Inaugural Event for the Fred Segal Friendship Library

April 22, 2010

Opening words: Dorit Shippin, Chair of the Municipal Society of

Neve Shalom – Wahat al-Salam (from Hebrew)
Welcome to everyone. Thanks very much to all the
guests who came, including dignitaries. We are
very honored. I am happy that this dream has come
true. As Daoud said, there has never been such a
grand project in Neve Shalom. I think that this
huge project began the moment the first person
arrived here and I hope that this is a sign that the
big dream we all have to transform the whole
region into a Wahat al-Salam – Neve Shalom will
also come true. Thanks very much to everyone.

Umar Ighbariyeh, Chair of the Association of Educational Institutions of

Neve Shalom (from Arabic)
Good evening. A book is a very important thing,
and here at least the majority of those present define
themselves as People of the Book. In Arab culture
there is much importance attributed to a book, and
its use as a vehicle of transmission between
cultures. We know that Arab culture managed to
preserve the writings of the philosophers, especially
with regard to Socrates. If they had not been
translated into Arabic a thousand years ago, perhaps
we would not be able to read them in English and in
other languages the philosophy of Socrates today.
Likewise many poems were composed, thanks to
books. I can remember only a fragment of an Arabic
poem that praises a book in a very special way, as “Jalis Jalis”. Jalis means “a
companion” [and doubling it means the best of companions]. But today in modern
translation, Jalis has the meaning also of “baby-sitter”. So, in conclusion, it is possible
to say that a book is the best of baby-sitters. Thank you.

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Minister of Minorities Prof. Avishai Braverman (from Hebrew)
Salam aleichem walkam. I am sorry, but I only speak [Hebrew and] French, because
when I completed school in 1961, it was our golden age with the French, and so we
learned French and only now have I begun to learn spoken Arabic. And when I came
in I saw one sentence and I will say it: Beit Segal Kabir and Hilu. First of all, I want to
express my thanks. I will begin with Moshe Dadon who is doing wonders in the
Regional Council with a new
spirit and staff. I very much
thank Eyas, Dorit and Umar who
hosted us. Looking around I see
two teachers. I am in Neve
Shalom thanks to Ruth Dayan. I
met her in the World Bank in
Washington and Ruth Dayan
came up to me and with Rachel
Rozenzweig, the wife of the
famous Franz Rozenzweig who
was the friend of Martin Buber.
And she wanted to organize a
conference, and when Ruth
Dayan asks me something, I do
it. Rushdi Fadila brought me to
Neve Shalom and I came to meet Bruno. Afterwards I came to know Yigal Schwartz,
who I brought to Ben Gurion [University] and we established the world's number one
Department of Literature. The last time Eyas and his wonderful wife and brother
hosted us for great food. I think that what we have here is simply something wonderful
and I say, in the clearest way, that if anyone – Arab or Jew – looks at what is
happening here he would understand that this has a a message for the whole world.

I sit in the Israeli government and the Israeli Knesset, and sometimes we forget in
those places what the world is about. Every few months I read to my children Khalil
Jibran – and we shouldn't forget that what is happening here is Khalil Jibran, is Jesus,
is Hillel the Elder. Here, actually, is the message. And the paradox is that such a
complex village as this falls between chairs. I sat today with Moshe Dadon, with Eyas,
Umar, Anwar and Dorit, and with all the members. If this was a Jewish place then it
would be possible to help the Jews. If it was Arab, then it would be possible to help the
Arabs. But there is no such thing in the Holy Land as something that is both Jewish
and Arab. I think this needs a high level of genius to solve this, whereas simple genius
is for a person to be wise.

We have seated here with us Shmulik Shem Tov, son of the great Victor Shem Tov. In
another few months we will inaugurate a mobile library costing a million shekels that
will go around the Arab population because in the end, despite the TV and the internet,
a book is a book and this is something wonderful.

When it was suggested that I would be Minister for Minorities, I accepted this because

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the main internal issue in Israel is equality and civil partnership between Arab citizens.
This is not only just but also wise. It exists, in words, not only from the time of Ben
Gurion but from the time of Jabotinsky. But in reality, well you know how it goes
here. I had a conversation with Netanyahu a year ago and I told him that to be a leader
doesn't depend on just winning at the ballot. To be a leader also does not mean simply
to govern, because you can govern via the polls, and through bread and diversions, and
even a moment before Rome or Berlin or Jerusalem are engulfed in flames, you can go
on winning.

Representational democracy is a very very problematic regime, but sometimes has its
advantages. In a representational democracy, sometimes a leader will come along like
Churchill, Mandela and Lincoln – a leader who makes decisions for the millions who
are still unborn, for our children and grandchildren.

