STORIES

These are stories.

Stories of life, stories of places and stories of people.

Stories of hope, stories of love and stories of laughter.

Stories from us. Stories for you. Stories of us. Stories of you.

Short stories. Long stories. Sad stories. Funny stories. Deep stories. Stupid stories. Incomprehensible stories. Heartfelt stories.

Stories from the desert. Stories from the wall. Stories from the bubbles. Stories from the villages. Stories from holy places. Stories from beautiful places. Stories from ugly places and stories from no where in particular.

Stories from Israel. Stories from Palestine.

Stories from the mind. Stories from the heart. Stories from the body and stories from the soul.

Stories about friends. Stories about family. Stories about children and stories about women. Stories about men and stories about spirits.

Stories in words and stories in pictures. Stories in sounds and stories in colors.

Rough stories. Soft stories. Fluffy stories. Vague stories. Clear stories.

Fruity stories. Bitter stories. Spicy stories. Salty stories. Sweet stories‌ Accounts. Histories. Fairytales. Fables. Reports. Testimonies. Stories.

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Inga Outpost Israel & Palestine introduction

Not end of story. Beginning of story.

Stories from us. Stories for you.

Foreword It was quite late in the process that we decided to make something else than a report. Something that wouldn!t bore the reader, but make him, -or her, curious, interested and entertained. Something more alive; trying our best to portray the cacophony of sounds we heard, the magnificent scale of smells that filled our nostrils and all the colors of the landscape we inhaled.

With only a handful of days left of this two-and-a-half month experience we changed our course and set sail for the journey of collecting all the STORIES. Our STORIES as individuals and our STORIES as a team. We set topics for each team member to cover, in order to have a certain continuity. These themes were: the conflict(s), teamness, community building, personal learning and Ships, but with “Ships” we mean the four core KP words that end with –ship: Leadership, Relationship, Friendship, and Entrepreneurship.

With the speed of light we sat down in front of the computer, canvas or microphone and produced out STORIES for you to enjoy and us to remember forever.

We hope you enjoy sensing our experiences and we look forward sharing our STORIES with you, face to face.

On behalf of the editorial team, Inga Au"björg

Editorial team: Selma Steenhuisen Ursel Heidi Biester Jorden Henk Hilstra Inga Au"björg Pictures: Joris Martens Inga Au"björg Pieter Spinder Carianne Vermaak and others Layout: Inga Au"björg

Team 1 KaosPilots Netherlands Outpost 2009 Israel and Palestine

Introduction In the frame of our studies, we learn by doing. We learn about international project design by being abroad with the whole team for 3-5 months. Team 1 KPNL decided to spend their Outpost in Israel / Palestine.

We prepared this trip from December 2008 and end of March we had succeeded to collect the minimum amount of money to fly and be there. We arrived the 27th. Tel Aviv was our home base for the 2 first weeks. It was time to land, get used to the culture and the weather, collect/ listen to many inputs about the situation, the conflict, and the daily life.

Our main partner "Windows channels for communication" and us agreed to work in a small village close to Jenin: Jalqamus. We spent 4 weeks there, trying to understand and connect with the locals.

After that we had a short week of vacation before spreading out for the second part of the outpost, the group project. We agreed to split in smaller groups. Some of us worked in Mitzpe Ramon, some stayed in the Westbank like in Ramallah or Beit Sahour and others went back to Tel Aviv.

We gathered all together after 3 weeks in the Everest hotel for 2 meeting days with Palestinians and Israeli's. Afterwards we had a pool party in Beit Sahour.

Then we spent 3 day in solo desert quest. We drove up to Jalqamus for a good bye and enjoyed Ramallah for 2 evenings.

We had a good bye dinner at Ora's place and now we are writting our report or story package.

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Olivier Outpost Israel & Palestine Introduction

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Robin Outpost Israel & Palestine Introduction

5

6 1. "All this can only be solved with some dialogue..."

2. "When the consumption world collides with a natural world of bio-degradable products..."

3. "Freedom of movement; When one side is not allowed out and the other is threatened.

When it can take hours to cross a check point. When you are treated like animal in cage."

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Olivier Joris Spring !09 Israel & Palestine Words & Pictures

4. "On both sides, an incredible culture of hosting and welcoming. It is always time for some coffee or tea."

5. "The power of dreaming big..."

6. “Yes, a theme park in the middle of nowhere."

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2

3 2

The Hell of getting to a War Zone We choose for a different education, we choose to make our own school.

Not living by the textbook but by living in the real world.

Our fourth semester is moving the whole class to a different country, a different setting, to work, live and learn somewhere else.

Since we are actively part of making this school it meant, choosing where to go, how to go, with whom to work and arranging finances.

At the end of the third semester we chose, after tiring days, to go to Palestine and Israel.

From January on we started working to get there. Exploring the situation, possible partners and trying to get money in.

Our trouble began in January, with the Gaza war, with the fact that not everybody had been involved in the decision making process and also because Soad had major difficulties going to Israel.

This all lead to more talks, are we going or not?

And if yes where are we going? Do we need a plan B? Or does that take the focus away?

We decided to go; we'd fully go for plan A. Nothing much happened after that, most of us didn't know what to do, some prioritised life outside of school. After a frustrating month, at the end of February a three classmatefemale delegation went on a pre-post, to investigate, to make contacts and to find money. Rebecca and Spinder from the staff accompanied the girls.

They worked around the clock for a week, came back with loads of contacts and opportunities, however without money.

The money, or the lack of it became a bigger and bigger issue.

Over the next month, the team lost faith in getting money in, lost faith in going.

Some became physically ill, others stopped going to school, others believed it would be better to postpone the outpost for a couple of months.

The group had fallen apart.

Nothing much happened. Some people worked on a fundraising party, we ended that party with negative balance?

And then we went.

How did this happen?

We booked the tickets and went.

Once we had the tickets, people started believing (again?).

We went and had the best time ever!

The History of the Middle East

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Robin June Middle East History

Thoughts on the Prepost

Soad, Carianne, Pieter and I spent a week in Tel Aviv, traveling back and forth to Jerusalem, Ramallah and Beit Jalla. We had countless meetings with inspiring people, inspiring projects but also met people on the bus, at the market, and on tv. A week that changed my life, a little.

believing it is a righteous thing to do. This result is out in the open. Others are more hidden. It plays out on an organizational level, in families, friendships, between countries and continents. What you don't know is what you don't care about.

Before we left I had emptied myself from all judgment, cynicism and good old colonial "I know how to do this" attitude. The only approach I could think of that would work was to listen, listen, listen and participate. This enabled a week full of real interaction. Every conversation was full of prejudices that I could only perceive now that I was new, empty and eager to discover all aspects of the country.

A week later I!m still harvesting what I have learned. Mostly questions still. How I perceive people is what shapes their being. Am I able to see every human being as a human being? Am I able to speak without prejudice? Can I be with an empty slate every time, having a fresh look upon the world always? What is my responsibility and what is that of others?

During the week I have learned much about the human soul.

We grow up in certain belief systems. Much of what we think and say is based on a vague notion of the truth. Only rarely do we go out and check if those facts are really true. From all Israeli's that we met not even a handful had been to Ramallah. Many said it was a dangerous place. People living in the tiniest country imaginable have no idea of each other's reality. Still their realities are very intertwined.

Our prejudices influence our thinking and acting. And our thoughts as well as our words reach others and in turn influence their thinking and acting. Without knowing our prejudices end up being reality. The consequences are very visible in any conflict area. One human being shoots another,

The process is like reprogramming my system. Old habits and thoughts are no longer good enough and need to be replaced.

But it!s not at all comfortable.

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Selma 16th of Feb Rotterdam Individual Learning

Theatre of oppression

On the CD you!ll find a recording of Chen!s session of Theatre of oppression

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Ursel First weeks Tel Aviv Conflict

I was thinking of what to write about the Holocaust. About how in history class in the Netherlands we talk about the 2nd world war and the holocaust being part of it. And how here it's like the other way around. And I thought of all the questions I still had; What good will come from bringing up children being informed about it to the extent that they do here? Should the youth feel the pain of their ancestors? Can you use it for a justification for the right of existence of Israel? Can you use it for a justification for the right of the occupation?

And then I thought of something else.

eleven holes in them. Because Jews only have ten fingers.

The small round table went silent.

At the moment I don't know how we've done in the financial department, but if we lack any funding I guess I can always blame it on Olivier's sense of humour. Bless him.

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Bert Second week Tel Aviv Culture

I thought of Olivier.

I thought of Olivier in our second week in Tel Aviv at Sarit's place. It was an evening organised where we would meet all sorts of people and maybe give a presentation for them about us being on this Outpost. Maybe the people there would be able to fix us up with funding, or leads to funding. During this evening I saw Olivier at a small round table being very engaged in his conversations. I was envying him for this as I was not able to connect with anyone during that evening.

And then Robin came out with and told me about how they were all telling jokes at that table. Jokes about themselves, jokes about each other, and jokes about Jews.

What apparently happened was that Olivier got a bit carried away after landing the joke of that the holocaust was something that apparently “ahh, I guess you should have been there...� Olivier felt like he was on a roll and continued with the joke of why a shower head during the holocaust had

Fun(d)raising with Olivier Chaput

Composers One evening we went to Itay´s house, he showed us different conductors. Muti, Kleiber, Strauss, Karian and Bernstein. Wow! First of all I LOVED the classical music. I really liked it. And being a conductor is something that I have considered for myself to become, so I feel a strong connection to this profession. Bernstein rocks, of course, because he manages to awaken something in people that makes them understand what the music is about, for themselves.

They play as themselves, they express something they have inside and they even manage to play together, to make this something into a full composition. Wow. Incredible.

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Ursel Beginning Tel Aviv Personal Learning

During the first week of our stay here in Tel Aviv we were all going out together after having dinner at Sarit's place. After much debating we ended up going to a place called Hudna, in Florentin. It was a really great place with two bars and an open terrace in between. At one point I was talking to Inga when a young guy approached us and asked where we were from.

After revealing our respective nationalities, we started telling about our projects and why we were in Israel/Palestine in the first place. The topic quickly took a turn for the conflict. This was a phenomenon we became very acquainted with during our stay in the holy land. At one point one of us asked the guy what his view on the conflict was and his answer changed my view of the situation a great deal.

A Drink with Fear

“-Look, there are 2 basic facts, and these are FACTS! One: If all the Arab countries lay down their weapons, there will be peace in the Middle East.

Two: If Israel lays down her weapons, there will be a second holocaust.

And this is common sense!�

Before this I always had a picture of Israel as the aggressor and oppressor but at this moment I realized that both sides are governed by fear and all the Israeli security measures were explained to me, although not necessarily excused. This made a great impact on me and I now see the human side of both Palestinians and Israelis, which makes it easier for me to relate to both.

After this statement I was completely baffled and had a hard time listening to the rest of the conversation. After a couple of minutes the guy said goodbye and set his course for the bar. I don't think he knows how big his impact was, as you often don't in a small conversation on the terrace of a bar in Florentin, drinking an ice cold Goldstar with a stranger.

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Alex First week Tel Aviv Conflict

The Olive Tree

Zaytun

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Olivier Eternally Everywhere Personal Learning

Long time ago, when King Solomon died, the whole creation mourned. The plants were dying and the animals kept quiet. Only the olive tree kept some colour.

The creation therefore looked at it and asked "How come you don't feel sadness for the loss of our friend?"

The olive tree responded: "I do feel sad. The pain eats me from inside, just take a look at my trunk".

First Impressions on Jalqamus We arrived today. We took a bus in the morning, from Tel Aviv to East Jerusalem/Ramallah, walked across the border and took another bus/big taxi to Jalqamus. We ran into an unexpected roadcheckpoint, with Ruti in the car, who is Israeli and not allowed in the Occupied Territories. She switched seats with Pieter so that she was a little less visible, then the soldiers asked us all kinds of questions, where we are going, why we are going there... Our Palestinian company told them that we are a group of Christians that are going to visit a very old church in the next village. They didtext not ask why we need so much luggage for that.

Then we arrived in Jalqamus and went straight to the city hall. There a group of laughing men and a few women welcomed us, gave us coffee, sprite and choclate and via the translator we explained why we are here, what we want to do, who we are and they did the same. We talked about a few practicalities and all in all it was a very good welcome. Then we went into our house, quickly left our stuff and went into the village, meaning that we were invited into a house to have tea.

One incident when we were just leaving the city hall: Joris is a vegetarian and he said to the female translator that he does not eat meat. Then Soe spoke to her on his behalf and Joris spoke to Soe, although all of them knew English. At the end Soe said: did you see how the communication was channeled through the women?

When I went outside of our new home, one of the women immediately put her arm under mine and we went together. I feel the same warmth as with Kamals mother.

Then we played with the children, went for a walk, then came back home, talked to Ruti and the other windows man, they said that the welcome and first reception and contact went even better than they would have imagined. So everything „in butter“, as we would say in German.

In the afternoon we sat with the whole team, fought a little, but quickly got out of it.

Now there is a schedule created and hanging on the wall, people are cooking on the improvised stove out of gas bottles and I am sitting in the „silence/darkness“ room, writing. I feel like I need some time in nature, to feel free of expectations.

Some soul-cleaning. Am not completely fine. Though I really appreciate the culture and the warmth. Trying to let go and just be.

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Ursel April Jalqamus Relationship

“Here in Jalqamus with the village people”

– Olivier Chaput talking about the people in the village.

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Bert First weeks Jalkamus Quotes

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Soe Outpost Israel & Palestine Conflict

Project of Chicken and Cow

We were welcomed by a delegation of men who invited us to take a bottle of Coca Cola and a chocolate bar after such a long ride from Tel Aviv to Jalqamus.

Yes they were happy to meet us and we were happy to meet them. After the formal introduction and the formal welcoming speeches we were officially welcomed to the West bank Village in the Occupied Territories by Abou Moussa, the same man who would eventually lobby for banning us from Jalqamus.

So we decided to work with 3 groups; men, women and children. I was in the team appointed for the women. It was quite obvious to me that I would be part of the women group.

For the sake of cross cultural communication we decided to not make it harder then it is and let the gender of the group be decisive for the gender of the facilitators.

I had an immediate connection with the women and I facilitated several meetings not in the last place because it was requested from the girls in my workgroup. My connection with the women was an asset in our work-relation with the women. We were so different and didn!t speak each others language it was very important that we could connect via me.

I enjoyed the facilitation until the end of it. My approach was successful and we even came to the point where there were jokes and laughter during the workshops and tears. It was hard to facilitate the group because there was a tendency to fall back in sadness and grief. Because of this we spent ample time on talking about daily live in a motivating way. It was our mission to empower, not to sob with them and grief .They

often used the sentence; “What you focus on grows� to keep ourselves motivated. At one time we sat in the garden of the Al Haq family. We designed a process for the women that required passion and motivation from the ladies. It took quite some time before the women wanted to express their dreams to each other. I knew that in the Arabic culture modesty is a great good. I started asking them what they would like to see for their children. I also knew that a mother is welcome to express every wish she has for her children in the Arabic culture and that there is no modesty in not expressing your wish for children. We asked them about their children, about what they would do if they could wish for anything in the world for their children and their village. They opened up to us, it didn!t take a long time before the women described their dreams to us. The expression in their faces and the energy that came free was beautiful and still gives me a sense of hope and love when I think about it. I noticed that at that moment everybody could freely talk and there was eye contact and interaction with all the people in the workshop. I remember Inga making drawings of fruit gardens and goats for the women, it was a very good moment. We had fruit gardens with every imaginable sort of fruit hanging in the trees. We had a playground/ park for not only little children but also for women to picnic and chat. For the youngster there was a football field and grass to lay on. We had an old lady with her hands bursting from the hard work she has been doing over the years who wanted a goat because with one goat she got provide the village with goat milk . Not long after

the idea of the goat she said she would liked to have her own greenhouse but she wanted to know how to keep tomatoes through the whole year. This was the point where we wanted to start working on the process we designed: What is it that we need to know and get to accomplish the described dreams?

