Editing Neve Shalom (section)

==History==
The name ''Neve Shalom'' is taken from a passage in the [[Isaiah]] 32:18: "My people shall dwell in an oasis of peace".<ref>{{harvnb|Gavron|2008|pp=57–72}}.</ref>

The village was the brainchild of Father [[Bruno Hussar]]. Born in Egypt the son of [[non-practicing Jews]], he [[List of converts to Christianity from Judaism|converted to Christianity]] while studying engineering in France.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Yazbek |first=Hiba |date=2023-09-30 |title=In an Israeli Oasis, a Model for Peace, if Messy and Imperfect |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/30/world/middleeast/israel-peace-oasis-village.html |access-date=2023-10-09 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Witnessing at first hand the vitriolic [[antisemitism]] of wartime France sharpened his awareness of his Jewish roots.<ref>{{harvnb|Gavron|2008|p=58}}.</ref> He joined the [[Dominican Order]], was ordained into the priesthood in 1950, and sent to Jerusalem to establish a centre for Jewish studies in 1953, where he obtained [[Israeli citizenship]] in 1966. In 1970, in order to promote [[Ecumenism|ecumenical]] interfaith dialogue, he obtained forty hectares (120 acres<ref name="Montville 1998 21">{{harvnb|Montville|1998|p=21}}.</ref>) of terrain classified as [[no man's land]]<ref>{{harvnb|Gavron|2008|p=58}}.</ref> in the [[Battles of Latrun (1948)|Latrun salient]], at a '[[Peppercorn (legal)|peppercorn rent]]' of 3 pence a year on a 100-year lease from the local [[Trappist]] abbey. The area was desolate, treeless, unwatered and covered with brambles, and had not been under cultivation since the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine period]].<ref>{{harvnb|Feuerverger|2001|pp=121–123}}.</ref> At the outset foreigners came to share the experience with him, but few remained beyond one or two months, save for Anne LeMeignon who settled in a hut and stayed on.<ref>{{harvnb|Gavron|2008|p=59}}.</ref>

Hussar's project envisaged the creation of a sociocultural framework that would enable residents to live on terms of equality and mutual respect while conserving the distinct cultural heritage, language and sense of identity each individual brought to the community from the complex mosaic of Palestine's historic communities. At the same time, it would be designed to function as a school of peace where people from all over the country could learn to listen to each other.<ref>{{harvnb|Feuerverger|2001|pp=xv, 124}}.</ref>

In Hussar's own words:
<blockquote>"We had in mind a small village composed of inhabitants from different communities in the country.  Jews, Christians and Muslims would live there in peace, each one faithful to his own faith and traditions, while respecting those of others.  Each would find in this diversity a source of personal enrichment.".<ref>{{harvnb|Hussar|1989}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Feuerverger|2001|p=119}}</ref></blockquote>
Conditions were harsh, and at first Hussar lived in a bus on the site.<ref name="Montville 1998 21"/> Even basic facilities like a bathroom were lacking, and showers could be taken only by driving once a week the {{convert|10| km}} to [[Nahshon, Israel|kibbutz Nachshon]].<ref>{{harvnb|Feuerverger|2001|p=127}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Montville|1998|pp=21–22}}.</ref> The first five families, four Jewish and one Palestinian<ref>{{harvnb|Gavron|2008|pp=59–60}}:Abdel-Salam Najjar and his wife Ayesha. He was son of the [[imam]] of Arrabe near [[Nazareth]], and was told by Hussar to gain experience on a [[kibbutz]]. He duly went to work as a volunteer at [[Kerem Shalom]] on the [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]]-[[Gaza Strip|Gaza]] border, where he met Ilan and Tamar Frisch. Together they moved to Neve Shalom.</ref> settled there in 1978, dwelling in tents. Among the early members (from November 1980)<ref>{{harvnb|Aron|1992}}.</ref> was Major [[Wellesley Aron]], grandfather of the Israeli singer [[David Broza]].<ref name="davidbroza.net">{{Cite web|url=http://www.davidbroza.net/hp/Activities.aspx |publisher=DavidBroza.net|title=Neve Shalom Wahat-Al-Salam|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101009075735/http://www.davidbroza.net/hp/Activities.aspx |archive-date=October 9, 2010}}</ref> Says David Broza: "The group of people that my grandfather joined saw the place as an opportunity to expand on the idea of finding peace within yourself as a prelude to bringing peace to the community and the region".<ref name="davidbroza.net"/> The School for Peace was established in 1978. The founding families came mainly from a secular background.<ref name="Gavron 2008 61">{{harvnb|Gavron|2008|p=61}}.</ref> The Neve Shalom-Wahat as-Salam model earned both the [[Beyond War#Award Ceremonies|1989 Beyond War Award]],<ref>Beyond War Award Page http://traubman.igc.org/bwaward.htm</ref> and a [[Giraffe Heroes Project|Giraffe Heroes Award]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Neve Shalom/Wahat Al-Salam - Giraffe Hero |url=https://giraffeheroes.org/10/NeveShalomWahatAl-Salam |website=giraffeheroes.org |access-date=15 December 2024 |language=en}}</ref> and inspired the 1992 birth of the sustained [[Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group]] in the United States.

