Photo by Lydia Aisenberg

Ambassador Svein Sevje enjoying a cup of tea with Aya Leshner at the kibbutz.

In 1968 and 1971 the current Norwegian Ambassador to Israel, Svein Sevje, was a volunteer in Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek in the Lower Galilee.

During his second stint on the kibbutz the future diplomat also studied Hebrew and remained in touch with some of the kibbutz folk he worked with and visited in their homes during his volunteering days.

Recently Svein Sevje took a walk down his kibbutz memory lane together with son Steinar - a teacher in Oslo - and Israel based Norwegian journalist John Solsvik. Sevje was saddened to hear of the deaths of two of the older members he had been particularly friendly with, Yoseph (Yup) Leshner who had been in charge of the volunteers and ulpan students in the 1970s (together with this writer) and Reuven Bezner whose family had adopted him, kibbutz style, during his volunteer period.

“It was really good to have somewhere to go in the afternoons, drink coffee and speak with people about life in the kibbutz, the ideology and political thinking at that time,” the Ambassador told Aya, Yup Leshner’s widow, as she served coffee in her modest kibbutz abode.

As Aya showed him photographs Yup had kept of the groups of young people from all over the world that he had cared about so deeply, he in turn showed her a few snaps of his kibbutz period on the screen of his mobile phone!  He was also pleased to hear that Gali Leshner was working on a school project about Norway, totally unconnected with his visit but everything to do with teacher Maia Benko-Tzur.

Shortly after completing high school, Svein Sevje had planned to go travelling with a friend but those plans had fallen through.  Spotting an advertisement offering the opportunity to volunteer on a kibbutz, he had signed up and was sent to Mishmar HaEmek where he quickly found himself working in the citrus fruit orchards.

“Fortunately, I found I had an allergy and ended up in the kitchens instead,” joked the Ambassador to Maia Benko-Tzur, a fellow Norwegian married to Shai Tzur, a third generation son of the 1920s' founded kibbutz.

Maia, the mother of three children, had also started her kibbutz days as a volunteer – following in the 1967 footsteps of her mother Liv Benko who in later years filmed a documentary about life in the Jezreel Valley kibbutz community, a flagship kibbutz of the Hashomer Hatzair movement.

Joining the Norwegian Foreign Ministry in the late 1970s, Sevje has been posted to many countries, serving in different capacities on behalf of his country.  These included stints in Europe, South America and Sudan where he was ambassador.  He first served in Israel from 1994-1998 when he was charge d’affaires at the Norwegian embassy in Tel Aviv and also served in Lebanon and Syria and was Middle East special envoy from 2005-2008.

He also has a claim to being the first Norwegian representative to the Palestinian Authority and it was he who informed former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin that he was to be a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

“I was also at the Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah when Yasser Arafat was informed by Mahmoud Abbas that Rabin had been assassinated,” recalls Sevje.  The Palestinian leader reacted by saying, “Now all red lines will be crossed.”

With so much experience under his diplomatic belt – including periods of time in Gaza when the Palestinian Authority was in control – it is no wonder that he was also appointed a special envoy for the peace process prior to becoming ambassador to Israel.

Chatting to the Leshners over a cup of tea, Sevje divulged that he had participated in a production of Fiddler on the Roof in his youth. “I was the hatmaker,” said the veteran ambassador who had no inkling at the time that he might also become a peacemaker later on in life.

“I remember vividly my journey to Israel the first time – I even remember how much I paid for the flight as well,” joked the 62 year-old diplomat.  “I learned a great deal and have very fond memories of my time in the kibbutz, travelling around Israel and, can you believe it, sleeping on the beaches.”

However, he did not hold such positive memories with regard to the coffee or the brand of cigarettes - Noblesse - the volunteers were given!

When asked about how Norwegians see Israel in present times, the Ambassador, a true diplomat, commented that Norway was not as anti-Israel as was reported in the Israeli media. “I will agree that there is a great deal of over the top reporting with regard to Israel but totally disagree that Norwegians are delegitimizing the State of Israel,” he commented.

Having just returned from a three year period of living back in Oslo with her family, Maia Benko-Tzur spoke of how, when she was growing up, she had never experienced anti-Semitism in Norway but was shocked to see during her time teaching there in later years the word ‘Jew’ scrawled on a toilet door and heard children calling each other ‘Jew’ here and there.

Maia is the mother of a 12 year-old daughter and eight year-old twins.  When asked how it was to reacclimatize to Israel and life in the kibbutz after three years in Norway she admitted it had been a bit difficult to readjust to speaking Hebrew, and her younger children had difficulty in reading and writing. Her kibbutz-born husband now speaks fluent Norwegian, much to the admiration of the Norwegian visitors.

“What I really appreciate here is the freedom the children have.  I am not hesitant to let them go anywhere here unlike in Oslo,” she said.