海角大神

The seder plate on the table is traditional 鈥� matzah, sweet charoset, a simple hard-boiled egg聽鈥撀燽ut its location in an apartment in the de facto West Bank capital is not.聽

As Jews around the world gathered to celebrate Passover, a holiday commemorating the ancient Hebrews' liberation from enslavement in the land of Egypt, a small group have joined together in the Palestinian city of Ramallah.聽Here the seder, or Passover meal, is being done a bit differently.聽

Eight Jews and Palestinians have gathered to read from several alternative Haggadahs聽鈥� the ritual text read during the meal聽鈥撀爓hich emphasize the need for equality and liberation for all people. In addition to the standard symbolic fare on the seder plate聽is an orange to represent gender equality and olives to show solidarity with Palestinians.

鈥淭he main message of Passover is that we, as Jews, are free,鈥� says a Jewish Canadian who asked to be called Josh because his Israeli work visa does not allow him to live in Ramallah. 鈥淚t鈥檚 taking this message of freedom, which is the main theme of the seder 鈥� freedom from slavery of the Israelites in Egypt 鈥� and applying that freedom story to other people.鈥�

At the meal, Josh reads from an alternative Haggadah: 鈥淔or slavery to be truly over 鈥撀爁or a people to be truly free 鈥撀爓e must know we can feed ourselves and our children today, tomorrow and into future generations. In Palestine, olive groves provide that security."

Palestinian olive trees are sometimes scorched by Israeli settlers or bulldozed by the Israeli army.

鈥淲hen olive groves are destroyed, the past and future is destroyed,鈥� Josh continues. 鈥淲e eat an olive to make real our understanding of what it means each time a bulldozer ploughs up a grove. Without the taste of olives, there will be no taste of freedom.鈥�

An awakening

Josh says he learned his support for Israel alongside Jewish culture and religious practice.聽By the time he was in high school, his backing was so staunch that he asked his cousin, who had immigrated to Israel, to send him an Israeli flag. He hung it in his family's living room 鈥� a symbol of his connection to a country he had never visited.

After graduating from high school, Josh began reading critical聽literature on conflicts in Latin America and decided he should seek an alternative perspective on Israel. At the same time he signed up for a popular, free 10-day trip to Israel with a program called Birthright.

He says that as he traveled around Israel with a group of other young Canadian Jews, he read about what he wasn't being shown. He began seeing parallels between the struggles of聽indigenous聽movements like the Zapatistas in Mexico 补苍诲听笔补濒别蝉迟颈苍颈补苍蝉.听

"I came back really confused. I had a lot questions," says Josh. Eventually, he says his聽ability聽to defend Israel聽diminished.聽

He now lives in Ramallah, where he is working on a research project that studies the effects the Israeli military occupation has on the health and well-being of Palestinians.聽

For most Jews, the idea of visiting the Palestinians聽territories seems dangerous, or at least unnecessary. But聽Josh is not entirely alone. At least 20 foreign Jews live in or work in the West Bank. The numbers聽fluctuate聽throughout the year, with some just volunteering or studying over the summer and others living for years at time.

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM), one of the most active and hardline pro-Palestinian groups, also attracts large number of Jewish volunteers who聽make a temporary home in the west Bank while volunteering.聽ISM was founded by two Palestinians, an Israeli, and an American Jew named Adam Shapiro, who was recently denied entry to Israel because he has a 10-year ban on entering the country after being arrested in the West Bank during a previous visit.

鈥淭here have always been Jewish people in the organization,鈥� says Aaron Gregory, a British-South African who volunteers with ISM. 聽鈥淐ompared to 30 years ago, young people鈥檚 ability to feel a connection with Israel is less, when every couple of days they see Israel鈥檚 bad behavior in the occupied [Palestinian] territories.鈥�

Gregory says in the last month alone there have been at least six Jewish volunteers. The organization has a high turnover rate and the percentage of Jewish volunteers fluctuates.聽

'A light unto the nations'

Gregory says that while not all Jewish volunteers are open about their religious background, those who are have been welcomed by the Palestinian communities they work in.

Alana Alpert, now a rabbinical student in Boston, came to the West Bank to volunteer with Palestinian farmers last year. She grew up in a conservative聽Jewish family in California's San Fernando Valley. Both her parents are Jewish educators. She describes her family members as 鈥渁ctive and committed鈥� 鈥� not just to their faith, but also in their support for Israel.

But when she went to college at the University of California in Santa Cruz, she started what she calls her 鈥渦nlearning process.鈥� Most of her fellow organizers in workers' rights, racial justice, and environmental movements had starkly different views on Israel.

鈥淚 thought there was a blind spot,鈥� says Alpert, 鈥淏ut then I started to think maybe I had the blind spot.鈥�

A number of encounters with activists and Palestinians over the next few years聽drastically changed they way she saw the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.聽She remembers the first time she experienced tear gas, fired by Israeli soldiers at protesters in the West Bank village.

鈥淲e were supposed to be a light unto the nations. Jews weren鈥檛 capable of doing the same kind of things that other people do. And I remember that feeling coming back very strongly [...]聽My eyes were burning. It was so painful,鈥� recalls Albert. 鈥淎nd I just kept thinking, 鈥榥ice Jewish boys wouldn鈥檛 do this鈥�."

Josh,聽who regularly聽hosts other foreign Jews in his Ramallah home so that he can show them another side of this conflict,聽says the problem is聽most Jews abroad lack knowledge and understanding of life in the West Bank and Gaza. Their perspective quickly changes when they see the reality on the ground.

鈥淚鈥檓 a proud Jew, but I don鈥檛 think that being proud Jews has anything to do with supporting Israel,鈥� says Josh, explaining that he feels like Jews and Jewish organizations who criticize Israel are ostracized.聽

鈥淚n the mainstream Jewish community now in North America, you don鈥檛 have to really believe in God or go to synagogue, but you do have to support Israel, or you鈥檙e out.鈥