By Aviva Dollin
Spending the weekend in Alon Shvut was deeply impactful in many ways. One activity that was particularly interesting was our discussion with Myron Joshua on his opinions and work with the ‘Roots’ organization. Roots (“Shorashim”) works to bridge the gap and create dialogue between Jews living in Jewish settlements in the West bank and their Palestinian neighbors. Over Shabbat we stayed with local host families and ate dinner with them. We heard about their political views and those of the guests they chose to invite. All in all, we were exposed to a mainly right wing narrative for most of the weekend. Myron Joshua presented a complex view that was completely foreign to me, and did not fit perfectly on the right-left continuum, unlike many of our previous speakers that weekend. He lives on Kibbutz Kfar Etzion, in the West Bank, but spends his time working on bridging the communication gap that exists between the Jews and Palestinians through Roots, as well as advocating for Palestinian rights. Hearing from someone who pulls from both the right and the left political agendas was very intriguing and a breath of fresh air; I learned a lot from his nuanced perspective, which indicated that not everything is black and white.
We had the opportunity to ask Myron questions about his experiences and beliefs living where he does and he spoke to the fact that Jews living in the settlements can interact more with Palestinians than those who live in Israel proper. He works to ensure that communication continues even when the parties do not agree. One initiative that he spoke about that stuck out to me was their work in bringing the two parties together during times of conflict. He explained that both parties have their personal opinions that they share with their friends in the echo chambers that they live in.
Bringing them to a place where someone will disagree with them, and bring in an opinion that is different in every way from their own, gives them the opportunity to truly see the situation through the other party’s eyes. This is a lesson we have been learning throughout the entire semester while studying in Israel. Especially in Alon Shvut, we could see the way people live on settlements and hear why they choose to do so. Even if I disagree with their lifestyle choices, I heard their stories and I could truly understand them. Myron Joshua brought in a different opinion that pulled on different issues. His talk allowed us to broaden our narrow views and understand some of the work that he does with Roots.
