Palestinian Peace Efforts

This post is about a couple of efforts by Palestinians to promote peace.

In the West Bank village of Ni’lin, there is a weekly protest against the Separation Barrier (which cuts off about half of the village’s farmland and water from the village inhabitants). Israeli peace activists join Palestinians at this protest. Recently, the Palestinians living in Ni’lin have set up an exhibit to commemorate the Holocaust. This exhibit was organized by Ni’lin Popular Committee Against the Wall.

The article about this action states:

Hassan Moussa, the exhibition's organiser, spoke to me over the phone from Ni'lin. And despite the hot-headed rhetoric coming from both sides that weekend (a number of protesters were tear-gassed just hours before), Moussa explained that the exhibit was organised with the most noble of intentions.

"This is a way of extending our sympathy for the Jews," and the Palestinians' way of extending that sympathy "to the Israeli people, themselves," he says.

The exhibit was housed in the village’s municipality headquarters and more than 1000 people came to see it and remember the Holocaust against Europe’s Jews. One out of five residents came to see the exhibit of posters and texts. Some Israelis activists came to the exhibit also.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ezzeldin Abuelaish, a Palestinian doctor who lives in Gaza and works in Israel, and whose three daughters and a niece were killed by Israeli tank fire just before he spoke live on Israeli TV, has continued his work for peace. He continues to speak to media outlets about the need for peace in Gaza. (If you missed the live on-air report of the shelling that killed his daughters, go to this link. And a follow-up interview is here.)

Here is a short excerpt on a media interview:

As he has done before, Abuelaish thanked the Israelis who helped save the survivors of the shelling and praised the Israeli military for admitting that a tank fired on his house.

But he challenged the contention that the Israeli military warned him to leave or that there were Hamas fighters on the roof of his apartment building.

Abuelaish: It is painful to hear this lie. We should stop such fabrications. If we are serious about finding a solution (to the Israeli-Palestinian problem) we should be honest with each other, not find excuses. No one contacted me to tell me to leave. They sent pamphlets, but not to our area. I think it's your responsibility to go to the area there and to ask if they or anyone else contacted me, or if anyone has the courage to face me and to say that we contacted you, Ezzeldeen.

Question: The Golani Brigade Force claimed that there was all kinds of shelling and firing coming from near your home and that they thought they saw people on your rooftop. How do you respond to that?

Abuelaish: Good. Yes. That's what they said. But they didn't listen to me. If they saw snipers on the roof, why didn't they shoot at the roof?

He further comments on the effects of his great personal loss:

Later, Abuelaish is asked if the death of his daughters has hardened him.

Question: You have worked for years, particularly before 2000, not only in Israel at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva but also bringing Israeli doctors into Gaza and vice versa. Jump to now, to your personal experience. Has it hardened you? Has it changed you?

Abuelaish: Never. It is a strange thing. I still believe that this is the only way and what I did to prove it was the right thing, as a medical doctor, to save lives. And what is practiced within the borders of the hospital, treating patients without any discrimination, ethnicity, religion, name, is the right thing. With all of our skills as doctors, with all of our care, we wish for the successful recovery of our patients, equally and that's what should be practiced and implemented outside in other fields of human life between Palestinians and Israelis. Respect, equality and dignity. And what I wish for myself, I wish it for others.

I think that is amazing that he is able to think about other people and their outlooks, and to still treat others with respect and dignity. He is truly a peace maker. You can see him speak with Israeli citizens in the videos below (Part Three). These Israelis are people who live in the land that used to belong to his family that was lost in the forced dislocation in 1948. These three videos are a BBC special on what happened in Gaza, in particular, what happened to Dr. Abuelaish and his family. It is an amazing testimony to the strength and goodness of this family.

“Ruins of Gaza”

Part One

Part Two

Part Three