Work for peace and justice for Israel/Palestine

Could mark this ‘done’, but it will not truly be done until the Occupation ends.

not finding a way to make this a top priority right now in my life. while I continue to want peace & justice in all parts of the world, I am choosing to put my energies toward more local efforts. taking this off my list for now.

Yes, this is an important concern. Yes, I’ll work on it one day. I just need to take it off the list for now. I have other things I need to focus on.

seeds of peace
amazing organization
honor to work there
and help foster coexistance and respect and peaceful conflict resolution among ``young leaders of the next generation’’
who are inspiring beyond words…
arabs and israelis, pakistanis & indians & afghans…
amazing. amazing.

I went to hear a young Jewish Israeli speaker this evening. He denied the construction of settlements in the West Bank (I’ve seen them my self). Insisted on calling the separation wall that snakes through the West Bank – not following the green line – a “fence” (unusual description for a 24’ concrete structure).

The world – especially Americans since we fund this to such a great degree – needs to dig deeper and learn the real facts “on the ground” from the Palestinian AND Israeli perspectives. This is a holy land for THREE Abrahamic faiths…Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

As President of our synagogue, I met with our rabbi this weekend about whether or not we’d participate in the annual “support Israel” walk in our area.

Do we support Israel? Of course we do. But supporting Israel as a country does not mean supporting its government’s policies. Will we participate in this event? Our feeling right now is “no”. Organizers of the event will bar fellow Jews, even have them arrested (as happened four years ago) if those participants understand support to mean something different from the organizers’ understanding. Last year one of our members wanted to participate and carry a sign that said “no killing of children”. He was thrown out. He was in tears about it.

How can we be a part of an event that apparently condones the murder of children? How can we stand side by side members of our tribe who would silence us?

It is clear that violence is only a path to more violence. The only path to peace is through justice. If we truly love Israel, then there is no question that we need to work to bring justice to everyone who is affected by its existence, inside and out.

I’m excited that I’m still speaking on my Israel/Palestine experience. It’s been well over 6 months since my trip & I still am getting ‘gigs’ to show my pix & speak.

I do need to keep working on scheduling more!

I’m watching this now. Amazing that this man wish such grace, peace and actual power (in the best sense of the word) is now writing & speaking re: the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

There are good & bad folks ‘on both sides’ but this almost 40 year Israeli occupation of the West Bank is just wrong!

My prayers are with Carter and ALL that speak out for peace and justice in such challenging times.

I’ve been working on this issue for a long time. I have been involved on both a political level, and also on a religious level.

I have a solution to the problem between Israel and its neighbors. Since I’m Jewish, I’m not going to tell other people what they should do. I’ll start with my tribe. And where it begins for us is not where you might think.

What needs to happen is for the Jewish people to forgive the world for the Holocaust.

“Forgive” doesn’t mean “forget”. It means to remember differently. So yes, remember, mourn, hold accountable, yes. And don’t put yourself in harm’s way, protect yourself, naturally. But forgive.

And if I remember right, there’s no requirement on the other side to make apologies. Of course, there have been some. You’d like to have the apologies and the forgiveness to be equally profound on both sides any time this sort of reconciliation happens. But it doesn’t have to be equal. It just has to start somewhere. So let it begin with us.

Since there’s no centralized authority for the Jewish people, we need spiritual leadership from all corners: Sephardi and Ashkenazi, Orthodox, Conservative, and the 3 Rs. This has got to be the Elul where everyone steps forward and says, “we can take this step”. It might not be easy, but this time, let’s not take the cowards’ way- let’s be as strong as we say we are, and do it.

If we can open our hearts, and really work at this, then others will forgive our people, for the terrible things we have done too. If you’re one of those types that think that Jews or Israel are incapable of doing terrible things, or if you are full of excuses of why these things were done, then I can only ask you to open your heart a little more. You’re not a “self-hating Jew” (god, I hate it when people say this!) for being able to realize that we’re all human, and all humans fall into terrible, brutal, blind, inhuman behavior. And if you can admit this, you can be a big enough mentsch to say, “I am so sorry”. Yes, you may feel that you did nothing personally, but that doesn’t absolve you from the responsibility. A mentsch doesn’t apologize from a place of weakness, a mentsch apologizes because he or she is strong enough, confident enough, self-aware enough to be a responsible, and understand what needs to be done to make things right.

As long as we do not forgive, each Yom Kippur we are written in the Book of Death. While we usually understand the Book of Death as a spiritual death, a metaphorical death, it is too clear that we are also in the Book of Death on a physical plane, too, these days.

Forgiveness of the Holocaust is such a huge task that maybe I can’t ask our people to take on asking for forgiveness this Elul, too. But I think that if we get started on the first task, and take it on with sincerity and with integrity; I think the second will follow naturally. The wisdom of this natural order is shown in the Kriyat Shema Al Ha’mitah. We begin with forgiveness of others, before asking for forgiveness for ourselves.

I think once the floodgates of reconciliation are opened, then others will ask for our forgiveness too. At Ramadan and Lent, calls will come to remember the acts committed against our people, and to say, “we’re sorry”. All the pain that is being held against us, that fuels anger and violence, will soften and dissolve. And then both the household of Israel and the household of Ishmael may be inscribed in the Book of Life, this year, and every year after that.

i concern for palestine not only as i’m an arabian girl,
but because it’s matter of humanity ,
it’s unqual war between them …......