The only way for us to go on existing here is to act differently. And I said to
Netanyahu that the historical paradox is that if he wants to be a leader and not a
marginal note, it is to act like Yitzhak Rabin who, although he did not write anything,
was the only leader who embraced the way of two nations for two peoples, and of
equality and civil partnership between Israel and the Arabs. I believe in this way, and
the people who sit here believe in this way, and, inshallah, with the help of God, we
will be victorious.

And I always it is necessary to remain optimistic, even when many people tell me that
there is no point, that it isn't possible to change anything. I look at the people who are
sitting here and have reached another place. Even when things are not going well, they
continue and continue, because they must remain optimistic – life isn't linear. Three or
four hundred people who get together can change history. That's the way I was
educated when I was growing up. And I will tell you as a final word that I have a
young 14 year old son who grew up in Beer Sheba and now is in Tel Aviv. He comes
and tells me, Dad, why are you in politics? The kids in school say that politicians are
corrupt. You were dean of a university; you were in the World Bank. Why are you
shaming the family and me? Leave politics. I told him what my father, who was a
carpenter and a poet, told me when I was 5 years old. Only two things are important in
life: what your children and the friends who you value will say about you, and what of
value you will leave after you. People who are sitting here know that this is the true
story, and not the TV, which offers you all kinds of successful salesmen who turn into
leaders. Our struggle is a true moral struggle and only in this way the state of Israel
will exist as it should be. I wish you success and salute you and, inshallah, your way
will succeed.

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Mr. Moshe Dadon, Head of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council (from
Hebrew)
Hello. If anyone said that such a conference is impossible, well, here there are
hundreds of people to change the world. These aren't just empty words. So welcome,
Mr. Minister and to the people in Neve Shalom. I want to deviate from the custom and
say thank you. Thank you for building such a place in Mateh Yehuda. Thank you for
meeting the challenge, in this place. Neve Shalom is located at the entry to Mateh
Yehuda on Road No. 1. These aren't just empty words. In politics I am at center-left.
My friends are my friends and their ethnicity is less important. I sometimes envy the
people of Neve Shalom because in their hands the privilege has fallen and the
challenge that very few accept. How many people in this country and in the world can
say that it is possible for Jews and Arabs to live together and prove to everyone that
despite all opposition they are here together and strong? I say this as a friend. And, as
head of the Council, I will be at your side and to your left, in order to help. To raise
this idea is not so simple. It isn't easy, believe me. This land is so complex, this nation
is so complex, and the government even more so. And yet even in such a reality, with
optimism, we can succeed.
I like to read books because this takes me away from our terrible reality. A book takes
me regions of the imagination. So I very much hope that this library will not only take
us into imaginary realms but to a reality that will connect us. Instead of fighting wars,
we will read books. Instead of struggling, we will bring young people.

I have a dream, a request and a

hope that we will be able to
bring the young generation,
especially high school students
here before they go into the
army or national service,
before they go in a new
direction. They will come here
and feel, meet, see and
understand that all of us are
human beings. We can be
Jews, Muslims, Christians or
any other religion. We may be
first and foremost Jewish, but we can preserve that which makes us special, while
remembering that what unites us is our ability to accept the other, our neighbor, and
understand that this is the only land in which there are both Jews and Arabs.

I have brought a small gift, a book about Mateh Yehuda. I hope and expect that
everyone who will come here to Neve Shalom will take a look at the history of Mateh
Yehuda, where Arabs and Jews lived together for thousands of years. Sometimes they
fought, but they remained here together. And I hope that we will be able to help, so
that from here we will help the peace process. I will pray that from our three religions
we will prompt the leaders to take brave decisions.

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Dr Nava Sonnenschein, the School for Peace (from Hebrew)

Big thanks to our friend Fred Segal – a friend

for 22 years. Thank you Fred for your patience
and generosity, for the faith in the direction of
Wahat al-Salam - Neve Shalom. I know that it
is only one of the social projects that you have
supported throughout the years. Thank you
from the bottom of my heart. Thank you too to
all those who labored to create this beautiful
building. Thank you, one and all. Thank you
Neal for supporting the idea, thank you Deanna
who helped. Thank you to the committee who
crystallized the idea. Thank you to Keren Siton
for volunteering.

Today, human rights and peace organizations

who are working to change the terrible reality
in which we live are under terrible attack. Today, in the 43rd year of the occupation,
when Palestinians are evacuated from their homes in order to populate them with
Jewish settlers; today when evacuation orders are received by Palestinians living in the
Palestinian authority; today when journalists are arrested for revealing the crimes of
the army against Palestinians, it is important to raise our heads and not give up, to
return to another vision of equality between the two peoples living in this land, of
acting humanely towards the other, of fulfilling the national aspirations of the two
peoples, of repairing injustice. We will return to the dream and work for it. These times
charge us with a duty to react and not remain silent.

