Kibbutzniks once believed in peace with Palestinians, no more now

Kibbutzniks once believed in peace with Palestinians, no more now

in the heart of Tzora, a green community west of Jerusalem, Almog Holot sits in her new apartment and glides with his fingers over a bowl with crystals, while the wind chimes on her balcony blow in a gentle wind.

Eighteen months ago she spent twelve hours to hold the grip of her shelter in Kibbutz Nirim, together with her mother and children, who were six and eight years old at the time. They hid from Hamas fighters who threw grenades on their house, looted their home and terrorized the community.

The attacks from October 7th

On October 7, 2023, five people from Holots Kibbutz were killed and another five were kidnapped when Hamas and other militant groups started a coordinated terrorist attack on Israeli communities and military posts, in which 1,200 people were killed and kidnapped 251

Holot and her family survived this attack, but their belief in peace suffered. "I don't know what I believe in, but it is not peace," she said in an interview.

life in Kibbutz

Holot and her ex-husband, who comes from Nirim, had decided to found their family there because they believed that it was the best place for their children. "In many ways, Kibbutzim are like a paradise on earth," she said. "You live in a community in which money does not play the most important role. People know each other, take care of each other and help each other."

Although their children grew up in a reality in which a rocket could always take a rocket, Holot described the time before October 7 as "mostly peaceful". Most people in Gaza are good, just like them themselves, Holot's children were aware of. Like many residents of the near the Gaza Strip, she has left political views and previously believed in peace with the Palestinians.

a change in views

"The people outside of my Kibbutz often told me that my views were 'naive'," she reported. "Now I think they were right." She can no longer speak of peace between Israelis and Palestinians and describes that many in their community were "surprised" by the attacks, but not from the deeds of Hamas. "We thought the people in Gaza were like us. And it turned out that they were not," she said.

Avida Bachar expressed a similar feeling from the nearby Kibbutz Be’eri, who lost his wife, son and leg in the attacks. Before October 7, he was convinced that Israelis and Palestinians could live together. Now he believes that Israel Gaza should equate the ground and fully check.

psychological effects of trauma

Changes in the attitudes are not surprising for surviving extreme trauma, says Merav Roth, a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst from Haifa. Roth, who launched a long -term therapeutic project for the victims of October 7, explains that survivors often use dissociation as a coping mechanism. "It costs most people all the energy to only survive mentally," says Roth.

Holot longs for protection for themselves and their children, both of whom suffer from PTSD. Although she says that she does not support the US President Donald Trump or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu politically, the idea of ​​relocating Palestinians from Gaza to third countries has made them think.

insights over the future

In recent years, Israeli society has shifted significantly to the right, with only 13% of the Jewish citizens classify themselves as left. Holots and Bachar's views reflect a broader change in the perception of the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts and the presentation of a two-state solution. While the right spectrum is still decisive against a Palestinian state, the views in the center have closer.

Despite the violent conflict situation, not every survivor has given up his vision of peace. At the grave of her father, a well -known peace activist, Sharone Lifschitz read one of his poems in which the desire for a week, without Palestinians who are killed, is discussed.

"My father said that peace is inevitable, it is only about how much blood is used before," she said. Roth, who believes in a two-state solution, still has hope for peace and emphasizes that some of the survivors they have worked with still want to fight for this peace.

in Kibbutz Tzora, Holot continues to hold on to her liberal values ​​and focus on healing herself and their children. "I don't want to teach you negative views of humanity," she says. "So I prepare them to think that Hamas is bad, but people are good - even if I don't feel that."