Author Archives: sherry ann

Peace-minded people standing together.

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“Since I have been here, I have heard from several Israelis and Palestinians working for a just peace, that it will be the international community that will force Israel to abide by international law. International pressure is what turned the tide against apartheid in South Africa. If each of you reading this blog committed to sending a letter or email to your Member of Parliament or better yet, went in and had a conversation with him or her  we might begin to shift the tide  here in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, so that Palestinians like Nofa and Musa might begin to have hope that there will be a home for them not only this winter but for the future as well.” (Debbie, click here)

Debbie, a Canadian Ecumenical Accompanier (EA), now placed in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem offers the above observation following the demolition of a family’s home in Sheikh Jarrah. Debbie and I live in the same part of the world and were both placed in East Jerusalem. I remember well the many peace-minded people, both the Palestinians who live in Sheikh Jarrah and the Israeli peace activists who would rally with those Palestinians weekly in Sheikh Jarrah. For the story of another family’s struggle, please see my posting from January 2011 (click here).

One peace-minded Israeli, Adam Keller, blogged this week about intense news arising from both parts of Jerusalem. He concludes by quoting a call for action:

“This night, November 1, there will  take place in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square a rally commemorating the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, rallying point for peace-minded Israelis. One of the announcements which landed in my message box states: “We can not forget the reasons why a Prime Minister was assassinated. We will  not settle for a vague condemnation of violence. We must speak out, loud and clear, say that this country must change direction, sign an agreement and put an end to the occupation which erodes and corrupts all that is good in our country.” (Adam Keller, click here)

We, in the international community, have a choice to act with hope. I invite you to follow Debbie’s blog (click here and then the Follow button). I also invite you to continue to seek out alternative news media like Adam Keller’s blog to learn more than what much of mainstream, western media broadcasts. We can stand with peace-minded Israelis and Palestinians to collectively create the international pressure to turn this conflict around.

Witnessing pain – Friends object.

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Upon witnessing the effects of the Israeli authorities’ demolition of friends’ home in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, my friend, Jan, is calling out to the world in the name of peace. Please read her blog posting to learn more (click here).

As a reminder (from my posting on 13 April 2011, click here):   Israel occupied East Jerusalem along with the West Bank in 1967. Occupation is regarded internationally as a temporary situation. Permanent changes in occupied territory are not allowed except for military necessity or to benefit the local population (Article 43, Hague Regulations). Destruction of property is not allowed (Article 53, Fourth Geneva Convention). Confiscation of property (Article 46, Hague Regulations) is not allowed. The forced displacement and inhumane treatment (e.g., denying essentials like water) of the local population is…not allowed.

I agree with Jan in asking: If the Israeli government and the Canadian federal government claim to be best friends, how is it that the latter does not object to what the former is doing – which is blatant disregard for international law?

“Are we brave enough for peace?”

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Cris Williamson asks this question in her 2003 song titled, “We the People” (click here).

This week in Canada, we experienced violence that is prompting us as a society to ask if globally-related violence really is growing on this part of Turtle Island (North America; click here). Our government is proposing that we increase national and provincial security measures. In effect, our government and uncritical media are suggesting that we be fearful.

But, others, like the people of Cold Lake, Alberta (click here) and Cris Williamson offer alternative perspectives. Here are the lyrics to the chorus of Cris’ song:

We the people
Stand in the hard rain pourin’ down
We’ll not be prisoners of war
We will not cast the stone

We can and are choosing non-violent responses to violence. Yesterday, for example, in Cold Lake, Alberta, as local Muslims gathered for Friday prayers, they discovered violent words spray-painted on the side of the mosque. They and many other Cold-Lake residents responded with concern and began to wash off the violent words, together. They were brave and chose peace.

I believe that Canadian society is capable of being brave, too, and choosing peace. By responding to global violence with more violence, are we not contributing to the problem by destroying the places in which the next generation is trying to grow? If we contribute to destruction, how can any little person develop in healthy ways and relationships? It’s not too late to declare that war with its violence is unhelpful. In 2005, Jean Shinoda Bolen described that “when the problem is violence, solutions have to be found to keep noncombatants safe from physical harm and emotional trauma” (p. 95, see more here). She writes that women (and I would suggest men, too, who have been given the love and resources to develop healthy, sensitive selves) “…have the qualities that are needed for the human family, the planet and all life on it to survive and thrive” (p. 98). And, she notes that we need to make our healthy relationality visible.