And what does the Peace and Friendship Library of Fred Segal have to do with this?
This is a vision that was woven ten years ago. The library will be a meeting place for
researchers and field workers to discuss changing the reality. The library will include
an academic collection and a collection of materials created by peace and human rights
organizations. It will promote activism for changing the reality. Jewish, Palestinian and
international researchers will come to research and share their knowledge on subjects
of peace and conflict, racism, dialog group work, identity, human rights, oppression
and liberation, and additional topics related to the social and political change for which
we hope. The library will serve our MA program that we will open together with Prof.
Naomi Hazon, head of the the School for Government and Society in Tel Aviv – Jaffa
College.
On the first floor there will be a collection of fine literature in Arabic and Hebrew for
the village residents and their children and for residents of the region. A place of
meeting for reading, discussion and dialog with laptop or without it. In addition, there
will be a collection on the topic of health and proper nutrition. This collection will be
named after the late Prof. Abdullah Haj Yihia, a member of the village, who dedicated
his life to the subject of medical science and pharmacy and public health. Abdullah,

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when he was still alive, wanted to support the project and Souad and their children
fulfilled this with their gift of equipment in the library kitchen. With the addition of the
organic garden and up to date facilities this place will constitute a place in which
children and adults will learn about nutrition and healthy living. This, in a nutshell, is
the dream. A major part of it has been already realized with the generosity of Fred and
we call on everyone to continue to realize this dream since, as you see, the building is
still empty.

I will conclude with the words of Prof. Judith Butler, who wrote the book Precarious
Life and related to the words of the philosopher Levinas. Butler visited here some
years ago and more recently came to support the peace theater in Jenin.

To respond to the face, to understand its meaning, means to be awake to what is

precarious in another life or, rather, the precariousness of life itself. This cannot be an
awakeness, to use his word, to my own life, and then an extrapolation from an
understanding of my own precariousness to an understanding of another's precarious
life. It has to be an understanding of the precariousness of the Other. This is what
makes the face belong to the sphere of ethics.

But what media will let us know and feel that frailty, know and feel at the limits of
representation as it is currently cultivated and maintained? If the humanities has a
future as cultural criticism, and cultural criticism has a task a the present moment, it
is no doubt to return us to the human where we do not expect to find it, in its frailty
and at the limits of its capacity to make sense. We would have to interrogate the
emergence and vanishing of the human at the limits of what we can know, what we can
hear, what we can see, what we can sense. This might prompt us, effectively,to
reinvigorate the intellectual projects of critique, of questioning, of coming to
understand the difficulties and demands of cultural translation and dissent, and to
create of the public in which oppositional voices are not feared, degraded or
dismissed, but valued for the instigation to a sensate democracy they occasional
perform.

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Deanna Armbruster, Executive Director of American Friends of NSWAS

Thank you. I work in the United States to support

the important work here in Neve Shalom ~ Wahat
al-Salam and one of the gifts that I get from doing
this kind of work is to meet donors from all over the
world who give their love, their money and their
support for the community. I first met Fred in 1997
and it was an opportunity to go and pick up the first
installment towards this library. It's been 13 years
now, picking up checks from Fred in order to come
to this day and build this building and create this
new beginning for the community and for the center
here. So today it's my privilege today to bring you a
special message from Freddy – to share his love and
his friendship with all of you. And he asked me to
share these words with you. The library is based on a simple concept – friendship.
Building friendship heals. Friendship is a bridge to peace and it is a key in the process.
Friendship is the reason people can talk to each other. It's hard to jump from fear to
love without friendship. So fill your life with happiness, and live from your heart. And
eliminate negativity. We are not taught to be parents, and we are not taught to love, but
we learn it over time. We learn how to go inside ourselves, to develop love, to find
who we are, and to build friendship. And it's through friendship that we lead to love ,
and it's through love then we can make efforts to change the world. So Fred asks us all,
as he sends his hugs, love and kisses, as you'll see here, to think about our own
feelings, to go inside of ourselves, He reminds us that it's not a complicated process.
That here in this conflict, at this difficult time in these difficult moments that so many
are dealing with on a constant day to day basis, that we have to look deep in our hearts,
to find new ways, to build relations. So Fred is asking us to come in this space, at this
time in this special village, in order to share this message with all of you. He believes
that it starts inside of us, in our health, in what we eat. He says that his friend, Geisha,
taught him to love his enemies, and that the Dalai Lama taught him how to have the
most compassion for his enemies.

