Arab and Jew find friendship in 'Oasis' from Israel hostilities

By Nick Perry
Seattle Times Eastside bureau

STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES Lifelong friends Laila Najjar, left, a 20-year-old Arab Israeli, and Adi Frish, 21, who is Jewish, speak yesterday at University Congregational United Church of Christ.

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Yet the 20-year-old believes there can be peace and understanding between Palestinians and Jews. She and her Jewish friend Adi Frish, 21, will return home from Seattle tomorrow after an 18-day tour of the United States in which they talked about their unusual bond.

The two grew up together in a unique community called Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, or the "Oasis of Peace," midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The community consists of 25 Jewish and 25 Palestinian families whose aim is to foster a common trust, understanding and respect.

The community is "a beautiful thing to have in this kind of reality," said Najjar, who is studying jewelry design at a Jerusalem academy.

Community members — whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim — can worship side by side at a spiritual sanctuary. Children, including many from surrounding towns, attend a primary school where subjects are taught in both Arabic and Hebrew.

While the community has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize five times in its 32-year history, it has gotten little support from successive Israeli governments. Frish said the community is feeling particularly marginalized by the current government, led by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Speaking yesterday to about 50 people at the University Congregational United Church of Christ — one of 58 speaking engagements on their tour — the young women said Israelis have mixed reactions to the Oasis community.

Some are curious, others are cynical.

"We are not living in a bubble," said Frish, a health-club manager. "We are living in Israel and we see what's happening in the news and with our own eyes. We feel sadness, anger and pain."

She still believes peace is possible.

"It starts from little steps, from talking with each other and sharing with each other," Frish said. "If every person does one step, it will be the beginning to bigger steps. Violence is not a solution."
 
Frish said she is not a politician and cannot answer how disputes over land and other issues could be resolved. But any solution would need to involve both Palestinians and Jews having equal rights, mutual respect and an acceptance of each other's differences, she said.

Both Frish and Najjar said that it was tough to cope with some attitudes at their respective high schools, which were largely segregated.

"In my high school we didn't learn about the other side," Frish said. "Unfortunately, I lost a lot of my Arabic."

Najjar said she invited some of her high-school friends to visit the community. "I think they were in shock from the place," she said.

Like most Jewish Israelis, Frish was drafted into the army at age 18, serving about 21 months as an electronic technician. Luckily, she said, she was not asked to go to the occupied territories or use a weapon — requests she said she would have refused despite the possible consequence of being sent to jail.

Both Frish and Najjar represent the second generation at the community, which has a waiting list of 300 families.

Both intend to make a future there. Frish is building an apartment above her parents home, while Najjar is planning to move back from Jerusalem when she finishes school.

Both women said that people can be close in the community yet still retain their heritage. Najjar said that she doubts she would ever marry a Jewish man because that would not be accepted in her Muslim tradition.

"We keep strongly our own identity," Frish said. "We are not trying to be the same."

The women's visit was organized by the American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam. The nonprofit group is one of 11 such support groups throughout the world that help raise more than $2 million annually to support programs at the community.

Last night the women were due to speak at a potluck dinner party at the home of Seattle philanthropist Kay Bullitt.

Bullitt is organizing a third annual summer camp in which 20 children of Arabic heritage mingle with 20 children of Jewish heritage for a week in the yard of her Capitol Hill home. She said mostly local kids attend.

Nick Perry: 206-515-5639 or nperry@seattletimes.com