‫עמוד ‪1‬‬

2 ‫עמוד‬

TOUGH reader, the Dutch

LCM
princess Mabel van
AttorneyEmily Oranje,who serves as director-general

of The Elders. She was also the one who

recommended that Schaefer be included
Schaefer on the prestigious list,which was pub-
cony off the bedroom of her apartment lished in February."I have met many
to
immigrated in downtown Tel Aviv. "I met for half an
hour with former U.S. President Jimmy
remarkable peoplewho astound me with
their courage and commitment to causes
Carter and his wife in room that looked that seem impossible or too idealistic
to
Israelto defend like palace. It was August,the day be- achieve," she wrote. "One of the most im-
fore tour conducted of Bil'in for pressiveis young Israelilawyer,Emily

the rights of delegation

tion of global
from The Elders, an organiza-
leaders whose aim is to get
Schaefer. met Emily in the Palestinian
vUlage of Bil'in [in] the West Bank,
involved in world crises. Carter couldn't where she works with local leaders ...

Palestinians in come on the tour because of the security

asked to speak
admire Emily deeply. Her work is smart
and creative, and it embodies equality,
arrangements, so was

with him at the hotel. But the next day, passionand the rightof allpeopleto live
the West Bank. Desmond Tutu, the Peace Nobelist and in peace and dignity."
leader of the blacks' struggleagainst
'Iguess most apartheid, did come. It was
escort him to Bil'in.Those were
amazing to
definite- Zionism-lite
lythe happiest moments of my life."
Israeliswould She says she couldn't have asked Schaefer says she still feels over-
for more than meeting with Tutu and whelmed at all the praise. slight
view me as Carter, elder statesmen
to support the cause
who came here
that she, too, is pas-
American accent is detectable when she
speaks;she was born in Boston, the only
sionate about: the need for reconcilia- child of Jewish parents, second-genera-
traitor,'
she tion between Israelis and Palestinians. tion immigrantsfrom Europe.Her moth-
Schaefer, 31 -year-old lawyer,is one of er worked for an insurance company,
the most prominentIsraeli activists in
says, 'but
her father is radiologist. Her parents
the Palestinian village of Bil'in,whose divorced when she was four. "I grew
ongoingstruggleagainstthe separation up with my mother," she says. "Mom is
don't intend to fence that divides itslands has become strong person. learned from her that
symbol of the nonviolent struggleagainst women can do whatever they want. She
the occupation. As an employee of the came to our class to convince the girls

keep quietjust firm of attorney Michael Sfard, she was

pan 01 rne legal team tnai represeniea
that theydidn't have to be either teach-
ers or dancers. She told us we could as-
because came the Bil'incouncil in petition againstthe
route of the fence, which ended with
pire to anything,and that stayed with
me. She wasn't radical, but critical.
victoryfor the residents. In September learned from her that you needn't accept
from afar ,7002
the High Court made precedent- what you'retold as self-evident,that one
settingrulingthat there was no secu- can resistthe authorities."
rityjustification for the fence's selected Schaefer attended publicschool, but
route, and ordered that itbe moved. always felt at homewhen she took part
But Schaefer's legalactivity is only in activities of the Reform movement.
one aspect of her efforts on behalf of "My parents sent me there when was

the people of Bil'in.Every Friday,she five. went once week after school,
takes part in the demonstrations against and later twice week. In the movement
the fence, and she comes to the village we had lessons about Judaism and about
often on other days.Recently,as part Israel, in very lighthearted way. Once
of lawsuit againstCanadian construe- we made map of Israelout of ice cream
tion companiesinvolved in building the and marked the citieswith colorfulM&M
MatityahuEast neighborhoodin Modi'in candies. It was Zionism-lite.At that time
Hit,which isbeingbuiltin part on village also went to synagogue."
lands, she traveled with several of the In high school she got more involved
residents on three-week speakingtour in the Reform youth movement North
in Canada. American Federation of Temple Youth
It was because of such activity that (NFTY), and duringher last summer in
the Dutch magazine Ode selected Emily school she was appointedgroup presi-
Schaefer for itslistof the 52"
Intelligent dent. "I plannedactivitiesfor 200 mem-
Optimistsof Ode, which defines
".9002 bers and also organizedprayers,"says
itselfas journalof the "intelligentop- Schaefer. "I think that at the time was

timist community,"is printand on-line searchingfor an identity, for sense of

magazine with leftistbent that deals belonging, and the movement gave me
with "good news" and "peopleand ideas that."The Reform movement altered the
that improve our lives."It was founded course of her life."After it didn't work
in 1995 in Rotterdam by two journalists out for me to go on summer vacation
and since 2004 has also publishedan to France, decided to go with some
Englishedition. friends from the movement to Israel,"
One of the copiesof the mag-
000,001 she says. "I was 15 and convinced my
azine is delivered reeularlv to loval parents that it was worth it for them to
3 ‫עמוד‬

