Disengagement news from Camp Tawonga
(This is a little something from the Camp Tawonga PR machine that I run in SF. It’s a little “Jewish Pressy” for even my tastes, but I thought it was a fun story about teens you might enjoy, or at least enjoy ridiculing me over. In any case, it’s all part of my brit Jewschool to post more often from SF. - Sarah)
The Israeli Knesset just voted 92 to 25 in favor of disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Bitter arguments were waged between MK’s from dovish and hawkish parties after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon addressed the boisterous assembly here in Groveland, California.
Is the Israeli government on vacation in the Sierras?
No, these MK’s are Camp Tawonga campers, 9th and 10th grade teens from the San Francisco Bay Area. They gathered tonight to act out the historic 2004 vote to withdraw security forces and support from the settlements in Gaza, relinquishing control of the territory containing 1.5 million Arabs and 8,500 Jewish settlers to the Palestinian Authority.
Like many of their non-Jewish peers back home, Tawonga campers don’t necessarily keep close tabs on dealings between Labor and Likud. They know that Israeli society has been embroiled in debate with the Palestinians for decades, and naturally, many of them have opinions they’ve inherited from CNN, NPR…or their feisty San Francisco parents.
Campers broke into cabin groups for a crash course in Israeli government, and took on the roles of 10 parties, from Labor to Likud, from Shas to Ale Yarok (”Green Leaf”).
They discussed the history of Israel, the sources of the settler movement, dovish and hawkish views of the Palestinian question, and the importance of security in the State of Israel. Five Israeli shlichim (messengers) circulated among the groups answering questions from an Israeli perspective.
Before the program began (after a tasty enchilada dinner) Camp Director Deborah Newbrun was eagerly anticipating tonight’s experiment with parliamentary politics at camp. She says Tawonga is stepping out onto the edge.
“No other camps out there are doing this,” Newbrun said. “Jewish summer camps all over the country do Israel education through informal activities like Israel Day parties, like Maccabee games, like teaching Hebrew words for this and that, but no one has taken on something intellectual like this lately.”
Campers supporting disengagement cheered on speakers they supported, and anti-disengagement forces wore orange headbands in protest. One unruly camper was busted trying to sneak a pinecone “grenade” into the Knesset meeting. An enraged settler (played outrageously against her own leftist Berkeley roots by Associate Director Ann Gonski) was thrown out of the Knesset for provoking the MK’s, and counselors dressed as Shin Bet officers tried to keep the disruptions at bay with mandatory bag searches and a phalanx around the Prime Minister.
“It’s so much easier to articulate intolerance than to carefully frame the reasons for peace and justice. It takes a lot more thought,” said Gonski, watching with concern as the more hawkish campers harassed the doves at the podium.
She was pleased at the defenses presented and, ultimately, heartened by the closing statements and the final vote.
“Those kids were on the hot seat, having to present thoughtful and articulate positions, and they did just that,” she said.
