Bassam Aramin chose to look at his enemy, who killed his 10-year old daughter, causing pain that does not subside, and who occupies his country, from a different angle. „If you know your enemy, you can defeat him. I learned Hebrew when in jail to be able to talk to my enemies, I have not defeated all of them yet, but a few became partners in the pursuit of peace.“Bassar Aramin je a Palestinian Muslim. At the age of 12 during a demonstration, he saw a boy killed by soldiers and wanted a revenge. As a young man he became an activist for a peaceful solution to the Israelian occupation of the Palestinian territories. As a kid, he suffered from polio which left him limping. Aramin received his master’s degree in Holocaust studies at Bradford University, UK. With his Jewish “brother” Rami Elhanan, he is the protagonist of two documentaries: “In the Eye of the Storm” Shelley Hermon, and the “Narrow Bridge” of Ether Takac. Both are also featured in „Apeirogon“, a novel about the conflict Middle East by Colum McCann
Is your family autochthonous to what is today called the West Bank?
I can trace my family back to my great-grand-parents who were born near Hebron in the West Bank, so has the lineage since then, me and my 15 brothers and sisters included. My earlier ancestors were also from the region, none of which came from other parts of the world. We are an ordinary simple family.
In 1985 at the age of 17, you were arrested and jailed by the Israeli army. Can you tell us the reason, the trial, the conditions in prison.
I was one of the many tens of thousands Palestinian youngsters who were arrested by the occupying Israeli Defense Forces [IDF]. I was with a bunch of friends trying to raise the Palestinian flag, a crime at the time -it still is today. For us it was a game, to provoke and irritate the Israeli soldiers, for them it had political significance. A couple in our group found two grenades which they threw at the Israeli soldiers, no one was killed or injured because they did not know how to use them. They were sentenced to 21 years in jail, other to less, I to 7. The trial took place on 23 June 1986, the day of my birthday, I was not sure whether I should celebrate or cry. The conditions in prison were terrible, for them we were terrorists, we considered ourselves freedom fighters, not avengers but liberators. Prison was not a rehabilitation process, on the contrary, they wanted to completely dehumanize us, but being subject to brutal behaviour can lead to one being even more determined, e.g. Walid was 13, tied and beaten. After his release, he joined the Al Aqsa brigade and became a martyr. On 1 October 1987, in one section, we were 120 prisoners ages 12 to 19. One hundred masked soldiers entered, stripped us naked and ordered us all to walk to the corridor during which time they beat us with sticks. Because I was a bit of a leader, I was subjected to additional beatings until the jailer I had befriended put a stop to it. We then learned that these soldiers belonged to a special unit in training, there were many such trainings and many victims of these trainings.
You said that knowledge of the Holocaust led to your understanding the fears of Jews and the extremely aggressive behaviour that stems from it, still today 80 years later. Have you ever, on the contrary, wondered why the Holocaust did not lead Jews to behave with compassion?
I wanted to understand where all the brutality came from, so I studied the Holocaust. Among other, I learned that a strong victimhood mentality could lead to feeling allowed to protect oneself using any means. A project led Israelis and Palestinians to visit Yad Vashem, a Holocaust memorial in Israel. Palestinians started to compare, they wondered why Jews had not raised the flag „Never Again“ for everyone after such an experience. Much of it is linked to education, the way we use and abuse history and memory. If children are taught to think of themselves as victims [of the Holocaust], that anti-semitism still plagues the world, they will fear, fear will in turn beget hatred, aggression follows, without taking responsibility for it. This is very present in the Jewish mentality, especially Israelis. They live under the perception that the only way to persist surviving on the soil of their ancestors of 3000 years ago, is through use of power and military might. I understand why. Victimhood though should not be used to victimise others.
Is the Holocaust the only cause for Israeli fear, especially of Palestinians, has Hamas not caused continuous fear since its formation in 1987 due to its extremist positions?
Yes, but Hamas is recent. We have been under military occupation for 76 years, this includes Palestinians in Israel. There were others before Hamas, Fatah [1959], PLO [1964], Palestinian Islamic Jihad [1981]. They will never feel secure until I -Palestinians- feel secure. It won‘t happen while they maintain the occupation and its oppression, some of it excessively brutal, which creates resistance. It is often referred to as conflict, this is incorrect, it is an occupation. Israeli security is directly linked to Palestinians‘ security. One has the right to defend oneself, but not to occupy. I believe they know this.
You were released in 1992, what was next?
