Hello there friends of Kibbutz Matzuba

My name is Alfred, i was a volunteer at Kibbutz Matzuba in Automn 1979.

Well, this is 45 years ago - while i write to you , i listen to Eric Claptons Album SLOWHAND, which was popular at that time .

I was twenty years old when i came to Israel, full of energy , ready to explore the world. I have many memories of that time . Good and bad . That is life , is it not.

I was working in the banana plantations , i remember my local buddy with the machete was YOSSELE,
we harvested a lot these days. Everything was well organized. One day , a American buddy, a Australian , named MORRIATY , and me, accomplished a new harvest record - and the price was : " Eat as much as you can at the CHADAR OCHEL" , Kibbutz Restaurant .

There was MITCH, an Englishman , mostly togehter with his American Buddy PETER "POLITICS", and
a german volunteer by the name of LIESELOTTE, she worked in the Orange plantation . She was very intelligent and wanted to learn HEBREW in the Kibbutz School , which was denied, for whatever reason....

I remember that there were tank dummies in the play ground, and watchtowers everywhere. A local explained me, that this is because of the close to the LEBANON Boarder....

We did a Tour , organized by the Kibbutz, to JERUSALEM, where we visited the YAD VASHEM .

What a shame, i said to myself, How can people be so cruel to do so horrible acts to other people, The german NAZIS killed millions of JEWS , what is going on in the minds of criminal people to execute such a slaughter. This is absolutly crazy - mad, disgusting , horrible.

There was another organized trip to the SINAI for the volunteers. I still have the foto , LISELOTTE and me on the camels back in the desert. We slept in a tent, listenig to ERIC CLAPTON, Slowhand,
and it was a great time , unforgettable

Overall , it was a great experience to work as a volunteer in the Kibbutz Matzuba. It is one of the many puzzle parts in my life that formed my life. And i am happy for that.

Now , 45 years later, i wonder if someone still remembers that team of Automn 1979 ?

Times have changed, have they not, when i get the news today from the Middle East region , i say to myself : How can this be possible, how can a people like the israeli, that once was the victim of the greatest crime ever, the "Holocoust" , be so cruel, so disgusting, so mad, so horrible , to aim to completly wipe out the people of Palestine. How can it be , that its crimainal acts rise to the same level of the NAZIS, the same methods, the same propaganda,

I am disappointed about it, the homo sapiens is going the wrong way , and history repeats itself.

The former " Holy Land " is now internationally known, and condemned as " ISRAHELL " .
Nobody, really nobody in the entire world understands the actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Nethanjahu. His NAZI like behaviour will damage the reputation of the State of Israel for years.
"Apartheit state commiting genocide" , mark the headlines in the international independent press. !!!

Israel will be politically isolated, the local tourism will take extreme damage for decades to come. Jesus Christ , what the hell is going on , can't you see that Israel has turned to an absolute looser.

People from all over the world will not talk to you anymore - as you condemn just everybody who tells you how strange you are , as an ANTI SEMITE. You ignore the truth, dismiss a two state solution and hide behind the bible.

JESUS is not happy to see this, the hole world is not happy to see this , you gotta change something there to the good, to reinstall Israels reputation , which is absolutly damaged now.

I dont wish you good luck, because luck is for the unprepared.

" Shalom " was the greeting in 1979 , when i was a volunteer in the Kibbutz Matzuba - sorry , i can not take that word in my mouth anymore.

I wish you better times in Israel - with another governement, with another strategy of Living together - i wish you wisdom to achieve the change your country needs desperately.

Best regard : Former banana-picker ALFREDO LAUENER , retired world traveller