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure to participate in the 2014 People for People conference in Edmonton (click here; coordinated by Kara Stokke, click here). Teresa de Grosbois (click here), one of the great keynote speakers, encouraged us to speak with the intention to be heard.

And, so I offer this posting with compassion for the larger whole… we don’t have to choose fear. In Canada and globally, we can choose to “Stand in the hard rain pourin’ down” (Cris’s song) and declare that increasing Canadian security measures could contribute to the building of walls that exclude and potentially humiliate and diminish others. We can choose connection and create spaces in which to listen to each other with care and curiosity, to understand.

I write with the intention to be heard. I believe that we are capable and can be brave enough for peace. Okay, here we go – on the count of 3, let’s stand up together… perhaps it’ll be raining, quite possibly snowing… [grin!]

Creativity for Peace – “Women have not given up.”

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Today, I read an article that appeared in an Indian newspaper. The article is titled, “For Lasting Peace, Listen to Women” (click here) and was written by Aditi Bhaduri.

The article offers insight into the experiences of women in Palestine and Israel during the recent siege on Gaza: “Besides outright casualties, activists Hannah Safran and Assia Istoshina have noted that there are a number of other ways in which women bear the consequences of war. A recent report by Women’s Security Index (WSI), a group that comprises six organisations of Palestinian and Jewish women, has revealed that during the recent round of fighting in Gaza, domestic violence hot lines in Israel reported a sharp increase in calls. Moreover, Arab women in the country, too, were found to be extremely vulnerable due to the prevailing heightened sense of ‘nationalism’. And yet Safran said, “Women have not given up. They are at the forefront of demonstrations against war.” ”

The article also refers to an organization called, Creativity for Peace (click here), which creates opportunities for the young women of Israel and Palestine to realize that they can be leaders and peacemakers for their intersecting societies. Perhaps, they will help to make possible this saying…

“There is a saying in Israel, passed from one generation to the other: ‘Don’t worry, by the time he will be eighteen, He won’t have to go to the army. We will have peace by then.’ And then you have another war. -Eran Shakine 2009” (click here and here) (and here)

Open Letter – Writing to the Official Opposition Party in Canada

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Dear All,

I recommend this open letter prepared by Independent Jewish Voices (Canada) (click here) and addressed to the New Democratic Party (NDP) of Canada and its leader, Mr. Thomas Mulcair. The letter is written with detail and provides insight into the current and potential positioning that Canada could take in response to the siege on Gaza and its global impact:

“We expect the NDP, in its role as the main opposition party in Ottawa, to take a strong stand regarding the ongoing assault on Palestinians in Gaza. We are extremely disappointed by the NDP’s official statement [click here] and denounce it as insufficient and riddled with omissions. While paying lip service to criticising the government, there is little that distinguishes Mr. Mulcair and his official party line in any profound way from the position of the Harper government. Through its statement the NDP exposes its deep bias towards the Israeli politics of occupation and aggression, and it will have no effect on the disastrous path the Canadian government has chosen. The list below details the basis of our judgement.” (For the full letter and to sign the letter, click here.)

Staying strongly in support of international human rights, because we need to… Yesterday’s news and commentaries move me to continue to write… (for example, click here , here, and here)…

People write…for help… for peace in and around Gaza.

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As the idea of a 72-hour humanitarian break in the siege on Gaza evaporated yesterday, several letters/statements reached my Inbox. I find them heart-moving, thought-provoking, and inspiring – and I feel encouraged… to draft another blog posting. With each day that passes, I wonder how to proceed… should I bother to write… But ‘they’ are writing, and so I forward their inspiring words on…

A statement from the Ecumenical Accompaniers in South Africa – 70 of them, who have also participated in EAPPI, were moved by the horrors in and around Gaza to write (click here).

A member of the Israeli peace movement, Uri Avnery, wrote (click here).

A Dutch-Israeli family, spending their summer vacation in Tel Aviv, wrote (click here).

A German freelance journalist from Berlin currently in Gaza wrote (click here).

And… in 2013, the children of Gaza called out for help (click here and here).

 

Letter from the Moderator of the United Church of Canada

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Over the last while (here and here), I have encouraged visitors to contact the Moderator of the United Church of Canada, the Right Reverend Gary Paterson, to ask that he write to the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, regarding the hostilities and suffering in and around Gaza.

