tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17065994792003718072024-03-14T01:54:09.344-07:00Salam+ShalomPalestine and Israel. A dialogue for peace.AmelMaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13445707823678216343noreply@blogger.comBlogger314125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-44936871686589218742018-01-11T22:25:00.002-08:002018-01-11T22:25:52.514-08:00Peace quote of the day: don't pass on violence
"Don't fight like other people fight, returning evil for evil (1 Thessalonians 5:15a). Instead, suffer patiently, refusing to pass another's violence on to someone else." -- From Ch. 4 of the Rule of Saint Benedict (Paraphrase and Introduction by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove)
This seems like a relevant principle and practice for peacemaking - to "refuse to pass another's violence on to Mideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-28816575223858935922018-01-10T02:08:00.000-08:002018-01-10T02:08:10.539-08:00Empathy with the "Other" - a Jewish Rabbi's perspective on President Trump's Jerusalem declaration
(I might subtitle this reflection, "Intercultural growth as peacemaking potential - Seeking peace through understanding the narrative of the 'other'")
In IDC (Intercultural Development Continuum) terms, intercultural growth involves moving from an ethnocentric way of relating to others (Denial – being basically unaware of difference, or Polarization – being pushed awayMideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-91488105784639439592012-09-22T20:21:00.000-07:002012-09-22T20:21:09.609-07:00Peace quote of the day - seeking connections
“Peace
is not won by those who fiercely guard their differences, but by
those who with open minds and hearts seek out connections.” -
Katherine Paterson
I see this as a good "intercultural" quote, as intercultural relations are about, are based on, seeking connections with the "different other." In other words, good intercultural work is good peace work.
Mideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-72302467674611710562012-04-30T09:20:00.000-07:002012-04-30T09:21:25.892-07:00Peace Film: One Day After Peace
Robi Damelin is one of my peace heroes. The documentary of her story is now out. Here's the blurb and the link:
Can the means used to resolve the conflict in South Africa be applied to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict? As someone who experienced both conflicts firsthand, Robi Damelin wonders about this. Born in South Africa during the apartheid era, she later lost her son, who was Mideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-66472813670661080912012-04-14T04:26:00.000-07:002012-04-14T04:26:21.393-07:00Peace Post of the Day: Richard Rohr on Nonviolence"Nonviolence does not come easily or naturally. Even peace work can be a cover for a dark warrior, and I have met 'peace and justice people' who've never faced their needs for power and control. I've known military men more in charge of their aggressiveness than are many church folks and peaceniks. This is why we all need to do our spiritual work, and why spirituality is much more demanding than Mideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-54235215817784962572012-04-12T04:42:00.001-07:002012-04-12T04:43:12.988-07:00Parker Palmer on 9/11 - Might it have been different?
“Sometimes our instinct to resolve tension quickly is played out on a much larger stage. When it became clear what had happened on September 11, 2001, the people of the United States were caught in a tension between the violence that had been done to us and what we would do in response. Of course, the outcome was never in doubt. We would respond by wreaking violence on the perpetrators – or on Mideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-70958930088575421372012-04-08T23:41:00.000-07:002012-04-08T23:41:36.908-07:00Peace Post of the Day: Parker Palmer on the "Third Way"Parker Palmer, building on the previously quoted perspectives on violence, advocates "a 'third way' to respond to the violence of the world, so called because it gives us an alternative to the ancient instinct of 'fight or flight'. To fight is to meet violence with violence, generating more of the same; to flee is to yield to violence, putting private sanctuary ahead of the common good. The thirdMideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-30294574281931576432012-04-05T02:29:00.001-07:002012-04-05T02:30:14.905-07:00Peace Quote of the Day - Parker Palmer on Violence
'I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse: therefore choose life' (Deuteronomy 30:19)
“Yet when we 'choose life', we quickly confront the reality of a culture riddled with violence. By violence I mean more than the physical savagery that gets much of the press. Far more common are those assaults on the human spirit so endemic to our lives that we may or may not even recognize Mideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-63221887946813180902011-08-24T02:18:00.000-07:002011-08-24T02:18:57.899-07:0050 Ways to Build PeaceTake a look at these great ideas. Check out the site.
Mideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-2982490894858261932011-08-20T01:06:00.000-07:002011-08-20T01:06:22.279-07:00Israelis speak about the urgency of reaching a two-state solutionHere are a number of Israelis, on the J Street website, advocating a two-state solution.
I'm not sure whether a two-state solution is possible or desirable. Is anyone considering the possibility of changing the program for a "Jewish" state (given, for example, the conflict between being "Jewish," on the one hand, and being "democratic" on the other), and going for a one-state solution, with fullMideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-49673504399955527632011-08-19T00:58:00.000-07:002011-08-19T00:58:51.612-07:00Conference for Peace: Christ at the CheckpointThis conference offers a different Christian perspective on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. I think of this as a "conference for peace," because to me, the typical American Christian perspective, with blind support of the nation-state of Israel, contributes to war and injustice, not to peace. The participants of this conference are asking, "how would Jesus have us approach this conflict?" CheckMideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-3338892202055004722011-08-14T02:56:00.000-07:002011-08-14T02:56:20.380-07:00Peace Post of the Day: "Christian Terrorism in Norway?"Check out this excellent article by Joseph Cumming, Director of the Reconciliation Program of the Center for Faith and Culture at the Yale Divinity School. He reflects on the recent "Christian" terrorist attack in Norway, and concludes, "Thus, Christians have a terrorism problem too. It flows from the kind of tribal thinking that is a catastrophic misinterpretation of the Christian faith, Mideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-13862914580216500702011-08-09T08:11:00.001-07:002011-08-09T08:11:54.471-07:00Peace Quote of the Day - different gods, more likely to fight?
