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May 2004
Dear friends,
I share with you some news of recent spiritually oriented peacebuilding events in the Holy Land that I have been been an organizer of or participant in. Most of what you'll read was not reported in any media.
April 25th-26th www.hamakom.org.il
I joined 70 Arabs and Jews at a workshop to commemorate Israeli Memorial and Independence Day held at the Hamakom community near the Dead Sea. People from each side shared their stories. Then we explored the issue of how to bridge the narrative of the Israeli Jews for whom this is a day of celebration, and the narrative of the Palestinians for whom this day of mourning and loss, often called the day of 'Nakba' or 'Disaster'. Sharing Jewish, Christian and Muslim prayers helped each side to open up the other on a deeper level. The facilitators were Michal Tal and Ibtisam Mahamid.
May 4-6th
An event called For The One Dance took place near Rosh Pina, in the Galilee. This event was led by Jean White Eagle, a Native American spiritual teacher from the US. Joining her was a team from the US who organize these spiritual 'dance' events around the world, bringing people together for unity. Jeff Goldstein from Jerusalem brought together a group of Arabs and Jews to fast and dance for three days. I was part of a support team which included the 'Sun Fathers' and 'Moon Mothers', fire keepers, drummers and helpers called 'Dog Soldiers'.
Two years ago, Father Emile Shoufani, a Catholic Arab priest from Nazareth led a delegation of Arab and Jewish community leaders from around Israel to bear witness together at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland. After their powerful journey to Auschwitz, these Arabs and Jews, under Shoufani's guidance, have formed a community of reconciliation. Father Shoufani encourages peace through self-empowerment and the healing of the woundedness of both peoples from a spiritual foundation.
On May 14th15th, this group, together with the Israel Interfaith Association, organized a journey and seminar weekend to learn about the situation of the Bedouin in the Negev region of southern Israel. I joined this group on a visit to several unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev. Then we held a seminar in a hotel in the Negev city of Arad about "Islam and the Bedouins in Israel", where we learned of the struggle of the Bedouin for fair treatment in Israel.
Over Shabbat I prayed with a large group of Hasidic Jews who happened also to be at a nearby hotel and then I joined the seminar. The afternoon was devoted to Arabs and Jews sharing from the heart and a developing a vision for the group. I shared with them stories of my work for reconciliation and many were inspired.
May 18th www.middleway.org
Shvil Zahav (The Middle Way) is a group that organizes regular monthly joint Arab-Jewish silent peace walks in cities in Israel. Recently they have branched out into running such peace walks in Palestinian cities in the West Bank. I went with them to the Jenin area in May.
The Middle Way organized a one-day symbolic walk, with Jewish and Arab peace walkers from Israel, to the separation fence where we were met by a group of Palestinians. After a short silent peace walk and dialogue circles under the olive trees, we were escorted by the Palestinians to the nearby West Bank city of Yabad. There over a hundred of the town's residents welcomed us a with a huge festive meal. Residents and new friends from the Jenin area expressed a deep longing to overcome the hatred that has developed over the last three years of the intifada. They expressed a desire to cooperate with Israeli Jews on joint projects. One example is to have Palestinians from the Jenin area join Israelis for a one day walk to the Sulha Way event this August 17th.
May 19th-20th
After I left Yabad, an American friend, Jonathan, who was teaching English there, hosted me at the American University of Jenin for two days. He introduced me to the student branches of the factions of the Fatah, PFLP, Hamas and Jihad. My discussions with supporters of the Islamic bloc were most interesting. On a political level I found their views towards Israel to be completely uncompromising. When I suggested that if peace negotiations were to have a spiritual foundation, honoring Islamic and Jewish religious principles, they agreed wholeheartedly and we found common ground.
I made a connection with 'Khaled' who works at the university and is dedicated to the path of dialogue and reconciliation. For him the most important work is to maintain a dialogue with the extremists within our respective sides – Israeli and Palestinian – and to help show them that the best path for the future is one of peace and non-violence. He promised to share insights from his 'internal' work and asked that I share with him wisdom from my work within the Israeli religious Jewish world.
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Jonathan led me on a tour around the city of Jenin and the Jenin refugee camp. At the entrance of the Jenin camp stands a huge metal sculpture of a horse, created by a German artist. He used material from wrecked cars left over after the Israeli army incursion into the camp two years ago. Local Palestinian children helped him collect the metal scraps and he created a piece of art.
May 25th-29th www.geocities.com/aliya_laregel
I joined a group of Israeli peace seekers called Maagal Ha-derech, or The Pathway Circle, on their five day peace walk to Jerusalem. Camped out for a day in the forest between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, we observed together the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. There I was invited to give a talk on 'Sources for Peace in the Jewish tradition'. Joining me was Sufi Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bukhari who gave a talk on 'Sources for Peace in the Islamic tradition'. The sheikh and I, joined by the sheikh's son Izzedin, led a Sufi 'zikr' and prayer for peace circle with the group. All present said the evening renewed their hope for peace and that it was important for them to hear a Muslim voice for peace.
The peace walk continued for several days. On Friday we held a peace vigil in the Old City of Jerusalem and then joined a peace event at the Café of All Nations on the Mount of Olives. Over Shabbat at our camp in Ein Kerem, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, we shared visions for the next walk in October. I also led the group in Kiddush, the Jewish blessing over the grape juice and Havdalah, the end of Shabbat prayers.
June 4th-5th
We held the 10th annual Jerusalem Gathering of Light in the Jerusalem forest near Yad V'Shem. Jeff Goldstein has been organizing this special event every year bringing together hundreds of spiritual seekers from all over the Israel and the world to celebrate, dance and pray for peace together.
This year I was asked to lead the Friday evening/Shabbat prayer with Miriam Iron and we got over 150 people dancing and singing in a spiral to welcome the Shekhinah, the Divine Feminine principle in Judaism. We offered blessings over meal and celebrated into the night.
The next morning I led a workshop in Otiyot Chayot, Living Hebrew Letter Body Movements, that I learned from my teacher Yehudit Goldfarb. In the afternoon Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bukhari gave a presentation about Peace in Jerusalem in the Sufi tradition and led a zikr.
Several special guests I invited shared their teachings of peace to the large circle gathered around. Siri Om Singh, an African American Sikh visiting from New Jersey shared teachings for inner peace. Amoun Sleem spoke, sharing the traditions of her Domari (Gypsy) community. They are an overlooked community living in the Old City and in Gaza that has alot to offer to both Arabs and Jews through the richness of their ancient culture, she told us.
After Ibrahim Abuelhawa spoke, he and I led a prayer for peace circle circle. The day concluded with an 'attunement' energy circle led by Jeff, forming a large circle of energy to send out peace from Jerusalem to the whole world. After I led Havdalah, we all left inspired to work even more for a Holy Land of peace.
Now I am hard at work organizing the 'The Sulha Way' event which is happening August 17th, 18th, 19th. This is a major reconciliation event bringing together several thousand Israelis and Palestinians of all faiths, as well as peacemakers coming to bear witness from Northern Ireland, Dharamsala and South Africa. Please pray for a successful gathering. See: www.sulha.com
Shalom, Salaam,
Radash Eliyahu McLean
Radash = Rodeph Shalom, Pursuer of Peace
Eliyahu McLean |
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