" Insofar as it is up to you, live peaceably with your neighbor. "
These are two scripture quotes.
New testament scripture is rife with references and admonitions against strife-mongering.
People who create slanders and gossip and stir up ugly false rumors to create dissension in a_
community are blasted in the New Testament. Later they are called sometimes "schismatics" and during the middle ages people could actually be put to death for it. Not advocating that, but just saying that in times former this was considered such a serious sin that it just required shutting down at the pass. Slanderers rank among those New Testament scripture tells us will never make it to heaven along with "whoremongers" and "idoloters" and other evildoers.
There is an inspiring new group that hopes to Live Peaceably with their neighbors all over the world. The organization "New Story Leadership" is one that started in Northern Ireland and South Africa with a model of bringing college aged and graduate students to Washington to provide internships with people on opposing sides of conflict living together in houses in the greater Washington, DC area. Recently at SAIS (Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies) in DC Palestinians and Israeli Jewish students /interns came together on the same podium to discuss their new narratives and stories of how they want to live peaceably with their neighbors. This was so moving
it was hard not to cry. One Israeli jewish young man recounted how while he was a solder guarding a check point in Nablus he was approached in the middle of the night with a large vehicle driven by an Arab which was holding large quantities of watermelon. The soldier was tired and hungry. He recounted how the man somehow sensed that and insisted that he take one of the watermelon. The soldier insisted more strongly that he would not because the man makes a living off selling them. This interchange caused the soldier to realize that coexistence is possible because he felt genuinely cared for. When he opened his heart to the possibility of the other's good will intentions, he was filled with compassion. He determined counterculturally against his upbringing or teaching to not view the 'other' as a threat
and lump all arabs or palestinians into the same stereotypical enemy model.
A young woman who was once also an Israeli solder who grew up on a Kibbutz recounted how at a party she was disturbingly shouted at by a childhood friend yelling that he killed a man the day before. She didn't know how to react and it made her obviously sad that there was such a flip reference to having to kill a man. A desensitization that scarred the soul somehow. She longed to escape the militarism that defined Israelis who all have mandatory draft military service after high school with few exceptions.
Another woman (who is living in the same house as the above woman for the summer) recounted how she as a Palestinian Israeli living in Israel proper, not the 'occupied' territory part, or what is supposed to be Palestinian according to the 67 borders, noted that in a 'black and white world" she is gray and there are shades of gray that don't get factored much into the policy debates that she wishes to highlight. She often feels like she doesn't belong anywhere and yet belongs everywhere. She is currently an intern at the World Bank. It was incredibly refreshing to hear her speak from her heart how she doesn't want to be trapped in the preconceptions of the conflict. She wants to be free to have friends of all stripes.
The Palestinian young man from Bethlehem spoke about how he had land title and deed from his family that dated back to the Ottoman Empire when it ruled over the land now Israel, endorsed later by the British Government when it was a Palestinian protectorate. He said it has been tied up for decades in the Israeli court system because they don't know what to do with land titles with deeds because most Palestinians owned their land with a handshake and only declared a small portion of their land officially for tax purposes. There is no Fifth Amendment Emminent Domain expropriation payment obligation of Israel to compensate anyone for State appropriated land. The entire country, if one looks at if from the perspective of the Partition is a UN authorized state appropriatation of land that at one time someone else owned or lived in. But the New Story Leadership program does not want to get too political. It does not issue statements on refugees, the border issues, or who should own or control East Jerusalem. The New Story Leadership program just wants to allow the grass roots to be seen and heard.
The conflict affects the psyche of the people on all sides in damaging ways. The political leadership should listen to its own people more. The New Story Leadership is raising up the next generation to tell a truer picture of what is going on, in furtherance of the Vision that one day Brothers and Sisters will dwell in Unity and Peace in that troubled land.
These brave inspiring young people will be on Capital Hill next week. see,
.
www.NewStoryLeadership.org
No comments:
Post a Comment