Today, the friendship Library built here in Neve Shalom ~ Wahat al-Salam is a place
where Jews and Palestinians come to live, pray, work, go to school together, bond
through conflict resolution. 25% of this library will be dedicated to health – happy
health. And through our diets, our physical exercise, our well-being we will become
one with our selves and be able to share the friendship with others. He says, on a
global level, we have attempted peace through treaties, defense, aggression, and
mostly fear. But when all of us are healthy, we'll have room in our systems to build
friendship. And friendship promotes love, and through love we can develop inner
connections and then we are unable to fight. So many thanks to all of you and my most
thanks to Fred Segal for giving us this opportunity to come together and build this
library. Thank you.

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Fred Segal's film

Fred Segal:
This is a great moment for me. It has been so many years. Well my involvement in
Neve Shalom/ Wahat al-Salam has been for 25 years. Nava and I have been friends a
long time. And the School for Peace means a lot to me. Over the years I have had the
opportunity and the privilege to watch the progress and the transformation of Neve
Shalom/ Wahat al Salam, including the conflict resolution that I was introduced to and
the way you people - the way we have - communicated to one another with great
energy and so much motivation to learn about one another. We have done a really
great job towards the goal of world peace.

The Fred Segal Friendship Library

with love one another and love, hugs
and kisses, is a great symbol that we
all can use towards world peace.
Friendship is the key. We can talk for
years and years and years about the
history about what is going on and
we are wasting our energy doing
that. Because the time spent doing
that should be time that we go
skating together, or walking together
in nature, or time we are with one
another spiritually from the inside out, not from outside in.

We all want world peace, especially those of us who have been working actively
towards this goal. We just haven't come up with the solution. We've worked hard, with
ingredients that don't work. They do not go together. If we can all be friends; if we
can have parties together and dinners together, and strolls, and dances, we are going to
have a chance to transform from where we've been, to friendship, and then to love. If
you love me, you're not going to fight me. If I am your friend you're not going to hurt
me, and I am not going to hurt you if you're my friend.

The Fred Segal Friendship Library may be very helpful in what we are all want. I am
so happy at this moment to be here in Israel. The role model for the world - and maybe

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Neve Shalom/ Wahat al Salam is the role model for Israel and the world. I am here,
and my energy, and I love being here with you. Thank you for allowing me the
opportunity to participate with a group of people who are so advanced, so loving and
understand what friendship is all about. What we can do now is to spread that
everywhere in Israel. Tel Aviv has a lot of anger. We have to find a way how to
introduce friendship as a key ingredient for our peace: for individual peace, for our
community peace, for the city peace, for the state peace, and for the global peace. I
thank you so much for putting the time and effort – we've been working on the library
for 8 years – for putting this time and effort towards building a place that can represent
and can be symbolic of friendship. And oh my gosh, I am so happy that the happy
health element that we are going to teach people the solution to health, the solution to
quality of life everyday, by eating and understanding the food we eat is our fuel, for
our energy. The better the fuel, the better we function, the easier is to be friends and
our all system will change. We don't need to go to a therapist or psychiatrist. We need
to change our insides, and what we eat will change us physiologically, emotionally and
on every level towards friendship. I want to say thank you for our library.

I want to introduce you to someone you would have met, if we came to Israel
physically: we are here in energy which is just as good, maybe better. Tina Segal - my
wonderful lady - who is so supportive in such a short time, of the work we are doing
here in Israel. I love you.

- I love you too.

The man who is going to be here physically today is Neil Saker, of the Saker institute
here in Israel, in Tel Aviv. He and his son do phenomenal work and my privilege that
he is here to represent the physical part of Fred Segal. But he's really here to represent
friendship, to love and the Friendship Library. This is my friend, my dear friend and
my brother, Neil Saker and he's here with you now. I love you.

- I love you.

Thanks you very much and I'll be in Israel, as soon as I feel comfortable enough to
make that physical journey.

Page 9
Mr. Eyas Shbeta, manager of the Municipality presents gifts to the speakers.

Page 10
Knesset Member Haim Auron (“Jumis”) (from Hebrew)
Good evening to everyone. According to the
program those who spoke till now gave words
of introduction and I am supposed to make a
speech. Everyone mentioned their connection
to Neve Shalom and one of my connections
with Neve Shalom is very simple. I have a
family connection – the most natural
connection. It was mentioned earlier by my
friend Avishai Braverman that Neve Shalom
falls between chairs. And here there are some
witnesses who can testify that sometimes I am
the one who they turn to in the space between
the chairs. When Chair A sometimes isn't
talking to Chair B, someone calls Jumis and
says – well, maybe... Look we don't always
manage since our chairs [at the Knesset] are so
far apart from each other. I remember the first time this began it was when it was not
possible to obtain guarantees for the first houses of Neve Shalom because there isn't
such animal as a village that is neither Jewish nor Arab, so how is it possible to obtain
guarantees for houses there? But houses need to be built. We solved it and it didn't cost
a cent (as guarantors). You paid and we did not need to pay. And there were many
other examples. Without a doubt this building, from your point of view, is the
fulfillment of a dream, or at least the beginning of realizing a dream.

