sraeli Conflict
Talking Integral & Walking Integral
Elza Maaluf
"Going to Israel? Wow..." That's
all I could intelligently say to
Don to express the myriad of
emotions and thoughts
I experienced in that moment.
A glimpse into my Arab psyche …a
snapshot into the unexpected
All the lines, levels and stages
in me went into a state of
euphoria mixed with deep
introspection and anticipation.
Although I would like to think
of myself as a "Global citizen"
and a proud American citizen
now, you have to remember that I
am at the same time an Arab
woman who carries the
impressions of Arab 'DNA' of
ideas and feelings about the
State of Israel and the Zionist
movement, some of them are
justified and some of course
not...
I called my Israeli friends in
the US for Hebrew lessons and
my Jewish friends for
discussions about Munich, their
feelings about Israel and
more...I also met with many
Palestinians discussing the
conflict with them, their
feelings and aspirations. In one
day I sided 10 times with
Israelis and 10 times with the
Palestinians.
I needed to get this out of my
system. So it was time I refer
back to my spiritual practice of
non-duality, detachment and one
taste. Meditate! nothing worked,
well…maybe after a while!
If I “the detached one” can
carry that much emotionally, how
much are we carrying
collectively in the Middle East,
Arabs and Israelis? Can a
“systemic Peace-making” an
Assimilation-Contrast effect, an
evaluation of the vMemes
activated etc…, do the trick?
Well, I could have waited few
days and saved myself a lot of
brain and heart ache until I saw
Don ‘walking integral’ and met
the three Tel Avivians(as Rafi
put it)
Neri Bar-On, Oren Entin
and Rafi Nasser. Our hosts from
Integral Israel are some of the
brightest minds in the SDi
constellation and some of the
most delightful human beings one
can meet. Susan Vance, our
charming companion on this trip,
who has been to Israel before as
an US Air force Colonel, and now
representing the generous
sponsor John Smith, added
direction and support to this
integral initiative.
If you want to know if SDi works
in the real world, you only have
to observe a Spiral Wizard like
Don at work. At moments, when an
academic, Israeli or
Palestinian, had a
blue-resistant argument, or
someone on either side was
playing the ‘we tried many times
in the past card,’ I held my
breath to see how Don would
react to such resistance. He
masterfully turned that
situation into a yellow, ebb and
flow movement and facilitated
the emergence of an open system
where one was ripe.
Looking beneath the surface was
helpful. On this trip, I learned
more in one week then I learned
in years about a conflict that I
thought I knew a lot about. The
Resilience that we saw in
Israelis and Palestinians is one
of an epic proportion that will
no doubt support Building the
Arc.
What Happened in Israel…
Israel has an Orange center of
gravity with a swell of Green
that regresses during crisis,
and there is an obvious
democratic dialogue that is
refreshing and a far cry from
anything I see in the Arab
world, except some in Lebanon
and some starting in Kuwait and
Egypt. A healthy Blue pride is
common among Israelis; most
citizens serve in the Army for
2-3 years and learn the ethos of
discipline, respect and love of
the country. I faced a different
version of Blue-red once on our
trip with our Jerusalem guide
who kept pointing at Arab
quarters with a lot of criticism
and brought up my red;
thankfully Neri calmed it easily
with deep fried Falafel and Fava
beans from the Arabic quarter.
As Rafi mentioned Don met with
Key people in Israel; his
meeting with Gilead Sher (Chief
negotiator in the 1999-2001
Camp David summit, author of
The Israeli-Palestinian
Negotiations; Within reach)was
one that left a big satisfactory
smile on his face. Gilead
offered to promote Don’s work in
his Israeli-Palestinian-Arab
circle. Don’s presentations at
Tel Aviv Univ. and Bar Ilan
Univ. were highly academic and
it was a pleasure to see him
basking in his old glory! At Bar
Ilan social psychology
department they teach Muzafer
Sherif’s theory on intergroup-relation
and they had a chance to listen
to a more in depth account from
Don who worked with Sherif and
his wife at Oklahoma Univ. It
was interesting to see academics
in Israel being more open to new
ideas than some of their
counterparts in the West. My
explanation is that academics
there are dealing with survival
situations and can recognize
practical technologies that
work.
