PERSPECTIVES THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM WINTER 2023 GATEWAY TO UNDERSTANDING NEWS AND CURRENT EVENTS
The Jewish people trace their origin to Abraham, who believed in only one G-d and was the patriarch of the Israelites. The earliest written mention of “Israel” was from approximately 1200 BCE on the Merneptah Stele of the Egyptian king. The descendants of Abraham were exiled from Egypt after hundreds of years of enslavement. The Jews were led by Moses through the Sinai Desert for 40 years to the Land of Israel, as promised by G-d in the Bible (Genesis 17:8). The Hebrew Bible claims that a United Monarchy existed in the Land of Israel between 1020 BCE and 922 BCE. Samuel chose Saul, a soldier who had defeated the Ammonites, to be the first king. David, the second king, consolidated rule over northern and southern tribes and expanded the kingdom’s borders. The third king, Solomon, was best-known for reigning a “Golden Age” led by his wisdom and wealth. Solomon led massive building projects and forced international alliances. The Shema, a Jewish prayer that serves as a centerpiece during the morning and evening Jewish prayer services, literally translates to “Hear, O Israel,” in Hebrew. “Next year in Jerusalem,” is a phrase that is often sung at the end of the Passover Seder and at the end of the Ne’ila service on Yom Kippur. The Seder closes with the wish for all Jews to be able to return to the Holy Land. Why do Jews feel connected to Israel? PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM 2
04 GATEWAY TO UNDERSTANDING 06 WHAT IS A “JEWISH PERSPECTIVE”? 07 WAS ISRAEL EMPTY WHEN JEWS ARRIVED BEFORE 1948? 08 RABBI MIRIAM GROSSMAN ON CHANGING JEWISH PERSPECTIVES 10 ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN WOMEN: WITNESSING A PARADIGM SHIFT 12 GABOR MATÉ AND JUSTIFYING VIOLENCE 14 A GATEWAY TO UNDERSTANDING AND A MESSAGE OF HOPE 15 MUSEUM BACK ROOM HIGHLIGHTS 16 TIME LINE 17 ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION COVER IMAGE: A sleeping Palestinian boy holds a key. The Palestinian Key is a symbol of their homes lost in the Nakba and their right to return home. Many Palestinian families still hold the keys to the homes they lost. THIS PAGE: St. Anthony Coptic Monastery in Jerusalem, Israel, located at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre INSIDE THIS ISSUE
This issue’s theme “A Gateway to Understanding” introduces the Jewish perspective on the Israel-Palestine conflict. The Jewish perspective was forged by centuries of oppression and the teachings of the Torah. The articles herein focus primarily on material from both Jewish and Israeli sources. Palestinian sources are also valuable for understanding Palestinian perspectives. The Promised Land Museum was founded to provide a Jewish perspective and offer a more complete understanding of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. A better understanding will lead to what we all truly desire: peace, justice, and security for all families, both Jewish and non-Jewish, living between the river and the sea. GATEWAY TO UNDERSTANDING PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM 4
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A “Jewish Perspective” is one rooted in Jewish values. The Torah teaches Jews to treat our neighbors as we would want to be treated. This perspective has also forged by centuries of oppression: this is why Jews are committed to fighting injustice everywhere, from Israel/Palestine to the Jim Crow South. Jewish persecution dates back to as early as the fifth century B.C.E. in Persia. In the Biblical account of the Purim story (the Book of Esther), all Jewish people in the kingdom were targeted because one Jewish official refused to bow down to the top aide of King Haman. A pattern of institutionalized discrimination emerged in the Middle Ages in Europe and led to modern antisemitism. Jews’ used their experiences of violent discrimination to ensure others were guaranteed equal civil and human rights. Professor and author Howard Sachar wrote that “Jews made up at least 30 percent of the white volunteers who rode freedom buses to the South [during the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Jewish people also made up over 50 percent of the white people who challenged Jim Crow Laws in Mississippi. Jews also participated in the South African anti-apartheid movement. Throughout history, the Jewish people have shown their commitment to supporting rights for all people. What is a “Jewish Perspective”? PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM 6