I want to tell you a little bit about the struggles I had when being and working in Jalqamus. I know that I have learned a lot and I absorbed all the hectic and the chaos well being in Jalqamus. At he moment it feels like I can!t fully phrase what happened in Jalqamus. It feels as if I haven!t got to the bottom line of my learning yet. As if my body mind and heart need time to do the work.

My intentions as a facilitator for our focus group: • Using my knowledge and tools to overcome / bypass the cultural gap as much as possible. • Build a working platform for the girls in my team and the women from the village via spreading the trust they handed out to me. • Using my privileged position as a Muslim and an Arabic young woman in the benefit of community building It was very hard for me to find a balance in my role as a facilitator. The most unexpected thing happened. We didn!t have any problems in facilitating the women-group . I had more problems with finding my comfort zone in the workgroup and the team.

There were more challenges between me and my workgroup then between these Palestinian women and my facilitation.

This became apparent when I expected the girls to have more patience with the women in the group. I thought that the reason for my inner conflict was evident. My intuition and experience told me that if there would be a misunderstanding of our intentions and if we wouldn!t be able to connect to the people in our first meeting we would loose on trust and engagement.

I assumed that this was evident since it was clear to me that when the process would go slow and would struggle I could kick start it and get it running again.

People from different cultures encode and decode messages differently, this increasing the chances of misunderstanding, so the safety-first consequence of recognizing cultural differences should be to assume that everyone's thoughts and actions are not just like ours.

This was our first meeting and I could recognize the intercultural gap in the lack of ability to answer and understand the questions from the girls from my team and vice versa the girls couldn!t encode and decode as they were just introduced to this new culture, which was far from the western one.

I assumed that if I picked it up where we struggled and proved that I could bring the process forward it would be clear that there was a cultural gap which I could bridge. Therefore it was easier if I would run the process for the time being so that I

could spread the trust from the women as soon as I would feel this was possible.

I learned from my previous education Communication Management and my own experience that the described difficulties are more likely to emerge if you don!t secure safety and an open mind for all participants. I didn!t perceive us as participants but on a certain level we were. At KPNL we learned to use observations as a tool for research. Within the use of observation methods, interpretations are carefully formulated. They carry a major role in designing a process for several reasons. One of them is minimizing the risk of judging the situation completely off key. I felt I was key to minimizing the noise in the communication but I had the feeling that I didn!t get trust or floor for different reasons. This was hard for me to take in since I felt that the women were the most important now. My struggle was mainly around the following question: What happens if you have one person that is capable of interpreting the new culture but has difficulties leading the group?

A lot happened; I was confused, upset, angry and compassionate and all of this at once. After reflection and thinking about what happened I realized I made the decision for the first process to provide safety for the Palestinian women and forgot to provide my colleagues with safety that was needed to feel comfortable. Now I can see that I took too much responsibility on my shoulders and I could have pushed for more information up front from the organization or rather

from an independent professional about intercultural differences between the Arabic Muslim Culture and the Western Culture. I could have tried to spread my questions or give a workshop but I felt insecure about my leadership skills.

After this first meeting and experience I tried communicating my difficulties with our workgroup. Via personal one to one talks and team meetings I wanted to raise my doubts about our interpretations. My frustration became bigger and bigger especially when the question for money from the women group became a big demotivating issue for the team. I don!t have the feeling that because the team was demotivated I was frustrated, I was frustrated because I couldn!t find ways to express myself clearly and I lacked the personal leadership and guidance for this. I was searching for someone who spoke my language, someone who could understand my point of view. I spoke with my Palestinian coach Wasiem about it and he advised me to show more clearly my background instead of adjusting myself to the most dominating culture in our team. My fear in this was being perceived as being different or, even worse, totally off key. I talked about this as well with Wasiem and he helped me see that these are the consequences one takes. Since then I started to be more aware of myself instead of putting everybody else in consideration before I even knew what I wanted for myself .

I decided to jump in the deep black hole by letting the girls facilitate the meeting without my presence. This wasn!t the best experience they had, not (only) because I wasn!t there.

There were difficulties with translation and we were there to

come up with a tool for community building. These were all objectives that we were keeping an eye on and exploring / experimenting with. But I do believe that from that point on I got the request to help out and use my skills for the benefit of the women group.

I found it was very hard to find a balance in my facilitating role not because I wasn!t confident of what I was doing. That was the least thing that was lacking but I disturbed my balance and comfort zone as a facilitator by the feeling that I was taking up all the space in facilitating. I was aware of the fact that first we had to build up a trusting relationship before experimenting in our way of facilitation. Also there were several moments that somebody else wanted to facilitate and took over the process, which I didn!t mind unless it puts a break on the process. I started to feel that the motivation for taking over facilitation wasn!t a new vision or inspiration but it was something else which wasn!t beneficial for the participants or the process.

Usually when this happened I waited before I gave the facilitating role away and I created a bridge towards the one that wanted to take over. After a while when I addressed that it is hard for me to slow down the process because someone wanted to take over without having a contribution to the process or the agenda Ursel came to me and said that she was often jealous and she could feel that I could feel this but that she could also see that at this stage she wasn!t able to facilitate the group and she wanted to learn from me. I was and am very impressed with Ursels initiative towards me and

it was very nice to work on a we-teach –each other-what -we can base.

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Soe Outpost Jalqamus Community Building

Friendship photo-collage

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Robin Outpost Jalqamus Friendship

Processes and U-theory This morning we had a pretty amazing process. Joris prepared a session on the U-theory, in which he facilitated a U-process for ourselves, according to our current questions concerning the project.

It meant dealing with our intentions. What is our reason of being here? What source are we working from? How can we ultimately change the question from “what can I get?” into “what can I give?” It was a very intense process and we had good talks, in pairs, in small groups and in the big group. I had the feeling that we are getting where we need to be. I had the feeling that finally I am arriving, with my team, at a level of togetherness that I have been desiring all the way through. I still wonder how this togetherness can emerge, if there is more to it than just what we did this morning and I wonder what my part in it is. It feels weird not to do anything but just be, be there with full attention and if required act. I have trouble believing that this is enough. Can it really be so easy? And sometimes I catch myself not acting when I feel I should, out of fear that it is not really the moment to act. But I also notice moments when I do act on something that just pulls me to act, it feels very pleasant. Small example: during one break this morning I made coffee, I felt the strong urge to make coffee, and this although I am not a coffee drinker. I doubted if it is really a good idea to make coffee now, or if it would disturb the process because it might take longer than the break and then we would hassle with the coffee which would be disturbing. But I decided to go with it, do myself the pleasure and make coffee. It was very much appreciated by several people and it totally fit in the timeframe and everything. So there I followed and it worked out well. Sometimes it can already be these small things, where acting as a group and being in tune and together works.

We are not completely there yet, but we are on a good track I feel.

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Ursel Outpost Jalqamus Team

A warm welcome in saying goodbye Day 5 in Jalqamus, the Palestinian village, where we worked for a moth. After a meeting with the team in the village house Pieter tells me that my face is a little gray. He asks me if I"m feeling ok. I was already feeling a bit sick, but this was a new insight for me: the pain in my back might be my kidneys‌ That afternoon we were having lunch with the team at Ahmed"s place. Ahmed"s family is our hosting family in the village. While the team is waiting, the women are busy in the kitchen preparing the food. Ahmed and the children are keeping us company and we"re having a lot of fun. I feel physically horrible and don"t know how to keep up sitting straight up on the pillows.

Suddenly Ahmed insists that I am the one tasting the food first. I wonder why I am the chosen one, but enjoy the fabulous food. After lunch Ahmed comes to me and asks: !You really ok?"

That evening I am on the phone with my mother. I"m standing outside, close to our house, trying to find a spot with a good connection. An old woman is observing me. As soon as I hang up on the phone she approaches me. She starts talking to me in Arabic and I try to make clear that I cannot understand her.

But she continues talking, screaming. She is angry. She points to my stomach and to my heart and to my eyes. A bit shocked I try to explain again that I can"t understand what she is trying to explain. She touches my back and stomach and

then she starts kissing my arm. She embraces me, points to my heart again looking very angry and walks away into the darkness.

I am left behind in a little shock. Who was this woman?

Although I didn"t understand a word, her language and communication was very clear. It felt like she was warning me for my ignorance of my pain. Her message was warm and cold at the same time. Like she was welcoming me by sending me away.

Because I was feeling sick already from the first day, it was really hard for me to connect to the project and also to the people to the village. The different language and culture made this even more difficult for me.

But it was by the warm gestures of Ahmed and this old woman that I could realize that I was really sick. And by their warmth I could also feel that it was ok to leave the village and even go back to Israel.

With a calm heart I left the next morning‌

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Carianne April Jalqamus Community building

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One morning, a couple of us were sitting outside our house in Jalqamus drinking our morning coffee. We were discussing all the plastic and garbage lying around everywhere and how it might be easier to care about your community if it didn't look like a garbage dump. Inspired by this Olivier suggested that we would start cleaning around our house and see if it spreads. We gathered some plastic bags and started collecting. Before long the children of the village joined up. Within 20 minutes we had cleared the area between our house and the Al Haaq house together and I like to think that the children got the hang of what we were doing. It was a nice moment of leading by example and spreading a nice atmosphere. Let!s hope that it sticks!

Alex First week Jalqamus Leadership

A Letter to Ragnar

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Ursel Main Project Jalqamus Community Building

When the whole team was in Jalqamus Ragnar stayed in Tel Aviv. He got updates from us. This is one of them. Let it speak to you as a piece of thought, being written right in the middle of the experience of being in Jalqamus.

Hi Ragnar, We just had a meeting with the women’s group. Usually they were very nice, people were inspired and we felt that they really have an entrepreneurial drive. Today it was different. It became apparent that they, just as the men, are waiting for us to give them money so they can do the things they want to do.

Last time we had talked about their dreams and what they would really like to set up. One of the things was to set up a chicken farm. So today we went with this example (why exactly this example was not really clear) and ran through it with having them answer questions like: how much does a small chicken cost? How much time do you need to breed it? What does it eat? How much does this cost? For how much can you sell it in the end? What will be the profit that you will make? They went along and we planned the whole thing and when it came to the question of where does the initial money come from, we suggested to make a fair, where the women can sell things they made, embroidery or olive oil or other things, and to combine it with a football match to which all the villages around are invited. They said that it would not work. They said they had tried it already and it did not work. Selma asked: did you learn anything from the last time? They said no.

It is really difficult to get through to them. They are so stuck in their thoughts of “I am not able to do anything and if I try then the Israelis come and destroy it.” Because this is what has happened in the past, they planted tomatoes and the Israelis just came with their vans and drove through it. It feels very frustrating to work with these layers of emotions.

Bert time.

After the meeting the women left very quickly and I wonder if they willName: come back next Time: Outpost I don´t think so. Well, maybe, if we take a different approach and spread it via word of Location: Israel & mouth. Because now the word of mouth that will spread is that we are a bunch of Europeans Palestine Topic: Conflict that don´t have anything to give.

I also wonder: what does it take for a developing country to develop? Is it really western money that kickstarts an economy? How does a national economy grow? How do people keep their inspiration to keep working on it, although the development is very slow, maybe not even visible during their own lifetime? Because of course if you start up a chicken farm, to stay with the example, it will take time until it is a full fledged business. And from this business to come to a well working gross domestic product is a whole different discussion. It can take years to get there. Where do people take the strength from, to keep working? What is it that motivates them and gets them to work on their future, instead of staying with the same old patterns, which have proven valid to survive (because this is what they do at the moment, they survive)? Also if you take away old patterns, you first need to establish new ones, because otherwise people feel lost. They don´t have anything to hold on to. But we don´t even try to get rid of old patterns, maybe only the one of asking for money from the outside world.

After the meeting we sat together with Selma, Inga, Rebecca and me and talked about it. We thought: maybe we have to take a whole different approach. Maybe our ambition to run a process with them and have them discover their own ways is not the right tool. Maybe we just have to teach them. Maybe running evening classes to learn English and setting up a twin school and painting a wall with the school children are already successes. Maybe this is the way to go.

Or maybe our contribution here lies in just being here. By this, we already show them a different world and some people will gain a lot from it. For example Lara, the girl of Ahmed, our main host, her English already improved tremendously. Maybe she will gain a different world view from us being here.

If you want to help us, Ragnar, at this moment I think the best help is to understand us, maybe tell our story in your words. Not even think of solutions. Not even ask for next steps. Maybe realize that we are already good enough, by just being here. If we are. Are we? I think this is one of the main insecurities that we face.

Questions that appear are: what do we consider a success? What is it that we have brought already?

Maybe only meeting the women and maybe showing a movie and talking about our different lifestyles and only sharing is already enough. I don´t know. I don´t know what the need here is that we can meet. Hopefully we will find out.

They are so much in survival mode.

We as a team have lots of meetings during which we of course don´t interact with the “village people”. Is that a flaw? Is it necessary? Are we expecting too much of ourselves and making it hard on us? No idea.

We will find out.

Today (Wednesday) we wondered what are actually our intentions with being here. Do we really want to do community building? And if so, why are we not out there? Do we want to build our own community, as a team, and could that be the model that Ruti expects? Because for sure we will have to deliver something.

We also took way too little time off, so now we have the afternoon off.

Which results in playing with kids or retreating to the house or drinking tea at somebody’s house or reading or talking to Rebecca or working on your other responsibilities. I just had a small nap, it´s fucking hot today. Later I am going to pick olives from the trees, together with Esme. She is the sister of Rima and she speaks some English.

I will send this one with Alex since I am not sure how long the olive tree thing will take. People here are always so offended when you don´t spend much time with them. But it´s also necessary to sometimes just say no. J Greetings, looking forward to hear from you,

Ursel

Community building begins small

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

We enter a village with high hopes of changing the town.

Making a revolution. Deep impact. These hopes are soon ripped of the Velcro-like clouds above the hills of Jalqamus and pulled down to the earth where they belong. It takes such a long time to integrate and gain the trust of the people that the effect of our presence comes later. Much later.

Still, it’s evident that our presence in the village influences the dynamic of the community. Young mothers drag us into their homes that are somehow identical to each other; kitsch decorations, cold tiles and an oddly large number of sofas, -offering us coffee and trying to explain their family tree in the little English they know. Men give us the evil eye and are probably having backstage talks about the all-too-liberal influence we’re having on their wives.

Children follow us around and ask us how we are for the billionth time. An owner of a small shop smiles as we enter, pointing at the fridge where he knows we’ll seize our favourite flavours; a Twix-like chocolate bar called Twingo and the Turkish Pop Këk-pastry.

All these interactions will have an effect. Perhaps a

Inga Outpost Jalqamus Community building

negative one, but hopefully a positive one. The young wives will consider re-entering their studies and the children are already asking their heavy accented English teachers for additional phrases to ask the funky foreigners. Business blossoms for the one-eyed shopkeeper, who has had more profit in a month than in a year’s time, selling candy to the luxurious Westerners The brightest example of our community building in Jalqamus one can find in the eyes of our 9-year-old neighbouring girl, Lara. Despite her young age, she shines with comprehension and cleverness, outrunning the English level of her fellow villagers by far in only three weeks. At our departure she sheds a tear and waves as the yellow service taxi drives out of the village.

I find it hard to point to specific things we’ve accomplished during our venture here to the Middle East, however, I sincerely think that we’ve changed Lara’s life.

Through meeting us she has seen all the different paths of opportunities she could walk and somehow I know she’ll be the one to bring the spark to this old-fashioned community.

Community building begins small. And grows.

We received this picture as a gift from one of the participants in the Women!s Group in Jalqamus.

One of the most interesting aspects of KaosPilots is the team. Being in a team is interesting, fun, enjoyable and often very, very frustrating.

In the little village of Jalqamus we were all in one house. 12 people in a house with four rooms where we slept, worked, laughed, cooked and lived together.

In the little town of Jalqamus where the kids chased us in the streets, where we had no privacy or whatsoever, I wrote the following in my little notebook:

Working in a team

(10.45 -I'm still in bed. We never get up this late. I never get up this late)

(11.20 -Ursel starts to write in her notebook as well!)

Today I don't want to be the first one to get out of bed. Still a bit sleepy, listening to the Smashing Pumpkins.

I'm in a room with, Ursel, Inga and Olivier.

