About
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
Israel’s Declaration of Independence, 14 May 1948
In November 2007, I returned to Israel after a 3-year period studying in London on a Palestinian-Israeli scholarship programme. My intention has been to discover Israeli society anew, and to detect and broaden the existing and future routes for reconciliation - with ourselves as a diverse and conflicted society, with our stateless Palestinian neighbours, and beyond. To do this, I am going back to my roots, to the places I grew up in, to the people who have walked alongside me. As I share my findings, my hope is that those of us who believe in justice, in truth and in peace will find new insight and new energy in our long and often despairing struggle against fear, violence and separation.