Was Palestine “mostly an empty desert,” that was “redeemed from swamp and wilderness” and “made to bloom”? Were European Jews coming to a “land without people”? If so, how is it possible that hundreds of thousand non-Jewish Palestinian men, women, and children were made refugees in 1948? Jews had been a continuous presence in Palestine, living peacefully alongside far greater numbers of Christian and Muslim families in historical Palestine for centuries. What caused the conflict between Jewish and non-Jewish families living in historical Palestine that continues today? Is making peaceful, non-Jewish Palestinian families into refugees in alignment with biblical values of peace, hope, and harmony? We hope to answer these questions together. Visit the Promised Land Museum galleries to learn more about the Israel-Palestine conflict, how it started, and what you can do to support peace and understanding. Two Twitter accounts, “Rovai Barovait” (Rifleman in the Rifle Company) and “Hapantera Barovait” (The Panther in the Rifle Company), dedicated to harassing Israeli activists who protect Palestinian children from settler violence in the Southern Hebron Hills, were revealed to be run by Israeli soldiers deployed in the West Bank. Haaretz reports that one account may be run by a commander. Hasbara, a Hebrew word for “explanation,” is Israel’s public diplomacy technique, which uses mass media to justify and rationalize Israel’s actions while challenging those who criticize them. The Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs created a platform called 4IL to provide hasbara activists with propaganda to support Israel online and target anti-Zionist content. Even the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security forces participate, fighting for the state’s objectives both on the ground and online. Was Israel empty when Jews arrived before 1948? ISRAELI SOLDIERS RUN TWITTER ACCOUNTS Watch the video tour of the Gateway to Understanding museum gallery: WINTER 2023 7
Rabbi Miriam Grossman of the Kolot Chayeinu/ Voices of Our Lives congregation in Brooklyn, New York, is an educator and organizer who leads through Jewish ritual. She teaches that following a Jewish theology means protecting the human rights of all people, including Palestinians. Jewish Voice for Peace New York shared a rousing speech she gave to a crowd in 2021: “I am a Rabbi. I love my people, fiercely, all day, relentlessly. But as long as Palestinian lives are treated as disposable, as long as Palestinian families in East Jerusalem face ongoing ethnic cleansing, as long as Palestinian children fear for their lives, and as long as Gaza remains an open-air prison, our house as a people is not in order.” The same year, journalist Steve Inskeep of NPR’s Morning Edition show interviewed Rabbi Grossman about American Jews’ changing stances on Zionism and the state of Israel. GROWING UP JEWISH AND ZIONIST IN AMERICA Like many American Jews, Rabbi Grossman grew up amongst a Jewish community that prioritized the state of Israel. Centering Israel meant decentering opposing voices. She shared: “I was really specifically taught not to trust or empathize with Palestinians and… to dismiss charges of anti-Zionism or criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism.” Researchers of K-12 Jewish Americans’ Israel education have found that Jewish institutions teach about Israel but omit negative aspects of the founding of the state. For example, the Contemporary Jewry journal published a study in 2016 by Dr. Jonah Hassenfeld, alumnus of Stanford University’s Taube Center for Jewish Studies, which analyzed 438 short narratives of the history of Israel written by Jewish American students attending Jewish high schools. Hassenfeld found a pattern that reflected a normative understanding of the creation of the Israeli state, which largely left out more challenging historical narratives, such as the capture of Deir Yassin or the Haganah war plans. STUDENTS’ PERSPECTIVES Rhode Island resident Lex Rofeberg wrote to Mosaic, a podcast by The Public’s Radio about immigration and identity in New England, describing his experience growing up as an American Jew: “[we were taught] that defending Israel as a nation state is important… regardless of what its politics are at any given moment, who its leaders are etcetera, our role as American Jews was understood to be supporting it, sending it money, advocating for it.” Another study published in The Social Studies journal by Dr. Matt Reingold, a Jewish educator in Jewish day school settings and alumnus of York University, demonstrated how curriculums about Israel expressed distinct nationalist favoritism and overwhelmingly relied on Jewish Israeli voices while omitting Palestinian sources. Rabbi Miriam Grossman on Changing Jewish Perspectives PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM 8