When I get up the others usually follow quite soon, can't they make independent choices?

Today I don't want to be the first one to get out of bed, let it be somebody else. I don't have anything to do this morning anyway.

But I don't get it. So strict at one checkpoint, so lenient at the next one.

They built a billion dollar wall and what for?

So-called safety, -the illusion of safety.

(10.55 -Send myself a fake SMS, the sounds wake the others up, Ursel tries to sit up.)

Anyway, an update from Jalqamusi life: We've been here for a couple of days. It changes me. The conflict changes me. It's so real here, so close.

(11.00 -Ursel mumbles something, Oli seems to be awake as well.)

An example of this are the checkpoints, it seems to be so arbitrary. A couple of days ago we were on our way here. The first checkpoint was closed and at the second we had to wait for hours. We decided to leave to another one (a 50 km further) which was open and let us through immediately. They didn't even check our passports!

(11.26 -Oli is awake as well. I want to get up, have breakfast, have a shower, -a proper one.)

The project here; -community building. I don't know whether it's working out or not. I don't know if that matters. Am I just here for myself? Am I pretending to help, -to 'do good’?

(11.36 -Selma wakes Inga up. Oli, Ursel and Selma are talking about something. I need some food!)

The girls have a meeting with the women group later. Selma seems to be irritated that Ursel and Inga are still in bed.

Oli looks at Inga with full adoration.

11.50 -My Smashing Pumpkins album ends. I'll get up, have some food, clean myself.

Tomorrow, I'll wait for somebody else to get up first. For today I will, but I won't cook tonight.

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Jord April Jalqamus Team

The Al-Haqs

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Inga April Jalqamus Relation -ship

Parallel Communication?

One day, during our stay in Jalqamus, I had the morning off and decided to go up on the hills and get some time for myself. I brought my voice recorder because I had intended on recording a message for a friend from Sweden. I sat down on a big rock in the middle of the beautiful landscape and just sat there for a while. I took out my book and read a couple of chapters. When I felt relaxed and alone I turned on the voice recorder and started talking. After a few minutes a young sheepherder walked up to me. He didn't speak any English and I didn't speak any Arabic. Yet, together with his two brothers, we managed to keep the conversation up for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Alex! recording can be found on the CD. Track name: Parallel Communication

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Alex Outpost Jalqamus Communication

”

Alex Spring !09 Jalqamus Relationships

Inga found herself a suitor in Jalqamus. Tachsim found her curly hair, her outgoing ways and her quirky personality irresistible. One night he came over to give her a bag of freshly burned wheat.

We called Inga outside and he immediately turned very shy. He had a hard time keeping eye contact and was very flustered by her presence.

Afterwards Robin had a talk with him and he explained that he didn't know how to impress her.

Robin recommended that he would try to sing a song for her, since Inga has an inclination for music. A couple of days later he came over to serenade for Inga and I was happy to catch it on film. Enjoy!

Tachsim!s serenade can be found on the accompanying CD

A Serenade for Inga

“

Cute Girl in Beit Sahour: -Men over here fall so easily in love with me.

– So what's the count so far after four days?

-It depends, can I count you as well?

– You wish!

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Optimistic start When we were dividing our work in Jalqamus, we had three options. Youth group, women's group and men's group. For cultural and gender reasons the choices were limited for some and the groups formed pretty quickly. I became part of the men's group together with Joris and Robin. Pieter also made some guest appearances. I was happy with my choice and with my group. When we hosted the first information meeting with all groups in the same room, there were mostly men and I saw it as a good sign. During our information meeting we explained about our school, our projects and what we were doing there.

We planned to use the first meeting for introductions and defining a dedicated group that would work with us. Our fear was that a lot of men would attend and it would be easier working with a smaller group. In the meeting we explained, once again, our stay and our aims. At the end of the meeting it felt as if we had gotten our message through and we could start working.

Empty chairs The second meeting was planned for a couple of days later and our plan was to go into need assessment. We designed a workshop for this but this time nobody came. I felt a little confused since I though we could start doing something and people were on board.

The third meeting was scheduled a few days later and again, nobody showed up. We waited for an hour and finally, 3 men

came. This was the head of the council, his brother and the CEO of the Jalqamus Charitable Organization. Once again, we had to explain to them what we were doing and what we wanted from them. At the end of the meeting the men agreed to spread the word about next meeting. At this point we still had no time for need assessment.

New direction When the fourth meeting turned up to be a no-show as well, we made the decision to drop the men's group and find someone that was interested in working with us. We had leads with the Arab-American University and with Jalqamus Charitable Organization (JCO). Joris tried for the university and made some good connections. Robin and me went for a meeting with JCO and brought Najeh as a translator. The meeting went well and the conclusion was that they needed an image for the outside world. We made a plan to meet four times when we came back from our stay in Tel Aviv. The aim of these meetings was to gather information for making a brochure and ultimately a new website for the JCO. Finally we had somebody to work with.

Later, that same evening, the head of the town council had gotten wind about this and came to protest. We were having tea at the Al Haqs' when he came by and told us that he was angry because we had not set up this deal through him and he didn't want us to work exclusively with anybody.

We could see his point so we filled him in on our plans and told him the meeting days. Our plan was to give the same

workshops to the whole men's group. He also thought it was a good idea so we set the schedule for our second period in Jalqamus.

When we came back, we were excited to start working. We had planned a process of 4 workshops going deeper into the history, the present and the future of Jalqamus. The fourth workshop was to do the final layouts.

At the first meeting a small group of men, mainly from the council, came by. We explained our process and then we had a good session dealing with the past of the village. We really learned a lot about how the village grew over the last 10-20 years. We all agreed that it was a great meeting and now we had some work to sink our teeth in.

Deeper understanding For the second session we made a plan going deeper into the present, mapping resources and needs and doing a SWOT analysis. Again disappointment showed its ugly face and we were left standing at the council alone again.

Third meeting same thing, this time I went up to talk to the chairman and he didn't have any explanation. I told him the importance of these meetings and now we were unable to finish the process. I asked him if it was possible to arrange one last meeting so we could have an open dialogue with the group and proper evaluate our time together.

At this meeting most of the council members attended and we had a great talk about our work, about their needs and they

said that they now understood the way we wanted to work.

We had a heartfelt goodbye and in the end it felt as if we finally got through to them.

Two weeks later we heard that we were banned from working in the village.

At least we managed to sow a seed...

What men’s group?

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Selma Main Project Jalqamus Entrepreneurship

“It's nice with the wall here, it keeps them out of our Palestine.�

- Jalqamus inhabitant, upon arriving in Jalqamus.

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Bert Outpost Israel & Palestine Quotes

Community Building Trying to run projects with a youth group in the village of Jalqamus turned out to be a great challenge.

We started off with a big group of kids between the ages of 8 and 17 years old. The first thing to get used to was the fact that usually only the oldest person in a group speaks up. This is because of the respect shown to elder in the local culture. So Hani, a 17 year old boy, did most of the talking.

Besides the fact that I was disappointed not to hear all the different perspectives from the group it also did not help to include everybody in a proper way. But of course some of them were also too young to actually work with.

After finding out that one of their needs was to get their own non-political youth house we did some workshops around presenting an idea. This had the final goal of convincing the

mayor of the village to allow them to use a space in the council once or twice a week by presenting their ideas to him.

After two and a half weeks Hani presented the idea to Abu Mousa, the mayor. All the other kids were there to support Hani. After a short presentation of their ideas Abu Mousa spoke for about 15 minutes. I could not understand anything as it was all in Arabic but I could feel the energy in the room went down. My feeling was right and Abu Mousa declined the proposal of the boys.

This was a big disappointment for the boys and of course also for us. What to do? We had only one week and a half left and I really wanted to come up with something that would actually help them.

In the following days we decided to continue working but with a different group. From then on we only worked with three guys; Hani, Yasser and Anas.

As we hoped for, this turned out to be a lot more workable than the big group we worked with before. It allowed us to include all three boys in discussions. But the big question was; what are we going to work on?

We decided to give the boys different options which included English lessons, three courses on different subjects, building an online community and also trying to meet Israeli boys in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.

To my surprise they were all in favour of the last option. They wanted to go to the other side of the Green Line to meet

Israeli boys. They started working on a facebook group called !"Peace"" to invite Israeli boys to. At the same time we tried to persuade Windows for Peace, the organization we worked with, to find three Israeli boys to connect to them. First online and after that also in person.

Unfortunately, to this day this has not happened yet.

The talks we had around this connection made a very big impression on me. From our European position it was nice to try to explain our view on the situation and I felt we could speak freely. I was impressed by the passion and aggression with which especially Hani spoke with. His stories made sure the conflict was getting to me. Up until then I had tried to keep some distance to it all but the way Hani told his stories really made an impact. His and the stories of the other boys were mostly about the war in Gaza in the beginning of 2009 and stories about relatives. Also they asked us why the people in Europe did not do anything about their situation. We tried to explain that the people in Europe don"t have a good view on everything that"s happening in Israel and Palestine.

Because of our aim of connecting them to Israeli boys the story that comes next was quite impressive. They told us that Israeli children wrote !"messages"" on the bombs of the Israeli army, that they were about to drop on Gaza‌‌ We tried to explain that not all Israeli kids did those things and that many of them are also a victim of this very same conflict.

The propaganda from Israeli government, media and education has a big role as well, according to me. And, not to

forget, the exact same thing from different blocks of power in West bank and Gaza including Hamas and Fatah.

To me is was really interesting to find out about their thoughts and beliefs towards the conflict and Israelis. Their belief in the use of violence to pay the Israelis back was kind of disturbing and after their sincere stories kind of understandable. I tried to counter this with the perception Europeans get from suicide attacks.

Next to all the serious talks it was also great fun sometimes.

Especially Yasser with his act of bombing something while shouting Allah Akbar after which he laughed his ass off was hilarious. Also our international football match between Holland and Palestine was great.

The main importance I see in connections between Israelis and Palestinians is the fact that the perception of each other is extremely messed up. They only hear negative and twisted stories, news, facts, opinions, lies and some truths.

Windows still didn"t succeed in finding three Israeli boys to work with. Also, the facilitation from Windows is needed and due to practical and financial issues in the coming months it is impossible to arrange.

When we said goodbye to Jalqamus and Hani last week I was triggered by the disbelief of Hani in the existence of !"good"" people on the other side of the line. I hope this will remind me in the coming months to find out what I can do, when I am back in my safe and comforting country Holland.

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Guus Main Project Jalqamus Community Building

On culture One saying from an old turtle in a movie that represents the ideal lifestyle of the west, and one from one of the great Jewish poets that represents the ideal lifestyle of the (middle) east.

Yesterday is history Tomorrow is a mystery Today is a gift, That is why it is called the present -From the movie. Kung fu Panda-

To remember the past To live the present To trust the future -Abba Kovner-

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Ragnar Anytime East and West Culture

Friendship text

Name: Time: Location: Topic: Photo:

Carianne End of May Tel Aviv Friendship Joris

My first day in South Sinai When we first started to nail down our schedule the topic of having a week vacation after our first project in Jalqamus emerged. Immediately I started thinking of places to go. I wanted to see more of the region when I had a chance to and I started thinking about Egypt or Jordan since it is somewhat safe travelling to those countries. Robin and me heard some stories of the Sinai from Tsi-La and our hosts. Everybody spoke of a beautiful place with only one objective, relaxing. This sounded like the perfect vacation. We decided to invite our hosts and at one point it seemed like 10 people were coming along. On the day we travelled it was only me and Robin left, but I believe this was the right amount of people at the right time and place. We had planned on leaving Tel Aviv with the midnight bus so we would arrive early in the morning and get an extra day in the Sinai.

The bus trip from Tel Aviv took four and a half hours, fully packed with people and military sitting in the aisle, all the way to Eilat.

When we arrived there it was early in the morning and nothing was open yet. We walked through the city; passed the airport in the middle of downtown, towards the beach. At the beach we found a store selling beach stuff, where we bought snorkelling gear for our trip. We took a taxi to the Israeli / Egyptian border and, after exchanging money and applying for a tourist visa, we entered Egypt.

Right outside was a taxi waiting. We told him where to go and he knew exactly. The drive was an indication of great things to come, passing beautiful mountains and small lagoons along the coastal highway. The beach side was cluttered with small, hand built bungalows, but all the small resorts seemed closed for business. When we arrived at Soula Beach we were greeted by some Bedouins who helped us arranging a bungalow. At this point the taxi-driver had already set up breakfast for us.

After we got settled it was only 9 in the morning and we had the whole day in front of us. The camp consisted of two or three houses where the Bedouins lived, three public bungalows or resting spots and 10-15 small bungalows right on the beach.

We spent the better part of this day laying in front of our bungalow and just soaking up the atmosphere. In the afternoon I decided to go for my first dip in the red sea. I put on my snorkelling gear and swam out to the coral reef. Swimming in a reef has been a dream of mine ever since I was little. I was a free-diver for 4 years in my teens but I never got the opportunity. It was truly amazing, with all the colours and all the life. I saw fish there that I had only seen in movies or aquariums before. It was incredible, but also a bit scary because I quickly realized that I don't know much about this kind of “wildlife�. When I saw a lion fish approach me, I freaked out and decided that it was enough for one day.

Later we were invited to one of the houses for tea. We spent the evening talking to the Bedouins there, drinking tea and smoking water pipe.

When we came back to our bungalow I noticed that something was missing, but I couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. I am probably just getting paranoid, I thought and took my pillows and blankets with me down to the beach. I have always loved sleeping outside, if the weather allows it and so I did for the days to follow.

In the middle of the night I was awakened by a barking dog. I looked up and saw the dog running from the dunes of the desert towards my spot on the beach, with one of my sweaters in his mouth. I quickly connected the dots and came to the conclusion that this was what had been missing in the bungalow. The dog approached me and put the sweater down next to me. I petted it for a while, although still half-asleep and very confused. After a few minutes he ran off and I went back to sleep. I still have no idea how the dog came about my sweater and how it knew where to return it.

We spent the next couple of days laying on the beach and getting used to the Bedouin way of life. If we asked for a coffee it usually took an hour to make, but since time is of no concern in the Sinai we never felt it was a problem. Things just move slower around Bedouins. I thought a lot about this and if I could get used to it.

I think I could! After our stay it was a lot harder getting used to the normal speed of things again, it took me a week to properly adjust. There is truly something magical about the South Sinai and I can't wait to get back.

Name: Alex Time: Holiday week Location: South Sinai Topic: Travel

Pieter’s remarks:

Being a lot in his own thoughts about his way of saving the world, I saw Olivier work on himself and his appearance big time.

Thanks for being who you are!

Take a dry country with a 6 month rain season which in fact just a few rainstorms.

A burning sun in summer and a deficit in water supply.

-It appears quickly that water storage is a must.

We built a 90 cubic meter cistern in Bustan Qaraaqa. In maximum utility we will farm fish and why not swim during the hottest afternoons?

All this sounds great but when the construction was completed at end of March, there was no rain anymore.

We had a huge empty space, quite frustrating to wait a full year.

So we decided to fill it with tap water.

It will cost a bit but a big pool party for the opening should cover the expenses.

Name: Time: Location:

Olivier June Bustan Quraaga Topic: EntrepreneurSHIP

In Europe we!ve heard stories about Palestine and safety issues, the Gaza war just ended and the Dutch ministry of foreign affairs advises not to go to the OPT at all. The West Bank and Gaza are graded with a 6, the heaviest advice that the ministry gives a country or an area. After some weeks in the West Bank we, Inga, Selma and I, also wanted to see Gaza.

There's one checkpoint in the north and we traveled there, trough the dessert, via some cities. We took buses filled with soldiers, -they are everywhere: in the bus, next to the bus, waiting for the bus. Mostly just hanging around and waiting, they looked bored, they act bored.

One of them came up to us, started talking and quite soon he gave us his gun!

This was on our way to Gaza. We never got in.

Gaza

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Jord Holiday week Gaza & Ashkelon Conflict

Today was about going to Gaza. It's not possible, not allowed and not wise and therefore very interesting to do.

