An opportunity for my dear friends in the Philadelphia area to listen to a narrative that has been silenced for too long...
Students For Justice in Palestine present Palestine Awareness Week:
http://www.pennsjp.com/iWeb/Palestine%20Week/Palestine%20Week.html
27 March, 2008
26 March, 2008
Blessed are the peacemakers...
It is scary to try to see the world through the eyes of the "other." What is even more frightening is realizing, not on a surface level, but in your inner core, that you truly do not understand his point of view. It is when you realize that the bias or lens through which you see the world prevents you from knowing exactly what it is that the other person is saying, that dialogue can begin.
It is far better to know that you do not understand, than only to educate yourself about the other, believing that by education you have the perfect ability to see the situation as they do. It is at this point that you realize your ears have been closed to what the other is truly saying, in spite of now being able to list the facts of his grievances by memory. You have only reacted to his narrative- you have not digested it and felt it with him . It takes great vulnerability to reach this point of knowing your inability to understand. But this does not mean you have to abandon your roots or beliefs to get there. In actuality you must know yourself very well to realize how great you are lacking in knowledge and understanding.
In other words, it takes great humility to work for peace with an enemy and even greater humility to love him.
It is far better to know that you do not understand, than only to educate yourself about the other, believing that by education you have the perfect ability to see the situation as they do. It is at this point that you realize your ears have been closed to what the other is truly saying, in spite of now being able to list the facts of his grievances by memory. You have only reacted to his narrative- you have not digested it and felt it with him . It takes great vulnerability to reach this point of knowing your inability to understand. But this does not mean you have to abandon your roots or beliefs to get there. In actuality you must know yourself very well to realize how great you are lacking in knowledge and understanding.
In other words, it takes great humility to work for peace with an enemy and even greater humility to love him.
02 March, 2008
a day of mourning.
I woke up early today and headed to Old City to attend a service at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. It was quiet in the Old City this morning, Arab shops were all closed in mourning and in solidarity with the people of Gaza. The death toll has risen to 100 in Gaza and others were hurt and killed in protests today throughout the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.
We heard report sent from one of the parishioners who is working as a surgeon in Gaza and the news is devastating. She reported the difficulties of tending to the dead and wounded in Gaza with limited resources available after Israel has blocked entry of goods to Gaza since July. She told of one Palestinian man who was tending to his goats when he was hit causing him to lose his legs. He is young, newly married with young children. It will be very difficult, if not impossible for him to receive any kind of prosthesis, to regain any sort of livelihood.
The current raid on Gaza cannot be called anything but horrific, it MUST stop. I am thankful that finally the international community is beginning to open their mouths, but to what avail I do not know. Is it enough just to speak of justice?
A rabbi who was attending the service as a tour guide for a Christian group from the UK stood up at the end of service and stated that he found the church was remiss for not including the residents of Sderot in the prayers today. (The residents of Sderot and the surrounding region have endured Hamas rocket attacks for the past seven years leaving them in a constant state of fear and anxiety, killing and wounding some.) I am glad he stood up. We must remember while we mourn and pray for our bothers and sisters in Gaza today, that the Israeli people too are mothers and fathers and sons, daughters, friends, sisters and brothers.
My mind is swimming and I can't even begin to focus on schoolwork. My classmates and have been talking about changing our bus commute (we spend about two hours a day commuting across the city on Egged lines) so that it is not during rush hour.
I do not want to proceed, however, in a spirit of fear.
We heard report sent from one of the parishioners who is working as a surgeon in Gaza and the news is devastating. She reported the difficulties of tending to the dead and wounded in Gaza with limited resources available after Israel has blocked entry of goods to Gaza since July. She told of one Palestinian man who was tending to his goats when he was hit causing him to lose his legs. He is young, newly married with young children. It will be very difficult, if not impossible for him to receive any kind of prosthesis, to regain any sort of livelihood.
The current raid on Gaza cannot be called anything but horrific, it MUST stop. I am thankful that finally the international community is beginning to open their mouths, but to what avail I do not know. Is it enough just to speak of justice?
A rabbi who was attending the service as a tour guide for a Christian group from the UK stood up at the end of service and stated that he found the church was remiss for not including the residents of Sderot in the prayers today. (The residents of Sderot and the surrounding region have endured Hamas rocket attacks for the past seven years leaving them in a constant state of fear and anxiety, killing and wounding some.) I am glad he stood up. We must remember while we mourn and pray for our bothers and sisters in Gaza today, that the Israeli people too are mothers and fathers and sons, daughters, friends, sisters and brothers.
My mind is swimming and I can't even begin to focus on schoolwork. My classmates and have been talking about changing our bus commute (we spend about two hours a day commuting across the city on Egged lines) so that it is not during rush hour.
I do not want to proceed, however, in a spirit of fear.
01 March, 2008
reality.
I spent this Sabbath day lounging in the sun, reading for my nursing classes, determined to truly rest and purposely did not turn on my computer. It was a beautiful day. However, I got back from a nice jog this afternoon only to read the news of massive Israeli attacks on Gaza today that left over 45 Palestinians dead including civilians and children. I read the report on NPR (from the AP), the Jerusalem Post and Aljazeera-all have a slightly different twist but all three reported the possibility of a massive ground IDF attack on Gaza in the near future. The words "genocide" and even "holocaust" are being thrown around on the ground and it makes me wonder when the outside world is going to listen.
God have mercy.
Israel is waiting for Hamas to stop rocket fire into southern Israel before they will stop their attacks on Gaza, while Hamas says the same in reverse. When will they both realize (or at least care) that they are destroying the lives Palestinian and Israeli civilians caught in the crossfire? It is not a zero-sum game, but everyone acts like it. If this ground attack takes place there is going to be a huge backlash and I can only pray that it is a peaceful uprising.Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia said Palestinian leaders, including President Mahmoud Abbas, recommended suspending peace talks at a meeting Saturday in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
"I think it will be suspended," Qureia said. "What is happening in Gaza is a massacre of civilians, women and children, a collective killing, genocide," Qureia added. "We can't bear what the Israelis are doing, and what the Israelis are doing doesn't led the peace process any credibility." (for full NPR story go to http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18323622)
God have mercy.
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