I came out of prison thinking of the one hundred years of Israeli brutality and Palestinian armed struggle, trying to subjugate each other: the result to this day is that Israel is not safe and Palestine is not free. It has only been more blood and more pain. In 1993 came the Oslo peace Accords, which were supported by most Israelis and Palestinians, including myself. It was a rethink about how to survive without pursuing an impossible military solution, but through negotiations. I started being active within my society in the West Bank promoting this other way forward. It was also the year I married, I had six children, I devoted my life to raising them, I did not want my sons to go to jail because they did not know or understand. In 2002, I learned of ex-Israeli soldiers refusing to serve in the army, they believed the illegal occupation was against Jewish and Zionist values – I wanted to meet them. In 2005, 4 former Palestinian prisoners and 7 former Israeli soldiers met, it was the most difficult meeting in my life. They met „their“ terrorists, we our killers, jailers, occupiers. After a year, we grew to 300. We realised that we were killing each other pursuing one and the same goal: peace and security. Each of us knew who was right and who was wrong, but as Rumi said, there is a field between right and wrong -that is where we meet. To do so love was not necessary, respect was. This is how Combatants for Peace [CfP] started.
You were among the founders of CfP in 2006. What are its goals, your role in it and what it has achieved so far?
Today CfP has more than 1000 Palestinian and Israeli members and thousands of activists. Its goal is to end the occupation and ensure Palestinian self-determination -without the use of violence. It cooperates with other organisations, much of its activities consist in protecting Palestinians against settlers‘ crimes and violence in the West Bank: stealing their cattle, burning their crops or harassing children going to school; CfP also supplies agricultural inputs to farmers in deprived areas, some of whom live in caves, and supports those whose lands have been confiscated. CfP conducts speaking tours in Palestine, Israel and abroad raising awareness and funds. This needs to be done especially in the USA, to show Americans their unconditional support to Israel is not only to a so-called democracy in the Middle-East, but also to the only brutal occupation in the world. CfP has become part of my DNA, I remain one of its leaders.
You believe one should talk to everyone, do you talk to Hamas?
Hamas is not a foreign entity, it is made up of Palestinians, they are our neighbors and students, in the same family you can find members with different political beliefs, among which Hamas. They are a political organisation using armed struggle, at times gruesomely violent, to liberate Palestine. But let us be clear, armed struggle is a legitimate right to fight occupation. Others believe in non-violence and negotiation. So if there is a safe space to talk to my enemy I will. One of the co-founders of CfP was a member of Hamas.
Your daughter Abir at the age of 10 was killed by an Israeli soldiers. Can you tell us about the circumstances?
My daughter Abir, 10, was murdered by an 18 ½ year old soldier who fired a bullet in the back of her head at a distance of some 18 meters on the street across her school on 16 Jan. 2007. Nothing was happening on the street at the time, no stone throwing, no youngsters, nothing. IDF soldiers are just about never pursued in the judicial system for killing a Palestinian, so he could do so, there will be no consequences. I sought justice, it is not a political issue, whether the murderer is Jewish, Palestinian or Bedouin. I met the killer in court who was there as a witness, I told him: „You are neither a warrior nor a hero. I do not seek vengeance, but if one day you ask for forgiveness, I‘ll be there.“ I pursued through the judicial system for 4 ½ years when the Supreme Court closed the case for lack of evidence. When she passed away, some 500 Israelis joined members of my community to pray for Abir.
You then joined the Parents Circle, became its co-Director and are its International Spokesperson today. This is where you met Rami Elhanan. Part of your fame comes from your relationship with Rami, a Jew who lost his 14 year old daughter to Palestinian suicide bombers many years ago. Aside of your Jewish friends, do you consider the Jewish Israeli people as a whole as your friends?
The Israeli Jews are not my friends. They are occupying my country, killing my children and people, stuck in their victimhood mentality, in their fear. Even some ex-Israeli soldiers describe the IDF in the West Bank as a terror organisation! Recently, Al Jazeera showed a video of IDF soldiers kicking motionless bodies off a rooftop in the West Bank, its office in Ramallah was immediately shut down. I met Rami not as a friend,
but as a partner. He wanted what I wanted: to live in peace and security. But because we share the same values -non-violence, using pain in a different way, valuing all human beings equally- we became brothers.
Have the differences in the political leadership in Gaza, led by Hamas under Israeli blockade, and the West Bank, led by Fatah under mostly Israeli occupation, driven to major differences between Palestinians?
No, we are one people and we seek the same thing -liberation from occupation and self-determination.
Most of the world condemns Hamas‘ attack on Israel on Oct. 7th, 2023 and Israel‘s devastating response to it, and supports the creation of a Palestinian state; international bodies have taken initiatives to restrain Israel. Regardless, the extreme Zionist right is firmly in power in Israel, it seems that the pursuit to annex all Palestinian lands with as few Palestinians on them, the goal of their predecessors, is in full swing. What does it seem like to you after some 30 years of fighting for a just and permanent resolution?
Palestinians did not kill six million Israeli Jews, nor did Israelis kill six million Palestinians. Germany and Israel have ambassadors in each other‘s capitals. Regardless of 75 years of suffering, we have not given up on achieving a normal life. It is not written anywhere that we will continue killing each other forever, one day there will be an agreement and peace, we do not know when, but with every day that goes by, we are closer to the end of the occupation. Mahmoud Darwish said that though ordinary people will have paid the price, the leaders will one day shake hands. I am a believer, I pray 5 times a day. I believe it will happen and it will happen in my lifetime.