Encounter for trainers in Israel

by ROB FAIRMICHAEL

<*> I was woken early during my first night in Israel by the sound of a helicopter doing close surveillance overhead. Except it wasn't a helicopter: it was the fan in the room where four of us--nonviolence trainers from Northern Ireland, North America, Germany, and India--were sleeping.

We were at the Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam community for the second international gathering of nonviolence trainers and educators, organised by the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFoR). There were 20 trainers altogether, and with that small number there were big gaps on the globe; only two made it from Africa, while Nepal and India were the furthest east represented, and there was no one from Scandinavia or Australiasia, for instance. The fact that there was only one "Middle East" representative and no Palestinians was unfortunate and remarked on and felt by the Palestinians we met (one invitee had died and others were asked only at the last minute).

The group dynamics were very different to the Handel (Netherlands) trainers' gathering four years ago, which had double the numbers. Although time was tight it was less frenetic. Cultural issues still surfaced as a major issue, but not as explosively as at Handel (where the South rebelled against time cuts on presentations and programming being squeezed).

One assessment form suggested these gatherings should be two weeks long. I make no judgement on this because taking a week or ten days off can be difficult enough for some people. But there was still a lot we didn't deal with, a lot of experiences as trainers which we hardly grappled with (for example I deliberately didn't offer my own workshop--as opposed to facilitating and organising collective programme--because of the pressures of time--though I made available materials from Northern Ireland).

Tips, techniques, strategies, programmes, games--all these came into the conference programme. "Reconciliation", despite its presence in the name of the sponsoring organisation, received a mixed reaction as a concept or useful term; one reaction (which is where I would be) is that it's a useful concept but not always for public consumption! But the wider support comes from being with people grappling nonviolently and valiantly with their own situations and trying to find their place in their country and wider world.

To be in Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam was also special. They have had problems, same as any other community, but have survived and Jews and Palestinians (110 of them) live together in a village set on a hill halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Visible down the valley, on either side of the road, is a Catholic monastery (who actually own the land on which Neve Shalom is situated) and an Israeli army tank museum.

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