Emily Schaefer:
"When tryto
build connections
between the two
sides, I'm working
for Israel's good ."

spend the money. told them: 'I feel like

there's magnet pulling
me to Israel.'
don't know where came up with that."
She spent six weeks traveling allover
the country."It was an intensive encoun•
ter,"she recalls."We drove allnightand
got up earlyin the mornings.We went to
Jerusalem, to Tel Aviv. We didn't go to
Bil'in,of course. We didn'ttalk about the
Israeli-Palestinianconflict and weren't
even conscious of it.At the end of that vis-
it promisedmyselfthat would return to
Israel the firstchance got. feltlike I'd
been through bigchange, so bigthat it
worried me. wrote in my diarythen: 'I'm
afraid to go back home, I'm afraid that
peoplewon't understand the change that
has happened to me. fellin love.'"
Today shewears blue T-shirt with
an illustrationof Israel within the 1967
borders drawn in black. "Today I'm com-
pletely at home in Bil'in,kids there run
after me in the street," she says with
smile ^3,she adroitlyrolls cigarette and
lightsup. "It does me good, need this
closeness. can't justtake part in dem-
onstrationson Fridays,and otherwise sit
in an officeor cafe in Tel Aviv.When
come to BiTin have to talkwith people
feel them, visitthem at home. We have
strong connection. They invite me to din-
ner and come."
Itwasn't alwaysthisway. Schaefer has
come longway in becoming an Israeli
devoid of nationalisticsentiment and full
of human compassion.She began study-
ingin Baltimore for bachelor's degree
111 science,
political but found herself
returningto Israel every summer. In
she had
,8991 the chance to do year
of study abroad. She chose the Hebrew
Universityin Jerusalem. "It was very
excitingto come back," she recalls. "I
wanted to get into Israeliculture as much
as possible and understand the Israeli
situation. had lot of Israelifriends at
the university,and also an adoptivefam-
ilyfrom Ramie. I'm hardlyin touch with
them anymore, though. They're total
Likudniks and aren't pleasedwith what
do now. But at the time we were really
close ."

Broken heart

In Jerusalem she discovered the hid-

den world, for her at least,of the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict.In those days,before
the second intifada,she found common

language with Meretz activists on the

Mount Scopus campus. "I met my first
Palestinian friend then, Sari Abu-Ziad,
the oldest son of Ziad Abu-Ziad, who was
minister in the Palestinian government
then. He told me about his childhood,
what checkpoint was, what it meant to
feel like you'reliving in prison, what
it'slike to be an Arabic-speaker in Israel,
how frightened he was. He studied at the
Hebrew University.This was before
 4 ‫עמוד‬

