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March 1998 NEVE SHALOM / WAHAT AL-SALAM |
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March 1998 NEVE SHALOM / WAHAT AL-SALAM |
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Over thousands of years the land of the
Middle East has been divided, promised, purchased, bartered, sold, stolen,
mined, drained, grazed, burned, flooded, irrigated, coveted, leased, liberated,
declared holy, crusaded for, bombed, mandated, occupied, annexed, reclaimed and
re-divided. Yet, old and tired as it may be, land remains at the center of the
Middle-East conflict. It is probably in this historical perspective that we
should look at the challenges facing Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam today as we
struggle to grow and to defend the integrity of our small community against the
efforts of outside developers.
The story began in 1970, when Father Bruno Hussar arranged with the Trappist
Monastery of Latrun a 49 year lease (with an additional 49 year option) for
41.19 hectares of the Monastery's land. Fr. Bruno's intention was to start a
cooperative community that would bring together people of the monotheistic
religions of Israel.
The new village of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam succeeded in having a master
plan approved by the authorities, which included residential areas, green areas,
zoning for schools, and all of the functions of a community. The first major
threat came when we learned that an association of families of police
anti-terror unit veterans were hoping to take advantage of our new municipal
status to attach to us a new neighbourhood of 350 houses on land adjoining the
village. The plan enjoyed the backing of the Israel Lands Authority. the
neighbourhood would be called 'Neve Shalom'. The danger of this was immediately
clear to us: we would be dwarfed and dominated by a large community of solely
Jewish residents who, with no interest in anything we had tried to create, would
infringe upon the identity and possibly the institutions of the village. For
example, the residents would become members of the general assembly of the
village, could control the budget, and take over our representation in the
regional council. During a protracted legal and procedural battle that went as
far as the High Court Justice, we managed to postpone this threat. Only
temporarily, since the association is again applying to the authorities to
continue with the plan.
Moreover, the Neve Shalom B scheme was quickly joined by a new plan to
establish a housing development on our northern flank. The plan is similar in
that again there is the attempt to exploit our existing municipal status to
establish a 'new neighbourhood' of the village against our will. This new
development, called 'Naot Latrun' also poses a real threat to the character of
our community.
Up to the time of writing, we have solicited vocal support from influential
people, placed a petition in the newspapers, and asked persons in countries
overseas to express their concern to Israeli diplomatic missions. But we fear we
shall have to take recourse to expensive legal action, the success of which is
far from secure.
It should be mentioned in the context of the above development plans that
NS/WAS has no objection to the existence of the two communities themselves,
however, we ask that if they are to be established it should be as separate
villages with their own municipal status, rather than being linked to ours.
Besides opposing the expansion of NS/WAS by outside parties, we have been
working hard on expanding the community according to our own principles. We have
received an increasing number of inquiries by Jews and Arabs who would like to
live in the NS/WAS we hoe for, a place of equality, mutual understanding and
educational work for peace. Since the residential plots included in the existing
master plan have almost all been assigned for building, we urgently need space
for new families.
By growing into a larger community, NS/WAS will be able to raise the quality
of life in the village, become more self-sufficient, and expand our educational
work.Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam is about to purchase the land that is leased to
it from the Monastery of Latrun. Land for residential purposed will be paid for
by the families who live or plan to live there. However, we still need to find
money to pay for the public lands to be used for educational purposes. The
amount of land that we will need to buy for educational institutions (the
Primary School, the Pre-school, the School for Peace, the Doumia, and the future
Peace Campus) will be approximately 4.5 hectares (11 acres).
If everyone helps with this, the task will not be impossible. The cost of a
one square meter tract of land will be US$25. Each donor will receive an
attractive certificate of our gratitude.
If you would like to support the purchase of land for NS/WAS's educational institutions, please send a cheque (preferably in American dollars) to:
NEVE SHALOM / WAHAT AL-SALAM, Doar Na Shimshon 99761, ISRAEL
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a quarterly publication issued by Operation Peace through Unity An accredited NGO in association with the UN Dept of Public Information Anthony Brooke and Gita Brooke,
co-founders |
under the aegis of Operation Peace Through Unity is a communicating link between 'we, the peoples' of all nations, races, creeds and ideologies offering in the spirit of the preamble of the United Nations Charter an instrument for the furthering of better relationships based on deepening mutual understanding and the aspiration to promote unity and cooperation beyond all differences. |