Day 288 Of The War: Neora, Unsung Heroine Of Peace

For many years, we lived in the States, and I wasn’t aware that some of my friends in Israel had become activists, routinely demonstrating and protesting against social and political injustices. While we were leading a sheltered life in a small university town in the Midwest, their lives in Israel reflected the turmoil following the first Lebanon War in 1982. One such example is my childhood friend Neora Shem, who started demonstrating in September 1982 after the Sabra and Shatila massacre, during which one of the Christian militias in Lebanon (supported by the IDF) murdered between 1,300 and 3,500 civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shias.

In a recent interview, which I conducted for a project featuring female peace activists, Neora specifically referred to that tragedy as a turning point. She felt that she could not just go on with her life after such a horrible tragedy, and since then, every activity she engaged in, both professionally and privately, had a direct connection with her desire for coexistence with our Palestinian neighbors and her hope to bring peace.

A good example that combines the professional and the personal is Neora’s 1993 novel, “Digital Affair,” which is regarded as the first Hebrew cyberpunk novel. The novel emphasizes the new culture of the internet and the inability to know what is happening on the other side of the screen through a love story between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man.

At that time, Neora, in her role as an innovation and internet journalist, experimented with and tested new electronic gadgets. When she got a newly invented camcorder, she decided to use it to help her internet friend Riyad, a Palestinian who lived in the US and, after going abroad to study, could not return home to the occupied territories. Riyad was very frustrated that he couldn’t go home and see his family, so Neora suggested using the new device to visit his hometown of Nablus. She met with members of his family and video-recorded the encounter. Riyad was happy, but unfortunately, after October 7 he gave up on a long and close friendship with Neora of over 30 years.

Throughout the years, Neora has kept up her activism, protesting every week against injustices done to the Palestinians, joining a group of Israelis who regularly helped farmers access their fields, and participating in many other important activities. When I asked her if she wasn’t burnt out or tired of fighting after working for coexistence and peace for over 40 years, she admitted that she felt fatigue, but added that working together with Palestinian counterparts filled her with renewed energy, and these are the most meaningful and happy moments in her adult life.

Sometime after the beginning of the war, Neora joined a group of activists who took part in the demonstrations. They are mostly young women who believe in a ceasefire and a peace agreement. Dressed in white, they sit quietly in a circle with clear signs stating that everyone deserves shelter, security, equality, and peace. In the middle of the circle, they place a heart to clarify, especially to the police, that this is not a demonstration but rather an artistic installation. This is very much in Neora’s style: she always finds creative ways to have her say.