I visited Israel for the first time for the month of July in 1978. I then returned in November of that year, and lived for seven months on a left-wing ha-shomer ha-tza’ir kibbutz (communal village) in the Western Galilee less than 2 km from the Lebanese border. During my time as a volunteer on the kibbutz, there were several katyusha rocket attacks from Southern Lebanon. Most of these went over the top of the kibbutz, which was on a hilltop, and landed on one of the kibbutzim or moshavim (singular: moshav; cooperative association of smallholders) and in the valley below. However, on one occasion a rocket fell on one of the kibbutz chicken houses. When the threat was severe, everyone on the kibbutz would gather in the bomb shelter, sometimes, for several hours.

I became actively engaged in the debates around Israel-Palestine following the Sabra and Shatila massacre between 16 and 18 September 1982, in which between 1300 and 3500 civilians – mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shia Muslims – were killed by the Christian Phalangists, enabled by Israeli forces, during the war that began when Israel invaded southern Lebanon in response to attacks. The policy of the Israeli government and of the General responsible for the invasion, Ariel Sharon, was not just condemned on the international stage. 500,000 Israelis – out a population of under four million at that time – gathered in Tel Aviv in protest. It was at that moment that I became aware of the complexity of Israeli society, and began to resist the prevailing binary mindset, which meant that if you were pro-Palestinian you must be anti-Israel, and if you were pro-Israel, you must be anti-Palestinian.

Not wishing to fall into the binary trap, I speak of Israel-Palestine, and a long-time member of Rabbis for Human Rights, I support those organisations – including those in which Israelis and Palestinians work together, such as Combatants for Peace, the Parents Circle Bereaved Families Forum, and Standing Together – which advocate for the rights of all the inhabitants of the land to live in peace, security, equality and freedom ‘from the river to the sea’.