A short but enlightening meeting
with Rabbi Mark Gafni sparked a
conversation about how we ca
connect on a yet deeper level of
consciousness, a much needed
Mystical dimension where Islam,
Judaism and Christianity and
other spiritual paths meet.
The Feb 10th Tel Aviv
presentation was a pinnacle for
all of us, especially for Neri,
Oren and Rafi, who were thrilled
to see their efforts rewarded
with much eagerness from the
attendees to learn more about
SDi and join Integral Israel.
Don introduced the theory and
showed how the color codes
change under stress and ended
with a piece from “Time” the
musical… "The Time is Now!”
What can I say about the
Israelis I met? The response
they had to me as an Arab woman,
was overwhelming. I felt an
earnest wish to mend the
historic divide in each and all
of them; from the officer who
stopped us for 2 hours at the
airport (because I was born in
Lebanon:) to the young people we
chatted with on the street, to
academics, and most of the
people who attended our
presentations.
What happened in Palestine:
Our Feb 7th Trip to
Bethlehem was facilitated by Tom
Christensen , a fellow SWIT, who
met with many Israelis and
Palestinians on a Peace
Initiative trip to the Middle
East. Tom was getting ready to
send Spiral Dynamics books and
Theory of Everything books to
his contact people and told them
that Don himself will be there.
Our contact person in Bethlehem
was Nafiz Rfaee, a truly
inspiring human being. Nafiz is
a Fatah leader well respected by
his party as well as by other
parties. He says “I am one of a
Third generation who fights to
develop and modernize the
movement.” I asked him if we can
arrange for a meeting with the
Mayor who was elected with Hamas’
support and expected a negative
reaction. On the contrary he had
a great attitude and offered to
set up meetings with every party
and all Palestinians. We met
with The Governor of Bethlehem,
Salah Al-Tamari with whom we had
an interesting conversation and
who at the end mentioned an
affinity to Richard Bach’s books
and some other South African
poet (will find the name)!
A meeting with three members of
the Parliament from Fatah was an
eye opener. One of the members,
Mahmoud Laham, explained that
they have been meeting and
negotiating with Israelis for
many years. But their problem
was that they teamed up with the
Liberal Party in Israel, and
because of that party’s weakness
in Israel, they were weakened
too. Of course, that is one
explanation and one shade of
color in the rainbow of
circumstances that got them to
this stage.
Don had said to me at the
beginning of the trip that we
are here to listen. We listened
to them and they listened to us.
I was particularly pleased to
see an openness and humility
coming from Arab brothers. (my
purple)
We went on a tour of
impoverished Bethlehem and saw
some of the camps there. It
reminded me of a familiar sight
in Lebanon, Palestinian camps,
poor, narrow streets, kids with
happy faces, no shoes, cold…an
‘almost normal’ painful thread
in the fabric of our daily life…
Nafiz invited 40 people to
attend our presentation at the
Center for Arab Women Unity in
Bethlehem. The center offers
many social and healthcare
services to the community. I was
told-much to my delight- that it
was started by another Maalouf
woman in 1947! The president of
the center, Mrs Julia Dabdoub,
gave me a copy of their Golden
anniversary book.
Professors from Bethlehem
University, City councils,
activists and peace
organizations presidents and
representatives attend the SDi
over Bethlehem presentation.
Some heated debate flavored our
presentation, with more people
open and eager to know more
about the theory and how they
can apply it, than the few of
them who resisted. The
Palestinian women we met are a
force to reckon with!
The Hard Truth is what Don
addressed with all parties on
this trip, and a seed was
planted.
Walking Integral never looked
better!