‫•»״‬ the 1999 election.We gave out stick- in Jerusalem, for the Israeli
internship
ers that said 'With Barak There's Hope.' Committee AgainstHouse Demolitions.
We believed that thingscould change. "I thought that returningto Israel
That year plungeddeep into the con- would be longand difficult process, but
flict,and itbroke my heart." within two days feltat home," she says.
She reallywanted to love Israel, but "Just because came to the Committee
it wasn't easy for her. "I grew up with AgainstHouse Demolitions. felt that
the belief that Jews are moral people, suddenlythere was place for all my
that our job is to helpthe weak. It might thoughts. This was in there were
,4002
sound naive now, but the contradiction activistsaround, Anarchists Againstthe
between the essence of the Jewish state Wall, and the Ta'ayush organization. got
and what saw reallyupset me. It was involved with Ta'ayush.went with them
hard for my mother to accept the ques- often to southern Mount Hebron. These
tionsand doubts felt.She said:'We were peoplebecame my new friends."
refugees,we suffered, we finally got
state, and Israel has to be good coun-
try.' told her it was hard for me to see Rare combination
that my people were capableof doing
such terrible things,that the country Before returningto America, Schaefer
dreamed about was occupying another called attorney Michael Sfard, whose
people. That's stillsomethingthat'svery work on behalf of Palestiniansand left- One of the happiestmoments of her life:
Schaefer with former presidentJimmy Carter and
hard for me to deal with." istorganizationshad attracted her atten his wife, Rosalynn,in Jerusalem, August 2009
In the summer of 2000 Schaefer re-
turned to Jerusalem. She was working
odd jobsas bartender,clerk and singer
in band when the second intifadaerupt-
ed. "The intifada caused me profound
crisis. was very disappointed with both
sides. lived on Mahaneh Yehuda street
then. Within day,allthe Arab workers,
Palestinians from the territories,some
of whom was reallyfriendlywith, dis-
It was
OUR SITUATION
appeared. They justdisappeared.
the firsttime experienced war situ- IS WORRISOME,
ation. knew there had been terror at-
tacks in the market and was tense all
the time. was afraid to be outside too
BUT BELIEVE IN
long, wanted to listento the news allthe
time. was goingcrazy ." ISRAEL. BELIEVE
Schaefer feltlostand lonelyamid the
chaos that swirled around her. "I didn't THAT WE ARE ALL
find my community,"she says. "Sari Abu-
Ziad didn't want to talk to me. He told GOOD PEOPLE
me: 'Now you'reon the other side.'It was
very hard. And no longerfound com-
WHO AT THE
mon language with my leftist friends.
Suddenlythey weren't able to talk about
how problematic
END OF THE DAY
our military responses,
Schaefer as child, with her mother and
(right) her grandmother.1"learned from my mother
like going into Ramallah, were. They,
who used to talk about coexistence and
that women could do anything ." WANT THINGS TO
peace and two states for two peoples,
turned into Israelisagainst Palestinians. tion."In our firstconversation, was im- division,and the military prosecutor."
BE GOOD FOR US
Because war started. couldn't find pressedby the special blend of qualities The first assignment Sfard gave
anyone to talk to. was leftin the middle, in Emily,"says Sfard. "I found someone Schaefer after she returned to her stud- AND ALSO FOR
and became physically ill.Three weeks who is lawyer, an idealistand an activist ies at Berkeleywas to examine how in-
after got here, went back to America. all in one. It's rare combination
for law- ternational law relates to the duty of OTHERS .'
It was nightmarecoming home, but on yers, and itallows her, on the one hand, to country in state of war to investigate
the way had meaningfulexperience. understand the emotions in the field,and the wounding or killing of foreign civil-
Just sitting there on the plane, feltthe on the other, the limitationsof the activ- ian.The premise for the research was the It was the earlydays of the organi-
most at home. After that, didn't return ists.Her immigration to Israelfascinated American peace activist Brian Avery's zation," Schaefer recounts. "We started
to Israel for four and half years. just me, too. When thoughtof American im- wounding by IDF fire in Jenin in .3002 working with Palestinians who had been
couldn't." migrants, thoughtof the type who go Sfard attached the opinionshe wrote to hurt by settlers; we helped them lodge
She moved to New York to get out of straight from the airport in the
to hilltops the petition he filedwith the High Court, complaintswith the police. Every two
her personalcrisis,but then, at bar in territories.In that conversation, feltI'd requesting criminal investigation of the weeks there was new case. By now we
Brooklyn,itall came back to her. "I met come across someone extraordinary." incident.Sfard emerged victorious:The have hundreds. This work changed my
journalist there from The New York Subsequently, those feelings only High Court ordered the chief military life,itredefined everything.started to
Times who worked on the Middle East grew. "She has tremendous knowledge prosecutor to launch an investigation get to know Palestinian clients, visited
desk. told him that I'd lived in Israel, of international law and human rights, (which took place, althoughno decision Mahaneh Ofer for the firsttime, the pris-
and about the crisis went through.He and so she's very unique addition to has yet been made on whether to fileany on facility for securityprisoners.met
said he thought had some unfinished my firm, where [we have] Israelis who indictments)."Right after the victory, with Yesh Din people. started work-
business. He told me he was part of dia- studied Israelilaw," adds Sfard. "I think Michael called me," says Schaefer. "He ing with Dr. Yousef Jabareen who runs
loguegroup between Jews and Muslims, that aside from writingand poetry,law told me: 'We won. When can you come Dirasat, the Arab Center for Law and
and invited me to film festival on the is the profession most connected to Ian- work for my firm?'" Policy, based in Nazareth. feltlike was
subject of human rights. There saw the guage and place. So the transitionEmily She arrived during her summer va- meeting my heroes."
film 'Promises' by B.Z. Goldberg,which made is quitedramatic. Legallanguage cation in 2005 and the firm alreadyhad After passingthe bar exam in the U.S.,
depictsthe Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not the same as spokenlanguage, it's some serious cases waitingfor her. The she decided to make aliya. This happened
through children's eyes. came out of different,much more complex layer. In first concerned opposition to the con- in late when she came
,6002 to Tel Aviv and
the movie in tears. It opened everything this sense, her decision to move to Israel struction of the separation fence in the was giventheBil'infile. The firm was con-
up again, and realized couldn't keep and work in her fieldin order to fulfill Alfei Menashe area, in which an ex- cerned with two petitions at the time: one
runningaway from it." her ideals was brave and amazing step. panded panelof nine judgesdecided that against the construction of the Matityahu
She joinedthe dialoguegroup and the And italso was extremelysuccessful. At the route, around five Palestinian vil- East neighborhood in Modi'in Hit,and an-
Jews Against the Occupationorganiza- the start, Emily concentrated on interna- lages,harmed the residents and had to other against the route of the separation
tion in New York. And she once againim- tionailaw and now she handles the firm's be changed.The second was to givelegal fence that was beingbuilt on Bil'inlands,
mersed herself in the bloodyconflictthat contacts with the Justice Ministry's assistance to the Yesh Din organization, trappingabout dunams of village
006,1
she had abandoned. During law school at departmentfor the investigation of po- dedicated to protecting the human rights land,more than thirdof itstotalarea, be-
UC Berkeley she decided to do brief lice officers, the criminal investigation of Palestinians in the territories tween the fence and the Green Line
 5 ‫עמוד‬