Many of those who are seated here know that in many ways our dreams seem further
away today than at many times in the past. Actually, the basis of the dream of Neve
Shalom - and I was there at its engagement - was the thought that peace would be
impossible without coexistence. This I knew also from my own background in the
Shomer Ha Tsa'ir Kibbutz movement. It means to put the idea into practice on a
personal level. It means not just to speak about it, but that Jews and Arabs will live
together in full equality, both in the definition of the name, but in the wording in the
numbers and in terms of the social structure. You know today, after all these years,
how difficult that is to realize. As a kibbutz member, I appreciate the difficulty of
realizing such a thing. But the very fact that there are people who have chosen this
path and are trying to deal with the difficulties that rise up - all the time anew, and
much more than anticipated in our original dreams, in much more complex ways than
we imagined previously - and after all this they can say to each other and whoever is
watching or trying to learn from them, that yes we believe that it is possible.

How small, in recent years, is the public that deeply believes what somebody has said,
that we are destined to live together, or that we have chosen it, or that we have no
choice other than for Jews and Arabs to live together, according to the literal meaning
of this concept?

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Also, in the struggle for peace and reconciliation between us and the Palestinian
people, we are at what may be one of the most critical points, and Avishai says maybe
one of the most dangerous. You can continue to expect things from Bibi, but I have no
such expectation. Every day, all of us are paying a terrible price. Maybe the price we
will pay is rising up to the point of endangering the very possibility of living together
here, the future of which depends on a solution of two nations for two peoples. If this
solution stops to be a real possibility in the near future, we will collapse on both sides.
From my point of view, I say openly that this is the complete rupture of the Zionist
dream. I don't know what Zionism means without a democratic Jewish Israel. Zionism
depends on the ability to live in peace with our Palestinian citizens within and with
the Arab world around.

And this thing is placed on the table. The energies that go out from here are so
important, really, because the public - of which I see myself a part – feel more and
more isolated with less and less power, and sometimes also less energy. We are
marking here today the opening of a library in Neve Shalom, but four or five hours
from now in a Tel Aviv pub there will be a party for Knesset members from the Likud
and Kadima that is being organized by the Im Tirtzu organization. Im Tirtzu is the
turning upside down of Zionism as I understand it. There are Knesset members there
and maybe it is not clear to them what they are doing there, or maybe it really is clear
to them. I don't want to count how many Knesset members will be there tonight. Yes,
in this land, Jewish secular fascism is beginning to take hold. This is the most
dangerous format – more dangerous even than a religious format. And that's Im Tirtsu.

So now their target is the New Israel Fund and Naomi Hazan who has connections
here here too. In Yizkor, there is already a chapter on collaborators: that's us. In
Yizkor, which they will read in synagogues on Independence day, there is a chapter on
Jews who are collaborators and this is the atmosphere. Therefore I am convinced how
important is the partnership although many have already despaired of it . It is essential
and I think that we must do everything in order to make these efforts precisely in the
more difficult days, because to make the effort in easier days, when the square fills up
by itself, isn't so bright. Now is the hard test and you are a very very important anchor
in this test. I am grateful to you for that.

Page 12
Nida Houri, poet. (from Hebrew)
Hello. Sharon was right – what we see from here they don't see from there. I live in the
middle of the desert. At very short notice, a couple of days ago, I received a telephone
call to come. How would it be possible not to respond to an Oasis? How would it be
possible not to respond to a call for peace? How is it possible not to respond? I grew
up on the culture of the minimal. The culture in which the mother gives everything,
and puts in order what the earth provides. Then I began to think of the challenge before
me: what would I say? What could I add? And I returned to my roots. My mother
always taught me to take whatever comes to hand, and use it. She said that that way, I
would always know how to manage. And just yesterday, in my lecture to the students
of Ben Gurion University, I spoke about Winicott. Winicott is a psychologist who
spoke about creativity and the importance of potential space, the “third space” in
formation, and how space is so important to the formation of a baby's creativity upon
separation from the mother. It is important also to the building of his independence and
psychological health. Winicott called this the third potential space and the space that
exists in the place of transition.