Arriving at the checkpoint we were welcomed with a big sign:

Welcome to Erev Crossing Point As at any checkpoint there is a big wall, discontinued by watchtowers. In a little glass house sits a soldier with a microphone. He decides for whom to open the gate. What is different here is that there is a huge building with UN flags behind the wall. And the silence. Most checkpoints are full of traffic, people in cars, on foot, going in and out, waiting in long lines. Here there is one family in a car. They push a luggage cart full of suitcases, boxes, and blankets. With them is a little boy who apparently just had eye surgery. He holds tightly to his new toy.

Before us in line is an Irish guy. Tattoos, safari clothes, typical journalist. After some checking of the papers and waiting he passes and disappears into the building.

The family waits and waits and then turns around. All the boxes go back into the car and they leave.

When it's our turn we get a snappy 'no'. We sit a bit longer in the sun, in the awkward silence. The most dangerous place in the world? Really?

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Selma 10th of May Gaza Conflict

Schooltrip to Gaza

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Selma Outpost Friesland Team

The thing I did not understand at first was that people living in Israel hardly pay attention to news, facts or the situation of the peace process in their daily lives. I learned quickly that they grow up in a situation which it is simply too much to handle.

This ongoing conflict every single day is simply too much. This made me angry at first; how can you live here and deny all the things that are happening on a daily basis? How can you live in a democracy that oppresses people at a distance of only some 100 kilometers?

After the Skype pilot I ran between a democratic school in Hadera and two democratic schools in Holland I sat in the train from Hadera to Tel Aviv.

The night before I had watched Arna!s children at my hippie house in Florentin. I saw the documentary some weeks before in the Freedom Theatre in Jenin. It is about a group of young boys that come together for acting classes in the Freedom Theatre in Jenin and it tells the story of what happened with them during these classes. The documentary ends with their tragic story during the battle of Jenin in the second Intifada when they were all young men.

Sitting in the train I saw many young people dressed up in green outfits. Some of them were carrying very big guns.

Opposite me there was a woman reading in a small book whispering constantly what she was reading. When two guys, civilians, stood up to get out of the train I saw their revolvers sticking out of their loose jeans. The little book I was seeing in the hands of the woman became the source of these children with guns in their hands. Thinking back to Jalqamus, Jenin

and Arna!s children I started to hate the woman. Only looking at her book, trying to understand the wisdom in there she was too blind to look around in the train to actually see what that wisdom had done with her and the people around her.

At the democratic school in Hadera one of the teachers told me that many of the kids finishing their education there had to make a big decision in the coming months: Going into the army or refusing to go with many severe consequences. Then I suddenly realized that I had been the one getting all these Israeli kids in touch with children in my country Holland. As there is a big chance this project will continue in the coming months and as there are 25 democratic schools in Israel and only 1 of them in Palestine I was wondering what picture the kids in Holland would get from this. Will they trust their new Israeli friends and the information they will get from them?

Also the level of English on both sides of the conflict will make sure that the message from Israel will come in better than the one from Palestine. And besides this, the fact that Israelis will connect to the West easier because of their culture and welfare, made me realize that I had only looked at my project and not thought about what information source I was setting up for the kids in Holland and maybe kids around the world.

Now the question is: is this a paranoid thought of mine or does living and working in Israel mean that you have to think as far out as you can in order to be cool with your own values and feelings? With everything you do and with everything you say? Just to make sure that you are not contributing to the system you are living in?

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Guus Outpost Israel & Palestine Conflict

Hospitality in Tel Aviv “I didn!t even wake up….”

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Guus Outpost Tel Aviv Hospitality

Mitzpe Ramon

GRAND PRIX in the dessert Four KaosPilots; Soe, Bert, Selma and Joris were invited by the Makhteshim club and hosted by Ziv Spector. The Maktashim club is a group of entrepreneurs who are considered 'freaks'. Many of them have a passion. For example an ecolodge, an alpaca farm or a chocolate bar. Imagine creating your dream in the middle of the dessert where survival is as common as rain in Rotterdam.

Our assignment was to look with European eyes at the potential and challenges; create a positive community, build sustainable partnerships and improve the identity of the Makhtesh area. We held interviews with over 30 stakeholders in the area and outside. Among them entrepreneurs in the tourism business, government representatives, nature preservation, teachers, artists, community builders. The questions were focused on the potential and frustration around the Makhtesh area, the role of the community in its development, the potential for eco tourism and possible (crazy) business ideas.

We organized an evening where we gave an example how we work together and finally we gave a report where we shared our findings.

Joris’ dream of Mitzpe Ramon 10 years from now: "Mitzpe Ramon would look very different from now. From a distance you wouldn't see it because it is completely integrated in the desert. There is an abundance of Bedouin tents, mud houses and buildings cut out of Mitzpe marble. In the centre is a huge circle where people come together under the shade of trees. This is the heart of the town, where you can find a water well and the main source of the whole community, interaction and energy. There are many people present, drawing and talking about what they will do next. Sometimes there is a discussion but most of the time people listen to each other and act accordingly. It is a vibrant sight of people talking, moving, and relaxing. It is an uncommon combination between joy, action and tranquility. There is no mayor or 'leader' because people are governing themselves, solving issues as they come. There is an abundance of delicious food, now called 'ramonian food' since it is inspired on all the cultures that came over the past fifty years.

Tourism is blooming, there are no hotels whatsoever because in this part of the world everybody is a traveler. There is enough food and space for everybody. Although some stay and others go, Mitzpe has become the true heart of the Maktesh and the example in the world what 'viewpoint' truly means.�

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Joris Grand Prix Mitzpe Ramon Grand Prix

Complexity of Conflict

Wow, meeting al kinds of people in complex situations with thoughts that go directly against my principals! My best and worst part was with Itay, Itay is the owner of the soap factory in Mitzpe Ramon. I met him on our prepost. Like most people in Israel he has been in the army. Now he is a successful business man in the form of an owner of an organic soap factory. His business is growing rapidly all over the world.

When I met him during the prepost we talked for a little while and we had a nice chat about the way his business started. It started as a fairytale! Imagine your washing machine breaks down and as you are living in the desert you seize the opportunity to dive into the details of the water usage of your washing machine. Along the way you find out that you are wasting lots of water which you can use for other purposes.

You care about the environment and love flowers and plants in your garden. That's when Itay and his wife decided to produce their own organic soap. Every week they would cook up a big pan. When neighbors and friends found out about this they started buying and ordering for themselves as well. It was getting out of hand they were spending way to much time on cooking up soap and soap needs a couple of hours to

cook. It became a daily job. Not long after the discovery of making organic soap in your own house they heard about Ecover an organic household cleaning product. They called all their customers and informed them about the product. Now they are the only place where you can buy Ecover in Mitzpe Ramon. Now that is not a big challenge to accomplish. What he did was that he saw the value of organic soaps also for skin products and started producing and experimenting with this.

What shocked me is that when we were having an interview with him about Mitzpe and community tourism is that he was excluding communities or even placing racistic remarks. I was shocked because it was hard for me to understand that someone who cares so much about the environment and takes action on this, someone who has seen change happening from so close couldn't see the value of having the Bedouins in Mitzpe Ramon. While these Bedouins were the ones who had the biggest potential for bringing community tourism to another level in Mizpe Ramon.

At the end of our project I decided to not make a hidden agenda out of my feelings, this is also one of the reasons why I stopped working on the grand prix project in Mizpe. When Selma, Joris and Bert ended their facilitation end we did a check out with all the key people in Mitzpe. I said " This is a gift from me to you; I'm a Muslim and my parents don't like me being here for several reasons. I decided to explore and go to

Israel anyways. What I found is passionate heartfelt people who are concerned with the quality of life today. I can't deny your hard work, I can't deny your passion and I can't deny your success and the beauty in you. I don't want to deny this either. What I don't like and have serious difficulties accepting... is your fears. The fears and judgment about other people. They make me doubt your motives and doubt my believe in what you truly are searching for."

Some people thanked me and other came to ask me what I meant by what I said. I didn't want to put more words in it but I felt that some of them took it in and some of them didn't understand. Itay nodded at me and I saw there was something happening within him. I decided to let it be. What I said was there to be said because I needed to come clean with myself and I choose to take all the consequences that might come with what I said. I felt relieved and in tune with myself again and I needed that since I hadn't had that feeling at all during my outpost.

A few days later me, Selma and Bert went to his shop to say goodbye. He ended our conversation over a cup of coffee by saying " In the end people are people and they are all the same, WOW! From that moment on we had great energy flowing between us I want to thank Itay from the soap factory for showing me my strength and my weakness when it comes down to minority groups and my believe in equality.

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Soe Grand Prix Mitzpe Ramon Conflict

“Whenever you have ten Israelis in one room, you have twelve opinions.�

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Ursel Outpost Israel & Palestine Culture

Israel/Palestine

Things I will always associate with Israel: • • • • • • •

Clutter and waste in the sink Extremely rough bus drivers Heat Rooftops Yoplait Yoghurt Baguettes with pickled Paprika Spices in markets

Things I will always associate with Palestine: • • • • • • • • •

“Qawa we shai?”

Smiles Broken pavements Inga fighting for gender equality Tomato salad Pita Instant Noodles with canned mushrooms Cooking on gas-stoves “Not a problem”

Rollercoaster Grand Prix I was really challenged on the learning point I wrote for myself at the beginning. I mentioned finding a way of balancing my energy better. When the Grand Prix Projects first started to take form I was working with the Dizengof group. After the initial ideation phase I realized that I was only doing it because of the financial factor by working on a paid assignment. It was also hard for me to connect to environmental issues in a conflict region like this. I lost focus and energy for the whole thing. I decided to make my own GPP, walking through the West Bank. My initial plan was to go by foot the whole way and preferably without money. My idea was to meet people and have genuine dialogues inspired by the question; how can I keep an open mind, open heart and open will?

I went to see the governor of Jenin to hear his opinion. He was very excited about my project and promised to support me in any way he could. He also wrote me a recommendation letter I could show, if I were to get into any trouble. After deliberating with School and Windows for Peace, we came to the conclusion that it would be too dangerous and therefore not allowed for me to do it within the frames of the outpost.

Once again I was challenged to keep my energy up, but failed. This was another devastating blow and I wondered around Tel Aviv for a week before I could get back on the horse.

During a coaching-talk with Pieter the option of working with the Parents Circle – Families Forum presented itself. Parents Circle – Families forum is an organization of families, Israeli

and Palestinian, who have all lost a close family member in the conflict. I was interested but I didn't know what I would be doing with them. But at least I would be working with dialogues as a tool for listening and understanding.

I decided to meet the commissioner, Nir Oren, for a cup of coffee. I missed my train and the meeting was cut short. Still I had no idea about what I would do to help, but I felt a good connection with Nir. At first I was wary of the decision to go there but in the end I am glad I did. I was working with creating project proposals for the European commission, Anna Lindh Foundation and USAid, so my contribution was clearly using my skills of creating official documents. I also learned quite a lot of new project management tools so it was truly a win-win-win.

I am now, more than ever, convinced that I must work more on this issue of energy, but at least I have a couple of new insights about my energy levels. It is harder for me to be entrepreneurial in a group, because the initial energy boost does not sustain when I have to sit down and make a plan. I want to act faster. When I get an idea, I want to execute it immediately. If too much time passes I loose my energy. With Parents Circle – Families forum I was thrown headfirst in the deep end of the pool and I had to catch up. This is the kind of stress I thrive on and in the end I had a great Grand Prix Project.

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Alex Outpost Israel & Palestine Personal Learning

“Tom,

my British friend

in the Middle East�

The second week we hitchhiked North through the West Bank to Galilee and up to Mount Meron on the Lebanese border. We camped in Tsivon, a kibutz, which is attempting to become Israel first totally sustainable community. The next day, we hitchhiked South on scorching roads to the Yesh Main permaculture farm. It was a great time.

I first dropped by Bustan Qaraaqa, headquarter of the Green Intifada during my holiday week. I was looking for an eco-farm project where I could work during my GP project. I spent my first days settling in. I spent one afternoon with Tom. We sorted, cleaned and re-arranged the plants in the tree nursery. The morning of the third day we walked around and Tom showed me the different parts of the project the guesthouse, the tree nursery, the bird cave, the rainwater collection cistern for irrigation, the different kitchen gardens, the orchard, the grey water system and the compost toilet.

The third week we fixed the nursery shade damaged by storm, and made preparations for a fund-raising pool party. It was quite difficult, as Bethlehem endured a week and a half without water and as the day of the party approached it became apparent that the pool would remain dry and empty. Never the less the show must go on. The party was a great success including a BBQ, water gunfight, lots of alcohol, cosy atmosphere, and groovy tunes. A fire show ended the evening while we were conversing under the stars. This supposed night together was perfect.

Between Tom and me the feeling was good, an emerging complicity. I decided to come back for three more weeks.

I returned to Tel Aviv for my last week in Middle East and Tom left for Egypt to renew his visa. But it happened that we met again.

Saturday morning I received a mail from a half naked and lost Tom who had fallen victim of theft while he was swimming, also in Tel Aviv! He lost his backpack, passport, money, clothes and shoes.

Fortunately they let him one flip-flop...

The first week Tom and I worked together building a shade for the tree nursery. We partied together, helped drunken girls reach their beds. We walked and talked to the shops, through the starlit mountains of Judea.

End of the first week I brought Tom to an Israeli ecofarm in Modi'in.

What an epic journey, first to reach such a place and even more to aim back home. Because you have to remember that at Sabbath and the evening before people worry more about respecting religion than help their fellows.

So there we were again: two friends on an adventure to the British embassy...

Where will the future bring us?

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Olivier Grand Prix Bustan Qaraaga Friendship

I saw a great personality the last three months. I knew it was somewhere deep inside this raw, unpolished guy, and it shows to be a (double?) diamond.

Cheers Dude!

Alex Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Pieter Outpost Israel & Palestine Team

illegal drugs After Soe and me went to Ramleh, Natan and Sarit asked in a quite direct way why we went there. I felt that something was weird in the way they asked, but after telling them that we went to a barbecue with a family, it was better. Maybe not completely all right, not 100%, but 99%. Afterwards I learned that a lot of people go there for drugs and that especially spoiled kids from Ramat Hasharon go there and that therefore people are afraid of it. So this tells me about Israeli culture that they want to know, they get close to you, even though you might not want to. Nothing like the European „I respect your individual space and therefore I do not intrude and don!t ask you anything“, no, they ask, straight forward.

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Ursel Outpost Ramat Hasharon Culture

Ramallah Do you go beyond the average tourist? Are you an extraordinary tourist? Or Do you go beyond the average tourist destination?

Tired of partying in Amsterdam, Pissed off by Parisians, priced out of London and bored of endless Australia?

Have you seen your scene?

Ramallah, the capital of the West Bank.

It's, alive it's cultural and very interesting!

Your friends might be proud of traveling in Australia, traveling around Ramallah beats it.

Amsterdam lacks internet cafĂŠs, in Ramallah free internet is almost everywhere.

It might not have the 'grand statue' of Paris, the people make up for it, the friendliness and their willingness to show you around.

Unable to afford London? Ramallah is very affordable, there is plenty of choice, either go for a cheap hotel or the luxury one.

It has (more expensive) Western restaurants as well as (cheap) Arabic places. If you completely run out of cash you'll find very cheap vegetables at the market (a kilo of peppers is around "0,30, tomatoes for "0,20)

Afraid of 'backwardness' concerning the role of women?, even the mayor is a woman!

The city is progressive, liberal and it is opening up for tourists.

Street names have been given, a city map has been developed, a park has been renovated. Next to that the construction of a 'pedestrian only' area and a tourist information centre are under development.

It keeps surprising.

Ramallah is bi-religious, Christians and Muslims live not only side-by-side, they live mixed. The schools are mixed and the municipality is closed on Fridays and Sundays (open on Saturdays). Those two days off make it perfect to party!

Go out on Thursday, recover on Friday, work on Saturday, party at night and recover again on Sunday!

The fact that alcohol is served, and widely used, makes it even more fun...

R.E.M. ALLAH, losing my (your?) religion!

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Jord Future Ramallah Tourism

Hello Dear Friend, I found refuge in a small "clandestine" project of permaculture...

