The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has continued for 70 years now, and sadly there is little reason to believe it will be solved anytime soon. Most people – especially Israelis – think separation is the ultimate solution. Indeed, you see separation everywhere in Palestine, starting with the huge and hugely controversial separation wall between Israel and the West Bank. At EcoME Center for Peace and Sustainability, however, the approach has been integration. The center hosted both formal and informal events, workshops and visitors, but sadly I have read that the center closed this February, a couple months after my visit. EcoME was possibly the only community where Israelis and Palestinians lived together.
EcoME was founded in 2010 as a meeting point between peace and ecology, referring not only to peace between individuals and groups of people, but also to harmony with the land and inner peace. Nonviolent communication was a key component from the start, and permaculture was used as a tool to bring Israelis and Palestinians together while also healing the land. The center was located in Area C of the West Bank on land where Israel has full control. This location on occupied land – from which Palestinians are constantly being evicted to make way for Israeli settlers – meant that participants from both sides constantly doubted whether they should be there at all. Although I don’t know the official reason why the center closed, I suspect this conflict had a lot to do with it.
Nonviolent communication in a conflict zone
EcoME was located close to the Israeli settlement of Almog and the Palestinian city of Jericho. Many Israelis passing on the main road next to EcoME don’t even realize they are in the West Bank. This is due to the fact that the area is designated as Area C, meaning it is fully controlled by Israel. Area C comprises 60% of the West Bank, and it is very difficult for Palestinians to live on and develop this land. For decades, Israel has been building settlements in the occupied West Bank, driving Palestinians away from the countryside of Area C and into the urban areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority. This process is dividing the West Bank, so that Palestinian territory is no longer continuous, which makes the formation of a Palestinian state increasingly difficult. All this made EcoME’s location in Area C controversial, but the location also made it the ideal meeting point as both Israelis and Palestinians can easily enter Area C.
At EcoME, the strategy towards peace was to create relationships with the help of nonviolent communication. Nonviolent communication is rooted in the idea that everyone has the same human needs. EcoME’s main annual event was a 10-day training in nonviolent communication, and the goal was to teach people to communicate in a way that shows compassion and understanding for everyone’s needs.
In contrast, Israeli settlements in the West Bank use fences and guns to create safety. Just a week before my visit, the uncle of two Palestinian EcoME members had been shot by an Israeli settler because of land issues. The Palestinian woman telling us what had happened said that the reason she got involved with EcoME six years previously was because she was sick of the current situation. She knows violence is not the answer, but how does one find the strength to follow principles of nonviolent communication in these kind of situations?
Permaculture as a tool for peace at EcoME
Permaculture was the principle guiding the design of EcoME center, and I visited EcoME to take part in a two-day permaculture workshop. Events like this brought Israelis, Palestinians and internationals to work together and build relationships and bridges between cultures. However, this workshop was in December 2017 right after Trump’s announcement recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and Palestinian protests and strikes following the announcement were a main reason why there were no Palestinian participants this time.
The course I participated in focused on permaculture theory and on identifying problems and finding solutions by looking at what nature does. We looked at the basic needs of food, shelter, and energy and how these could be better achieved at EcoME. We also got a chance to participate in practical work at EcoME, such as gardening and composting.
Soil in the West Bank has been greatly degraded as a result of unsustainable agricultural practices. EcoME recognized that healing the soil is part of healing Palestine. The site of the center had previously been owned by an Israeli settler, whose agricultural practices had depleted the soil of nutrients. EcoME tried to reverse this process by creating soil from compost, and each year the garden grew as more new soil was available.
Composting toilets were the first step in creating soil at EcoME. When the compost from the toilet had decomposed enough for pathogens to die, the compost was mixed in a pile with branches, and slowly this pile would turn into soil. During my stay we planted chickpeas and lentils in such a pile, and this was not done for harvesting purposes, but because the roots of the plants would improve the quality of soil by capturing the sun’s energy.
But composting toilets at EcoME were more than just tools for creating soil. Water is a major issue for Palestinians, as Israel controls water resources in the West Bank and only a small percentage of water in the West Bank is actually used by Palestinians. Using a composting toilet is one way to reduce the consumption of this disputed water. Indeed, one of the volunteers running the center called the toilet a peace-making machine. Other water conservation efforts at EcoME included greywater recycling and rainwater harvesting.
EcoME was a seasonal project running from late October or early November to April. This seasonality arose from the extreme heat of the summer and from the fact that the all-volunteer team needed breaks. The seasonality was a challenge that made it difficult to plan the longterm design of the garden and the whole center. The volunteers taking care of the project would also change a bit every year, and it was always unknown who would be taking care of the place the following year. These challenges surely played a role in the closure of the center.
Community life on the edge
EcoME was started by four Israelis with the vision of creating an Israeli-Palestinian ecovillage. It was described as an intercultural living experiment, devoted to creating peace and exploring sustainable living. But being in the middle of a conflict zone with two different cultures and countless viewpoints made the project increasingly difficult. Participating in the project was especially conflicting for the Palestinians, who on one hand wanted peace in a nonviolent way, but who also felt that supporting EcoME supported Israeli settlements, since the center was located on settler land.
Partly due to these conflicts, the original founders left and the people involved in the project changed a bit every year. It is very difficult to build a community when people change every year. The ideals of the project were helding EcoME together, but at least for some it felt more like the people were there just to take care of the project, instead of creating a real community. All of this and the uncertainty of where the project was leading to surely affected the decision to close down the center.
Taking advantage of edges is a principle of permaculture. The edge between water and land, for example, usually has very fertile soil and rich ecology and is ideal for farming. EcoME was on the edge between Israel and Palestine. Being on the edge made it possible to create something great, but in the end the challenges of the edge were too much. The fact that EcoME had to close truly reflects the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.