Again, on my way here from a

conference at the Hebrew literature
department, from Meshave Sadeh, I
considered the dilemma of what I
would say. And I said to myself,
there is the internal reality and there
is the external reality. The external
reality is the country within the
green line – I mean [the armistice
line] of 1948 - there are those who
paint it in all kinds of colors. And
there is the external reality that
surrounds us. So within there is the
place into which we sink. And
outside there it the external reality
which is boiling – in all this tension
that grows and grows. And I wish I didn't have to speak after Jumis because whoever
perceives, whoever knows and grasps... I say, it's enough. It's the determining line, but
after all we have no choice. The only choice that we have is to continue to hope; to
continue to act, to continue to search for an alternative. This is the third way: not the
justice of one party or another. In justice there is no mercy and no existence. The
objective is not sovereignty or borders. The objective is the existence of the human
being, not of identity. And so I said to myself, I will speak Arabic. But more
important to me than language (and my language is my life) is communication. It's
importance rises above language. The tool is important, not the principle. Even if we
are forced to be pragmatic and bring from within this pragmatism and within this
humanism, within this concession, we will bring some understanding and agreement.
Communication is built upon finding something in common, despite our differences,

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so this is the way. And actually, although I am standing here and speaking with you in
Hebrew I also know that I am challenging you - all Jews and all Israelis and sending
you an invitation, as a Palestinian. I don't know how good these definitions are. I have
jumped into a cultural space within language and from there I bring myself to believe
that in my humanity, and in the language of the other, there is partnership. I invite
everyone that sits in the space of the Middle East to speak the language of the place,
because actually by the fact of speaking the language of the place, we manage well
with the inner codes of the place, and with the people of the place, and of all that the
place dictates to us. And this place dictates to us not to be pure. There is no longer
anything pure . Even gold is alloyed. There is no pure identity. There is no absolute
truth. We are all right and we are all mistaken and in the same way we are all stupid.
From another aspect, I entered into the building and walked around and said, “where
are the books?”. But actually, although there are many - millions of people - the entire
human race, who read history, very few people write it. And in a place like Neve
Shalom, I think you do not need to bring any book. This place is a history book. Last
year I was asked to help a project together with Eitan Kremer and Ben Gurion
University, to tell the history of the place. I immediately responded that I think that
here the history of a people is being written. A people who, as it were, have been
excommunicated from, or chose to leave, or have departed from the consensus, who
have removed themselves from the societies from which they hail, to bring a different
language, another hope. So I laud this place and this initiative. And I am dreaming
since 1998 when authors were hosted at Mishkenot Shaananim and it was decide to
change its function in order to host artists and poets and musicians and historians - I
very much hope and request that this place will take up the flag and host artists and
encourage a different thinking – a creative thinking, a thinking that does not come in
order to manage the conflict, a thinking that comes to challenge and break the head
and the ego and find a new formula to resolve the conflict in which we are still
engaged. As mothers we are still moving towards a future of sacrificing the
generations of sons and grandsons and we are still – there is a word in Arabic - as it
were, walking in a dream, hypnotized. We know the potential of all this anger and
what it will do, but we are helpless. For some reason – I don't know why - this one gets
the label of a leftist, or a nationalist or an extremist, and nobody remembers that there
are human beings. And nobody remembers that this place is supposed to bring
redemption to the world, to the whole world, because all the world is boiling in circles
that are expanding and growing more radical, and everybody relies on the Holy Land
and on this place, as something central. And salvation will not emerge from here, if we
do not bring a message to the world that we in the Middle East may be different but
can manage together.

I am sorry that it is very difficult for me when I try to take stock of my culture. I don't
want to go on about this too much, but the culture with the richest language and the
largest number of synonyms is Arabic. It's music, with its quarter tone and half tone, is
the most diverse, the most spiritual; its archeology with so many lines, arches, curves –
its walls that embrace, and its windows. Its clothing and fabrics, with the orientalism
of its colors, their interwovenness and delicacy, where everything is in harmony; all
this is at the basis of the culture of the east. However, I am sorry that we are in a place

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of acute regression. Because the spirit of the people, the discourse in the street, the
general ethos outside is to pronounce one thing, one truth, one color, or else. And all
those who say there is more than one meaning, one truth, are said to belong to the
party of stutterers. So once again I praise all the stutterers and thank you and all those
that have stood behind this initiative for this very fact, and thank you that you have left
this thread of light to which I will cling and hang from in the hour that the soul is
broken and in the time when I am anxious for the lives of children and their future. So
thank you very much, and the best of success.

Ruth Almog, author. (from Hebrew)

The question that is before me is if literature has a function or can contribute towards
the humanization of the other, or if this is its function. I have never thought, as a
writer, that literature has a function. The function of literature is simply to be, and if it
has anything like a function, it is to awaken desire, or it needs to be a desire to arrive
to the other, or to touch the heart of the other.

