Bruce H. Bernstein: A “Listening Tour” of Israel & Palestine

Our “Listening Tour” has assembled and we’re on our way to Israel/Palestine, referred to as “The Region.” Given the recent snow storms and hurricanes, I was relieved when I saw everyone in the waiting room at Newark airport. Nine of us who are related to the Dartmouth Class of 1957 signed on for a mini-reunion organized by my wife’s son, Daniel Moses. Daniel is located in Jerusalem with Seeds of Peace, a program that brings together teens who are members of groups in conflict.

Seeds of Peace (SOP) has a camp in Maine where these teens (“seeds”) spend three weeks in the summer engaging one another in play and in serious dialogue concerning how to find peaceful resolution to their conflict. This past summer the seeds came from Israel and Palestine, India and Pakistan. There are adults who accompany the seeds to the camp and serve as advisers and as representatives of the values of the communities that the seeds come from. These adults, known as “delegates,” are often educators, community workers, or otherwise involved in a social service section of the government. One of Daniel’s primary responsibilities at SOP camp and in The Region is to work with the Delegates. They participate in the same kind of dialogues that the seeds engage in since they bring their own lifelong conflicts to the camp and have to deal with them at home.

Many of the people that we will be “listening” to on this tour been connected to SOP as delegates.

Daniel was helped in putting this trip together by his friend and driver, Nadir. Nadir is a Palestinian Israeli whose family has lived in East Jerusalem for many generations. He has immersed himself in SOP and is well versed in the issues they deal with. We will travel in two vans, and Nadir will drive one. The other driver is Tamer. He is also a Palestinian citizen of Israel; depending on one’s politics, he might be described as an Israeli Palestinian or an Arab Israeli. Tamer was a seed a number of years ago, then returned to camp as a counselor. He is now a part-time coordinator in The Region for SOP. I’m describing him in some detail because I suspect I’ll be writing more about him as the trip goes on. He is also a musician. When we did a similar Listening Tour in April, 2009, one of our drivers was Aaron. Tamer and Aaron have organized a non-profit organization dedicated to using music to promote cross cultural understanding.

My intention is to file a daily report of our experience as we proceed on this tour. I’ll be introducing the nine people who are on the trip with us. We will be meeting daily with people who are involved in one way or other with the peace process, such as it is. We will be visiting significant Christian, Jewish, and Muslim holy sites, spending time in the West Bank, but mostly talking with and listening to representatives of the multitude of groups that make up The Region.

Bruce H. Bernstein is a 75-year-old psychologist/psychoanalyst in private practice and on the faculty of the NYU Postdoctoral Program. He has had a long-time interest in the peaceful resolution of conflict, and in recent years made connections among his Dartmouth Class of 1957, Seeds of Peace, and the Dickey Center for International Understanding. The class now sponsors two interns who spend a summer at the Seeds of Peace camp in Maine, followed by a term in Israel/Palestine.