Princess Mabel was also present,we left

Thanks in part tc
for tour of the village.
the charm of the Bil'inresidents, man-
aged to persuadethem to change their
plansand bringthe whole delegation
tc
Bil'in,"she says.
Schaefer managed to impress the
members of the delegation.Tutu, whe
was interviewed by Akiva Eldar in
Haaretz duringthe visit,said he had mei
some "wonderful Israeliand Palestinian
young people who lifted his spirits
Eldar wrote that Tutu was most im-
pressed with an Israeli lawyer by the
name of Emily Schaefer, "who helps
Palestinians demand their rights and
regularlytakes part in the demonstra■
tions fence. He
againstthe separation
says that peoplelikeher bolster his faith
that,as in South Africa, here too, the twe
peoplecan change the situation and live
in peace, side by side."
Half year after that tour, an envelope
was delivered to her firm containing an

unfamiliar magazine."Before knew it,

found letterfrom Princess Mabel," she
says somewhat bashfully. "She wrote thai
as soon as Ode Magazine asked her wht

should be on itslistof 25 intelligent opti

mists, she thoughtof me. was in shock
Schaefer in Bfl'in last week. "I'm completelyat home in Bil'in,kids there run after me in the street ."
There was pictureof me with Cartel
there. Michael stood next to me and said
We didn't believe we would succeed," crime, and which also address those who They strugglealongsideIsraelis. But 'You deserve it.'
Itgave me lotof strength
she admits. "There were no good prec- assistin that crime, we realized that we they are not rare species. There are Although don't need the credit, which
edents. There was the Alfei Menashe could sue the Canadian companies that many Palestinians like them, only unlike kind of embarrasses me, itisencouraging
petition, which had alreadyordered that built on Bil'inland." the people in Bil'in,they haven't found It shows me that there is hoDe ."
the route of the fence be altered, but the framework and the courage to ere- There's very strong dissonance
there was no enforcement in the field. ate the same kind of protest." this title.In the faceofthe bitterand vio-
On the other hand, we knew that Bil'in Kind of embarrassing The Elders delegation came here in lent conflict whose end is hardlyin sight
was becoming symbol of nonviolent August for the express purpose of iden- you were crowned an "optimist." Where
struggle.We thoughtmaybe this would The againstthe construction
petition tifying and assisting this type of coexis- does your optimismcome from?
help and play into our hands. The work companies was filed two years ago, and fence between Israelis and Palestinians. "For many years I've been tellingev•

