Heaven's Field Shaul, Ziad, Mustafa

Heaven’s Field: Israeli-Palestinian Farm Project Helping Peace Take Root in the West Bank

There is a Biblical commandment for Jews in Israel to commemorate, every seven years, “that ultimately, this is the land of the Creator and we are here as guests,” says Shaul. “Permanent guests– but guests. So the idea [for Heaven’s Field is] a piece of land where Israelis and Palestinians could step into a extra-territorial zone where we don’t need to stake our claim against each other, and in that space to honor the land in the way we work with it. We envisioned this site as a place where our two communities can meet each other around something we both care about, but in a safe, spiritually respectful way.” The choice to go organic reflects respect for the land, the people who work it and their future customers. Heaven's Field garden Shaul and Ziad have significant things in common– they are both married with kids, men of religious faith, and balance their day jobs as a teacher and a farmer with responsibilities to Heaven’s Field– but that doesn’t mean the two always see eye to eye. According to Shaul, the land allocated for the project presently lies untouched because of “pressures or perceived pressures” from the Palestinian Authority against activities that normalize the Jewish presence in the West Bank. Ziad dismisses this explanation and says they are waiting on building permits from the Israeli Civil Administration in the West Bank, as well as the funding necessary to bring these plans and more to fruition. Eretz Shalom can offer manpower, but financially Heaven’s Field is currently on its own.

The attribution of the stall in development to Palestinian and Israeli power politics, respectively, echoes a perspective not unique to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the idea that it is always the other side holding you back from progress, maintaining the status quo. It is possible and even likely that both men are correct, but politics does not alter their mission nor change their principles.

“It’s not like I’m coming up with this stuff by myself from my own head” says Ziad, referring to the idea of Palestinians and settlers working together. “In our villages in our area, for example, everyone is very supportive and encourages us to keep going, they say they are with us. Everybody.”

Even with the farm not yet operational, the project has generated a network of Jews and Arabs whose day-to-day interactions and friendship cross “a very clear line around here,” says Shaul. This network even facilitated a peaceful local mediation between families after a Palestinian teen stabbed an Israeli (thankfully the incident was not fatal).  This is only “a microcosm of the real work of the farm that has been successful,” he says.

There are conflicts between Palestinians and settlers in various adjoining communities in the West Bank, Ziad acknowledges, but he sees the dynamic between people in Husan and Beitar Illit as a realistic example for other communities to emulate. “And we’re not going to sit and be quiet,” he says. “We want to keep moving forward, not just in this region but in others.”

“God is peace and peace is God. Every individual who contributes to peace contributes to himself and to God. I believe in God; we all believe in God,” he says.

“Every person can make peace, there is no one who can’t.” There is a catch in his voice. “Every person can.”

Rachel KhonABOUT THE WRITER

A native Michigander, Rachel Kohn is completing her Masters in International Media at American University. Before moving to the DC area, she ran her own small business as a public relations consultant and freelance writer in Jerusalem, Israel. She graduated from Brandeis University in 2007 with Bachelors degrees in Political Science and Environmental Studies, two of her passions. While attending a religious studies program in the West Bank town of Elkana from 2002-2003, she volunteered as a foreign correspondent for her hometown paper, reporting on the Second Intifada and life in the shadow of the U.S.-Iraq War. Rachel thinks that knowledge through contact is the key to understanding and coexistence. She also tends to dance in her chair if music is playing.

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