We inhabit a region in which there

were very famous libraries - not in
this land, but in the region. There
was the big, famous library in
Alexandria, in which there were,
according to estimates a million
manuscripts on papyrus and
parchment. In this library were
collected all the books of that time.
When a ship came to Alexandria,
there was a royal order that
everything written on the boat must
be copied for the library, and then
either the original or a copy would
be returned to its owner. And thus they wanted to catch all the world, for the sake of
unity, via books. And so, I think that a library, as a concept, is parallel to hope. It
incarnates something of hope because we place on the shelf members of one people
next to another people. Although they write in different languages, they sit next to one
another peacefully. And this very fact gives hope, so the concept of a library manifests
hope.

So I am very excited that a library will arise here, in which books will come and stand
next to one another – books of different friends and members of different nationalities,
speaking different languages; members of different religions and they will be aligned
one next to another in peace, at least in the this building, and live side by side. It may
be a harder project outside, but it gives hope that such a thing might be possible.

But we know that the wonderful big library in Alexandria, that held all the books of

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the ancient world, of the then pagan culture, was consumed by fire. And many of its
contents could not be recuperated, since they did not have copies. The writings of
Plato could not be recuperated, and only the dialogs remained, likewise only fragments
of the philosophical plays. This pagan world that was the world of literature, plays,
poems, was burned. It is not known what happened, but scholars think that it was
burned out of hatred; by a Christian clergyman, who decided to exterminate pagan
culture. So it was burned completely. There were in this library 200,000 volumes that
were given as a present to Cleopatra by Mark Anthony, who brought them from
Pergamon, another famous library in the region. Pergamon was a place in Anatolia
with a huge library. The word Pergamon means parchment, which was the medium for
writings at that place. That [collection] too, of course was lost. In this negative way, I
wanted to see a more positive course. I mean, throughout all periods, books were
burned. We Jews know this well. In the 17th century the Talmudic books were burned
in Italy. And we know the last big burning in Berlin when the Nazis burned the books
written by the Jews – the poets and all those who converted to Christianity among
them. And I think that this actually expresses in a negative way the importance of a
library, and if I ask myself whether literature has influence, so in this negative way I
learn that it has, because otherwise there would be no need to burn it.

Literature reveals the human possibility of unity with the other. Through literature, we
meet the other and learn about him, his religion, his culture and his soul. The only way,
and the only authentic way, as I see it, to meet the soul of our neighbor is to know him
via a book.

I want to tell you another small thing, about my childhood and youth. My greatest
pleasure and the greatest pleasure of my girl friends – I studied in a girl's school - was
to go and exchange books in the library. The smell of the books, of dust, the tap of the
librarian who would say, “this isn't for you yet.” – Today of course it's impossible to
imagine that – what does it mean, it isn't for you yet? When you will grow up you will
be able to read that. Our greatest pleasure was the dream of meeting other strange
worlds that I surely wouldn't meet in my life. Then we didn't travel abroad and the
world was far away and big and we could learn about other continents only through
books - about women or children in England, or children in Italy. Only through books
could we learn about them, and it was our greatest pleasure. I ask myself if this still
exists and if children still go with the same pleasure to exchange books in the library,
read with the same pleasure and I don't know . I have no answer. I hope that this is so
for them because there is nothing better. So in this way, I wish you well on the
occasion of this new building. I hope that it will fill up with books and that people will
come and enjoy reading. Thank you very much.

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Prof. Ariela Friedman (from Hebrew)

I want to say that every time I come to Neve Shalom I

feel that I breathe a little more deeply than in my
everyday life. I love this place and I feel fortunate that
I linked up with it. It was good fortune that 20 years
ago exactly Nava and Rabah arrived in my office at the
the university of Tel Aviv and told me about the group
work they do here in the School for Peace, and asked if
we could work together. And I immediately felt that
there could be a place for such a connection. We began
to conduct dialog groups at Tel Aviv University
between Jewish and Arab students – an authentic
meeting, of a kind that does not happen in many other
groups. They were always encounters. They touched
on the real things, touched on the pain, the conflict, the
relations. This was work that demanded lots of courage because people were scared of
it. Today there are many discussions and dialog of this kind, but at that time it was
very innovative. The second thing that they brought was very significant theoretical
thinking. I should say that I come from the field of social psychology – that's my
subject. They brought thinking about group process which was developing, and if there
is courage and patience to deal with this, it is possible to arrive at very good results,
though this is not easy. There are many moments when you want to run away. And I
saw how this affected the students. I saw them when they left – the Jews who were
shocked, who now felt that they knew less than they had imagined, who felt that many
of their beliefs had been shaken, but, together with this, that there was an opportunity
to open something new. The Arabs left with a feeling that, maybe for the first time,
they had met the Jews who surrounded them on campus and could speak with them
about what they really feel. This was a very strong experience and it influenced them
for years. With regard to me, it influenced completely my perception and outlook on
relations between human beings. And we continued to work and develop projects.

