Inge Etzbach, Author and Website Keeper
When I came to Israel for the first time in 1987, after the death of my husband, I worked during the first Intifada as a "Volunteer for Israel" cleaning Uzis on an army base, and as a volunteer on Kibbutz Eilon in the Galilee. I came to heal during that time, in the glorious sunshine, the history, the mix of the people, the adventure of coming into my own. Eilon has a mosaics factory, and when I left there to fly back home to New York, I bought one of its beautiful plaques to remind me of the country and its need for peace. This plaque has been hanging on my living room wall ever since and expresses my desire for all people in the land of Palestine.
I was born in Germany and, as a 12-year old at the end of the war, I saw the opening of a concentration camp which led to my life-long work for human rights and justice. My fervent desire was that NEVER AGAIN should the hate and exclusion of other races cause the despair and suffering of another people.
But the children of the holocaust, with their own pain and memories in the background, proceeded to build their own country and in the process inflict pain, suffering and expulsion on the indigenous people of the land. They, as I see it, are caught in their fear of insecurity and are unable to rise out of that fear to look down at the situation as a whole, at the short span of life which is allotted to each of us, at the humanity and common interest of all, and the fact that we all have inherent worth and dignity and are human beings first, before we are members of a tribe or a religion.
I am a part of a group of equally dedicated women whose ultimate aim is a change which makes a peaceful and respectful co-existence of the two peoples possible. My main focus is on:
US foreign policy based on neutrality, promoting peace, democracy, human rights, and respect for international law
An end to US military aid and the supply of armaments and weapons to Israel
A political system which supports equal rights for all people within the State of Israel
An end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem and a policy of recognition of the
Palestinian demand for self-determination
A resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem consistent with international law and equity
But the children of the holocaust, with their own pain and memories in the background, proceeded to build their own country and in the process inflict pain, suffering and expulsion on the indigenous people of the land. They, as I see it, are caught in their fear of insecurity and are unable to rise out of that fear to look down at the situation as a whole, at the short span of life which is allotted to each of us, at the humanity and common interest of all, and the fact that we all have inherent worth and dignity and are human beings first, before we are members of a tribe or a religion.
I am a part of a group of equally dedicated women whose ultimate aim is a change which makes a peaceful and respectful co-existence of the two peoples possible. My main focus is on:
US foreign policy based on neutrality, promoting peace, democracy, human rights, and respect for international law
An end to US military aid and the supply of armaments and weapons to Israel
A political system which supports equal rights for all people within the State of Israel
An end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem and a policy of recognition of the
Palestinian demand for self-determination
A resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem consistent with international law and equity
After my months in the Middle East I studied Philosophy and Political Science at Queens College, New York. I also attended the Interfaith Seminary and was ordained in 1999 as an Interfaith Minister by its founder, a Hasidic Rabbi (who lost 47 members of his immediate family in the Holocaust) at St. John the Divine in New York City. I have three grown children and live in New York City in the Winter and in Copake Falls, NY in the Summer, and now, 82 years old, I work for Peace with Justice and always stand on the side of the oppressed.