• The Shoah and the Arabs
• Prayer for peace
• Statement

from left to right: Muhamad Hourani, David Witzthum, Gisela Dachs, Dr. Johannes Gerster from the Adenauer Foundation

The Israel Interfaith Association and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation invited the Jerusalem public to a Symposium on the controversial subject: "The Shoah in the eyes of the Arabs". On Wednesday evening, the 30/10/02, a large public of Jews, Christians and Muslims gathered in the overfilled Konrad Adenauer Congress Center in Mishkenot Sheanim. The speakers who introduced the subject were the Israeli Arab Educator, Muhamad Hourani, Ms. Gisela Dachs, the correspondent or "Die Zeit" in Israel and the TV well known moderator, David Witzthum, who introduced the way in which the Arab World confronts the fact of the Jewish Shoah.

Ms. Gisela Dachs, who expressed her point of view towards the subject in a very fundamental article several years ago, pointed at the dual approach of many Arab statements which deny the Shoah on the one hand and describes themselves as the victims of the victims on the other hand. Beside these current and stereotype expressions there are recently also expressions which try to confront the problem more seriously. Without knowing the Shoah it is impossible to understand the Israeli trauma and to conduct a serious dialogue with the Jewish side.

The main speaker, Muhamad Hourani, studies the subject for years with Arab and Jewish students in the David Yellin Teachers College in Jerusalem in which he works as a teacher. The interest in the subject among Israelis and Palestinians grew recently very much and he can testify to a change of attitude. The lcturere, born and educated in a village near Haifa, demands from the Jews more understanding for the suffering of the Palestinians.

From Houranis point of view the problem is not to compare the Jewish Shoah with the Arab Naqba (catastrophe), as it is often done from the Arab side. The two events have nothing to do with one another. Both of them are very traumatic, but the Shoah is an uncomparable event in history. He critizised very strongly the TV series which will be shown in the Arab world during the month of Ramadan, based on the falsified "Protocols of the Elders of Sion".

A very important part of the meeting was the public discussion at the end of the evening. Several Holocaust survivors asked to speak. On the other hand there were a number od Palestinians who wanted to have their say. What was very suprising and impressive was that the difficult confrontation for both sides was conductes in an unusaul civilized manner. A young Palestinian lady said that it is impssible to expect from her to show understanding for the Jewish suffering at the Shoah more than fifty years ago when the Palestinian people is struggling now for its survival.

She was contradicted even by people of the Arab side, telling her that it is a terrible fact that two people both of whom suffered and continue to suffer don't understand the suffering of the other side and are competing between themselves who is the one who suffered more. Gisela Dachs said, when my small finger is cut, I am in pain. Even when somebody else tells me that his whole hand was cut off, the little finger still hurts.

The public was very interested to continue the confrontation that just begun. Only those who remember can look into the future.

 from the Jerusalem Post Internet Edition

Interfaith peace rally held near Gilo
 

LAUREN GELFOND
                                                                                      May. 14, 2002
 
 

Seeking an alternative to political peace rallies, some 80 Muslims, Jews, and Christians joined visiting Buddhist monks yesterday in a call for nonviolence and unity. 

Among those gathered at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute halfway between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, near Gilo and Beit Jala, were a number of Israeli religious leaders, including rabbis, nuns, and Druze, Beduin, and Sufi sheikhs. 

Three Buddhist Monks from Japan initiated the peace vigil, with the endorsement of the Vatican, the chief mufti of Bangladesh Sayid Muhammad Hasani, and Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan. 

"Religion has become the hostage of violence and conflict. We must help it regain its original purpose – to unite people in one spirit," said Rev. Terasawa Junsei, leader of the Buddhist delegation. 

Dressed in a traditional white Buddhist robe with an orange sash, Junsei led the monks in chants while playing a paddle-shaped drum, using the same melodies and instrument used by Gandhi when he prayed for nonviolence 70 years ago. 

Prince Hassan of Jordan, an observant Muslim active in interfaith peace activities, originally planned to join the mission, said Junsei, but Israeli officials concerned for his safety vetoed the idea. 

Clerics took turns reading from traditional texts and leading prayers, and members of interfaith associations sang songs and read poetry and parables. 

Ibtisam Muhammad, from Fureidis near Zichron Ya'acov, one of ten Muslim women participating in the Women's Interfaith Encounter, told a story of a bird who laid down on the ground with its feet in the air, to prevent humanity and the sky from crashing. "We are brothers, and in the end there is one land. The land will live on but we will go," she said. "The earth is round and a mother's womb is round. We have a lot of work to do, to be like mothers and bring love and tolerance to the world. I pray we will wake up and hug each other." Moved by her address, Jews and Muslims around the room put their arms around one another. 

Emunah Witt, a self-described hassid, pulled five of her children, ages 6-17, out of school to participate in the rally. "I want them to know that human beings can get together, and I want Muslims, too, to teach their children that we can live together," she said. "I will do anything to make it safer for my children." Her elder son, Sha'arya, his side curls and tzitzit swaying as he sang, played a Shlomo Carlebach tune on the guitar as the crowd linked arms. 

Emanuelle Yardei, an Ethiopian immigrant, played the drums and sang, but not about peace. "I don't want there to be peace, I want there to be equal rights," he said. 

Naim Halil, 38, of eastern Jerusalem, said he has been dreaming of a meeting like this. "When we come together and speak of peace and godly things, we are giving something to each other, and as people tell other people, this movement will grow." 

Junsei, representing an order of 250 Buddhists who travel the world, walking in conflict zones, got the idea for this visit while in Chechenya. After getting international support, he turned to Israeli interfaith organizations – the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel, Israel Interfaith Association, Peacemaker Community, Circle for Sanity, Bustan L'Shalom, and the Women's
Interfaith Encounter – who helped organize the event. 

The monks are off to Istanbul later this week, to continue urging nonviolence solutions to the Chechenya conflict. They intend to return to Israel and Palestinian areas this summer. "Learning about nonviolence can help both sides," he said.
 
 

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 Statement

The Association is shocked by the fact that the Palestinian Authority, which has repeatedly demanded responsibility for Christian holy places as part of the permanent settlement in the Holy Land, did not refrain from putting Christian holy sites, and those serving them, in danger of destruction and bloodshed.  Their actions are turning a national-political conflict into a much more dangerous inter-religious one, instead of keeping these holy places outside of and beyond any religious or secular conflict, as meeting places for members of all religions to participate in dialogue and fraternal co-existence.

The Israel Interfaith Association calls upon all parties involved to choose the path of dialogue and to find a solution in agreement and mutual understanding, as befits the descendants of our common father Abraham and to the followers of his heritage.

The Israel Interfaith Association, whose membership includes people of all religious communities in the country, has been working for more than forty years to promote understanding and co-existence among all religious communities in the country and around the world by promoting dialogue and education for human fraternity and peace.
 

Jerusalem, April 2002
 
 

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