Dear Friends,
The nine years I have been part of B’Tselem, since May 2014, have been the most significant period of my life. Soon, it will be time to move on. Every organization needs to revitalize and grow – and for me personally, it will be time to discover what the future may hold.
About three months ago, as my ninth year at B’Tselem was drawing to a close, I informed the board and staff of my decision to step down as executive director. I am deeply attached to the organization and its work – a bond that, rather than waning, has grown stronger with every passing year. That is why I find it so hard to leave, and I say this from the bottom of my heart. Yet as difficult as it is, this is the right step for B’Tselem and for the work that still lies ahead.
The board has been leading the search and selection process over the past few months and will soon select a new director, to be properly announced in due course. In the meantime, I am here to do whatever is needed, and particularly to ensure a smooth, professional transition – as previous director handovers have been carried out at B’Tselem, as was my own good fortune to experience as incoming director, and as I’m committed to passing on.
B’Tselem’s board and staff are the most dedicated, professional team I have had the privilege to work with. Imagine the strength it takes to closely examine the never-ending horror that is Palestinians’ lived reality day in and day out, for years on end – to look it squarely in the eye, document it and speak out against it. This team deserves your support, each and every day. Consider what a firm backbone the board needs to withstand the pressures, maintain integrity, and lead the organization’s most significant decisions over the years. This board deserves your support, each and every day. I am grateful to everyone at B’Tselem and know they will keep up the hard work of this remarkable organization – which deserves your trust, appreciation, and support, each and every day.
I will not try to sum up nine years of work – it is all out there for the public to view. I hope we carried out what was expected from us, that we managed to disrupt the cruel status quo, give names and faces to at least some of the victims (and they are so many), and call things by their proper name.
One of my first eye-openers when I joined B’Tselem was that there is not a single place between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, in the entire territory Israel controls, where our entire team can meet. Our field researchers in blockaded Gaza can almost never get out. If they are lucky enough to obtain a rare permit, it will most likely be not to enter, but rather to travel outside the area altogether – to Jordan. Some of our colleagues in the West Bank do not receive permits to enter, either. Meanwhile, those of us living within the Green Line can travel to and between the patchwork of Bantustans in the West Bank but cannot reach Gaza. Want to get everyone together? Take your pick from any number of places on the planet – just not here.
In this reality, B’Tselem’s work is a constant act of defiance. By merely working as the team we are, we defy Israel’s logics of separation – of Palestinians from each other and between Palestinians and Israeli-Jews. Despite all the barriers (of which there are plenty) and the permits (of which there are almost none), this unfragmented team includes Palestinians from the entire territory: from the West Bank and from Gaza, from Jerusalem and from the 1948 territories. Further, as Jews and Palestinians we stand together – not in sham coexistence, but in jointly rejecting a regime based on Jewish supremacy. We say no to separating people and no to Jewish supremacy over Palestinians. Yes to the values we share, led by a demand for full realization of human rights – both individual and collective – for all the people in Israel/Palestine.
Yours,
Hagai