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Thursday, December 30, 2004
Musalaha Newsletter
For more information click here
December 2004
Voices of Reconciliation
Highlights from 2004
Highlights from 2004
People often ask, “How can Palestinian and Israeli believers coming together change anything?” Each year we are grateful to have been able to complete programs, that we have grown as an organization, and that more people are catching the vision of reconciliation. Still, the question remains: does it make a difference in our context?
In Middle Eastern cultures there is communal emphasis. The individual is representative of their family, their background and nation. It is reflected in the local saying that, “If you save one life, you save an entire world.” This sentiment resonates greatly in our context and in our pursuit of reconciliation. When believers from different communities come together, they bring with them their entire worlds. They bring the pain, the pride, and the issues that they face as part of a nation, and experience on a very personal level. People who come to Musalaha events have had a wide range of encounters and perceptions that affect their attitudes toward the other side. Or in some cases, they have had little interaction, and that lack of contact has allowed misperceptions to form. We find that building relationships is a transforming exercise, wherein participants gain perspectives that impact their outlook and actions.
One poignant example from this year was the Youth Encounter in Holland. Two of the youth who participated had very deeply felt the impact of the conf lict, one Palestinian and one Israeli, both having lost close family members during the conflict. The Israeli participant, H., wrote about her experience:
“A week before the flight, a meeting was held with all the members of the group and the leaders. The cultural and lingual barriers were felt right away. I felt like a part of an astronaut group about to leave on an impossible mission to Mars. I think my favorite thing was that we didn’t feel the need to be “politically correct” with each other. We were very honest. …We talked about fears, bitterness and our hate. Near the end of our stay, L. said to me, ‘You know, when I met you I really didn’t like you.’ ‘What? We didn’t even talk.’ ‘I know, but I thought you have eyes like a soldier at a checkpoint.’ That sentence, that seemed natural to her, shocked me. Okay, a soldier, big deal. Next year I’m a soldier. But the fact that she said this forced me to step into L.’s shoes what is a soldier at a checkpoint to her? Fear. And even terror.
It was very hard to say goodbye to everyone and go home. It was a deep, meaningful and even shocking experience. I would definitely say that my eyes opened in many aspects. The expression of the reconciliation success to me was actually after we came back. There was a bombing in Be’er Sheva that took many lives. I was angry. Hurting. I connected to the internet and was talking to an Arab girl from the trip, and before I said anything she typed, ‘About the bombing-I’m sorry.’ That was a simple, selfless act of love. I was truly moved. Maybe this will sound like a cliché to you, but sincerely: love breaks down all walls. Really. And the walls in this case are big and strong, and each day there is another row of bricks added to them, but it’s possible to break them down.”
Another highlight of this year was the Leaders and Family Conference. As we worked through a Biblical curriculum on conf lict-resolution, a figure that emerged was that of Rizpah from 2 Samuel. This “grieving, angry mother,” whose sons were killed and not given proper burial, attended their open graves until King David saw her plight and put things right. Rizpah reminded each of us that our grief and perseverance in drawing attention to injustice can indeed make public changes; that our voices for reconciliation can be heard amidst the clamor of hatred and conf lict; that our coming together can be a powerful testimony and ministry.
For more information click here
December 2004
Voices of Reconciliation
Highlights from 2004
Highlights from 2004
People often ask, “How can Palestinian and Israeli believers coming together change anything?” Each year we are grateful to have been able to complete programs, that we have grown as an organization, and that more people are catching the vision of reconciliation. Still, the question remains: does it make a difference in our context?
In Middle Eastern cultures there is communal emphasis. The individual is representative of their family, their background and nation. It is reflected in the local saying that, “If you save one life, you save an entire world.” This sentiment resonates greatly in our context and in our pursuit of reconciliation. When believers from different communities come together, they bring with them their entire worlds. They bring the pain, the pride, and the issues that they face as part of a nation, and experience on a very personal level. People who come to Musalaha events have had a wide range of encounters and perceptions that affect their attitudes toward the other side. Or in some cases, they have had little interaction, and that lack of contact has allowed misperceptions to form. We find that building relationships is a transforming exercise, wherein participants gain perspectives that impact their outlook and actions.
One poignant example from this year was the Youth Encounter in Holland. Two of the youth who participated had very deeply felt the impact of the conf lict, one Palestinian and one Israeli, both having lost close family members during the conflict. The Israeli participant, H., wrote about her experience:
“A week before the flight, a meeting was held with all the members of the group and the leaders. The cultural and lingual barriers were felt right away. I felt like a part of an astronaut group about to leave on an impossible mission to Mars. I think my favorite thing was that we didn’t feel the need to be “politically correct” with each other. We were very honest. …We talked about fears, bitterness and our hate. Near the end of our stay, L. said to me, ‘You know, when I met you I really didn’t like you.’ ‘What? We didn’t even talk.’ ‘I know, but I thought you have eyes like a soldier at a checkpoint.’ That sentence, that seemed natural to her, shocked me. Okay, a soldier, big deal. Next year I’m a soldier. But the fact that she said this forced me to step into L.’s shoes what is a soldier at a checkpoint to her? Fear. And even terror.
It was very hard to say goodbye to everyone and go home. It was a deep, meaningful and even shocking experience. I would definitely say that my eyes opened in many aspects. The expression of the reconciliation success to me was actually after we came back. There was a bombing in Be’er Sheva that took many lives. I was angry. Hurting. I connected to the internet and was talking to an Arab girl from the trip, and before I said anything she typed, ‘About the bombing-I’m sorry.’ That was a simple, selfless act of love. I was truly moved. Maybe this will sound like a cliché to you, but sincerely: love breaks down all walls. Really. And the walls in this case are big and strong, and each day there is another row of bricks added to them, but it’s possible to break them down.”
Another highlight of this year was the Leaders and Family Conference. As we worked through a Biblical curriculum on conf lict-resolution, a figure that emerged was that of Rizpah from 2 Samuel. This “grieving, angry mother,” whose sons were killed and not given proper burial, attended their open graves until King David saw her plight and put things right. Rizpah reminded each of us that our grief and perseverance in drawing attention to injustice can indeed make public changes; that our voices for reconciliation can be heard amidst the clamor of hatred and conf lict; that our coming together can be a powerful testimony and ministry.