[[File:Neve-Shalom-2013.jpg|thumb|Neve Shalom, Jewish-Arab village in [[Israel]]]]
For years it survived as an orphan community devoid of official assistance. In 1994, after lobbying by foreign  supporters and the American diplomat [[Samuel W. Lewis]], the Israeli government had a change of heart and began to provide subsidies, and extended legal status to the village as a municipality. As a result, it earned autonomous zoning rights.<ref name="Montville 1998">{{harvnb|Montville|1998}}.</ref> The "School of Peace" closed down in a month-long strike, in protest and mourning, at the outbreak of the [[Al Aqsa Intifada]] in 2000, and made efforts to provide welfare for Palestinians as the violence spread.<ref>{{harvnb|Gavron|2008|p=57}}.</ref>

While assimilation is not promoted, intermarriage is not disapproved of, though instances are rare. The preference is for each community to maintain its distinct identity.<ref>{{harvnb|Gavron|2008|p=64}}.</ref> The forging of a convivial bicultural identity has not erased difficulties. Even in schooling, Grace Feuerverger's account documents, achingly painful tensions do arise in relationships as children, teachers and families interact.<ref name="Shapiro 2010 104">{{harvnb|Shapiro|2010|p=104}}.</ref> One resident stated the issue in the following terms:
<blockquote>The Neve Shalom/Wahat Al-Salam experience ''humanizes'' the conflict. It is called an oasis, but only as compared to other areas in the country. The village has many difficulties but at least we are not being broken. We do have personal squabbles as in any village, but we are living the conflict instead of fighting it.<ref>{{harvnb|Feuerverger|2001|p=141}}.</ref></blockquote>

To mark the advent of the new millennium, towards the end of the 1990s the Trappist monastery decided to hand over half<ref>{{harvnb|Gavron|2008|p=60}}.</ref> the land, some {{convert|50| acres|ha|order=flip}}, to Neve Shalom/Wahat as-Salam as an outright gift to its residents.<ref>{{harvnb|Feuerverger|2001|p=143}}.</ref>

In May 2010, a sign was posted outside the village decrying the deaths of human rights activists during the [[Gaza flotilla raid]].  The wording of the sign originally described the deaths as "murder" but was subsequently changed to "killing" to better reflect the village consensus.<ref name="nswas.org">[http://nswas.org/spip.php%3Farticle967 'Protesting the attack on the Freedom Flotilla,'] at nsws.org.,31 May 2010.</ref> The following month ''[[Arutz Sheva]]'' reported that a rift had broken out between Jews and Arabs over this issue and threats had been made to expel the Jewish residents.<ref>{{harvnb|Ronen|2010}}.</ref> On its website, the community wrote that the initiative was undertaken and authorized democratically by both Jewish and Palestinian members of the village.<ref name="nswas.org"/> In July of the same year, the community organized a joint Jewish-Palestinian conference on human rights which was attended by speakers ranging from [[Gideon Levy]] to [[Neve Gordon]] and Ziv Hadas, Executive Director for [[Physicians for Human Rights]].<ref>[http://www.oasisofpeace.org/press/Joint_Jewish-Palestinian_Conference_in_NSWAS.doc 'Joint Jewish-Palestinian Conference in Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam,'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035531/http://www.oasisofpeace.org/press/Joint_Jewish-Palestinian_Conference_in_NSWAS.doc |date=2016-03-04 }} July 22, 2010.</ref>

In a [[Price tag attack policy|price tag attack]] in 2012, the tires of  14 vehicles were punctured and some of the vehicles were painted with anti-Palestinian graffiti.” <ref>{{harvnb|Hasson|Rosenberg|2012}}.</ref>