Nadene Goldfoot
Neta Golan speaking to a reality tour group led by Sabeel and Maurine and Bob Tobin, March 2006. She was born, possibly around 1980 when I moved to Israel and attended a center in Haifa for 10 months first to become certified as a teacher. Neta Golan up a tree without a paddle in the summer of 2002 "Up a tree without a paddle" is a phrase that means there is always a professional who can help, and in this instance, I suggest schooling such as a university on our Jewish history. . Neta is also a writer. I found this description of her as a bio on May 28, 2012, 12 years ago. "I am a Jewish Israeli woman who was born in Tel Aviv and has been living in Ramallah and Nablus in the occupied Palestinian territories for the last 12 years. (started living there in 2000?) When Israelis, or people who have spent a lot of time with Israelis, hear where I live they often ask me “aren’t you scared?” And I tell them the truth. Yes, I am sometimes scared of Israeli soldiers and even more of Israeli settlers. But other than that I feel more at home than I do anywhere else in the world.
She explains: Neta Golan Neta Golan is an Israeli Activist and cofounder of the International Solidarity Movement, Israelis Against Apartheid, and Return Solidarity.
I, Nadene Goldfoot, am telling you that Israel is not an apartheid state which we know that South Africa has been. This woman is against Jews returning to Eretz Yisrael, their ancient homeland that was never left "devoid of Jews." Some Jews after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE have always remained there. She either knows nothing or at least is in denial of our Jewish history, or has changed completely upon her marrying an Arab. By the way, both Jews and Arabs in Palestine were called Palestinians until 1948 when Israel was declared a state by the United Nations. Also, it took about 20 years from WWI to then to do all the meetings and paperwork for this re-birth to take place. The Jewish leaders did it as legally as possible so such a day would never take place.
By the summer of 2002, she wrote or said this this to Tricycle, a magazine: "Neta Golan, a thirty-year-old Israeli peace activist and Buddhist, lives with her Palestinian husband in Ramallah, in the West Bank. Last year she cofounded the International Solidarity Movement, an organization committed to nonviolent resistance to Israel’s occupation of lands captured during the 1967 Arab/Israeli war. On several occasions, from mid-February through early April, Tricycle spoke to Golan by telephone."
"How does your Buddhist practice inform your activism?
Without practice I doubt I’d be an effective activist. Buddhism is not what motivates me, but it’s what gives me the tools to stay sane. Living here with any kind of awareness opens you to a lot of suffering. Being active is my way of dealing. Being engaged makes it bearable.
To me, I feel that Neta has allowed herself to hear only one side of a large problem. That's why this Jewish Israeli woman has turned 180 degrees and defends the very people who have said at the African Khartoum meeting in 1967 that their goal is to destroy and take over Israel. The 1967 Arab League summit was held in Khartoum, Sudan from August 29 to September 1, 1967. "The summit took place after the Arab defeat in the Six-Day War in June 1967. The summit's outcome influenced Israeli foreign policy for decades. "
"Neta herself is a fascinating story. Born and raised most of her early years in Israel, in or near Tel Aviv, but for 5 years in Canada, from 4 - 9 years old, then again, "draft dodging" as she put it, from the Israeli army for 2 years from about 17 - 19, and now living in Palestine for the past 6 years, married to a Palestinian, living until recently in Nablus.
How does your Jewishness fit in? I inquired.
--Our family was secular but I went to Jewish school and learned the scriptures and the rituals, but we never really practiced at home. I remember one class that really turned me off from Judaism. The teacher, the rabbi--who I thought at the time was a supremely holy man, not to be challenged--spoke of Adam as " all Jews. No one else, no Muslims, no Christians, no gentiles, just Jews! And this emphasis on the superiority supposedly implied by the chosenenss of Jews bothered me greatly, and still does.
(How can she think this, since Christianity was created by followers of Jesus who died in about the year 37, and Islam didn't come along until the year 632 when Mohammad died? The rabbi was stressing how old, how ancient Judaism had been. It's our history). (I've heard rabbis stressing that being chosen meant accepting the responsibility of passing on the laws of Moses, not that we were a special people, superior to others.)
Neta continued: "I have great respect for Judaism and Jews, I think it is inspiring that they remembered Jerusalem during those 2000 years in exile, and came back and rekindled the ancient language".
--Do you know what the ritual of breaking the cup at a wedding means? she asked.
"I answered --I thought it was meant to remind us that while today might be gay, tomorrow might be sad. That we are celebrating but soon might be suffering.
--No, it is accompanied by words to the effect of "Should I forget Jerusalem, may I forget my right arm, may my tongue stick to my pallet." At the end of the Pesach Seder, we say, "Next year in Jerusalem". Many Native Americans and Tibetans feel inspired by the fact that the Jewish people got their land back and revived a language that was "dead." Many Jews believe that we have a right to biblical Israel, all of it, at least from the Mediterranean sea to the Jordan river, if not to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. But it is unfortunate that we formed a state, and in the process, dispossessed the native inhabitants and now seek to militarily and economically control the entire region. Many Jews believe this claim is documented in scripture, the covenant between God and the Jews. I have to challenge that sense of entitlement, a belief leading to the dispossession of others."
"Now, this is my reconstruction of the conversation, not a word-by-word precise transcription. I hope to convey the gist of Neta's thoughts".
Having 2 daughters proves a huge challenge to her. If not for her husband, she said, she'd not be able to continue this work. He shoulders the larger share of childcare, and the 2 girls, ages 2 and 3, are in day care.
Resource:
http://teeksaphoto.org/Levant2006/Writing/JournalEditedNeta_05_06_06.html
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/fear-the-african-refugees-and-the-cost-of-maintaining-israel-as-a-jewish-state/
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