Gimel

Jul 29, 2022

He hoped that seeing Israel and meeting Israelis might help to quell her fears. הילדה מעזה שנכנסה לישראל כדי לטפל בפוסט טראומה: "חשבתי שכולם פה מחזיקים רובים" https://t.co/bONXnQGaDi pic.twitter.com/DPmUmP9tb3 Advertisement “Unfortunately, there are children in Gaza who think that there are monsters living in Israel who only want to kill Arabs,” he added. Once out of Gaza, the report said, Gimel hardly put down her phone’s camera. “What a beautiful view,” she told her father. “I like the green fields.” Gimel visited several towns across Israel, including Jerusalem, Jaffa, Ashkelon and Tel Aviv. She met with other children from Kibbutz Nir Am, an Israeli community near the Strip where she and her father stayed throughout their four-day visit. Illustrative: Palestinians and Israelis in dialogue at the Roots Center in the West Bank. (Courtesy of Roots) Despite the language barrier, Gimel and Shoham, a 12-year-old resident of the kibbutz, managed to communicate using translation apps on their phones and spoke about topics ranging from social media and music to school and summer break. Shoham noted that she was surprised, and concerned, to hear that Gimel did not have a bomb shelter in her home the way she did. The two exchanged Instagram accounts at the end of their meeting. Shoham, who had sprained her leg before the meeting, had a difficult time walking out. Advertisement “I wish you’d come again and we have more time together,” Shoham said. Gimel and her father also held a larger meeting with children from Nir Am. “I live in Gaza, who’s afraid of me?” Gimel’s father asked at the start, a question to which all of the children in attendance raised their hands. After a question-and-answer session, Gimel’s father again asked the children if they were afraid of him. This time, none of them said yes. Illustrative: Palestinian workers wait at the Erez crossing in Beit Hanun as they wait to enter Israel for work, March 13, 2022. (Attia Muhammed/Flash90) Gimel also visited a petting zoo run by the Hossen (“Resilience”) Center in the Gaza-adjacent town of Sderot. Over the years Sderot has been one of the towns most affected by rocket attacks from terrorists in the Strip. The treatment center uses various means, including animal care, to help people deal with psychological trauma. Gimel was accompanied there by Ibrahim al-Etauna, director of the Bedouin Resilience Center in the Negev. “I got the impression that now she understands that reality is not black and white, but the thought of war still scares her. In any case, she said that now she will be less worried when her father goes to work in Israel,” he told Ynet of a private conversation he and Gimel had after the visit. At the end of the visit, Gimel noted that she wished she could stay longer. Advertisement “We want to live like good neighbors, with love and cooperation,” Gimel’s father said at the end of the visit. “I hope that one day everything will be over and the children of Gaza and Israel will be able to live as good neighbors. If it was up to [the children], there would already be peace and everything would be fine. I hope my daughter can visit Israel again.” As for Gimel, her fears amid conflict certainly won’t evaporate, but her views have unquestionably changed. “I thought that in Israel everyone wore military uniforms and held guns, but the Jews were really nice,” she said. Join our Israeli cooking experience! Israeli cooking is taking the world by storm. Here’s your chance to join in... The Times of Israel Community is excited to present our new virtual cooking series, B’Teavon, where world renowned chefs show you how to make classic and modern Israeli dishes.