Oasis of Peace = Neve Shalom = Wahat al-SalamI heard about this interesting village from my friend Marvin. He described a village where Israeli Jews and Arabs live side by side in peace and equality. It sounded good and I spent a night in their very nice guest hostel. Neve Shalom / Wahat al-Salam is located midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, in beautiful hills about five miles off the main highway.
The village was founded in the 1970's by Father Bruno Hussar an Egyptian Jew converted to Christianity on land donated by the nearby Trappist Monastery. The early decades were a major struggle. No trees, electricity or water!
Today it is beautiful - a genuine oasis. They have very nice houses and a superb swimming pool in a stunning hilltop setting. The chickens and roosters down the hillside wake one in the morning. You hear both Arabic and Hebrew spoken throughout.
The village includes a bilingual/binational school curriculum. The school administration, teachers and classroom instruction are evenly split between Arabs and Jews, Arabic and Hebrew. There is a long waiting list of people who wish to move into the village.
Neve Shalom / Wahat al-Salam is a model and example of what is possible. It is pretty amazing (and sad) that this is still - according to some people - the only mixed Jewish/Arab village in Israel! This seems a bit hard to believe but what I do know, and what I saw myself, is that both Israel AND the Occupied Territories are basically made up of old Arab villages and new Jewish settlements.
The success achieved by Neve Shalom / Wahat al-Salam - especially the educational component - shows what is possible. If it is true that a two-state solution is no longer possible, this example and what they have done, becomes all the more valuable.