I am pretty sure that you would love it... If you wish to enjoy 23 months of volunteering they would be more than happy to welcome you. I can send you a small picture of the tree nursery.

I helped to set up a shade structure for the young plants.

The project is still new. A little over a year old.

All the seeds from dry regions are welcome... If you have any contacts, let me know. I would forward it to Tom, the person responsible for that part of the project. He is so passionate about trees! I listen to him and smile. For me all this is quite unfamiliar: the Latin names, common use and characteristics.

But I do believe that you would love it!

In the background is always the Israeli occupation... Anyway sometimes we succeed to not think about it.

Their website is www.bustanqaraaqa.org

Olivier C

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Olivier June Bustan Qaraaga Grand Prix

“Say Aaaaaahh...”

I've met so many amazing people, and I made so many great friends.

My contacts list in my telephone looks now as follows: Ahd Ahmed Ale Alex Ali Alien Ambulance Amer Ameer Amir Amin Amjad Andreas …

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Bert Outpost Israel & Palestine Relation -Ship

Cultural differences What is different between Israel, Palestine and Germany? Well, obvious differences are the three different religions. In Jalqamus this is expressed in the dress code, the muezzin calling for prayer from the mosque, food is different of course. In Palestine it seems that food is more traditional, chicken and rice and zucchini and tomatoes, in Israel it is more westernized. But maybe I only get this impression because in Israel I was in a big city, Jalqamus a small village. Language is another obvious difference.

I am surprised that people in Jalqamus are usually on time and that they keep their promises and expect us to keep ours. This comes from my first experience with a foreign culture, which was Chile, there people are not on time and even if you say you are going to go somewhere, you can still always change your mind. Here people get pissed if you don!t show up although you said you would. We said we would show up for a small birthday party for Fatme and then it got late and we did not go. We thought we had said that we would not come, but apparently they did not get that. We only had said once that we would come, but apparently this was enough to count as a definite yes for coming. Robin also said sometimes that he would come and play with the children, which in the end he did not. Later Achmed called him and asked why, seeming angry.

In Israel people are more direct, in Jalqamus you never know if what they say they say out of politeness or because they really mean it. I have a harder time saying explicitly what I mean, because I cannot estimate the reaction. In Israel everybody is so open and direct that I just do the same. In Germany people are direct in a different way, I would actually say that they are less direct than in Israel.

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Ursel Outpost Israel & Palestine Culture

Desert-Quest

A question that I will live with for a while: How will it be to see others for who they are and engage with them from who I am?

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Ursel June Har Amasa Desert Quest

My Personal Learning(s)

Never give up

For me it was carved in a stone @ Har Amasa, and it is, from my heart:

No matter what is going on Never give up Develop the heart Too much energy Is spent developing the mind Instead of the heart Develop the heart Be compassionate Not just to your friends But to everyone Be compassionate Work for peace In your heart and in the world Work for peace And I say again Never give up No matter what is happening No matter what is going on around you Never give up.

Free after H.M. the XIVth Dalai Lama

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Pieter June Har Amasa Personal Learning

I'd like to thank you.

Before dinner followers of Christianity thank God for the food they have, and they are grateful.

Keep your eyes closed and look around, take off your clothes, take off each others clothes and burn them let go off your frustrations, let our dreams and ambitions be out of this room without our habits, if we are without our personality without our upbringing, without our family, if we are without the ones we love skim yourself of what you have let go of what made you who you are let’s skim ourselves from everything go to the core of your being to the pure & untouched ego take that ego in your hand, and throw this ego out of this room as well now have a look into the great nothing as in this emptiness, we are connected some call it 'the eternal Good' others (for whom that word is to long) call it 'God' for this connection, I'd like to thank you and for this I'm grateful To conclude I'd like you to open your eyes and eat & drink to this emptiness, to the Good, to the God that we share

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Jord April Jalqamus Individual Learning

The Holy Mountain

Please close your eyes.

I was sitting under an olive tree, looking at a beautiful valley, listening to the Foo Fighters.

For the first time in a week I was alone.

Alone with Dave Grohl, who was singing and screaming; “Is someone getting the best, the best, the best of you?”.

That's where I wrote the following story, which I shared with my team later that week.

E

I see you

you see me

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Carianne 2009 Israel/OPT Pictures & words

The start of co-creation.

Exploring complexity

They attacked us, we fought back, we won, let's eat! // Pesach 2009

Burning frustrations

The conflict with Bedouins that live in the Negev, who are in many cases not considered as equals and refused an Israeli citizenship.

The Sudanese community that live in large illegal groups, trying to scrape by with poorly paid jobs. They are allowed to enter the country but refused a visa. The government looks the other way.

The conflict of the Druze people who I met in the Golan Heights, who are still loyal to Syria rather than Israel.

Who have a conflict with being Israeli while in their eyes that nation is stealing their water reserves for national irrigation.

The Philippino's that mostly take care of the elderly here, being looked upon by a large group of Israeli!s as second-class citizens.

The inner conflict of left winged Jewish Israeli's who are born here, in their own country, who cannot find themselves over a decade in their national government. Who have an inner conflict with living here, but for whom leaving their country, friends, and family is not an option.

It's a lot to deal with and a lot to work for. I expect there to be many more conflicts here that I haven't even seen.

This country faces a lot of challenges. Many more than what is being portrayed in the media. Now I wonder: What am I gonna do about it?

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Bert Outpost Israel & Palestine Conflict

Conflict-O-mania

My choice of going to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories wasn't an explicit choice to experience first hand what the conflict entails. But once here, it is impossible to avoid, and I think one should not even try to do so.

Upon arrival I was under the impression that the only conflict was between Israel and Palestine. Now first of all it is very hard and dangerous to generalize. Second of all; conflict seems to be something that's innate with these soils. Allow me to give an overview of other conflicts I've seen.

a quicky The next phase

Sorry, have n't been a goo d boy w ith a propper update for a long time now.. suddenly in the upstart of creating a concept for a green store that is to sell pro ducts to inform a bout a nd help reduce the amounts of energy we s pend in o ur da ily lives. cool project, but a goo d bit of work if you have som green ideas , let me know!

So...

We've been in I srael for a bit o ver 2 weeks, o n the o nw hand, it seems like 2 years, on t he other, it seems like 2 seco nds ..

from that, I'm still looking for a goo d s ummer job, that ca n also be a bit f un, and I'm loo king into different optio ns a nd offers at to how I 'm going to com bine my last year at the KaosP ilots wit h projects that I want to do, a nd getting e nough mo ney for food etc..

I've been loo king for some pictures that can ex pla in everything t hat is going thro ug h my mind, but, for some o dd reaso n, I have n't been able to find theApart perfect one..

On personal learning How can you recap everything you have learned in a small text?

Here is my blog from the last three months (ragnarrock.blogspot.com) in tiny writing. You don!t have to read it, but look at the patterns as a part of the big wave we call life.

I'm starting to t hink that may be there is something to Karma.. be nice, feel good a bo ut yourself, a nd goo d things will come to you.. the last couple of days, I didn't pla n a nything .. yet I had s ome great days! was invited to go to a sy nago g (no clue how to s pell that in English), it was a great experience!, I've been attending Jewis h dinners (tha nks Sara and Sarit!), getting mas sages in parks (t hanks ma ssage lady t hat I do n't remember the name of), sim ply seeing a different side of t he city.

Until now o ur class has been s urrounded by people t hat are abit more left winged politica lly, great to get the pers pectives of some peo ple that look at things from a different side!

I've met random people that have totally sur prised me. Like my taxi driver yesterday, he wa s s uddenly s peaking D anish ( understanda ble danis h, not t he grum py aggresive local st uff), and telling me about a ll his ra ndom encounters the last co uple of da ys.. crazy how m uch unim portant, ye t interesting crap we had in common. fa ntastic! all in all, thing s are good, apart from the ongoing fight wit h some dam insects (think it mig ht be flees) that are eating me upp.. a bo ut 20 new bites last nig ht... a uch!

and the s un is getting hotter here by the day... nice actually =)

Sunday, May 2 4, 2009

The team (my class) j ust left for the westbank this mor ning, they are going to stay there for a mont h, while I'm staying alone in Tel Aviv since I'm scared as hell to go to the occupie d terretories, have a feeling that if I go t here, something really bad is g onna happen.

It's a great challenge a nd pos sibility for me to be here, work as t he contact perso n between the team a nd t he world! A lso I have t he mission of discovering w hat it is like to be part of a team, but in a different phy sical locatio n, and w hat it is like to work, live a nd cope in a jewis h society.

Yes, this w ill be goo d I t hink.. anything yo u want to know? a bo ut what I 'm up to, w hat it's like here etc.. let me know..

I wonder..

stay tune d ps, it really s uckes not us ing snus anym ore.. but, going o n a mo nth nicotin fri now!!!! shalom Sitting at a café today.. see this big big ma n walking, he be nds over to pick up his little child that is running around.. when he bends over you ca n't help but see that, yes, this ma n is carrying a g un.

Not too unheard of in t his country. and that is the main point of my wo nder.. why do yo u need a g un? fine if yo u feel that some ara bs mig ht come and attack yo u at a ny time. but, how will a little revovler help yo u if yo u s uddenly hear "alla h akbar " from the floor underneath yo u..

Tues day, A pril 1 4, 2009

so I wo nder, have I found may be the stupedist reason ever as to w hy g uns are ba d? =) easter irritation

Thursday, J une 4, 2009 a quick loo k at faceboo k gave me the im pressio n that t he percentage of peo ple po sting pictures every week has g one up 5fo ld during easter.. but w hy?!?! in norway, the ty pical easter holidy is up to a ca bin in a mo untain, take some long trips o n woo den planks fastene d to yo ur feet, then sit in a nd around the cabin, drinking and eating goo d st uff... and thats great!

Sitting in my gra ndparents basement in Norway.. have to leave for the airport in 2 ho urs.. but w hy the hell do we ta ke pictures of it so muc h? everyody knows t hat yo u most proba bly w ill do t his very thing, is n't a pict ure something yo u take to s ave a s pecial memory? what so s pecial a bo ut this cabin t hing??!?!

Been home for a week to ta ke som exams, so I ca n get student loans. didn't really go too g ood.. but, t hats not really w hat this post is a bo ut..

I would like to a sk t hat peo ple celebrating easter in a very different way take a nd post some pictures instead, s how me somet hing that ma kes me think yo u are a perso n that is trying to bring something different to the world. Not t hat yo ur a perso n that has to publis h yo ur a4 holiday pics, s o that others wo n't think that you're socially unacceptable.. it is so strange to be in Norway again, Think I ex perienced a reversed culture shoc k...

Imagine t hat for almost half a year, y ou have n't been in a pro pper home, yo u can't understand t he langua ges that are around yo u, yo u constantly feel like a stranger to everything yo u do and everywhere you go.. then vosj, you are where you grew up, s urrounde d by friends a nd family, people that yo u know and lo ve, and people t hat know a nd love yo u.. a nd may be even understand yo u some times.

freezer pizza and chocco milk easter dinner 2010.. yes please!

apart from the insane prices, yo u understand how t he society works , yo u never find yo urself being afraid of some terrorist bombing, y ou get to eat yo u grandmot hers home ma de strawberry jam (best in t he world).

Monda y, April 20, 2009

Reality check is a goo d wor d.. yes, t here is alot of thing s happening in t he world. . even lots of very importa nt, horrible, great, and stra nge things ha ppe ning in ot her countries than Israel... but.. I only have o ne home, a nd no matter how m uch I move, travel, experience etc around the world in t he future.. that is really importa nt to never forget, who are yo u really? how does w hat yo u do and lear n on a day to day basis translate to being of use when you go home again? in s hort, I wo uld lo ve to stay here lo nger, but, I am looking forward to get my hands o n some g ood humus tommorow evning! =)

more Tel Aviv a nd stuff..

Wednes day, June 10, 20 09

Bats..... just when yo u think that yo u have understood a city, realized that its like a s lig htly more exotic tha n normal euro pean city, you ta ke o ne wrong t urn that leads yo u on a 4 hour discovery bonanza, y ou see that crap, this place is j ust crazy.. and then, beeing ha ppy know ing that yo u are in a place that is great but crazy and at times abit crap.. yo u mig ht find y ouself walking down o ne of the main streets, then y ou see bats fly ing t hrough t he trees, swopping dow n at innocent passers by... what city with millio ns of people wo ndering aro un ha d bats in their city centre?

Wednes day, March 4, 200 9

the sea f the Dead

its been a bit of a n uncomfertable time for me, been reading abo ut bomb factories fo und in the west bank underneath mo skes.

The norwegian embass y strong ly a dvis ing peo ple to stay away from the Ghaza area, a nd from larger groups of peo ple... not too easy w hen y ou are in a big ass city standing waiting for a bus on a nice and silent evning , suddenly 20 police a nd what not cars with flas hing lights and sire ns fly past.. like som bada ss cha se in t he states that yo u ca n see on tv.

So, back in I srael.. wow... from nice old little Norway, to crazy Tel Av iv, the n a day later, off to the desert (I prefer sandy forest.. can't be a desert if there is shrubbery? even if the s hrubs are full of t horns and crap...). a nywa y, some beige colderd la ndsca pe on a mo untain!

Sitting becoming s pirit ual a nd strange.. us ing new ways to discover old insig ht and pass io n.. was really nice.. the thing I like t he best was to sit with Billy t he Dung Beatle, bot h of us enjoying some salted sunflowerseeds, me talking, a nd old Billy giv ing me no ds of wisdom.. does n't sa y muc h, but a clever fellow.. anyway, it was great to loo k dow n one direction a nd see the s unrise into t he vally, a nd loo k dow n in t he other direction and see that it wa s already night t here.. fantastic!

Have the feeling t hat I co uld be writing for hours, m aybe days already, but not really s ure what I wo uld be writing a bo ut then, yes, I'm meeting lots of great people, seeing s ome very ins piering places etc, but, I *m miss ing something t hat I can't put my finger on w hat is yet.

rehab...

any body ha ve a s uggestio n for what t he perfect life could be? think that might be my holy grail. devote my life to finding t he perfect life, would be nice

We left from the mountain, a nd the Kibutz we stayed at to day, I traveld first in the back of a scary old truck, t hings fly ing everywhere, and me sitting in the back s ing ing formyself and doing sit ups.. kind of nice.. didn't get that much of the view thoug h... then too k a lo oong bus, a nd voila, the deadsea. and voila.. I we nt to get a pint.. 40+ degrees, thats hot for a Jessheim boy!

as my "O so ma ny people that read t his blo g" ma y or may not know..

Team 1 of the KaosPilots in Rotterdam (that's me and my cla ss mates) are going to travel to Israel/P alestine int he end of march. There we are going to live work and lear n for three months.

Wednes day, A pril 22, 200 9

Since I was like.. 16 , I've ha d an addictio n to a Scandinav ian to bacco calle d Snus.

I've tries a couple of times to quite.. but never really put a ny effort into it.. a nd therfore it has never worked at a ll..

I now realized that I do n't have a cho ice anymore.. I HAVE to quit.. have a feeling that I sraeli custom s won't know w hat Snus is, just see it as some black pow derd thing y a nd ta ke me for a terrorist.. or something.. so.. no Snus t here.. not to mentio n the mo ney I will be able to save.... MUC HO!!

told s hort, it was a boring place, very fun to try float aro und in the water.. DAM how muc h salt.. felt like some bo dy was ra ping my eye w hen I g ot just a little dro p of the sa lty water on it.. but, for a s pa v acation, do ubt you can find a muc h better place.. QU E chill j ust to ly and float aro und t here...

can't get this quote out of my head..."here is a tip; Don't pat a burning dog " know where its from? =) !!!! !!! !!! !!!!

R R R RRR ever used time to think about how muc h easier life is whe n yo u have a was hing machine?

RRR I'm really happy right now, I 'm getting my stuff nice and clean now, but.. que stress!

RRR Just noticed that I still have some stuff hang ing and drying in the s un in Tsila 's (tha nk yo u =>) garden. I pic ked up a s hirt from drycleaning yesterday, a nd I have a loa d of clot hes as a la undry service here around t he street.. what a mess.. what an eas y a nd comfortable life I wo uld live with such lux ury as a place to ha ng wet clothing to dry, or a shower wit h RRR icecold water that I could use w henever I want..

