Despite the second corona wave in Israel and Palestine, with rising numbers of cases and renewed contact restrictions, partners and participants of “Vacation from War” are still active and staying in touch with each other. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, cross-border meetings are currently not possible. Due to this reason, the partners of the Allgenders Seminar 2019 decided to set up uni-national meeting, which mostly took place online until now. Until the end of the year they will hold a series of meetings through which the participants will be empowered to become politically active. After an introduction to tools and forms of direct action, the group itself will plan their own direct actions and implement them. During this process the method of non-violent communication will play an important role by accompanying it, like it did during the last seminar of the group in summer 2019.

The Palestinian participants met for two days in Jericho last weekend. In the past few weeks, the Israeli participants have met several times via Zoom and exchanged their views on the current political situation. In the past weeks and months many of the participants have taken part in the demonstrations against the government policies of Benjamin Netanyahu, against his plans to annex the Palestinian Jordan Valley and for the preservation of democracy and for social change. But for many of them, the political slogans only scratch the surface: “What is currently happening is not enough for us. We miss many things in this so-called „revolution“. We are just at the beginning,” said one participant.

When meeting the others in the group, many appreciate the familiarity gained in the course of the seminar last summer and the opportunity to exchange ideas in greater depth – to speak freely without being judged immediately. “In my everyday life I don’t have the opportunity to say what I really think and feel,” says David * (name changed), “Here I do have the space for it.” “I hope that we will be able to let the strength and energy of our group spill over onto others because we long for a wider revolution, for more than just Bibi, go home! ”, Aaron * (name changed) sums up his current thoughts and feelings.