A growing number of Jewish students seem to resent their curriculum’s “overly romanticized” Israel education for leaving them unprepared to engage with the difficult realities of occupation. SHIFTING PERSPECTIVES Rabbi Grossman emerged from what she called her “really beautiful Jewish childhood” a Zionist. However, after working to protect sacred sites at Standing Rock Reservation and considering indigeneity in community with friends, Grossman’s political beliefs shifted. It was there that her Native American friend shared her appreciation for Grossman’s Jewish culture while also expressing her own commonalities with Palestinians who experience displacement and settler colonialism. “I could see in that moment that [sympathizing with Palestinians] did not feel like anti-Semitism,” Grossman said. Over the last few decades, both academics and activists have forged and theorized solidarities between Palestinians and American Indians. Both groups have and continue to experience ethnic cleansing by the settler colonial nationstates of Israel, the United States, and Canada. The recent uncovering of mass graves outside residential schools in Canada and at an Israeli beach drive home Palestinian and American Indian shared struggles. MOVING FORWARD TOGETHER Miriam Grossman isn’t the only rabbi in her family—her father was an American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) rabbi, on the opposite end of the political spectrum from his daughter. She shared that opening up to her father about questioning Zionism was more difficult than coming out as queer. Even though he did not agree with her perspective on Israel, he validated her right to her own judgment, telling her: “You have to be a rabbi who can wake up every morning and look at themself in the mirror with integrity. And so I love you, and I’m proud of you.” The same love is reproduced in her Brooklyn congregation. Rabbi Grossman is proud of her congregation for welcoming diversity of thought: “My community is not a monolith. And we have liberal Zionist, anti-Zionist, non-Zionist, people who don’t identify. [And we] are able to stay in conversation, stay in relationship, love one another, listen to each other’s differences and different stories and just remain a really tight-knit community.” MAKING A CHANGE FOR HOPE Rabbi Grossman believes that American Jews — Zionist or not — most urgently need to address ending the occupation, the siege on Gaza, and the continued displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. She’s not alone in this fight. A group of rabbinical and cantorial students studying and working in Jerusalem wrote in a letter about the “blood” they witnessed “flowing in the streets of the Holy Land” and appealed to the Zionist Jewish community to make a change: “For those of us for whom Israel has represented hope and justice, we need to give ourselves permission to watch, to acknowledge what we see, to mourn, and to cry. And then, to change our behavior and demand better.” WINTER 2023 9
Shiri Ourian, Executive Director of American Friends of the Parents Circle Families Forum and friend of the Promised Land Museum, shared with us her powerful experience of witnessing Israeli and Palestinian women practice a role reversal activity with the Parents Circle – Families Forum in Bethlehem. The non-profit has organized the transformative Parallel Narrative Experience since 2010, impacting more than 1,200 Israeli and Palestinian participants to overcome differences and find empathy for one another. Read Shiri’s story below: In Shiri’s Words… I am just getting back from Israel and Palestine. There are so many things I could share about my time there. But, there was one moment that was the most powerful Parents Circle experience for me. I want to share it with you. I had the opportunity to spend the weekend with a group of 30 Palestinian and Israeli women in Bethlehem. They were taking part in the final weekend of our Parallel Narrative Experience program. There’s so much I can share about that weekend. Being with this group of women was so moving and fulfilling. But the one experience that stood out for me was the role reversal activity. The participants traded places. The Palestinian women were now Israeli and the Israeli women were now Palestinian. They had to think of questions and interact with each other as if they were “the other”. They had some time in their uni-national groups to prepare. When the Israeli women finished working on their questions, they came back into the room where the Palestinians had been working. As they tried to enter the room, they found that the Palestinian women had taken on the role of Israeli soldiers. They were simulating a checkpoint for the Israeli women. They were tough. They were mean. They were cruel. The Israeli women were in shock. They did not know what to do or how to respond. The Palestinian women were strong and domineering in their newfound roles. But they were also giggling as the situation was so outrageous to them. It was hard to watch and also fascinating. When