RR and I'm back RRR fun to realize how muc h I ta ke stuff like that for gra nted..

RRRR RR if you ha ppe n to be in t he area and can't find me at the hub or in the ma ny streets just walking aro und, look for me at "t he little prince" my new favorite place in t he world for sitting , loo king smart, t hinking stupid. que fanta stico!

RRR RRRR ps. check out a bra nd called s anük.. s uper sweet sandals, I'm in love R http://www. sanuk.com/ RRR as they say , smile, pas s it o n allrig ht...

RRR So I've been really ba d at updating here for a while....

RRRR =)=)=)=) lets just say t hat I've been st uck in the v ally of dar k..

RR still looking a bit for the right path to reach t he lig ht.. BUT, on Satur day RRR well, on Sat urday I ha ve no clue as to w hat is ha ppening... but, on Frida y, then I'm leav ing for Israel, a nd t hat... t hat my friends s ho uld be rather nice R RR looking forwar d to it.. MUCHO! RRRRRRR R know of anything s uuper im portant that I s hould remember to fix before I leave?

R Sunday, A pril 26 , 2009 R let me know fo s how!

RRR R -ragRRR RRR RRR RR Sundayism ondays incefriday issat urda ybutwhe nist hedayoff?

RR RR RR RR Monda y, March 23, 2009 RR RR RR So.. g uess t he title actually told what I ha d to s ay...

RR I just can't get used to this waking up early o n a s unday, a nd t hen starting to wor k.. I feel punis hed by hig her powers w hen everyone at home is chilling out, hav ing a nice day off, a nd I'm j ust starting my new a nd lo ng week..

RR had a great day in t he sun yesterday , but I'm use d to 2day weekends, hardy ha d a day off since I g ot here.. not s ure what I w ould do if I did have o ne, but, just lying o n the beach, reflecting, s ounds nice to me..

RR RR creativity hoping to find o ut whe n I ca n take a little time just for small trips in t he villages clo se to Tel Av iv.. have to see something a part from this city..

RR RR still think it is strange also how t he day starts when it gets dar k.. so shabbat/s abbath start on friday, everything close d.. a nd lasts untill satur day nig ht.. basically, the o ne day yo u mig ht have time to do s omething, everything is closed. . so yo u ca n't do it... stra ngé..

RR RR peace be with y ou friend or ra ndom person reading this blog.

R R R is it a myt h? or is it real...? isn't it just w hen yo u see something from a different po int of v iew tha n others?

R RR RRR RRRR Wednes day, A pril 29, 200 9 RRR RR RR Thursday, March 26, 2009 R R

So, now I am on purpose forcing myself thro ug h a pro gram of cutting dow n, in ot her words, not cutting it o ut.. but trying in a propper way to cut down on t he addictio n before I cut it out.. let just say I understand now w hy they say that it's harder to sto p ith Snus tha n heroin.. my bo dy is shaking, and s ick a nd I feel like crap..

drycleaning

So.. if a ny bo dy has the urge to feel sorry for me.. or has some great tips o n stuff to do in Israel or ways of getting funding to help wit h projects or flig hts or hous ing there... please do let me know =)

Indipe nde nce day part 1.

RRR R R R R RRR

been up a ll nig ht.. packing.. clea ning.. getting picked up by a cab in like... 5min.. off to Israel today!! will try to keep updating as m uch as po ssible depending o n internet acces when I'm t here.. so.. stay tuned!

Israel is ha ppy to have a birthday party, a nd everyone is inv ited (well, not the Ara bs i g uess..).

In my search for w hats it like to live, work, learn in Tel Aviv, I had been really loo king forward to t his day , sitting o n my 7t h floor roof, I kind of get a goo d feeling of whats ha ppe ning in the streets around. I was g oing to write a lo ng text about this day, w hat it feels like, smells like, lo oks like.. but I 've been to ld, t hat nothing ha ppe ns. a part from the fact that everybody wakes up hungover, goes to the beach or a park, and has a BBQ. So, off for the rest of the day, to walk the streets, and hopefully find something different.. stay tune d..

Sunday, March 2 9, 2009

RRRR RRRR R R R R

RRR

Israel 1.0

So.... I 'm in Israel I gues s...

Wednes day, A pril 29, 200 9

RR

Indipe nde nce day part 2.

R RRR

woke up really early on friday mor ning.. or rather, never fell as leep, was up all night, w atching old kungf u movies to keep myself aw ake.. long boring pla ne... came into a la nding.. everybo dy started cla pping whe n they realized t hey ha d s urvive d.. o dd..

Israel.. flat la nd, lots of s hrubs.. loo k a bit like the desert in a spag hetti western..

I'm liv ing on a crap couc h in a g hetto.. the peo ple are nice there thoug h.. haven't got a pho ne card yet... had lots of go od foo d, a nd am really really loo king forward to ha ving more.. there are gangs of cats roaming the streets.. dogs t hat are crazy.. met one yesterday that s na ppe d into one of t he guy s' arm, a nd m ade a lasting im pressio n o n the face of anot her... and the Dog is still alive.. crazy! at home we would put t his m ut to sleep 5min after the first attack.. right?!

RR Well.. w hat a bummer..

I was really ho ping to fins something that s urprized me. a s I often do in this city.. but a las.. t his day has been really boring.. almost no one in t he streets.. and everybo dy almost was do ing bbq... couldn't really find a nything specia l ha ppening a part from an a irshow this morning.. . wouldn't think I had to plan ahea d for getting in o n celebrating a n indipe nde nce day.. ah well.. guess I learne d that at lea st today t hen...

looking forwar d to la nding here in a pro pper way.. so far, I do n't feel I've seen a nyt hing a part from the ghetto... the creative industries I'm hunting for are pro ba bly hidde n in a bit more middle clas s areas... so , ha ve to find them so on. but now.. to t he beach to loo k at the waves a bit.. still abit too cold to go for a sw im.. laters

Sunday, A pril 5, 2009

Israel take 2..

Tues day, May 5, 200 9

working together...

I'm us ing more and more time and mental powers to try and dig into t he secrets and poss ible anwers of the question: how do we work together, even if we are not in the same place? it's a to ugh cooc kie.. but really interesting.. what are your v iewpoints? leave a comment or send a mail! =) -rag-

Still t he same take.. but second week I g uess...... some things that have ma de me smile the last week.. sitting o n a bus, yo ung girl with desig ner sung lasses, army uniform, pa nts halfway dow n her ass, a nd her gun pointing in every direction. . and t he other pas sengers not even loo king twice at her.. odd that people are so use d to see weapo ns aro und t hem..

Satur days.. Everything is s uppose d to be closed here on sat urday s.. "on t he 7th day he rested" as it say s in the bible.. however, Tel Aviv is know n a s a bubble..alway s find s ome small sandwic h s ho ps o pen, 24 ho ur s hops, bus ses start driving a gain at 17:00 . .. don't really get the po int of it yet.. but, I'm s ure I will..

Wednes day, Ma y 13, 20 09

This Saturday we spe nt the entire day (from 3 to 6 or 7 if yo ur go nna be difficult...) at the beac h.. fanta stic to know that when it's getting all eastery at home, I ca n ly o n t he beach a nd get burned... it is niiice, really helps me chill o ut abit!

I.. was go ing to wright s omething funny .. do n't remember what it was... ah well.. maybe it'll s how up some other time.. gonna try and put up some pictures soo n, found a crazy ho use wit h vacume clea ners strapped in the a ir all around it... strangé...

holy stuff..., yea h

RRR

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Ragnar Outpost Tel Aviv Individual Learning

The I in Team

During most of the time in Jalqamus I was not happy with myself and could not see my role and therefore my purpose within the team. By getting stuck in a negative thinking spiral and by not communicating this, I was unable to contribute in any way. It's hard to realize that I'm blaming things to the team as a separate entity while I refuse to see myself as being part of that same entity.

Working with Ziv Spektor in Mitzpe Ramon, and having a metaphorical mirror slammed right in my face, made me realize that I am not taking advantage of being part of a team. Instead I am doing the opposite and using the threat of being in a team by taking neither initiative, responsibility, nor ownership over the things that we are doing. It feels as if I have been hiding behind the rest of the team.

This cannot be the purpose of such a team setting. I think the biggest challenge for team learning lies within creating an environment where people will flourish by explicitly being part of a team. By challenging each other's thinking, and using everyone in the room as an active resource.

Thinking of the moments that I have done so, makes me realize that the biggest part of my learning and growth comes from being part of this team. The clichĂŠ of hating in others what I hate about myself is still very much true. It feels good closing this chapter after being together for two years. I am thankful for what this team has given me. And I just hope that what I've tried to give has been received as well.

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Bert Outpost Israel/OPT Team

Internal Community Building

While my team was working on community building, I started the same process on a very different level after leaving Jalqamus after only a week. It had already been said that community building starts with the relation. If you don!t have a relation, there is no community (to build).

But before you start a relation with someone else, you start with the relationship with yourself. This was an interesting point for me and my sick body.

After having many tests and talks in the hospital in Tel Aviv, I heard there was something wrong with my MCV, MCH, MCHC, Bilirubin and Ferritin.

I had no clue. I only knew that I was very tired and had a lot of pain. The news that there could be an infection or internal bleedings, didn!t say much to me either. I felt very disconnected to all these medical announcements.

Thanks to coach Tsila and healer Eduardo I could start to explore these pains and the influence they had in my body.

In those weeks I learned a lot about where my pains came from and how my immune system had apparently left me alone after some months, -years- of ignoring its signals.

Slowly I started to learn how to listen to my own body, the messages it was trying to send me and the many things (work, art, school, family) that are related to that. I also started to play violin again, after not having played for years.

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Carianne Outpost Body and Soul Community Building

I had already had long talks with a friend, Itay Talgam (the conductor that the Team had also worked with on “leadership”), about working with music again, since I was missing it so much.

So instead of medication, my own instrument was healing the communication between my head and stomach. Difficult, hard to believe, but it worked amazingly.

Now, weeks later, the puzzle "Life of Carianne, 1000 pieces! slowly becomes clear to me. I!ve found the corner pieces and have placed a big part of all the edges. The next challenge is to keep on searching until I collect the right colours and shapes of all my pieces to place them all together.

Will it also work like this with larger communities? Listen to every element of it, until every part is ready to play its role in full potential? And, by that, creating a platform, from where everybody can flourish? New questions to work with.

I hope I will never stop exploring…

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Inga Outpost Israel & Palestine Individual Learning

The Conflict(s) Before arriving in Israel, most of my mental image of the situation was created out of information I had received via national news streams. I!ve also seen a documentary where Joris Luyendijk tells about news, how it travels and how it appears on our televisions. It told me the same thing that I got out of one of his books, in which he tells about his time as a reporter in the Middle East; namely that there is always more to a story. In Israel I came across it again.

Already on the second day we got the clarifying statement from our Israeli coach Tsila: “Let me explain you something important. There is no such thing, as THE conflict�.

When I heard about the different conflicts that are behind the collective news headline, "the war between Israel and Palestine!, I started to realize the complexity of the situation and why it!s so hard to create peace here. Unfortunately it!s impossible to give a complete picture with my description of the conflict(s), I can only tell about some of the points, that I believe play an important role. There is so much history behind opinions and statements, so many different mindsets and interests, such a mixture of international cultures and backgrounds. And on top of that, it all happens on probably the most holy place on our planet, where the three biggest religions come together and create a kind of epicenter. I!ll try to give an impression.

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On the Israeli side you have two main streams. One is the Jewish people that came from (Eastern) Europe and the other group came from North Africa. Throughout the history of the last sixty years, there has been a lot of conflict between them. Who are the real Jewish people that represent this new country. I heard a story of an eighty years old Jewish woman who was in Auschwitz. She told that the most difficult time for her was the period after that, when she came to Israel and "her own! people didn!t want to hear the cruelties she went through, because they were busy with building a young, new, healthy, and proud nation.

On the Arab side you have the ones who came from North Africa, the ones who came from the direction of Iran and the ones who have their roots here. Nowadays there is another group of Israeli-Arabs, who life in the part of the country that is under Israeli control, but they are also Arab and often Muslim.

Between these groups there is also a lot of conflict and discussion on how to interact with the Jewish people and how much they make them suffer. What is allowed for an Arab person and who has right to what land. The two biggest political parties in Palestine, Fatah and Hamas, are fighting a brutal war to determine who should lead the Palestinians to a rightful future. Our translator Ala!Abu told me how difficult it is for people to vote. He said that it was a choice between Fatah, who is corrupted to the bone and although relatively peaceful hardly does anything concrete other than talking and filling their own pockets. Or you can chose for Hamas, who is extreme in her opinion and actions, but they at least do something. Also the fact that they support the poorest people generates a lot of sympathy among people.

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And then there is the influence of Christianity. They are connected to the holy places from the bible. This group also has a big (former) Arab part. In our time in Bethlehem and Ramallah we could see many Arab-Christians and signs of Christianity on buildings and rooftops. It feels that this group is the most quiet one of the three.

All these stories sometimes gave me the feeling that almost everybody was in some kind of war or conflict with somebody, which made me wonder how it could have come to this point.

I can!t escape the thought that it!s a lose-lose-lose situation, where people are fighting each other over. That raises the question in me; how can people live like this and when will it be enough?

I reminds me of the feeling I often have when I!m in a big football stadium, with 40.000 different people. They all have the same overall goal and role, but very diverse ways of expressing themselves. Nowadays we have all kind of protection systems that you have to pass and take into consideration, before you can enter a stadium. All to increase the level of safety for the people inside and to control the aggression of some of the "supporters!. This group is still the same size, if not bigger now, than it was without all the safety precautions. Their behavior has become more aggressive, violent and less tolerant. It seems that the more the authorities try to get a grip on the situation, the more resistance it gives. I hope that one day the 37.000 non-hooligans find a way to stand up and say; we don!t want it any longer, it has been enough.

But it!s hard to imagine how a "peaceful and loving! father with his little son for instance, can convince a "bold and aggressive! hooligan to change his ways. Although it!s this hard, I strongly believe that it!s the only way that can work; take initiative to listen to each other, so the other side doesn!t have to make it!s point in another way.

We have been in contact with a lot of different people, with different opinions. We realized that a lot of them could be considered "leftwing! minded and people that were open for change. Nevertheless the overall impression I got out of the conversations, is that most people want nothing else than peace, so they can start a "normal! life. I was told that about 70% of the people living in Israel or Palestine support the focus on peace. This becomes a bit of a sad fact, when you see how the political situation is moving more and more to the "right-wing!. In my opinion it is related to the level of fear that lives among the people. As long as they fear for their life, they will probably vote for the one who can provide the best plan for safety and since the different governments roulade every 2/3 years, the focus is on short-term actions and strategies.

So, do I think that there is hope for a peaceful future, here in the Middle East? I think and strongly believe, that peace can come anywhere and anytime. It was a returning conclusion during the Global Village Square meeting we had in hotel Everest. It will take time, effort, persistence and faith, but when people start to meet each other again and they start sharing and building a relation with one another, nothing else than peace can come. Because that way we find out that we are all human.

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Robin June Middle East The Conflict

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Selma June Online Team

“If you are poor, hungry or vegetarian but still want to live a normal life, then you eat lentils.�

Joris Martens

Joris' World Famous Everywhere-you-want-to-go Soup TEXT

This is simple, quick and nutritious. I use organic veggies which doesn't cost much extra and are good for your karma. Sai baba once said that you have more chance to become a president if you eat lentils. If you eat meat you probably end up as a dog or a rat, if you are lucky. The ones that eat chicken of course don't have to ask. It is too obvious what they will become.

