Merri MinuskinI thought I could change the whole Middle East but I was wrong. There are thousands of people who work for peace in the Middle East and I will continue doing so myself,’ says Merri Minuskin, director of the Israeli-Jordan Chamber of Commerce. These words are characteristic of her view on life. For over thirty five years she has strived for peace between Israel and its neighbouring countries and despite all the set backs in these three decades she is unstoppable. Minuskin gave a talk in the centre of Initiatives of Change in The Hague, The Netherlands on the 18th March. She expressed that at this time it is exceptional for Israelis to be invited to speak.

Even though Merri was born in the USA, she always knew from an early age on that she didn’t belong there. In primary school in New York she was beaten up by fellow pupils because she was Jewish and her Jewish teacher did not stand up for her because she was afraid they would find out that she was Jewish herself.

After high school Minuskin decided to work on a Kibbutz in Israel, from the moment Merri set foot on Israel’s soil she knew that she was home. But her first encounter with her new home was not pleasant. She arrived on the Golan Heights the day before the out break of the Yom Kippur-war which began on October in 1973.

‘Immediately following the war I went back to the Golan Heights dressed as a soldier. I will never forget the smell and sights, it was terrible. That is when I knew that war is ugly and wrong and doesn’t solve anything. Later in the valley next to my home in the southern part of the Golan Heights I found a diary written by a Syrian girl (this area used to be part of Syria until the 1967 war) in which she wrote that she was hoping for peace with neighbouring countries. I am convinced that I was meant to find this diary and on that day I decided that I would dedicate my life to peace.’

During the following years Minuskin worked in Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan and in the Palestinian Territories. She also started training programmes for Israelis aiming to open their eyes to what was happening on the other side of the border.

‘People don’t even know that there were already others living in the areas where we are building our homes because on the new maps the past doesn't always exist. Israelis and Arabs live five minutes apart but they don’t know anything about the other, the only thing they know is their fear of each other.’

Merri also carried out many human rights , mediation and political empowerment programmes for Israelis, both Jews and Arabs, Palestinians and Jordanians. ‘In the mid nineties there was a positive movement, it was a time when everyone believed that Peace was not only possible but that it was right around the corner.’

The hope for change was shattered when the second Palestinian uprising began. Minuskin was appointed Director of the Middle East Division at the International Institute. The times were impossible but the people still believed in Peace and they came.

‘Everyone came. Israeli women, Palestinian women who travelled on their donkeys through the fields even when family members had been killed during the fighting. People cried and threw chairs and… talked. They shared their suffering because they understood each other. I have seen volunteers who worked for our Institute who didn’t believe that they could ever be friends with Palestinians but here they changed their minds. People just want peace, only our governments don’t, was a common statement among all participants.’ They recognized each other as human beings and trust began.

Merri continues: ‘The bombardment of Gaza was horrific. The war has to stop and I wish that Israeli and Palestinian leaders had the courage to trust and to bring peace. But it doesn’t happen just like that, we will need your help. Europe has to stand up for peace in the Middle East.’

Even though Merri has worked for peace for over thirty five years she won’t give up. She now works with others on a revolutionary plan to bring water to the Middle East by saving sewage water from Israel and Jordan in newly created lakes. The filtered water can then be used for drinking water and irrigation. Farmers from Jordan and Israel, who now face bankruptcy, can start farming again in this way. For both Israel and Jordan this is a win–win situation. Merri is also working on building a free trade zone between Israel and Jordan with an open border.

‘As for Palestine and Israel, we will be one state one day. We are so alike, it’s inevitable. But I’m afraid it won’t happen in my lifetime.’

Geert-Willem Overdijkink

Article first appeared in Ander Nieuws, March 2009