“...the more different the gods worshipped by various peoples, the more likely, all other things being equal, that their respective worshippers will come into conflict and the less likely that they will find peaceful resolution of conflict”
“The claim that Muslims and Christians worship radically different deities is good for fighting, but not for living together peacefully.”Miroslav VolfMideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-16528464101283402582011-08-02T04:37:00.000-07:002011-08-02T04:37:27.057-07:00Working for Peace in Palestine: Lynne Hybels"So . . . it was October 2008. I had been invited by Dr. Gilbert Bilezikian—Bill’s mentor and mine—to attend a conference in Amman, Jordan, taught entirely by Arab Christians from Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq and the West Bank. To a person, these ministry leaders said they felt abandoned by Western Christians. And, of course, they are; to most Western Christians the phrase “Arab Christian” is an Mideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-40980521930174365112011-08-02T03:27:00.000-07:002011-08-02T03:28:28.593-07:00Can Evangelicals be a Force for Peace in Israel/Palestine?"The World Evangelical Alliance Peace and Reconciliation Initiative (WEAPRI) has been established in order to respond to the extraordinary opportunity that 600 million evangelicals have, to reach out to the world as Peace-makers through the Church and Christian community internationally. With its secretariat in Auckland, New Zealand and its governance maintained by an International Executive Mideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-53510788542062354112011-07-26T00:19:00.000-07:002011-07-26T00:19:48.741-07:00Voice for Peace - Sami Awad interviewSami Awad of Holy Land Trust is a voice for peace in Palestine. Check out this interview.Mideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-81836652572599262102011-07-24T11:13:00.000-07:002011-07-24T11:13:17.823-07:00Peace Quote of the Day - taking Jesus seriously: proving love of God by loving enemies“The biblical test case for love of God is love of neighbor. The biblical test case for love of neighbor is love of enemy. Failure to love the enemy is failure to love God.”
- Wayne Northey, in the book Unconditional? The Call of Jesus to Radical Forgiveness, by Brian Zahnd
It seems fairly obvious that if people (starting with Christians) were to take Jesus' teaching Mideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-59501427212726750952011-07-23T22:29:00.000-07:002011-07-27T04:37:53.310-07:00Peace Blogs of the Day - The Warmonger's Fruit of the Spirit and The Warmonger's LexiconCheck out two posts critiquing American Christian support of war:
The Warmonger’s Fruit of the Spirit, which begins:
"It seems sensible and logical that followers of someone called the Prince of Peace would not act like they are following Mars, the Roman god of war.
As I have maintained whenever I speak about Christianity and war, if there is any group of people that should be opposed to warMideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-44581526556495139722011-07-17T15:20:00.000-07:002011-07-17T15:20:49.014-07:00Peace Quote of the Day - are Christian Zionists contributing to peace?God save us from these people [Christian Zionists]. When you see what these people are encouraging Israel and the U.S. Administration to do – that is, ignore the Palestinians, if not worse, if not kick them out, expand the settlements to the greatest extent possible – they are leading us into a scenario of out-and-out disaster.Yossi Alpher (60 Minutes, “Zion's Christian Soldiers,” Oct. 6, 2002)Mideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-1485283002813941822011-07-11T10:36:00.000-07:002011-07-11T10:36:26.138-07:00Peace Quote of the Day - We must interfere (Elie Wiesel, Night) I remember: it happened yesterday, or eternities ago. A young Jewish boy discovered the Kingdom of Night. I remember his bewilderment, I remember his anguish. It all happened so fast. The ghetto. The deportation. The sealed cattle car. The fiery altar upon which the history of our people and the future of mankind were meant to be sacrificed.
I remember he asked his father, 'Can this be true? Mideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-48305569512988498162011-07-01T07:03:00.000-07:002011-07-01T07:03:39.880-07:00Book for Peace - Allah: A Christian ResponseI have read many books (and answered many questions) related to the question of whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God. This is the best book I have read on the subject, and it is particularly helpful and interesting because Volf addresses the broader context, including ways in which God and religion serve as identity markers and contribute to conflict between groups. His discussion Mideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-10775271168921697492011-06-30T16:44:00.000-07:002011-06-30T16:44:27.359-07:00Hope for Peace? Reflections by Rick Love on the "Building Hope" ConferenceI just attended the Building Hope Conference at Yale (June 13-22, 2011), a strategic international conference of Muslim, Christian and Jewish religious leaders, committed to seeking the common good. So what are some of the major lessons I learned? (click to follow the link for the full reflection)Mideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-40360251425723215292011-06-27T07:42:00.000-07:002011-06-27T07:54:00.032-07:00Peace Quote of the Day - Christians & Muslims are Key to Peace"Muslims and Christians together make up well over half of the world’s population. Without peace and justice between these two religious communities, there can be no meaningful peace in the world. The future of the world depends on peace between Muslims and Christians."
A Common Word, quoted in Miroslav Volf, Allah: A Christian Response
Mideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-46323141453877076682011-06-26T06:34:00.000-07:002011-06-26T06:34:08.054-07:00Peace Quote of the Day - Fighting Over God"The claim that Muslims and Christians worship radically different deities is good for fighting, but not for living together peacefully."
Miroslav Volf, Allah: A Christian ResponseMideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706599479200371807.post-36160484811259299412011-06-26T06:02:00.000-07:002011-06-26T06:02:04.099-07:00Building Hope: The Final StatementHere is the Final Statement from the 10-day Building Hope Conference of the Reconciliation Program at the Center for Faith and Culture at Yale Divinity. It was a significant, transformative, "intercultural" and "interreligious" time.Mideast Maghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585750308774410769noreply@blogger.com0