My name is Yuval Haklay; I’m 23 years old, just finished my army service and I’m active in WWP. I’m the oldest sister in my family of 4 siblings. My brother Guy is serving as a combat soldier in the Nahal Unit; Assaf is a senior in high school and is active in sports after school and Naamah is in 5th grade, dances and a member of the Scouts. I was lucky to grow up in a family where my parents were highly involved in what was happening in the country and the world, and always tried to get us involved as well. My grandparents on both sides, Rananah and Baruch made Aliyah to Israel from Pheonix, Arizona in 1977, and Hannah’leh and Moshe’leh (zal) founded Kibbutz Mashabei Sadeh in the Negev, are true Zionists. They hold values of contributing to the common good and they are a good contributors to who I am today.
I finished my military service 14 months ago; I was part of the unit that trained combat soldiers who joined the Nahal. I was in an amazing unit of talented women (and men) who believe in what is good for the soldiers. After the army, I moved to Kibbutz Ketura in the deep south of Israel where I worked as a counselor for teenagers with special needs. Now I am preparing myself to start studying in Ben Gurion University. During the summer I’ll be going to Camp Ramah in the Poconos, USA, for the second time, as an emissary of the Jewish agency. I’m very excited about going there again as I believe it’s important to show the diverse views that Israel has to offer. Israel is such a diverse country – the more one gets to know it, the more one falls in love with it.
During Operation Protective Edge I was a member of the “funeral unit” of the Nahal. I attended two funerals where the expected behavior was: no crying, no throwing up, no sunglasses – just demonstrate resilience. During this period, while I was worried about my friends who were serving in Gaza, I didn’t allow myself to think or feel too much. I did whatever I had to do. Only after my discharge was I able to process the experiences I had in the army. I remembered the families who fell apart in front of me and the coffins lying on the ground. I decided that I had to do something in order to prevent more funerals, more wars and more broken families.
What guides me is the desire for a better future. I believe that as women we can achieve all we aspire to if we work together. During the March of Hope We proved we can do great things and attract women from all over the country and around the world. What I like in the movement is that age is not a dirty word; the attitude is the same no matter what your age.
Recently the movement established a chapter for young women of which I’m proud to be a member. I am surrounded by young women who care about what happens to this country. Nowadays, when many young adults feel there is no possibility for change and peace is for the naïve, and “what difference does it make if there will be another war anyway”, I say “our hope is not yet lost” (a line from the national anthem). Sitting at home and waiting for something to happen is boring. I prefer getting up and taking part in the amazing change that the movement is creating. The young women’s chapter is made up of brave women who believe that change is possible; I am proud to be part of this group.
As part of my activities in WWP, I initiated the project “Poetry Slam – Women, Peace and Beyond”. The first event took place at the Baskoola Pub in Tel Aviv with 9 artists of the “spoken word”, Jews and Palestinians. It was moving to see how much young people care about what happens here – from women’s rights to the complex situation in which we live. In addition, it’s important to me to talk about my experiences during “Operation Protective Edge” in order to show people my age that we must create change in order to prevent the next war.
Translated from Hebrew by Sue Levinstein
