The scope of action for activists who are committed to dialogue and encounter in Israel and Palestine is becoming increasingly limited. On both sides, these people are being called „traitors“ and publicly defamed, increasingly also by the state. Rana*(name changed) Palestinian coordinator of the women*s seminar describes her situation as follows: “Any Palestinian meeting an Israeli is accused of being a normalizer, collaborator or even traitor. Palestinian who are doing this are shamed, banned and in some cases, they are bullied and attacked. Physically also. This is the most serious challenge I am dealing with as a private person and as a coordinator.”
In the course of the constant shift to the right, also in Israel hostility against people who oppose the social mainstream has become the order of the day. More and more participants of the dialogue seminars are afraid of repression, so that only few of them want to show their faces in photos.
For the protection of both participants and staff, we therefore use pseudonyms unless expressly requested otherwise.
“Vacation from War” continues – despite shrinking spaces for action, our partners take the space they need to meet, discuss, argue, laugh and hug each other.
Enable young people to meet each other in 2021 to overcome hatred and prejudices and to understand the perspective of others.