Lentils are also great to make in great quantities, when you are in Palestine or when you are lonely and you invited many friends for dinner. In the improbable case those 'friends' are KaosPilots, you have to do the shopping, the cooking and the cleaning, so first priority is to cut down the costs. Here we go:

This will (probably) be enough for 10 people: 3 big onions, chopped 6 large potatoes, diced 500g of lentils 4L of vegetable stock and water to add some chopped tomatoes without skin/seeds other veggies you like: for example celery, pastinaak, carrot chopped chili's to taste 10 crushed garlic cloves

Suggestions for herbs: cumin ginger turmeric cardamom black pepper some leaves like curry/bay leaves garam masala to finish salt

1. take 2 cups of oil and fry the cumin seeds, the crushed garlic and the chili in a big soup pan 2. put the onion and fry them until shiny and lovely 3. fry the potato, make sure you stir so you don't burn the garlic 4. after 10min put the chopped tomatoes and other veggies 5. put the stock and the lentils, lower the fire when cooking (if you like broken lentils add salt, otherwise put salt in the very end) 6. put the ginger, pepper, cardamom and the leaves with it 7. add enough water and simmer for 20-30 minutes (attention, the lentils will blow up without conflict mediation) 8. take out the leaves, put in the garam masala 9. decorate with fresh herbs like coriander or parsley 10. make love!

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Joris Dinner-time Kitchen Cuisine

Personal Learning When I look back over the entire outpost period and try to point out where I experienced the most personal development, I would say that my time in the West Bank/Jalqamus brought me the most.

During that period we had our lectures about Otto Scharmer"s Theory U, which Joris facilitated for us.

It gave me a lot of clarity, on the way we interact with each other and ourselves. I have the feeling that our stay in Jalqamus brought us in a very good state of being, to learn and explore the theory.

By being in a new and totally different culture, you become very humble in your approach to others. The way of talking in a group that we experienced in Jalqamus, was surprising and confusing. The hierarchy you notice makes it difficult to see the different opinions within a “By being in a group and it takes a lot of time subtle questioning to get the new and totally and other side to open up towards different culture, you. During our project it you become very became clear that we had to change our project humble in your radically plan, which we created up front. approach to It already contained the function others,� that the people which we worked with, would bring the content.

But this was part of a plan created with a European mindset, not an open one. Although we explained as clearly as we

could that we were not related to any financial fund, it still took two weeks before this was clear for the town chief. Especially what else we could bring or do if we didn"t had financial means, took a long time and required a lot of effort. Only by clarifying over and over what we could and couldn"t do, we build up a relation with them were we could start thinking / imagining what the truly wanted for the future and what was needed for it.

To fully let go is probably the most scary thing to do. We entered a period of full uncertainty where everything could happen. The men"s group was almost a lucky lottery, where sometimes we had a great conversation and ended with an enthusiastic and motivated group and on the next meeting nobody came. The level of optimism can differentiate constantly. I think the theory proofed to be right, that if you

connect with your heart, the right thing will come by itself. I even had the feeling that it was the best way to “survive” in a new culture. It is beautiful to see that the first persons I could connect to in the same matter, were the local children.

In the last meeting we had with the men"s group, we explained that we were not sad or disappointed in the group for not showing up on a lot of meetings. We didn"t come to force something upon them. If this was the best they could give, than it was enough for now. Most of the men there reacted to that, by stating that they realized by now that it was their loss and that they would engage easier to the next group that would come to work with them. The letter that the head of the school read out to us in the end of our final meeting, made me realize that I have to be patient with my conclusions on how successful a project is going and how much impact you have with it.

In general, having a mental/spiritual/emotional coach is a good thing to have when you make a journey like ours. Having Tsila as that coach is something you can only hope for. I love her self-proclaimed status as “white witch”. It helped me in getting more meaning for myself out of our time here by being questioned in a new and unexpected way. She knows how to trigger me, in thinking about my life and the choices I make in it.

What is clear for me as well, is that it takes my continuous devotion and attention to use and implement all the things I

have learned during these three months. Being in a team, which “To fully let go depends on each other"s actions is probably the and decisions. The way I interact most scary with people, how I listen and thing to do.” speak, how I handle respect to another person and to myself.

What I want to do with my life and how I want to do that. This will also be the main challenge when I get back to my life in Holland. I have to find a way, how to integrate my personal learning"s in the old context, without having them loose value.

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Robin Spring !09 Middle East Individual Learning

My Gratitudes

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Alex June Har Amasa Team

TITLE

The moment I felt closest to the entire team was at our desert quest. I noticed the nice feeling already during the first days. After coming back from our solo and much time to think about the last three months together Tsila proposed that we should keep the feeling we had together for a ceremonial evening. During the ceremony we were to give each other presents of gratitude.

How we would do this was entirely up to us. I decided to sit down and think about what I was feeling thankful for in the team. I found moments were I felt a really good connection with everybody, hidden away in my memories, and started to write them down.

When the ceremony began, plans had changed and I was very upset about it at first. I had such a magic afternoon, writing the presents and reliving happy memories and now I couldn't finish the process. The ceremony turned out to be quite organic and I decided to take space to give my presents. Here they are:

Olivier, I want to thank you for working on yourself during this outpost.

You have proven to be a great asset to the team, while being a lot more positive about the things around you.

Jord, I am grateful that you have found ways of expressing yourself in the team. Your personal leadership has evolved in a great way over the last 4 months. Your insights have been full of sincerity and wisdom.

Bert, Thank you for the talk we had at Bustaan Qaraaqa. It really helped me to understand the inner process you have been going through, but also my own.

Soe, It really felt good re-connecting with you during our Grand Prix projects. By letting me into your process it was easier for me to understand my own. The talk we had, although by telephone, felt honest and sincere. For this I thank you.

Robin, I really appreciate the time we spent together in the South Sinai. It felt like having alone time together and at that point it was invaluable to me.

Guus, Over the last two years, but especially during the outpost you have been a great “buddy”. You have really taken the role seriously and for this I am grateful. I appreciate the way we both seem to know when to take and give space to the other and you really helped me in getting over my Grand Prix disappointment.

Joris, I hold much respect and gratitude for your facilitation on the U-theory. You showed me that you have matured a great deal in that role. It felt as if you were more flexible and patient with the group and the designed process was easy to flow with.

For Tsila I could not find the words to thank her for all of her help and support, so I made her a drawing of herself.

Inga, I want to salute you for all your work on this outpost. You have taken many roles upon your shoulders without giving any of them less than 100%. You are an inspiration to me and for this you earn my respect and gratitude.

Selma, I want to give you this present of gratitude for being more patient with me and the team, for being less goal-oriented and devoting your attention to the process. I believe this will be a great added value in your already excellent leadership skills.

Ragnar, You really deserve my gratitude for your statement, about inner emptiness, yesterday. I felt that you were being completely honest to us, but most importantly to yourself. I never bought the “mister happy” act so I am really happy you are finally taking this journey. I wish you a pleasant one, my friend.

Pieter, I want to compliment you on the way you have grown as a coach for this team and myself. I really appreciate that I got the time I needed to bounce back from my West Bank walk. To me, you proved to be much more than just a cheerleader or a coach, but also a great friend.

Carianne, If it wasn't for your efforts, I am not sure we would be here today. Not only did you devote your time and energy to this outpost, but even your physical health. For this I am eternally grateful! I only hope you can see how big your role really was.

Ursel, I want to express my gratitude to you. Although I worked with you during the idea phase of the Dizengof project my motivation was for the money and not from my heart. You felt this and although it was hard for you, you helped me a great deal. By letting me go my own way.

Peter, I want to tell you that I really appreciate you coming here. I know it was a big step for you, but I now feel very connected with you again. I believe that you did a great job these last few months, working on the next step for our school, by involving us in the process and once again reaching out to us. I want you to know that you have my support, respect and deep thanks.

Martin, Thank you for joining our outpost and bringing your energy back to our team.

Your facilitation over the last few days showed me a side of you I have been waiting to experience.

I now understand why you must leave us, because I believe you have found your place in guiding and connecting others to Ga誰a, our mother earth.

Nature, I want to give you my thanks for opening your heart to me and my friends, giving us insights and keeping us safe. You were present in all of us as we were present in you. This shows me that we need each other for the coming future.

U-Theory Seeing, experiencing and participating in the workshop of Joris in Jalqamus about the U-Theory made me aware of the great possibilities of both the theory and Joris.

Thanx! (I did not have a picture of the workshop, but this one says it for me)

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Pieter Outpost Israel & Palestine Team

On Cuisine HUMMUS WITH ROASTED JALAPENO 1 can chickpeas/garbanzo beans 2 tablespoons tahini (sesame butter) 2 tablespoons plain yogurt 2 garlic cloves 2 tablespoons olive oil lemon juice (half a lemon) 1 jalapeno pepper (fresh) or 2 for hot hummus salt and pepper to taste Split the jalapeno down the middle and discard the seeds unless you want to make HOT hummus. Wash your fingers and hands well after handling the hot peppers and keep them away from lips/eyes for the remainder of the day (or use rubber gloves).

Roast (optional) the jalapeno on your gas grill or burner.

To roast, place peppers on the grill at 350F for 4-5 minutes per side. (Or peppers may be used as-is).

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend for a couple minutes until smooth.

One jalapeno makes a mild hummus dip, go for two if you like it somewhat hot.

This Hummus is easy to make, costs very little, and is so much better than store-bought. Stores well in refrigerator. Recipe can be doubled.

Submitted by: Dave Mosley

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Ragnar Life Tel Aviv Cuisine

Popeye has Spinach; I have discovered Humus (and I have been told that yes, although most people spell humus with two m!s, there is no real rule for how to spell words such as this in English as they are words that come from Arabic and Hebrew, so, I am allowed to go against the stream) Thank you Mr. Mosley for letting me download your recipes. It was very nice of you, and practical for me (all the really good humus makers keep their recipes a secret).

On Conflict When we prepared to travel to the Middle East, there was some talk about a conflict between Israel and Palestine, Jews and Arabs.

Wow, amazing after such a time to look back, realize the transformation you have gone through, it is now a given for me that everybody has a different point of view.

I met this Palestinian Israeli who was the owner of this nice little humus restaurant just outside of the old city in Jerusalem, he must have been in Hamas, he was telling me and a friend all these stories about how he managed to trick the government. When my friend (an American Jew) ran to the bathroom this guy leans over to me and tells me “your friend is nice, but a bit stupid, there is only one solution to this conflict, and believe me, we will win”.

I met this American kid, just moved to Israel a couple of years ago, he used his time hanging at bars, waiting for his paperwork to get in order so he could join the Israeli army. “Dam it dude, I just want my fucking sniper rifle already so I can kill some fucking Arabs”.

You have the extremes, and then you have everything in between.

But, when you think about it, is it really so hard to understand, should I not have guessed that before I came, that everybody thinks differently? Don!t I know that lots of people aren!t as enthusiastic as I am about chocolate pudding, that some people like it a bit, and some people hate it, and some people like it, but only if they get custard on top.

The point of the story is, remember that even if you would never think Name:custard Ragnar about (I personally don!t need it, but seldom say no to it), Time: Outpost somebody else might.

Location: Israel Topic: Conflict

A gift to my teammates Before starting, I have to get ride of my judge. I have to remember what is important.

I guess my challenge is to make constructive and "understandable" comments.

I would like first of all offer to myself some time. I am 25; ok soon 26 (5 months). If I look backward, it has been already a long journey, full of learnings.

Release the pressure, Olivier. Enjoy this moment, postpone the struggle and receive my present.

Jord Thank you for being you. For these almost tangible supports you provide me.

Your warm looks and smiles.

And some hugs like in Norway. Thank you also for opening. Could you receive a radio-transistor to connect to the peaceful wavelength of your heart and mind.

Tsila What to give? A huge gratitude. If any use, I can write recommendations for a future boss... You have done a wonderful job/work. I feel you full of passion, love, caring and healing good energies. Thank you.

Martin The wise man on his way.

Thank you for starting this adventure with Peter. For gathering the pilots in Sweden. And for so many deep comments, advises you spread. I received them as seeds.

In my imaginary world I give you a broken compass cause I believe you have the right one in your heart. So just to remind you to trust and follow your heart.

Pieter I give you some Backlava.

Thank you for your stories, for being a such different

"teacher". It is so great to have you with us. I love/hate your uncon–ventional nonsense of timing. I guess sometimes you fly in your own world and when I see your blue eyes shining I would like to be there with you.

Bert Thank you for the great walk and talk back from Tel Aviv beach to the Hub. Thank you for your enthusiasm and for your service to the team. I offer you more candies and lollipops for your playful world.

Ragnar Thank you for you consistent support, like last evening, hosting the Hub and in so many other occasions. Thank you for trusting the team and diving with us into your quest.

May a feather and some parchment accompany you.

Selma Thank you for your caring, for our lovely conversation last morning. Thank you for trying to welcome and host me in Mitzpe Ramon although you were sick. You are a great organiser and a wonderful leader. Receive an imaginary necklace and crone for you beautiful princess who decided to serve people.

Joris Receive an old fashion pipe. I trust you will during your journey find the right wild herbs. Thank you for your wisdom and that caring attitude towards people struggling. I also admire you striving on a daily base for an eco-friendly living style.

Guus For all these breakfasts you invite me. For your message from Jerusalem. I imagine for you a typewriter. I can see you travelling with Lieke and writing novels and articles

about your experiences. I believe also that: “You are ready Guus, just do it, go for it.�

Alex What better than a teleportation machine. You just think about some thing and when you open the machine the object is in it. I believe you will make good use of it. I envy your multi management ability. I see a professional way of working and a great talent for writing.

Robin Let's dream about an island. It is sunny and sandy... A beautiful place where you, wise and peaceful guru would promote unity. You often show your love, caring and good intentions. Thank you Soad Thank you for the Sushi's and the "Austrian" meal. Thank you for the part of me you reflect. Being with you is a great opportunity to learn.

I would like to offer you a water pipe and spend evenings talking.

Inga Sunshine from Iceland. Thank you for your joy of living, for playing joyful music. Thank you for your commitment to the team. Could I offer you a remedy for you to not suffer anymore from others selfishness?

Ursel Thank you for our ongoing friendship for these last two years. Your wisdom and your tenderness have been more than appreciated. I enjoy our conversation and dinners.

Could I find you a flying carpet to help you in your American project.

Carianne Thank for the beauty you reflect to me. You are a great person and your eyes shine generosity. I enjoy your company. Could benefit from one week of thermal care.

Cause the best gift I see for you at the moment is time for yourself.

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Olivier June Har Amasa Gratitude

Personal Learning

Regarding processes with the women!s group, Soe rocks. She has a really good connection to these women. She has a lot of knowledge about women like these, it is easier for her to get into their shoes. I often loose them when I talk to them. I feel, to be honest again, a bit jealous and very incompetent and at the same time I see that this is what inhibits me to learn. It even hinders the process, our process as a team of facilitators. Of course I want to learn, but I also want that we do a good job. We had a very nice talk with all the girls about this afterwards in our kitchen and Soe expressed a wish that she has since the beginning of KP: that we all can do what we are good at and learn from each other. I share this wish. Talking about it helped me deal with my jealousy and feeling of incompetence, because it is of course not nice to admit to oneself that one is not where one wants to be. But maybe I will get there, one day. For now I am fine to observe a lot and learn from this. Going in there already just brings me down, I am not prepared enough, I will only gain failure. Better wait a little and later try again.

Ah, there is still some voice in me speaking “but if you are not good at this you are no good at all�. Yes, dear voice, I hear you, but just imagine that you were just as good, also without being able to do this. You are good no matter what. Ha, feels much better already.

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Ursel Outpost Jalqamus Individual Learning

Rebus Fill in the rebus, to get a Jewish statement/quote we heard during a Jewish holiday dinner.

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Robin Passover Israel Culture

Guus.

From an explicit “I don't want to go on a Outpost now” towards a great personaldeveloping “good busy in Israel/Palestine” learning experience. Chapeau!

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Pieter Outpost Jalqamus Team

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Soe Outpost Israel/OPT Conflict

Digesting Israeli Wonders For some reason I always remember the places I've been to according to the things I ate. This outpost will be remembered as a bit of a blur. In general I have eaten excellent food over the past three months, but everywhere I went there has been egg.

I don't think I ever ate so many eggs as I have during my stay in the Holy Land.

Apparently when you slightly crush the shell of a hardboiled egg, and then boil it for several minutes in coffee, it gets a marble-like colour. Yes, Israeli's are completely bonkers when it comes to eggs. Egg in soup, egg on pizza, egg on Humus, and egg on pita.