What I want to say, following those who have already spoken, is that for years I
believed that the conflict between Palestinians was a lot easier to solve than building
our common nation here. We began to work together in the 1990s and those were years
in which there was optimism and a degree of hope. Things were developing. We
thought that that something was sure to happen soon, and in the meantime things
actually went downhill. But today I still think that the solution with the Palestinians is
easy. The solution itself is clear and easy, but the only problem is the way there. The
problem is the process. The problem is to implement the solution, never mind that we
all know what it is. I don't think there is a real conflict of interests here that puts a
damper on everything. But I still have a very strong feeling that we need to deal with
the relations between us Jews and Arabs in this land, and to define our space. I very
much liked the words [by Nida Houri] about not being pure, and about our being
influenced by each other, also in our identities. I feel that this is a mission in which we

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are really at the beginning, because in this field of Jewish – Arab relations in Israel we
have made all the mistakes possible throughout the years. And what has been created
is simply total separation, lack of acquaintance, a space that suits the awakening of
stereotypes and fears. It is simply incredible that people live in this same small place
and sometimes together. At the university or places of work we live in total alienation,
and lack any acquaintance. And I want to bring the example from the Safed College
which has more than 50% Arab students: a great place for multicultural education, for
an encounter between Jews and Arabs, secular and religious, new immigrants and
veterans. I first came to Safed College because I saw two completely separate
populations. The studies there are at a high level. The Arab students are happy with the
studies. They receive degrees, and there is an attempt to make technical matters easier,
so far as that this is possible. But no one relates to the idea of creating a true shared
space for the two sides. And this was something very painful to see, and I saw that
what stood behind this is the same old mistaken concept that it is dangerous to touch
these things, that you should not mix politics with education; you should learn to be
quiet and not say anything. Now, to study social science without touching on politics
is, as you can imagine, absurd. But I must say that there is currently an experiment to
do something about this. We have a dean, Prof. Aharon Kellerman, who gives his
support to the attempt to transform into a multicultural college. This is truly very
difficult, but we have already had two seminars for Jewish and Arab lecturers who try
to check the problems that arise. And serious problems do arise. First of all, there is
the problem of language. The Arab lecturers come to the college not knowing Hebrew
well and this is hard for them. It is as if they take it for granted that this is their
problem, with all the tension they feel about this. But the Jews do not know Arabic so
it is always necessary to speak Hebrew; even if there is one Jew in the class. And what
to do about all the holidays? We deal again and again with the question about whether
it is all right to take leave, we deal again and again with the problem of whether to
break for Christian, Muslim or Druze holidays. There is no policy. There is no
consideration about this and only now we are beginning to deal with it. You in Neve
Shalom are dealing with this all the time and know how difficult it is but also how
important all these things are. But maybe more important even than these more
symbolic matters, is behavior. The behavior of the students in the class. It takes a year
or maybe two until the Arab students permit themselves to speak in the classroom.
This demonstrates the power relations, which are characterized by oppression in the
classroom. But if the lecturers are not aware of this and nothing changes, so it will just
continue. Now there are arguments, and it isn't easy, and it connects to political
opinions. But I think that the main problem in our nation, the number one problem, is
how to actually build a nation for all of us, comfortably and securely, but actually.
There are difficult questions here but we must deal with them. And you are doing this
in Neve Shalom. You are doing it, though it isn't easy. I always admire you because it
is everyday: and every terrorist attack and every war and everything that happens
shakes everything up. But as we have said before, if it is possible to do it in one place,
if we manage to do it a little in Safed, if we manage to do it in mixed schools, if we
manage to do it in these groups, so it is possible to do it, but we will hope this doesn't
take further generations. I thank you very much.

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George Saman (from Hebrew)
A cat. I look at your faces. Yes we need it. A cat who doesn't manage to obtain food
four or five days and is desperately hungry and can hardly walk suddenly in front of
him there's a mouse, and wants to catch him. The mouse runs away and goes into some
hole and the cat remains caught in front of him with an empty stomach, and he waits
impatiently by the hole. Suddenly the cat has an idea. He begins to bark, woof, woof,
and the mouse, relaxing, comes out. And as soon as he comes out the cat catches him.
The mouse says, wait what's going on? I heard barking. What's going on? The cat tells
him, ya habibi, in this country you need to know at least two languages.

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