Roots Creates Peace

Rabbi Shaul Judelman is Jewish. Noor Al-Bein is Muslim. Though they are of opposite belief, they come together to try and create peace in the Middle East.

With the ongoing conflict between Palestine and Israel, Judelman moved from Seattle to Israel curious to find out who “we” is. In other words, the people of the book.

“This land holds a deep sense of who we are,” Judelman said.

As he started to learn about the spiritual sense of Israel, he also started to understand the struggle every Jew and Muslim live. He lives in constant fear of the terror. “My cousin didn’t come back from praying in the woods,” Judelman said.

The Oslo Accords was a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine. Israel accepted the Palestine Liberation Organization as the representatives of Palestine and Palestine recognized Israel’s right to exist in peace. This peace process did not fall through the way Judelman and Al-Bein hoped it would.

According to Noor, the Olso accords failed because of three reasons: Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and Israeli settlers. “Settlers are the enemies of Palestine,” he said. “They deny their existence.”

Noor could not go to school for 11 months because the terrorism was so bad. “I see Israelis wearing masks and holding their guns pointed at cars,” Al-Bein said. Noor is 24 years old. The first time he went to the Western Wall was his first time being with Israelis.

“There are no partners for peace,” Judelman said. “It is still us verse them. We are fighting to survive.”

However, Judelman and Al-Bein put their differences aside and became partners of an organization called Roots. Judelman was one someone who helped start up the organization and Noor joined later. Based in the West Bank, their mission is to create projects, start conversation, reduce fear and create an understanding between both groups.

Roots does people to people work including summer camps, women’s groups, adult’s groups and more. They respond to violence and visit local families who have lost a loved one to show sympathy. Lastly, Roots talks about the conflict. They want to make sure the truth is recognized and most importantly they do not want to push people out.

Though this group is looking for a bright future, Judelman and Al-Bein have low hopes of what will come. According to Noor, it’s gone from bad to worse.

Judelman said that the future looks dark and that the conflict is pushing them further apart right now. “But we what we need to focus on,” he said, “is partnership, trust and cooperation.”