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July 6, 2007
New Democrats tour Israel
Party members from across Canada get to see Holy Land.
FREEMAN PORITZ
Brad West was thrilled when he got a call offering him a place
on a fact-finding mission to Israel for provincial members of the
New Democratic Party, sponsored by the Canada-Israel Committee.
"How my name came up, I'm not exactly sure," said West.
"I had participated in some Canadian Jewish Congress events
before and had always felt quite strongly about this issue [Israel]."
This past January, West joined six other members of provincial NDP
parties throughout Canada and several members of CIC on what one
participant described as "a university degree packed into one
week." The group visited major holy sites in Jerusalem, ate
at trendy Tel-Aviv restaurants and bars and explored the headquarters
of the Bah'ai faith in Haifa. They also sat down for a meal with
members of Israel's Druze-Arab minority, met with three members
of the Palestinian Legislative Council, floated in the salty waters
of the Dead Sea and visited an Israeli army outpost in the Golan
Heights.
Richard Marceau, CIC's senior political consultant, who is based
in Ottawa, accompanied the NDP delegates on the trip. He described
how he assembled the group. "We called them and said, 'This
is who we are, this is what we do and we'd like to invite you on
a fact-finding mission to Israel. You'll see people involved in
politics. You'll meet journalists. You'll meet analysts from a broad
range of points of view.' The reputation of CIC missions is that
it is always very balanced," said Marceau, "it gives a
broad view and can attract people from different parts of the political
spectrum. We had elected people. We had unelected people. We had
people in unions. They all came with an open mind."
Marceau noted that West was "very enthusiastic during the mission.
He asked a lot of questions. He seemed to get a lot out of it in
a sense that he was really, really interested in everything that
we did. Not only the political thing, but also the cultural, as
well as the religious, sites."
"It was the longest flight [to Tel-Aviv] that I'd ever been
on," West observed of the visit. "We hit the ground running.
There was a lot packed into a short period of time. I'd be very
eager to go back. A week was an unbelievable time. But it was so
jam-packed, there were a lot of things we got to see and do and
I felt very privileged to be able to go, because it was really just
the trip of a lifetime."
Jerusalem proved to be a real emotional spot for West, a practising
Catholic. The city has always been held in high esteem as one of
the centrepieces of Christian doctrine. "The first day was
spent exploring Jerusalem," West recalled. "We went through
the Jewish quarter and the Christian quarter. We went to the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre.... I, myself, am a Catholic, so this was
quite an experience to have ... to be able to go there. I was quite
overcome. These had always been places [that] I had thought to myself
that I'd like to visit, but never really did I imagine that I would
have the opportunity. It was very moving; just an incredible experience,
and all this happened on the first day [of the trip]."
Afterwards, the group witnessed a sunset from the Western Wall compound
in the heart of the Old City. "I remember meeting a fellow
who said going to the Western Wall as the sun came down was the
clearest time to have a direct line to God," said West, who
also remarked upon the difference between Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv.
"You could very much feel the presence of God in Jerusalem,"
he observed, "with Tel-Aviv being a more modern city. It was
an interesting contrast."
Over the following days, the group continued around the country
with a strict itinerary, in order to see as much as possible. One
of the highlights was a visit to a Druze village in northern Israel,
where they had a meal and were spoken to by Druze community representatives.
West learned that in Israel, "[The Druze] are free to practise
their religion. And unfortunately, that's not the case in many of
the surrounding countries."
West spoke about what he felt were natural connections between Israel
and the NDP. "There is a lot of similarity between things that
the NDP is supposed to stand for - labor rights, human rights, sense
of community," he said, "and I saw these ideas reflected
in Israel." The kibbutz movement and the many absorption centres,
representing "a strong social safety net [in Israel]"
also impressed him.
But West's Canadian conception of distance was shattered on his
trip to Israel. "We went to a military outpost in the Golan
Heights," he said. "We were at the northernmost military
outpost there – right on the border with Syria. What really
came home then was really how close everything is together. I think
for a Canadian, it can be hard to grasp that. To be standing there
[in northern Israel] and be, like 'Damascus [the capital city of
Syria] is 50 kilometres that way!' Especially for Canadians –
the country [Canada] is so large, it [Israel's situation] can be
really hard to grasp. And I think it provided the group with an
understanding of some of the security implications. Everything is
so close. I think it gave all of us a much better understanding
of the situation there, the safety and security situation, and what
regular Israelis face on a day-to-day basis."
Other things that impressed him included the food ("Good thing
we were walking so much!" he quipped) and the level of political
debate, which he witnessed on a visit to the Knesset. "The
democracy is very vibrant over there," said West. "You
see democracy at work, with so many different parties and debates.
CIC even arranged a meeting with three members of Fatah, the Palestinian
Legislative Council." He was quick to underline the fact that
the group was exposed to every side of the political equation.
"The impression that some people try to create of Israel is
very much off the mark, from what I witnessed, and what the rest
of our group saw," he said. "People try to oversimplify
it and tend to demonize Israel. When you get over there and you
see it with your own two eyes, you start to gain a better understanding
of the challenges [facing Israel]. It was an unbelievable experience
and not one I'm ever going to forget. I feel a tug and a pull deep
within my heart to return to Israel and I would like to go back.
I also feel, and I think the others who were on the trip feel, the
need to get involved and to speak out, and to bear witness to what
we saw and work on that."
Freeman Poritz is a Vancouver freelance writer. He lived
in Israel from 2004-2007.
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