Pita! Another wonder from the middle-eastern cuisine.

The thing with pita is that if you eat white bread for a couple of weeks in a row, you and up with a brick in your stomach and some severe constipation. So in everyone's life there comes a point of being tired of pita. But what to do with all that pita that is left over?

Well, once you kick the habit, the bowel movement starts to pick up again, and this is where pita comes in handy again. But be aware, they are a bit hard to flush down in one go.

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Bert Outpost Israel & Palestine Cusine

Star I am lying on a freaking thin mattress in nature looking at a beautiful sky. I think about the weird spider that I saw on my way here, wait a minute, o fuck it´s a yellow scorpion, walking around with some kind of prey in its claws. Didn!t somebody say they were very dangerous? But now I am lying down at more than 200 meters from that spiderthing so I should be cool. There is this very bright star looking right back at me. It!s really, really bright and I think to myself how nice it is to be in nature. The smallness of the human being that I am, compared to that shiny star right above me. There must be millions of people who saw this beautiful creation over the ages.

HONK HONK! A big truck driving by down in the valley. I can see it drive by from the oasis of light which is some kind of village. This also makes me question the beautiful bright star and as I look up I see it is moving. I was admiring an airplane‌ ..

I!m all up for coming to my senses by being in nature, but nature should not take the piss out of me!

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Guus June Har Amasa Individual Learning

Entrepreneurship

A word that ends with –ship that tells of some sort of skill.

Not being the only place in the world where it can be experienced. I am still surprised by the asshole rate of taxi drivers some times. Finding ways to make an extra buck, taxi drivers here always ask if you wish to use the meter (as the law says that the taxi driver has to) or if you would like a price. These “prices” are usually rather steep, so watch out, but, sometimes, the drivers are so greedy that they just don!t want to give money to their boss even, so then they can even give you a good price.

The worst thing I experienced was when I was traveling to the airport; I had bags with me, and was stressed since I was late. I waved down a cab, put my things in the trunk, asked the driver to take me to the train station. This is only a 10min walk, so I was expecting to pay... -well, not a lot. The guy however wanted me to give him double that. His reasoning being that I had luggage. I got as outraged as only a Viking/Scotsman can. “Sneaky bastard!” So I shouted at him, got out of the cab and tried to find a new one. Sure enough, a new one came within 4min, I got to where I wanted, and paid a decent price. But, you just have to admire the fact that people really are trying to make some money for themselves. Cheating, stealing, lying and all sorts of things that would come up on Moses! most wanted (the Ten Commandments), are not too unusual for small time people trying to make it by themselves.

Strange, in this the holy land though.

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Ragnar Outpost Tel Aviv Entrepreneur -ship

Tsi Without Tsila I would not have survived this adventure. Many many thanx and a big hug for everything she did for the team and for me!

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Pieter 2009 Israel Friendship

I feel that I have grown over the past three months. It's hard to say in what way exactly, and maybe that's not the point. I feel different. I feel more. I feel less numb. Something inside me opened up again, like I had before in my life and gotten so much energy out of it. I hope for now that I can sustain this energy.

I like it.

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Bert Now Head Personal Learning

Outpost as a gateway drug

Teamness

Together everyone achieves more This journey was a hard one for me and also for the team. We all had different visions, ideas and approaches. This is difficult by itself but being in a situation where the surroundings constantly demand a political statement doesn!t make it easier. The most valuable thing I learned from the team is the being honest and open about your feelings, situation and intentions and the meaning of clarity for others.

It allows to see more possibilities for difficulties one couldn!t see before.

Conflict The conflict in the Middle East isn!t as clear cut as the media portrays.

What I learned “ Bad people live everywhere and right next to them good ones!�

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Soe Outpost Middle East Conflict & Team

The Conflict(s)

At the start of the outpost there was the general idea that there where 2 sides in the conflict(s) here. We stated in our frames that we wanted to work with “both� sides of the conflict and as stating this as a subject to write about, shows that we saw at least a few more connected to this area. In many, many ways I was (again) confronted with the conflict(s) which this part of the earth is facing, with and without us being there. There is no chronological order in the picture!s, so it does not reflect the timeline we went through (conflicting?) but the picture to the right shows a poster at the wall at the Freedom Theater in Jenin. We saw a great movie there, Arna!s children, which shows that the people, despite the conflict, are still persistent in fighting for their freedom.

Through the means of theater they find their way of expressing their side of the conflict. The other picture is a photo which reflects for me the conflict between KPI and KPNL which went through the whole outpost as a given and got less and less attention when time went by.

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Pieter 15th of June Tel Aviv Conflict

After the movie in Jenin we went to the grave-yard where the people who where main characters in the movie were buried.

One could almost feel the times of the Battle of Jenin there and it felt to me like a religious place.

This picture is about the conflict in Jalqamus, the West Bank, between us and the men!s group. The conflict showed in a great letter we got the last day, after “working” with them for four weeks. It showed that we had to “fight” against the victim feeling and also the idea that the Israeli occupation has to be ended before they are able to do something. In this workshop I deeply felt that there is a long way to go and that, when the two states solution will be there, there will be a conflict with the “how to do it, when and who is going to do it” issue. And it shows the conflict between getting help from the EU in the form of money and getting help by cocreating a different future together.

“Unaware” of the conflict(?), we played the Samurai game with the children of Jalqamus. As an energizer we made use of a game, which in the core is based on attacking and defending. An “act of violence?” or just fun? I think one can choose for him/herself…

While walking through Jalqamus, and any other city in the West Bank, you see all kind of posters of martyrs for the good cause. This shows the conflict and also keeps it on a daily base alive in the memories of everybody who sees them.

The “conflict” between the vegetarians and the non-vegetarians in the team was an issue.

Firstly because of the money paid for communal food and secondly, for me, when buying 8 chickens in Jenin and seeing them being slaughtered, with Selma, as an exvegetarian, standing next to the (still) alive chickens.

Hotel Everest showed the conflict to me in a really clear way.

There where less Palestinians than Israeli!s and Internationals which was a pity. And it shows that it is hard for the Palestinian side to pick up the glove and do it. The feeling after two day!s was good because in the check out Odi said to Mohammed, out loud and clear: “Mohammed, I love you”.

For me the Workshop of Chen was one of the most impressive. He introduced himself with: “ Hi, I am Chen, a warcriminal”. He made it clear to me through his theatrical workshop and his stories that when you want, there is a solution to conflicts by “living the non-violent way” even if this leads to imprisoning.

Trauma Center in Tel Aviv after a devastating taxi drive of 5 hours out of the desert. The leg still hurts and shows the conflict between what one wants to do and what one is (physicaly) able to do.

Although, Rabin was brought in here and died, and I came out alive... ....and kicking!

Walking in the neighborhood of Hotel Everst one can see the conflict alive and kicking, in hard-concrete wall. Next to the place where the conference was held, you see the wall, stopping in the garden of the hotel. I hope it!s a sign for the future to come.

Being at the grave of Yasser Arafat gave me a religious feeling of the conflict. One sees the immense gratitude the people show to him after dying. If we would have given more attention, and with “we” I mean the human-kind involved in the conflict, during his life, how would it be now in Ramallah and the West Bank?

The same?

The conflict with Abu Musa, who did not want us to work in Jalqamus anymore.

We went to say goodbye to the people we loved and they were raged at Abu Musa. Esma stated that she would run for Major the next elections, which I consider, together with the fact we were not welcome anymore as a big success.

Would we, upfront, also have considered this as a success, or would there have been a conflict between the “Western” way of measuring success and the way we think now about success?

Working on the inner vision can be a conflict.

Where to do such an experience was also a reason for conflictive e-mails. In the end one had to deal with his/her own inner conflict. It appeared to be a great experience.

Being treated like cattle at the checkpoints whilst knowing that per day 10-15 thousand Palestinians go, illegally, over the border to Israel per day, shows another, basic, side of the conflict: fear. To frighten and to be frightened?

Being at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum, I get an insight into the ideas on which Israel is built. “Never again� is a big statement and if the status quo is the outcome of this idea, one should scratch behind one!s ear and think again of the other possibilities there are to make this great place on earth a better, more safe and less conflictual place to live.

Name: Time: Location:

European Eyes

Topic:

Bert Outpost Israel & Palestine Community Building

It's remarkable how similar it's been working with the theme of community building in Jalqamus in the West bank or in Mitzpe Ramon in the Negev desert in Israel. Corruption all around, people wishing for us to connect them to resourceful people back home, and the craving for ready made solutions instead of looking at the local resources right at hand.

Before doing community building, you need a thorough understanding of what the community looks like and how it moves. For instance what is very strong in the community in Jalqamus, and also present in Mitzpe Ramon, are the so-called Chamula's.

Chamula's are the larger and stronger families within a community that have the most influence. People in an Arabic society care so much for their own family or clan, but they couldn!t care less for public space. This is one reason why their feeling of responsibility literally stops at the threshold. The streets look like a dumpsite, yet the second cousin of the mayor has a job as a clerk at the city council. I think that it is essential for any community project to first identify the Chamula's and use that information to map out the system in order to spot where change needs to happen.

Nir Ben Gal from Adama dance company and healing place told me the following: “When people talk about the community, it feels like they don't want to solve their own problem.”

Here is a confession: I wouldn't know where to start in my own backyard. “Try doing some real community building in any of the Rotterdam neighbourhoods that would be a proper challenge!” Says the voice in the back of my head.

So am I shutting my eyes for problems around me? Am I escaping the Dutch societal problems by implementing my western ways of thinking somewhere else? And is an outsider!s perspective necessary in order to change the system?

I think there's been a great strength in being the impartial outsider. Coming to a place without any preconceptions of what should be done has opened a lot of doors for us here. So many people opened up to us, and by doing so came to their own realisations.

What I need to do now is harvest my learnings and translate them into the context of back home, implement what I've learned here for the good of my own surroundings. But first I have to find out what the Dutch equivalent of a Chamula is.

“Teamness”

Name: Picture: Time: Location: Topic:

Selma Joris Outpost Jalqamus Team

Closing down the Outpost Instead of writing a final conclusion I believe that there is no end to this learning experience. I remember a good friend of us saying, instead of checking out, we will follow out.

Our trip to Israel and Palestine has planted many seeds in and around us. They will take time to grow. We will have to take care of the soil, patiently and peacefully. We will harvest many surprises from this journey and some we don't know yet.

We can only say we took the deep dive into the Middle East with all it's chaos and complexity.

Let's not pretend we can conclude here and it's done, we can go home and all is fine. There is a lot that needs to be done before the process will start to make big changes. Before peace will be a daily experience in this part of the world.

Before discrimination and racism will stop being present in our

streets.

I want to rise up. Against violence. Against poverty. Against our insane economy. I want to shout we lack connection with this planet and that we are ruining her. I realise it is not easy; it takes stamina and courage to make a difference in this bizarre world. It doesn't necessarily have to be hard and impossible, it can be a very rewarding and joyful experience as well. After war comes peace, sometimes it stays for years, sometimes only days. There are many good reasons to celebrate life together. There are many reasons why there are still people working on peace and won't give up. They fight hard against a history that will continue to be a reason for violence and oppression. They bring the smiles on the faces of a few and they are the ones that create the first steps towards peace.

I believe that we as Westerners have a lot to contribute. First we have to throw away the television and go into the world to sense what's out there, see with our own eyes, feel with our own hands. If we continue to isolate ourselves from the reality we will not live. We simply believe the black and white the media is feeding to us, primarily for their own benefit. I we don't act, we will simply become more of a shadow of our true self, clouded by judgment, cynicism and fear. It will not be enough to live in a shiny bubble. Someday it will burst.

I believe by going into the conflict, for example traveling through the wall to Israel and Palestine, making friends on both sides we have done something small that has meaning.

We reached out to people on both sides of the wall. Of course our way has its ups and downs. The daily struggle between the individual self and the bigger Self is a test how much you can give. I ask myself everyday what this outpost can bring to others. Our adventure, a pack of privileged young westerners, craving for adventure and surfing the waves of the unknown.

Is it enough?

From my perspective there is one very unique and powerful thing what we, team 1 Rotterdam, have done the last two years. Being and working together in a circle. Being in a circle is a challenge in itself. The roles that people have in a circle changes all the time. The field changes and makes it difficult to deal with the issues that block change and progress.

This form of organization is ancient, like the tribes that lived together and gathered wisdom to make sense of the world with all her magic and surprises. Two years of being together in this circle, some people leaving and new people coming, has transformed all of us. Both individually and collectively.

We will never be the same again.

I wrote this in my diary, one year ago: “I would like to give all my energy to a cause I truly believe in. But when I start doing that, strange behavioural patterns take control. I doubt almost immediately my decision to be here. And soon doubts obscure the wisdom that is inside of me. Why doesn't it help me when I need it? I have no choice but to let go of my wishes since I cannot control the change that I want to see. I feel alone and want to give up.�

The circle has taught me how to create balance between my person and the common. Everyday again I like to believe I know how the circle works. But every time again I learn something new. It is not easy being in that circle; not knowing what it will bring me or how I will profit from it. But when I stop thinking and start listening, there's no doubt that I have improved many qualities, like taking initiative, breaking my own patterns, being able to use all my senses instead of my thoughts and ideas, listening not only to persons but also to the process in a group. And there are probably many more improvements that take time to emerge.

It is time to follow out. I have worked within a group of KaosPilots for two years, I have traveled with them, loved them, hated them, laughed my brains out, I was disappointed, I was angry. But it was always unexpected and different than I have imagined it to be. There was always something I could learn, even when it caused me suffering. I will continue to follow my own path and will always feel part of something special that we created, starting in Rochussenstraat 355A and without a clear ending. Just a new beginning.

I would like to close with expressing my gratitude for all people in Israel and Palestine who were open to receive us.

Who shared their mind, heart and will to put energy in this strange and naive group. I truly hope that all who have met us also learnt something they can use in their struggle for peace and love. And finally I want to thank my team. I owe them many insights and learning.

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Joris End Israel & Palestine Team

Relationships Housing King Producer Minuf/Rabin Academy Organic Farm Modi!in Mastermind Coach Future Center EcoOcean Democratic Kindergarten Opticer & friend Housing Dizzengof Halle University Halle University Streusel Cafe Director of Oleh Records and Israel Artist agency Patent Lawyer, business consultant, startup guru Director of Artis/Art Israel Taxi-company Institute of Democratic Education Conductor/activist ceramist/leftwinger Filmer Windows –Channels for Communication Windows –Channels for Communication Peres Center for Peace Peres Center for Peace

Eden Mia Web Lirit Serphos Chaym Feltman Ronnie Dunetz Tsi-la Piran Ron Dvir Andreas Weil Ron Cohen Harnouff Effi Sarit Pilz Alon Pilz Ines Boban Andreas Hinz Tomer & Crew Jeremy Hulsh Vladimir Sherman Vardit Gross All the taxidrivers Yaacov Hecht Itay Talgam Yair Levy Tomer Heymann Ruti Atsmon Hannah Weitzer Yael Patir Ron Pundak

From the Pre-Outpost until now, everybody I could find (and I forgot or do not have contact-info of everybody, for which I ask forgiveness)

Democratic School Democratic Academy HUB Student DA KaosPilot advisory board member Windows –Channels for Communication Windows –Channels for Communication Natural Scent Mitzpe Ramon Chocolate Guy Mitzpe Ramon Bedouin Tribe Leader Alpacha Farm Desert Shade Group Levi Lassen Good Energy Lomi Massage The Hub The Spaceship Ha Yarkon 70 Translator El Haq family Jalqamus Municipality Housing and Party Zen Master Right to Refuse

Yael Schwarzberg Eyal Ram Danny Gal Noam Rodeh Joshua Simon Reema Al-Haq Nadjeh Itay Keinan Mark, Jumla Ilan Dvir Ziv Spector Hannan Serphos Eyal Biger Tova Eli Kerem Halbrecht Fadi Achmed, Esme +++ Abu Musa Ora Sittner Gil Alon Chen

Name: Time: Location: Topic:

Pieter Outpost Israel & Palestine Relation -Ship