Israel’s Fringiest Group

I recently visited the Israeli community of Gevaot. As you enter, a warm breeze hits your face and the quiet settles in. Modest homes line the paths, neighbors passing one another without hurry. Only two places break the calm: a school and a small coffee shop.

Happiness radiates from the school. Children with varying levels of special needs play soccer together alongside attentive, eager counselors, seemingly without a worry in the world. A striking number of the students I met had lost immediate family members fighting in the war in Gaza — not because Gevaot is a school for children defined by trauma, but because that is the reality of life in Israel. Some of the students do not fully understand what happened to their relatives. Others do. Regardless, all of them find comfort in the safe haven Gevaot provides.

A similar atmosphere fills the coffee shop. Staffed by individuals with special needs, it allows visitors to enjoy food and coffee overlooking beautiful mountain views, while the staff practice interpersonal and fine motor skills in a real workplace. The shop also sells pottery crafted by students from the school.

It is difficult to visit a place like Gevaot and not feel a sense of Eden. The environment, the care, and the people make it one of the most meaningful places I have ever visited.

What struck me most, however, is where Gevaot is located: a hilltop settlement in Judea — the so-called West Bank. The kind of place many people think they already understand.

Extremists.
Radicals.
Fundamentalists.
Far-right nationalists.

These are the labels routinely assigned to communities like Gevaot. They are considered as Israel’s fringiest population, an obstacle to peace rather than a society to be understood.

If nothing else, my visit to Gevaot gave me perspective.

While polling shows that a majority of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza support Hamas’s actions on October 7 (A Dual Crisis- Palestinian Public Opinion Amidst Occupation and a Leadership Vacuum), Israel’s most maligned and “radical” group is quietly building an oasis for individuals with special needs.

For those interested in learning more about Gevaot, the One Israel Fund has produced a short video highlighting the community. https://oneisraelfund.org/trips/sadnat-shiluv-a-special-school/