Dear Sherman,
It has been almost three months since October 7th and the start of the latest, longest, and deadliest war between Israel and Hamas.
In Israel, the ties between Jewish and Palestinian citizens have been tested. While the intercommunal violence the country experienced in May 2021 has thankfully not recurred, tensions remain high.
As an organization composed of and jointly governed by Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel, The Abraham Initiatives has seen these tensions play out up close. Our staff is deeply committed to the cause of shared society, and they have carefully and delicately negotiated the feelings of their families, communities, and colleagues.
I wanted to end off the year with a story from Fayroz Alatayaka, who serves as our Safe Communities Coordinator in the Negev. Fayroz is a Palestinian citizen of Israel dedicated both personally and professionally to a shared and equal Israel. As we head into the new year, I hope you will find her words as inspiring and rejuvenating as I do.
I heard the siren on October 7th from Rahat. My house in the nearby village has no bomb shelter or safe room, and in a panic I jumped into a large hole that my uncle dug in the yard, covered with a concrete and iron roof. I know very well that this pit will not be able to save my life in the event of a direct impact of a rocket, but in the absence of real protection, there is no choice but to take risks to protect ourselves.
Since that morning, the rift around me has been deepening. My friend 'Aisha al-Ziadne is currently being held hostage in Gaza. My friends from all over the Bedouin diaspora in the Negev are facing a difficult economic situation as a result of the war. Our families continue to scatter the children between the rooms of the house to distribute risks in the event of a rocket falling.
In the early days, my work as coordinator of the Safe Communities in the Negev project at The Abraham Initiatives also came to a halt. As part of the project, young men and women undergo training in personal security, learn to cope with emergency situations, and become acquainted with the relevant rescue organizations such as Magen David Adom and the Fire Department, in cooperation with the [IDF] Home Front Command. At a time when everyone's personal safety was at risk, we couldn't continue to be together. We had no safe place to gather, and in the shadow of the sirens, the women and young people couldn't come to the meeting.
My desire to find a bright spot in the great darkness led me to the "Jewish-Arab war room," led by Shir Nosetzky, CEO of Have You Seen the Horizon Lately?, and Hananal Sana from Itach مَعَكِ (Ma'aki). The slogan "Partners in Fate" resonated with me. I was excited to see the joint mobilization for the benefit of the unrecognized [Bedouin] villages and the residents of the [Gaza] envelope alike, and I started volunteering every week. Slowly, I felt that a community was being created there. We all live in the same country, and all of us in Israel, Jews and Arabs, are in a state of emergency. I invited a women's group from Rahat, which participates in the Safe Communities Project, to volunteer with me and they responded enthusiastically. Like me, the women in the course felt that volunteering was a source of light amidst the darkness.
In recent weeks, the project I lead for The Abraham Initiatives has returned and even expanded. Together with the local councils in the Negev and the Home Front Command, we committed to focusing on "volunteering and contributing to the rescue of others." In addition to the women of Rahat, young groups from Hura and Kseife joined the volunteer work, and together we realize the values of Arab-Jewish work and partnership.
Despite all the pain around us, volunteering together and mobilizing women and young people gives me hope that we will soon live together in peace and equality. These shared hours are yet another reminder of what it means that we are all human beings whose lives intertwine, with dreams and the right to live in peace.
If you haven't done so already, please consider making an end-of-year gift to The Abraham Initiatives. To those who have given, thank you again for your generous support of our work—it means so much to all of us.
Best,
Jimmy Taber
International Development Director