the “game” was finally over, they were able to sit down and process and discuss. The Palestinian women were so apologetic to their Israeli counterparts about how they had treated them. They said that it felt terrible to be a soldier and while they hated living under occupation, they would not want to trade places. I thought you’d want to know about this experience. ABOUT THE PARALLEL NARRATIVE EXPERIENCE The Parents Circle’s Parallel Narrative Experience (PNE) program began in 2010 and has since served more than 40 cohorts of over 1,200 Israeli and Palestinian participants. Each cohort participates in workshops, dialogue activities, and fieldtrips over three months to build trust and find empathy for each other. Israeli and Palestinian participants learn about each other’s national narratives. For example, PNE participants visit Lifta, a Palestinian village that was destroyed during the 1948 Nakba (or the catastrophe), and they also visit Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem. Israeli and Palestinian Women: Witnessing a Paradigm Shift PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM 10
The PNE program makes an impact. Polls of their participants showed that 88% felt increased empathy toward “the other,” 98% recognized and understood “the other’s” narrative to the conflict, and 96% expressed a desire to work together after the program. ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN WOMEN FIND EMPATHY ABOUT PARENTS CIRCLE – FAMILIES FORUM The Parents Circle – Families Forum (PCFF) is a joint IsraeliPalestinian organization of more than 600 families who have lost an immediate family member due to the ongoing conflict. PCFF was founded in 1995 by Mr. Yitzhak Frankenthal and a few other Israeli families; they then organized the first meeting between bereaving families, Palestinian and Israeli, in 1998. It is the PCFF belief that a lasting peace in the region can only be achieved through a process of reconciliation between nations. The organization strives to achieve reconciliation and peace through educational projects, media campaigns, and public meetings that promote dialogue and tolerance. PCFF hosts many programs in addition to the Parallel Narrative Experience. Last month, PCFF sent a group of Americans and bereaved Israelis and Palestinians on an educational tour of the U.S. South to learn from the American experience of conflict and reconciliation. The group spent a week visiting plantations and museums and also met with experts regarding the criminal justice system and reform. HOW YOU CAN HELP You can support The Parallel Narrative Experience by making a one-time or monthly donation here. Each PNE module for 30 Israelis and Palestinians costs $30,000; your donation—no matter the size—can help this program continue its important work. The Parents Circle – Families Forum is a not-for-profit organization. Donations make PCFF’s work possible. You can donate to this organization here. It is the PCFF belief that a lasting peace in the region can only be achieved through a process of reconciliation between nations. WINTER 2023 11
In his book, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction, Dr.Gabor Maté writes that “no society can understand itself without looking at its shadow side.” Hungarian-Canadian physician Gabor Maté is a Holocaust survivor, addiction expert, speaker, and author. Many members of his family perished in Nazi death camps, and he has written extensively about the events. He also has spoken about Israel’s pursuit of peace and how it sometimes seems to not align with actions of war. He is very familiar with the “shadow side” of society. So, when it comes to Israel, his opinions are especially pertinent. HOW WAS IT POSSIBLE? Maté, in a 2014 Toronto Star opinions piece article, describes how “the beautiful dream of Israel has become a nightmare.” He compares the situation in Israel to his experience with the Holocaust. Maté writes, that “as a Jewish youngster growing up in Budapest, an infant survivor of the Nazi genocide, I was for years haunted by a question resounding in my brain with such force that sometimes my head would spin: ‘How was it possible? How could the world have let such horrors happen?’ It was a naïve question, that of a child. I know better now: such is reality.” Those same questions – “How could the world let such horrors happen?” and “How was it possible?” – could apply to the Israel-Palestine conflict, where the culmination of the 1948 War only left years of terror and conflict in The Holy Land. POLICIES NOT COMPATIBLE WITH PEACE Reality can be painful. Maté goes on to say in the Toronto Star op-ed that no matter where in the world violence occurs, he has observed how typically “humanity stands by either complicitly or unconsciously or helplessly.” He speaks of Gaza today, where he has observed people “justifying the bombing of hospitals, the annihilation of families at dinner, the killing of pre-adolescents playing soccer on a beach.” Maté acknowledges that Israel wants peace, but also insists that there is something more to it. “As veteran Israeli journalist Gideon Levy has pointed out,” Maté writes, “[Israel] does not want a just peace. Occupation and creeping annexation, an inhumane blockade, the destruction of olive groves, the arbitrary imprisonment of thousands, torture, daily humiliation of civilians, house demolitions: these are not policies compatible with any desire for a just peace.” A CONVERSATION WITH RUSSELL BRAND In May 2021, Maté shared his heartfelt feelings with actor Russell Brand about Israel and Palestine. Brand described the conversation with Maté as, “the most beautiful and powerful testimony on this subject I’ve ever heard.” Brand is well-known for and outspoken about his struggles with addiction. So, perhaps he more than anyone can understand Maté’ – who has conducted not only research on addiction but also on child development and trauma – when he talks about how terror affects the body. GABOR MATÉ AND JUSTIFYING VIOLENCE PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM 12
“When we have been prevented from learning how to say no, our bodies may end up saying it for us,” Maté writes in When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress. Stress on the body is not only something that those dealing with addiction struggle with, but anyone that has been through any events relating to war. The Israel-Palestine conflict has left survivors and victims on both sides – many of whom that deal with trauma today. Recently, Israel’s 2014 Operation Protective Edge in Gaza caused the death of 2131 Palestinians, with 1473 identified as civilians, including 501 children according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OHCA). The OHCA reported that 373,000 children dealt with the effects in their bodies that Maté studies. They showed “symptoms of increased distress, including bed wetting, clinging to parents, and nightmares” as a result of Operation Protective Edge.” A GATEWAY TO HEALING “From someone with deep connections to the history of this situation,” Maté says he understands “the warmth that Jews have for Israel; I used to be in that same camp. I can understand, after the horrors of the Nazi genocide, how we desperately want some protection. I can understand all that. But none of the excuses what we are doing…there are no two sides…in terms of power and control and its pretty straightforward. There was a land with a people living there and other people wanted it, they took it over, and they continue to take it over, and they continue to discriminate against, oppress and dispose that other people.” In his TEDx talk, “The Power of Addiction and the Addiction of Power” Maté explores how addictions can be both chemical dependencies but also to things like power. This research is relevant because the Israel-Palestine conflict is surely a struggle of power – where one group of people has too much and the other has very little. In his documentary, The Wisdom of Trauma, Maté explores how acknowledging and sharing our deepest pain can create a gateway to healing. History teaches us that it is wrong to mistreat any group of people – and the Israel-Palestine Conflict is one that requires healing on both sides. Gabor Maté’s research on trauma and pain has created his unique perspective. Living in a family of holocaust survivors has helped him draw balance and empathy when observing the events of the Israel-Palestine conflict. WINTER 2023 13
In so many conflicts, I see parallels to the issues of both Israel and Palestine. Conflicts leave us feeling angry and sad. In their book, The Book of Joy, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and The Dalai Lama explore what it takes to find joy in a world of conflict. The Dalai Lama’s words give us hope: Even when someone criticizes you or attacks you, then you have to think: Why did this happen: This person is not your enemy from birth. Certain circumstances caused the person to be negative toward you. There may be many causes, but usually your own attitude is an important contributing factor that cannot be ignored. You realize that this happened because you have done something in the past that this person didn’t like… You can develop a sense of concern, compassion, even feel sorry for their pain and suffering. The Gateway to Understanding gallery of our museum introduces our museum exhibits and describes the Jewish perspective that our museum portrays, as well as the Jewish dedication to standing against injustice everywhere. The Promised Land Museum developed out of a deep desire to understand better how so many Palestinian families became refugees if we Jews had returned to a Palestine that was empty deserts and swamps. Might you have ever wondered how Palestinian Jews could have been a continuous presence in the Holy Land for thousands of years if Muslim and Christian Palestinians’ goal was to throw Jews in the sea? If you were ever puzzled about why entire villages of peaceful Palestinian parents would take their children and flee their homes, the Gateway to Understanding gallery may be an entry way on a journey to find answers for these questions. A Gateway to Understanding and a Message of Hope DR. STEVEN FELDMAN is a U.S.-based dermatologist and Curator of the Jewish Museum of the Palestinian Experience. 14 PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM
MUSEUM BACK ROOM HIGHLIGHTS ARTIFACTS Stamps Of The Holy Land These pre-1948 stamps of the Holy Land from Palestine under the British Mandate show pictures of sacred sites in the Holy Land as well as “Palestine” written in British Mandate Palestine’s three official languages: English, Arabic, and Hebrew. See the full entry here. PHOTOS Desecration of the Beit Dajan Mosque in Nablus. Beit Dajan was occupied by Israel during the SixDay War of 1967. See more historical photos here. VIDEOS Israel & Palestine: A Very Short Animated Intro Jewish Voice for Peace’s introduction to Israel/Palestine provides historical context for understanding the violence happening right now. It also offers suggestions for what actions can be taken to support justice for Jews and Palestinians. See the full entry here. BOOKS & DOCUMENTS The Black American Struggle and the Palestinian Experience In his memoir, Reverend Donald E. Wagner shares about his journey and five decades as an activist leader. He connects the Black American struggle against racism to the oppression Palestinians experience under Israeli occupation. See the full entry here. INFOGRAPHICS & MAPS The Separation Wall This Visualizing Palestine infographic depicts where the law stands on the wall: international law and the ongoing construction of Israel’s wall in the occupied Palestinian West Bank. See the full entry here. MOVIES Young Jewish and Left A celebration of diversity, Young Jewish and Left weaves queer culture, Jewish Arab history, secular Yiddishkeit, anti-racist analysis, and religious/spiritual traditions into a multi-layered tapestry of Leftist politics. See the full entry here. WINTER 2023 15
October 3 Israeli forces shot two Palestinian men dead during a raid near Ramallah. The two men were killed while in a car; Israeli forces claim they were planning a car-ramming attack. October 8 Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinian teenagers during West Bank raid, injuring 11 others, three critically. October 11 Israeli sergeant killed and security guard injured as Palestinian gunman attacked Shoafat checkpoint in Jerusalem. October 12 18-year-old Palestinian from the Al-Aroub refugee camp was killed by Israeli military fire for allegedly throwing rocks at cars. October 15 In Qalqilyah, Israeli soldier shoots 14-year-old Palestinian boy in the head, killing him. Witnesses say the area was quiet and the murder was not justified. October 16 Israeli troops kill one and injure five with live fire in a West Bank raid. October 14 Two Palestinians shot and killed in Jenin by Israeli forces; video shows Israeli forces preventing ambulances from treating the injured, which included at least five others. October 20 16-year-old Palestinian announced dead after being shot by Israeli forces; West Bank began a one-day general strike as another Palestinian person, 22 years old, was killed. October 24 IDF raid in Nablus killed five Palestinian people. Palestinian youths protest the massacre. One, 19, lights a tire on fire and IDF snipers shoot him dead. October 25 Israeli border police killed six Palestinian people and wounded at least 25 others in the Old City of Nablus in the West Bank. October 26 Israel arrests the brother of slain Lion’s Den leader on suspicion of possessing weapons and manufacturing explosive devices one day after killing five of the cell’s members in Nablus. October 29 UN Middle East envoy reports data shows 2022 to be the deadliest year in the West Bank for Palestinian families since 2005: through October, 120 West Bank and East Jerusalem Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces. Settlers and Israelis attacked Palestinian people 106 times between September 21 and October 25. November 4 Palestinian villagers protest the theft of their land and harassment by settlers. Israeli troops respond by setting ambushes for the protestors, shooting them, and delaying medical care for casualties. A 17-year-old Palestinian is killed. November 9 Israel banned Gazan fish exports to the West Bank following a smuggling attempt. Gazan merchants call this collective punishment. November 11 UN