South of Bethlehem, Palestinian Territories: Dozens gathered in the occupied West Bank to break the fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but the food is kosher and Israelis are honoring a Palestinian guest.
At a Palestinian property near the Gush Etzion bloc of settlements, in the southern West Bank, an unlikely collection of guests shared a meal organized by the “Roots” initiative.
The iftar meal is a rare attempt at cross-community dialogue amid a spike in violence in the Palestinian territory, which has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War.
“(We’re a) group of people that wants to end the situation of violence and the hatred between members of the two populations,” said Khaled Abu Awad, the Palestinian partner in the initiative.
He has had two brothers killed in the conflict while numerous family members have been jailed by Israel.
Among around 50 guests were some Israeli settlers.
Alaa, a Palestinian from Jerusalem who requested his surname not be published for security reasons, said he was attending for the first time and did not feel “very comfortable with the people here.”
But the 25-year-old called it a “big mistake” not to talk to Israelis, saying that building a “relationship” may help Palestinians achieve some of their goals.
Around three million Palestinians live in the West Bank alongside hundreds of thousands of Israelis residing in settlements considered illegal under international law.
The “Roots” initiative, known by its Hebrew name “Shorashim” or “Judur” in Arabic, was founded in 2014 to foster dialogue between the two sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The traditional Palestinian dishes have been prepared under rabbinical supervision, so that observant Jews who keep kosher dietary rules can enjoy the food.
Being honored at the iftar is Mohammed, a 33-year-old from a nearby village who works in construction in Israel.
He recently rescued an Israeli couple in the West Bank when a group of Palestinians surrounded their car and pelted them with stones.
“I spoke with them in Hebrew, I told them to enter here (my house), I told them: ‘You’re safe and nobody can harm you’,” he said, not giving his surname for security reasons.
Yaakov, a medic and the father of the man he helped, said he was attending a “Roots” event for the first time in order to thank the person who saved his son, who is a soldier.
“(I) think that meetings of this kind can contribute to changing the situation,” said Yaacov, who gave only his first name to protect his son.
Shaul Judelman, one of the initiative’s co-directors, recognizes there is a large degree of “resistance” to such events which can be seen as a “betrayal.”
Judelman called for a “new discourse on the conflict,” adding that “most Palestinians are not attacking us.”
Israelis, Palestinians share West Bank iftar ‘to end hatred’
https://arab.news/be47x
Israelis, Palestinians share West Bank iftar ‘to end hatred’
Syria’s leader set to visit Berlin with deportations in focus
- Sharaa is scheduled to meet his counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German president’s office said
BERLIN: Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is expected in Berlin on Tuesday for talks, as German officials seek to step up deportations of Syrians, despite unease about continued instability in their homeland.
Sharaa is scheduled to meet his counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German president’s office said.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s office has yet to announce whether he would also hold talks with Sharaa during the visit.
Since ousting Syria’s longtime leader Bashar Assad in late 2024, Sharaa has made frequent overseas trips as the former Islamist rebel chief undergoes a rapid reinvention.
He has made official visits to the United States and France, and a series of international sanctions on Syria have been lifted.
The focus of next week’s visit for the German government will be on stepping up repatriations of Syrians, a priority for Merz’s conservative-led coalition since Assad was toppled.
Roughly one million Syrians fled to Germany in recent years, many of them arriving in 2015-16 to escape the civil war.
In November Merz, who fears being outflanked by the far-right AfD party on immigration, insisted there was “no longer any reason” for Syrians who fled the war to seek asylum in Germany.
“For those who refuse to return to their country, we can of course expel them,” he said.
- ‘Dramatic situation’ -
In December, Germany carried out its first deportation of a Syrian since the civil war erupted in 2011, flying a man convicted of crimes to Damascus.
But rights groups have criticized such efforts, citing continued instability in Syria and evidence of rights abuses.
Violence between the government and minority groups has repeatedly flared in multi-confessional Syria since Sharaa came to power, including recent clashes between the army and Kurdish forces.
Several NGOs, including those representing the Kurdish and Alawite Syrian communities in Germany, have urged Berlin to axe Sharaa’s planned visit, labelling it “totally unacceptable.”
“The situation in Syria is dramatic. Civilians are being persecuted solely on the basis of their ethnic or religious affiliation,” they said in a joint statement.
“It is incomprehensible to us and legally and morally unacceptable that the German government knowingly intends to receive a person suspected of being responsible for these acts at the chancellery.”
The Kurdish Community of Germany, among the signatories of that statement, also filed a complaint with German prosecutors in November, accusing Sharaa of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
There have also been voices urging caution within government.
On a trip to Damascus in October, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that the potential for Syrians to return was “very limited” since the war had destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure.
But his comments triggered a backlash from his own conservative Christian Democratic Union party.
