Published: June 05, 2007 01:20 pm    PrintThis  

Groveland man takes study tour of Israel, West Bank

Putting Israel into geographical perspective is easy, according to Brian Dodge of Groveland, the 28-year-old executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party.

"It's the size of Massachusetts," he says. "You can see the whole place in 12 days," which was the length of his trip there last month on a study tour directed by the American Council of Young Political Leaders.

On the other hand, Dodge says, "there isn't enough column space" in any newspaper to capture the complexity of Israel's historical, political and military realities. Simply defining regional problems would occupy "a two-year college course."

Those problems almost derailed Dodge's trip when violence erupted in mid-May between Fatah and Hamas, the two Palestinian factions.

"When Hamas attacks Fatah in Gaza," Dodge explained, citing local wisdom, "Fatah always retaliates in Bethlehem." At that point Bethlehem was where the delegation was heading next, potentially into a cross-fire.

The visit to Bethlehem, in occupied territory of the West Bank, would be accompanied by staff from the American consulate. With a threat of violence, the consulate's normally heavy security would have to be elevated to include bullet-proof vests and armored vehicles. Consular officials therefore tried to dissuade the Young Political Leaders trip from going on to Bethlehem.

But after three days in the occupied territories, trip members "already had an idea of how adults adjusted" to living in turmoil. Dodge said the older generation of Palestinians were absorbed with territorial disputes, and "would talk about homes they had lost, or chosen to leave." The Bethlehem visit, by contrast, would introduce them to Palestinian youths, and everyone in the bipartisan group of Americans -- four Democrats and three Republicans -- wanted to see how young Palestinians viewed their futures. They persuaded the embassy to let them go through with the visit.

That sense of the future has been complicated by Hamas' political victory in January, which made it the majority party in the Palestinian National Authority. Because Hamas embraces terrorist methods and calls for the destruction of Israel, the only humanitarian aid going into the region now is from foreign nonprofit organizations. Israel and the United States have cut off aid to programs they might otherwise have helped.

What Dodge found among the children were the qualities of hopefulness he says are key to the region's future. "The kids don't know anything but this tension and turmoil" but, "because kids are kids," they only care about getting on with the future. "We could have been in Newburyport," Dodge says, for all the spirited activity he saw, including a dance performed for the visitors by children at an SOS Charity school for orphans. This school and others Dodge visited are, in spite of shortfalls, continuing to do their jobs.

Among Israelis, in particular with a family he stayed with for a night, the turmoil is "a major part of their lives, but they don't dwell on it," Dodge explains. Again using Massachusetts geography as an example, he explains that for most Israelis it's as if "there was fighting in Springfield, and fighting in Quincy, but people are living comfortably in Worcester." Even the family he stayed with, two miles from Gaza and the homemade rockets of Hamas, assured him it was better to be close to Gaza because rockets would be more likely to go over their heads. They even shared the wry observation that the rockets were made from sewer pipes the Israelis had previously installed in Gaza.

But the security walls Israelis have built to prevent attacks provide vivid reminders of how difficult life in Israel sometimes can be. "For Israelis, it's a necessity. It's protecting people, it's working. There have been no suicide bombings," which Hamas in particular fostered, since the barriers have gone up. At the same time, Dodge can see how they interrupt "movement of goods, movement of people" for those Palestinians who are not involved in terrorism, dampening any sense of opportunity or hope they may have for the future.

Dodge does see hopeful signs in recent polls that show a majority of Palestinians favor a two-state solution to the region's impasse. Even though Palestinians voted terrorists into office, at the same time they support a future that includes, not the destruction of Israel, but co-existing states. It's a contradiction, but that in itself is a positive. Dodge also said he feels it is important not to lose sight of a longer perspective, in which the peaceful relationships Israel has established with former enemies Egypt and Jordan stand out. But Dodge especially finds hope in organizations like the one that organized his trip -- and its co-sponsors, the Israel Youth Exchange Council, and the Palestinian Council of Young Leaders -- for providing American political leaders with an appreciation for the region's complexities.