wasn't easy; we pored over maps
the Mandate periodthat defined the area
of the village.Together with villageresi-
dents, we thoughtabout suitable strate-
gy, we talked about the practical realities
of our struggle. But we knew that, given
the Israeli climate, we couldn't move the
fence allthe way to the Green Line and
that we wouldn't be able to get rid of the
settlement, MatityahuEast."
The petition againstthe construction
of the MatityahuEast neighborhoodwas
rejected, but in the case of the separation
fence route, Sfard's firm won an impres-
sive victorythat had major repercus-
sions. On September ,3 the High
,7002
Court ruled that the route of the fence
near Bil'inhad to be changed,and tasked
the defense establishment with examin-
ingan alternate route.
"The present route raises grave ques-
tions also with regardto the security ad-
vantages itwas said to provide and the ...
selected route cannot be explainedother
than by an intention to include the east-
ern section of "MatityahuEast" on the
west side of the separation barrier," the
rulingsaid.
After this success, Schaefer did not let
up. year later,she was spearheading
civU suitin Canada against two Canadian
companies, Green Park International
and Green Mount International, which
had built in MatityahuEast. "The Israeli
court ruled that the question of whether
the settlements are legalis political
question, and cannot be brought before
it.We said we have to find another way to
get justice," she said. "When we turned
to Canada, we discovered that new law
there assimilates the Geneva Convention
and the Rome Statute into the legalsys-
tern. On the basis of those conventions,
which view the settlements as war
from is now at the stage of preliminary argu- They met Schaefer by chance. They erybody that I'm an incorrigible
optimist
ments, whose purpose isto clarifywheth- hadn't plannedto go to Bil'in,but when That it'spart of who am. But there are
er the Canadian court has the authority to the idea was raised that Desmond Tutu, moments of despair. It happens wher
intervene in the Israeli-Palestinianissue. who supports nonviolent struggle,would there are losses in legalcases. It hap
In order to stimulate publicdebate on the alone, theyasked to meet
go to the village pened when my friend, Bil'inresident
matter, last June Schaefer embarked on with her. Bassem Abu Rahma, was killed by di
speakingtour in Canada togetherwith "After preliminarymeeting at which rect hit with tear gas canister in Apr/
some Bil'inresidents. of lastyear. We were about the same age
"The trip
to Canada was the idea of peo- It stillfeels weird to me that he's not ai
piefrom Bil'in.They wanted to be there the demonstrations. But when have mo•
whenthehearingsinthecasewerecoming ments like that, go to Bil'in.There you
up,"she says. "In three and
half weeks, Wise counsel don'thave the privilege of saying'there's
we hitcities.The trip gave me the pow- no hope' or 'I'm pessimistic.'In Bil'in,the
er to speakabout Bil'inas an allegory that The Elders was founded in peoplealwayshave hope,because without
depictsthe relationship between Israelis 2007 by former South African itthey would simplydie of despair. Hope
and Palestinians. The occupation, free- presidentNelson Mandela and is matter of lifeand death for them."
dom of movement, checkpoints, closure, British business tycoon Richard Does Israel giveyou hope?
settlements, lands, settler violence all Branson, in honor of Mandela's "Our situation is worrisome, but be
these are given expression in Bil'inand 89th birthday. The two collected lieve in Israel.In people. believe that we
tellthe entire story.It was very power- number of veterans of world are all good peoplewho at the end of the
ful and strengthening experiencefor me diplomacy,with the aim of trying day want thingsto be good for us and alsc
when talked about Bil'inat rallies,press to solve world crises, support for others. think that what happenec
conferences and meetings with different humanitarian aid organizations, in the last war in Gaza woke peopleup
groups. needed to find somethingto re- and address the injustices and Peoplethink of themselves as moral, anc
ignite me, to see other peoplewho cared. human suffering in crisis regions. what happenedthere, the number of chil
And ithappenedto me there." Besides Branson and Mandela, dren that were killed,the strikes on popu•
She is not worried about Israelis' the group includes former U.S. lation centers, raised tough questions
reactions to her joint activitywith presidentand Peace Nobelist It was hard for Israelis to accept the un
Palestinians in Canada. "I guess most Jimmy Carter, South African necessary death there. On the other hand
Israeliswould view me as traitor,"she Bishopand Nobel Peace Laureate most of the country shifted in the othei
remarks dryly."They would ask what Desmond Tutu, former UN direction and wholeheartedly supported
rightdoes someone who wasn't born in secretary generalKofi Annan, violence against civilians,and even more
Israel and who didn't serve in the army former Norwegian prime minister have become convinced that there wil
have to criticize the state? But came Gro Brundtland, former Irish never be peace, and that the Palestinians
here out of great love, and don't intend presidentMary Robinson, and even if they are children, are the enemy
to keep quietjustbecause came from Princess Mabel van Oranjeof draw hope from the shift in the views
afar. believe that there is no choice, Holland, who serves as chair.The of many Israelis who've started to be
that Israelis and Palestinians will live organizationis involved in projects activists againstthe occupationand foi
together. When try to build connec- in Burma, Sudan, Zimbabwe and democracy, who've come to understanc
tions between the two sides, I'm work- Cyprus,among other places, and that the kinds of thingsthat were done ir
ing for Israel's good.The Bil'inpeople in generalissues, such as women's Gaza are what other peopledo, not us.
are very special. They don't believe in rights,around the world feelthatthere was moment when people
violence, and they are proud that no here woke up to the fact that Israel needs
terrorists have come from their village to chance ."