PEACE page 137
and Jewish groups (it is more
common for newcomers and old-
timers, irrespective of nationali-
ty, to find themselves in opposing
groups), the most critical point in
the Jewish and Palestinian inter-
group relations was during the
Gulf War, when Neve Shalom
split along Arab-Jewish lines.
Jews were motivated by their
fear of the Scud missiles, Mr. Na-
jjar says, while Palestinians re-
fused to accept that the goal of
American intervention was to re-
store human rights in Kuwait.
"For two weeks we were talk-
ing on very different levels," Mr.
Najjar says. "Each side thought
the other was supporting vio-
lence." Mr. Najjar himself be-
lieves the victors of the War were
Saddam Hussein and the Amer-
icans, the losers the Kuwaiti and
Iraqi peoples. He goes on to ex-
plain that Israeli-Arabs (but not
those in Neve Shalom) were
cheering on the Scud missiles be-
cause they were suffering for
their Palestinian brothers in the
administered territories: "Final-
ly, someone was hitting Israel."
When Neve Shalom started,
the original plan was to create
a community with a strong agri-
cultural and industrial base.
However, conditions on which
the land was leased from the La-
trun monastery were too strin-
gent, and all attempts to
purchase government land and
receive subsidies to establish an
infrastructure were turned down.
The community survives through
revenue it receives from the guest
house and youth hostel, as well
as the seminars and study pro-
grams organized by the School
for Peace.
The educational activities and
the community's development
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are mainly funded by donations
from foundations and Neve
Shalom associations abroad.
Right now, about 150 families
would like to live in Neve
Shalom, (there is room for sev-
eral more, and a long waiting
list). Potential residents must be
economically independent and
have an "ability to live with di-
versity," Mr. Najjar says.
Mixed marriages are not en-
couraged at Neve Shalom, and
right now there is one such
union, between a Palestinian
Muslim and an Austrian Jew.
`This really is the last place for
a mixed marriage," says Mr. Na-
jjar, "because in this community
national and religious identities
become clearer and more en-
hanced. As they grow up the kids
constantly ask questions about
what it means to be a Jew or a
Palestinian. Here, the differences
are brought home to the kids ear-
ly on, and the problem with chil-
dren from a mixed marriage is
that they're often not strong
enough to say they are both."
Mr. Najjar describes the com-
munity as flourishing.
`There is nowhere else like this
in Israel," he says. "After all, we
are committed to this world. It's
not like the mixed communities
ofJaffa or Ramie where they did
not choose to live together." He
believes the School for Peace may
be Neve Shalom's single most im-
portant component, as 1,500 men
and women annually take part
in its activities, and through this
pass on their experiences to oth-
ers in their communities.
a. 4
sit in Navel
Stasi, call 02-
Palestinians Play
The Violence Card
ERIC SILVER ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT
I
f Israel's intelligence chiefs
know what they are talking
about, Yassir Arafat has taught
Binyamin Netanyahu a cruel,
Machiavellian lesson.
The suicide bombing that killed
three young women in a Tel Aviv
cafe demonstrated that the safe-
ty of Israelis depends to an un-
comfortable degree of cooperation
between Palestinian and Israeli
security services. Further, it
showed that the Palestinian
leader can-turn the faucet on or
off to achieve his political ends.
Israel's prime minister's
charges that Arafat gave the
Hamas Islamic militants a "green
light" to resume terror in Israeli
cities was no knee-jerk reaction to
evade responsibility. Israeli intel-
ligence officers had detected a re-
laxation of Mr. Arafat's war on ter-
ror before the carnage. They had
passed it on as a warning to their
political leaders and to their me-
dia friends.
Arafat has again
played the trump
card of violence.
Four days before Mussa Rani-
mat blew himself up in the Apro-
pos cafe, Ron Ben-Ishai reported
in the mass-circulation Yediot
Aharonot newspaper: "In a secret
meeting with opposition leaders
VIOLENCE CARD page 140