votes to ask International Court’s opinion on “legal status of Israel occupation.” November 15 19-year-old Palestinian obtained a work permit in the West Bank settlement of Ariel and attacked settlers, killing 3 Israelis and injuring 3 others, and was shot dead. November 16 In response to the November 15 rampage, some 20 incidents of settler violence against Palestinian families and Israeli soldiers in the West Bank have been reported, including stone-throwing and torching a truck. November 16 Israel revokes work permits for 500 Palestinians suspected to be family members or friends of the November 15 attacker. November 30 Israel revokes funding for Jaffa Theater because it screened the new Netflix film “Farha,” which follows a Palestinian family murdered by Haganah soldiers. November 3 A Palestinian family was tending to their olive grove when masked settlers from the illegal settlement nearby raided the family with revolvers, a rifle, pipes, clubs, stones, and dogs. Five of the Palestinian family members were hospitalized with serious injuries. October 19 Settlers have increased attacks in Nablus, injuring dozens of Palestinian people in the last month. Note: This timeline highlights some events and does not account for the many daily stresses and injustices occurring in people’s lives. A Timeline of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict October 2022-December 2022 PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM 16
December 1 UN approved resolution to establish an official commemorative event to mark the 75th anniversary of the Nakba. Israel denounces this, calling the Nakba a lie. December 1 Two suspected Jenin Brigade militants killed in West Bank clashes with Israeli forces. December 2 An Israeli museum dedicated nearly all of its exhibition space to show Palestinian art for the first time. December 2 Israeli police execute a Palestinian person in the West Bank, killing him in a scuffle at close range. December 7 IDF kills Palestinian man accused of shooting soldiers at a military outpost near the Ofra settlement in the West Bank. December 11 UN envoy will examine evidence of harm against children in clashes between Israeli army and Palestinian civilians. December 17 Israeli police arrest, detain, and question three Palestinians in Haifa for holding a Palestinian flag. December 22 Israeli forces shot dead a 23-year-old Palestinian footballer and wounded five others during a raid in Nablus. December 8 Israel arrested Gaza resident suspected of spying for Hamas. December 14 Hamas issued a “now or never” threat for a prisoner swap with Israel. December 12 16-year-old Palestinian girl was shot dead while standing on the roof of her home during an Israeli military raid on Jenin. December 17 Two Palestinian brothers have been killed after an Israeli settler ran them over with his car near a West Bank checkpoint. December 23 Israeli police shot a Palestinian citizen of Israel dead, claiming the man was planning to attack officers. December 8 Israeli army killed three Palestinians during a raid in Jenin and later shot dead a 15-year-old Palestinian boy near Ramallah; a general strike across Jenin was called. December 14 Israel Security Agency announces that it thwarted a bombing attack on Israel when it arrested four terror suspects in the West Bank. December 18 France condemned the “illegal decision of the Israeli authorities to deport” Palestinian lawyer Salah Hammouri. December 4 Israel warplanes attack Gaza after a rocket landed in southern Israel and 10 Palestinians had already been killed by Israeli forces in the last week. December 26 Israeli defense suspects settlers set fire to a car and threw stones at the home of a Palestinian family in Urif, a village near Nablus. ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION This magazine has been developed by the Promised Land Museum, a project of Voices for Justice in Palestine. The Promised Land Museum was founded to provide a Jewish Perspective on the Israel/Palestine conflict. This perspective is rooted in Jewish values, to treat our neighbor as we would want to be treated. The mission of Voices for Justice in Palestine is to work for a just and sustainable peace in IsraelPalestine. We educate the public, advocate for change based on equal rights, and directly support peace builders in Israel-Palestine. If you are interested in contributing to a future issue, visit us on social media or contact us via email at voicesforjusticeinpalestine@gmail.com. WINTER 2023 17
@Promised Land @promisedlandmuseum @LandMuseum @PromisedLand PromisedLandMuseum.org For more information or to share this message of peace with your community, contact Voices for Justice in Palestine, PO Box 2081, Chapel Hill, NC 27515. voicesforjusticeinpalestine@gmail.com
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