ibn Ezra

This website is run by Joseph Dana and Mairav Zonszein. We are Jerusalem based, American-Israeli Ta’ayush activists. Our work has been featured in The Nation, Haaretz, Global Voices Online and regularly on Mondoweiss. We offer an on-the-ground perspective on life in Israel and the reality of the settlement project for Israeli and Palestinian society. We post exclusive footage from the West Bank that often includes acts of settler violence, IDF policy and conduct and settlement expansion, to name a few topics.

From its earliest days, Taayush has produced action only, neither manifestos nor ideological debates. The group that consolidated wanted to reverse the usual scale of priorities: after realizing that declarations do not always stand the test of ‘moments of truth’, action was chosen as the way to demonstrate a refusal to accept the repetition of incursions, and to be present where things took place. Direct, non-violent action was the path chosen, as well as decision-making by consensus. Taayush formulated a position paper by the end of December 2000, but its fine-points took up too much time and energy. It was decided to put off this task, and gain the participation of everyone who identified with the actions that were planned to express clear positions. Protest by actual doing, by outspoken negation of the separation between Arabs and Jews in Israel in every realm of life, and of the Occupation itself, of starvation, closure, movement limitations and military incursions that Israel practices in the Occupied Territories.

The name Taayush expresses the desire to upend conventional categories. The word Taayush usually translates the term “co-existence”, but its real meaning is “living together”, “sharing life with one another”. The difference between living together and co-existence is perhaps not very significant for those who are not familiar with the dialogue groups, peace encounters, peace tents and creativity workshops that characterized the dialogue style of the nineties, but the difference is enormous. It means living together, struggling together against alienation, against the separation wall, discrimination and racism, mastery and patronism, humiliation and boycott, exploitation and occupation.