even among people my age is very strong. The narrative of ‘security at any cost’ that everyone is content with is too pervasive, and it’s hard to make it clear how much it is the very regime of oppression we inflict on our neighbors that makes them dangerous enemies.”
And then there is Aisha Omar, also a Mesarvot volunteer although Palestinian, born and raised in the occupied territories in 1948, imbued since before she was born with the resentment that has naturally become dominant in the Arab world. Volunteer work within Mesarvot began two years ago “when life allowed me to discover that not quite all Israelis are those monsters in uniform who have been oppressing and keeping Palestine segregated for 75 years, and that indeed quite a few of them would dream of something quite different and would be open to the mutual recognition in pain that could usher in a much-needed peace process…
” A job of brokering, translating, accompanying, weaving relationships that was already difficult two years ago and that the escalation of the conflict has made even more complicated. “I often feel like a white fly, accused of defeatism by my more militant friends, but one must not lose hope in the possibilities of reconciliation; now I am even more convinced of the importance of somehow connecting the two sides of the conflict….”
And finally here we come to Tarteel Al-Junaidi, a native of Hebron,
“a place practically surrounded by check points, everywhere you move you get blocked.” As of 2019, she is also a human rights activist with a Mesarvot ‘sister’ organization called Community Peacemaker Team. “For me it is a privilege to be here today, I almost feel guilty for this privilege, when I think of so many of my peers who may not be here anymore, the many children, women who are not here anymore… But to contribute to this moment of gathering is so important: To understand that each of us has a role to play in the pursuit of peace… and your role is no less fundamental than ours, with your public opinion, with those who govern you, with those who live next door to you… To be able to clean our hearts, to rethink peace together, to know that it is possible, is already to act the change and that is what we need.”
Supported by quite a few associational entities, this Italian tour by Sofia and Daniel, Israeli conscientious objectors and Palestinian pacifists Tarteel and Aisha was also conceived as a fundraising opportunity on the legal expenses front above all, and will continue tomorrow to Verona, Va, then on to Bologna (on Oct. 19 with a stop at the sites of the Marzabotto massacre), Parma and Reggio Emilia (on Oct. 20), then Florence (Oct. 21 and 22), of course Rome, with a packed program of institutional meetings (Oct. 23, 24 and 25), concluding in Bari on Oct. 26, for the big national mobilization against the war.
All program details can be found at this link, while on the Nonviolent Movement’s Facebook page it will be possible to follow live coverage of all the initiatives.
Here is the live coverage of last night’s meeting at the Acli headquarters in Milan:
https://www.facebook.com/MarzioGiovanniMarzorati/videos/3915325148751371
From left to right Tarteel Al-Junaidi, Sofia Orr, Daniel Mizrahi and Aisha Omar