“My kibbutz was like paradise,” says Rita Lifshitz, who settled in Israel as a young Swede. However, her life, like that of millions of people in the region, was uprooted on 7 October 2023. Her kibbutz Nir Oz is not far from the border with the Gaza Strip and was almost completely destroyed.
Many people from the village were abducted by Hamas, and a whole party of them are still missing today - including her father-in-law. “It is our fault that the terror was allowed to develop. We were all asleep. You, me, the world was asleep,” says Lifshitz, looking at Foreign Minister Bettel, who is sitting opposite her.
After a year and nearly four weeks, she and the people of her kibbutz want peace. Everyone now shares a responsibility for providing the necessary education so that this peace can be achieved.
Lifshitz shares her story in a small conference room in a hotel on Wednesday morning shortly after 9 o’clock, marking the first meeting of the working visit of the Luxembourg Foreign Minister to Israel.
In order to understand and mediate between the two sides, Bettel has scheduled a full day of meetings with government representatives from Israel and Palestine.
An agenda which was not easy to put together. Especially with nervousness riding high in Israel, the meetings at the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem seemed tense. For instance, the programme elements kept changing throughout the day, in particular regarding the press. By the time both meetings with Israel Katz and Knesset President Amir Ohana had passed, the press conference was fully cancelled.
Nonetheless, the Foreign Minister briefed the press, noting that the Israelis “always claim that he is a bit direct”. Nevertheless, he continues to have a relationship of trust with them.
Among other things, Bettel asked the Israelis about their conditions for a ceasefire, who claimed that this could come quickly in Lebanon.
He also openly criticised the ban on the UN Palestinian Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is due to come into force in three months’ time.
“I made it clear to the President of the Knesset that if there is no alternative to UNRWA in three months’ time, Israel will be to blame if people die not only from bombs, but also from hunger and a lack of medical aid.”
The Minister also added that he finds it hard to justify the deaths of hundreds of civilians against the backdrop of the disappeared.
Early in the morning, the delegation travelled on to the West Bank.
The team was first escorted to the border, where they then changed drivers. The black van with an Israeli number plate was exchanged for two grey press vehicles, one of which had Palestinian armour. From there, we drove to another checkpoint before arriving 20 minutes later in the Palestinian city of Ramallah.
We were greeted warmly; a security check to enter the Ministry of State was not necessary here. But here, too, there are no opportunities to interview the Palestinian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed Mustafa.
Bettel briefs the team again after his mission. Above all, the Foreign Minister said that the government should do more to secure the release of the Israeli hostages. The Palestinians are in favour of the Israeli government lifting its blockade on financial transactions.
The schedule for the visit is tight. After less than an hour, we move on to a meeting that, given the current context, has a great symbolic effect. A few kilometres away from the ministry are both UNRWA offices and a school where 800 pupils are taught.
Luxembourg normally supports the aid organisation with 5 million euros per year, this year’s spending is already set to reach 7.2 million euros. According to Ben Majekodunmi, half of the population (2.2 million inhabitants) of the Gaza Strip is currently dependent on UNRWA for survival.
“The people here are desperate. UNRWA is the only element in their lives that remains more or less intact,” emphasises the aid worker. He sees Israel’s decision to ban UNRWA as an attack on humanitarian aid.
Bettel then confronted those responsible with Israel’s accusations that UNRWA schools are glorifying terrorists. The answer to this is that teaching staff are permanently trained to put material into context.
The excursion continued in the afternoon. Amid considerable traffic, half a dozen cars are being escorted through the streets of Ramallah. The driver tells the Foreign minister about the country, he points towards the Israeli occupations, and explains how the Palestinians’ lives, even in the West Bank, have changed since the attack orchestrated by the Hamas. “We hate Hamas”, the driver adds.
Many citizens have lost their jobs, and more than ever are they being harassed by Israeli occupants. As an example he shows a street which has been closed due to “security reasons”, at least that is what the authorities tell them. “If we were able to drive that way, we would arrive in five minutes”, the driver continues and points at a barrier, “and look at the time now.” It actually took almost an hour to reach the destination of their next appointment.
The delegation climbs out of our cars and is greeted by a group of people. The latter group is made up of farmers and representatives of PARC, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee, which Luxembourg supports financially. The organisation helps farmers in Umm Safa as well as in the Gaza Strip to hold on to their territories. They support them via sharing the needed know-how and industrial machinery.
Only recently one of their projects was destroyed by Israeli occupants, laments the president of the association in Ramallah. It is not a rarity, depending on which zone one works in. “In this village, they closed two roads”, the president remembers. The farmers now need to drive an additional 40 kilometres to get to Ramallah.
During the visit, a sudden nervousness arises among security. A pick-up car is driving through the field toward the group. Yet the warning is lifted quickly: it is just one of the farmers driving home after a day of work. In the meantime, night is enveloping Umm Safa.
Bettel and his team start their return to Jerusalem. On their journey the press car has a flat tire, but that is not an issue, it can continue driving nonetheless. At the Israeli border they enter a large garage where the cars are exchanged again, in order to get back to Jerusalem.
After the official visit there is still time left to spend. A walk through the covered market, Mahane Yehuda Market, offers an interesting insight. At 10pm on a Wednesday evening, many people are outside, and as the evening progresses, the music turns up.
Although the overall mood is light and laid-back, it is shocking to see several people carrying machine guns or shotguns in their belt. They are not patrolling the streets, they simply wear it as an additive when going out with their friends. The waiter explains that these men are young Israelis currently absolving their military training. The visitors are not necessarily satisfied with the given answer, considering that what we saw were many different guns and not only young men. They leave the market with mixed feelings.
Two days have passed, and the visit to Palestine and Israel has come to an end. Xavier Bettel sees Israel one last time from above, we see the Gaza Strip on the horizon: everything looks seemingly peaceful, but he knows that is not the case. War and misery is reigning underneath, and that needs to be resolved for the good of the whole population.
“I leave Israel with a feeling, that a ceasefire is possible. Not today, not tomorrow, but in the near future. And I believe the freeing of Israeli hostages is possible too”, emphasises Xavier Bettel in his conclusive report. He would not have said that a few weeks ago: he is hopeful now.
What he has learned from his visit is the importance of feeling hopeful, people need hope more than ever, rooting for a peaceful solution to the conflict at hand.