Yesterday, Moderator Paterson sent an official letter to Prime Minister Harper (click here) and wrote: “…your government has built and nurtured a close working relationship with Israel. I ask that your government use this relationship to exert all influence to demand a stop to this invasion and siege. …”

I appreciate this official communication and regard it as an important part of the process in which the United Church of Canada ‘stands up’ and helps Canadian society to stand up for a just peace in Palestine and Israel.

What else can we do? Please visit this webpage with suggestions from the United Church of Canada (click here).

Israelis – Not all support this war on Gaza.

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Ah, excuse me… Yes, over here. Yesterday, I heard on TV news that 84% of the Israeli public supports this current war on Gaza. Today, I’ve found an article that reports on this recent survey (click here). We need to look critically at this statement.

Israel has a diverse society, in many dimensions. And, in that diversity, people are trying so hard to speak against the horrific hostilities (for example, click here). This non-violent effort has been going on for years and also is diverse (click here). And the effort is shared with parts of Palestinian society in occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza.

Let’s let the parts of Israeli society and Palestinian society who are seeking non-violent ways in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel know that we know about them. That we see them. That we hear them.

Then, please write to your Canadian Member of Parliament here and here to ask that our federal government stop supporting the Israeli government’s attack on Gaza. Please write to Paul Dewar, NDP Foreign Affairs Critic, to urge the NDP to object to the federal government’s support for the Israeli government (click here).

Thank you.

Check out these various websites as a reflection of just some of the efforts to co-create peace among Palestinians and Israelis:

Breaking the Silence (click here and here)

Combatants for Peace (click here)

Neve Shalom – Wahat al-Salam – Oasis of Peace (click here)

New Profile (Click here)

Open House in Ramle (click here)

Other Voice (click here and here)

The Parents Circle Families Forum (click here)

Peoples Peace Fund (click here)

Windows: Channels for Communication (click here)

Young Israelis who refuse to serve in the Israeli Defence Force (click here , here, and here)

Stepping out of a destructive cycle – Together

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Are you there? World?

Life in Gaza is like this (click here).

Canadians are part of the international community. Growing numbers of us are starting to object (see here and here). In the following, I offer an excerpt from a thoughtful leader in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek. We met in December 2010 (click here ). For Rev. Dr. Ateek’s full letter, click here:

“1.    The international community needs to empower the UN to resolve the conflict between Israel and Palestine. We have been caught in a destructive cycle. Every few years the situation reaches its boiling point, warfare begins, and thousands of Palestinians are killed and injured, mainly civilians – women, children, elderly, and disabled. The international community has been lethargic, impotent, and unwilling to implement its own resolutions on Palestine. The international community has the responsibility to resolve this seemingly intractable conflict. The UN needs to be empowered to do its work.

2.    International law unequivocally gives occupied people the right to shake off the yoke of the occupier through various means including the armed struggle. While this is true and needs to be remembered in considering this situation, Sabeel has always stood for the moral right of liberation through non-violent means.

3.    The Palestinian rockets from Gaza have an important message that Israel refuses to understand and the western powers, especially the United States, are unwilling to comprehend. The message of the rockets addresses the core issues and the root causes of the problem – STOP THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION AND FREE PALESTINE. If this does not happen, the war will occur again and again and again, and the casualties will be mainly women and children. This conflict will continue to flare up, despite anyone’s best efforts to contain it, unless the systemic injustice of occupation is dismantled. A recent statement from Israeli academics cuts straight to the point: “Israel must agree to an immediate cease-fire and start negotiating in good faith for the end of the occupation and settlements, through a just peace agreement” (http://haimbresheeth.com/gaza/an-open-letter-to-israel-academics-july-13th-2014/statement-by-israeli-academics-july-2014/).

4.    Our plea is to all people of conscience in Israel. You need to become engaged. The present political course is driving Israelis and Palestinians further apart and is leading us to an impending disaster worse than we are witnessing today. We all must stop nurturing extremism. Israelis and Palestinians have to live together in this land. God has put us here, we need to share it. The alternative is untenable.

5.    A stable peace can only be realized when justice, in accordance with international law, is achieved for both Israel and Palestine.

Let anyone with ears to hear, listen!

The Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek
Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, Jerusalem
July 30, 2014″