Published: 5 November 2019
Last updated: 4 March 2024
FOR ANYONE WHO HAS lived in this country, whether Arab or Jew, the scene in the Gush Etzion region in the West Bank mid-September would have seemed nearly surrealistic. A dozen young men from a nearby yeshiva were sitting in a circle together with young Palestinian men, drinking coffee and chatting.
Leading the discussion were several adults – Jewish religious settlers and devout Muslim Palestinians from neighbouring towns.
The site of the gathering was a well-hidden Palestinian-owned plot of land off the main Route 60 artery and the home of a remarkable grassroots organization called Roots – Shorashim in Hebrew, Judur in Arabic.
Since 2014, the not-for-profit group has facilitated interactions between Israeli Jewish settlers and Palestinians from nearby towns. They may be neighbours, but they live in parallel universes that rarely if ever cross.
Roots, say the founders, was created to provide a safe space where Israelis and Palestinians could begin to understand each other’s identity and daily struggles in the conflict, and “seek a path of partnership.”
FULL STORY Shorashim facilitates meetings between Israelis and Palestinians (Jerusalem Post)
Photo: Palestinian and Israeli women who took part in the Roots women’s photography workshop plant a tree (Saskia Keeley)
