Tonight, Israel celebrates its 61st Independence Day. As usual, the country's commentators are offering mixed reviews, filled with angst and back-patting, celebration and worry. But, today I had the privilege of an unexpected 'Yom Hatzmaut' commemoration of my own, as an Israeli friend of mine was honored by Survivor Corps, an NGO that works with people who have been hit by land mines, torture, war and genocide.

My heroic friend, Nomika Tzion, lives in an urban kibbutz that she helped create, in the rocket-ravaged poor city of Sderot, just three miles or so from the Gaza border.

Yet, unlike many others who live in Sderot or in Israel proper, Nomika's response to the violence has never been to blame the other, to seek revenge or to desire war. She has always sought out a peaceful alternative and during the worst days of the recent war in Gaza, she also sought out partners--in Gaza--to work together toward peace. That's how she met Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Palestinian obstetrician and gynecologist who works in one of Israel's top hospitals, but who lives in a refugee camp in Gaza.

During the war in Gaza, Dr. Abuelaish lost 3 of his 8 children and a niece, killed by Israeli fire. One of his remaining children was seriously injured. Still, he too, seeks only peace. He is a well-known and respected doctor in Israel (and a less well-known fact-there are a significant number of Palestinian doctors working in top Israeli hospitals, both Palestinians who live inside the Green Line and are Israeli citizens or some, like Dr. Abuelaish, living in Gaza or the West Bank).

In addition to receiving this joint award, they will go anywhere and speak to anyone about a future with two states living in peace.

Nomika comes from stellar Zionist stock. Her grandfather was Yaacov Hazan, a storied and pivotal socialist Zionist who helped found the left wing kibbutz movement. He would not recognize the country he helped settle; nor would he recognize his granddaughter's kibbutz as the type of kibbutz he originated.

Nomika lives on Migvan, an urban kibbutz that exists as a small neighborhood of single family homes, beautifully designed, on a street in the town of Sderot. The kibbutz members pool everything; they run one of the top non-profits in Israel, doing grassroots organizing and teaching empowerment to the inhabitants of southern Israel. And they intentionally live in a poor community, a border community, to be part of the community there, not separate from it. All of them could choose to live elsewhere, away from the kassams, but they don't. They stay in Sderot, with their secured rooms and live with the same danger as others. Nomika herself had a rocket fall on her house. When I visited her, I saw the damage done to a roof across the yard from her.

In her talk today, when she received the award, she had this to say about Israel's independence. I can think of no better message for Israel's Independence Day. Echoing the Hegelian notion of master-slave, we are who we enslave and our freedom comes from freeing those we hold captive, she said:

"At this very moment Israel is celebrating its 61st Independence Day. I always feel proud and privileged to be living in my own country. I always feel distressed while a few miles away from my home more than 1.5 million people are captured in the largest prison in the world, fighting for their survival. Our independence will never be complete until our Palestinian neighbors are able to celebrate their own freedom...

"You and me, [she said to Dr. Abuelaish] are the symbols of this insane ongoing conflict. It is therefore our civil responsibility to speak out clearly and loudly -sometimes against the mainstream-sometimes against our friends who look for another round of revenge, not as victims, but as proud civilians, who have gotten so very tired of hurting each other. It is our obligation to make our leaders talk, to compel them to tell us, for a change, a different story."