Supreme Court and Security Fence Tiyul
On Wednesday, Kitat Maayan visited the Supreme Court and after the Security Fence.
2000 years ago the Jewish Supreme Court, the Sanhedrin, was inside the Temple in Jerusalem, and that is why there is a wall going through the entire building that looks like the Kotel.
The Supreme Court has a very unique architecture: every part of the building has a meaning behind it. "Truth comes from the ground and justice comes from the sky"- the 10 wide stairs near the entrance (that also represent the 10 commandments) represent Truth while the big window looking at Jerusalem represents Justice. Also, everywhere in the Supreme Court there is an emphasis on circles and lines which define morals and again justice. "He who wishes to be wise should go South"- that is the reason why the building is facing South and not the Kotel and East.
The Supreme Court has in total 10,000 cases a year which is a very big amount (in the US the Supreme Court has 80 cases per year). 80% of the cases are personal and the rest are about cases like WOW. You can even be heard without having a lawyer.
Israel is as Jewish state but is not a theocracy as countries like Iran. We are a democratic state. The Supreme Court does not look at the Torah and its Mitzvot, the law of Israel is not accordingly to the halacha. Israel is a Jewish State but not a Medinat Halacha. It may seem like the architecture of the Supreme Court shows that the laws are based on Jewish halacha but in fact they are not, and the architecture represents the history of the Jewish people and its base on social justice.
After visiting the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, we saw the Security Fence. Israel calls it the Security fence or wall because it keeps us safe from terrorism while the other side, Palestinians, call it the Wall of Separation because it separates them from us.
In the year of 2000 the second Intifada, and unlike the first Intifada when people had as weapons stones, it was much more serious and terrorists would blow up buses and buildings, there was a chaos going on in Israel. Terrorists from the West Bank would come and blow up themselves and kill many others. Because of that, Ariel Sharon had to do come to a solution that would stop the terrorism. In Gaza there was already a security fence and barely any terrorism came from there, and so he hoped that by building the security fence around the West Bank it would be the same. The goal was to stop suicide bombers from coming into Israel. The Fence goes according to the green line but including some of the settlements that Israel allowed to build. Since Israel built the fence not on Israel's territory but on the Palestinian, we were blamed for taking away the land and deciding for everyone where the boarder will be.
The fence was built due to people being scared and killed, many people don't necessarily with the reason but with the way it was built. For the people living between and inside the fence life became much more complicated due to crossing boarders. Also, the emotional and psychological effect of the wall is horrible because you can't see the other side, but the reason it was put instead of a fence was because it takes much less land space.
Personally, I wouldn't like it if there was a wall separating me and someone else, but the security fence was built for a very serious reason. Daily on the news there was some kind of attack and suicide bomber. People did not go into terror but people were scared for themselves and each other. Everyone had friends or friends of friends who were attacked and murdered. We had to do something in order to stop it, and back then the fence was a solution, and over the time with building the fence there were less and less suicide bombings.
In the evening we met with people from an organization called Kids for Peace. The organization brings Palestinians and Jews together. We met with a couple of the teenagers and they told us about their lives with each other and how the program helped them understand the Israel-Palestinian situation as a whole. I really loved listening to the Palestinian girl because to me it sounded like she has a very good life despite the negativity surrounding her. They explained how the fence influences them and their Palestinian friends or family. What I learned from the meeting with kids for peace was that it is very easy to generalize everyone and everything, and one would think that all Palestinians are miserable, unhappy, and mad at Jews while all Jews live a happy life and don't care about Palestinians, but it is not like that and everyone has their own personal connection and story to it.
Now, my question for Kitat Maayan is, what did you find interesting from the talk with Kids for Peace and what was something you didn't think of until meeting and discussing it with them?
Sara Grin
The only thing that I would have wanted more of from the talk with Kids for Peace is that we had differing views with some of the topics we talked about because I found I was agreeing more with them instead of learning of more perspectives. I did enjoy hearing from individuals that do in fact have different perspectives on issues because of their background and race. What I hadn't considered were their views on Trump's latest announcement. Mostly how they thought it wasn't something new.
ReplyDelete-Katherine Murphy
I really loved kids for peace! And while I was sitting there i was thinking the whole time that if I ever raised my kids in Israel, I would make them go to kids for peace. I stand up for everything that they believe in and its comforting to know that there is a cause out there defending unity and peace. A lot of people here I've met have negative stuff to say about Palestinians and it's cool that there are people out there that have very strong positive relationships with each other, BECAUSE THE CONFLICT SHOULDN'T make you hate anyone. I thought it was crazy that sometimes citizens of the West Bank have a curfew! And the talk also made me sad because I realized how rigid the racial divide is here, and I wish that we could all live together and just not care. I really liked the guy who came to speak to us, he was so nice and I thought that his story about being young and spending time with Muslims was so inspiring! And how he drives his friends home. :)
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting to get two perspectives on the Israeli Palestinian conflict. One of a Palestinian and the other of an Israeli Jew. It was really interesting to just compare and contrast the things that were talking about. To me something I didn’t see or think until the end of the meeting was how similar their answers were. Both of the girls although having different stories, had similar values and ideas. This was surprising to me to see how to people with conflicting backgrounds could have the same ideas and feelings.
ReplyDeleteI found the Palestinian girls opinions so interesting and much more accepting of Jews than I would expect or I would be. I never thought how they have a certain curfue that they have to abide. It's crazy! It's not Heller high it's the real world
ReplyDeleteI found the bravery within the two girls to be exceptional, especially knowing that many of their beliefs would be contradicted. I never heard a personal experience before, and if anyone tries to tell me the Palestinian side, there is still bias because it is a Jew. I loved how I was able to see how logic works within the program, such as how they always plan an extra few hours for everyone to get to the location before the bus leaves, I found that heartbreaking. I wanted to ask about how they feel the situation is shown in the media, but never got around to it. Overall great experience
ReplyDeleteand I wish that we got more time with them.
I really like the idea of the kids for peace organization, but the Palestinian representative they sent was a little disappointing. I was expecting someone with more polarizing views, and would use a translator to express their ideas more succinctly. I didn't really see anything from a new perspective or think of anything different because of the meeting. I was honestly kind of disappointed. However, seeing the wall in all of its cement-grey glory was quite impactful. I didn't really comprehend the extent of the separation until I was standing under the wall.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the kids for peace meeting. I thought it was insanely important to understand different points of view and to see the threats of Israel. I thought it was really sad to see how some people see the world and Israel but it is 100% understandable. I loved the 2 girls and carmiel and I feel like they made me understand more of the israeli side of the conflicts that we have a more outside lens on.
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