Voices from Jerusalem: A Path Toward Peace
In moments of conflict, it can feel impossible to know where to look for clarity or hope.At Faith Commons, we
by Rabbi Nancy Kasten
It’s been two long years since our “What Makes This Land Holy” journey to Israel/Palestine was cancelled, due to Hamas’s shocking and brutal attack in Israel on October 7 and the start of Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza. On this anniversary of that thwarted journey, after two years of bloodshed and deepening hatred between Israelis and Palestinians, two years of assault on every hope and dream of holiness in the Holy Land, the initial stages of what is being called a “peace deal” are being implemented. While a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of the remaining hostages can and should lead us to celebrate and breathe a sigh of relief, we must not ignore the setbacks to peacemaking that have taken place over these same two years.
During that time, no person living in the Holy Land and no person who loves the Holy Land has been spared the trauma of this conflict. Some have friends and loved ones who were killed or kidnapped by Hamas. Others have friends and loved ones who have lost their lives, homes, and futures in Gaza. And some Israelis and Palestinians attribute their woundedness to both Hamas and Israel. The animosity between these two peoples, whose futures are inextricably intertwined, has never seemed fiercer. And at the same time, the spontaneous outpouring of excitement and joy released at the prospect of an end to the nightmare that began on October 7 is a testament to their shared humanity.
This is why, against all odds, peacebuilders have persisted, more determined than ever to resist the assault on humanitarian values perpetrated by Hamas and the current Israeli government. Our “What Makes This Land Holy?” itinerary was loaded with models and builders of a shared society in which Palestinians and Israelis, Muslims, Christians and Jews, would be able to know each other, heal from past trauma, and live with mutual empathy and compassion. Those individuals and organizations have endured intense grass roots and state sponsored opposition, yet they have persevered.
At Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salem, which translates from Hebrew and Arabic to Oasis of Peace, a cooperative village founded in 1978 by Israeli Jews and Arabs to model two peoples living side by side, navigating this war has been daunting. Oasis of Peace was never an easy place to live. The founders, four Jewish families and one Palestinian family, lived in tents, without running water or legal status as a municipality. But as one person who researched the village years ago for her doctoral dissertation said, “People’s idea of peace can be so sanitized, and so idealized, that it becomes this thing that is really, really far-off the horizon. The contribution that I think the village makes is showing that this idea of peace is complicated and complex, and it goes through seasons of imperfection, but it’s not this far-off impossible goal.”
Before October 7, the fact that some Jewish residents of the village served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) created a conflict of values that required all residents to tolerate a high degree of cognitive dissonance. Afterwards, dialogue became nearly impossible. Elsewhere in Israel, Palestinian and Israeli citizens were arrested, fired, or physically attacked for expressing compassion for the innocents in Gaza, but at Oasis of Peace, neighbors and friends were afraid to express their own feelings openly, or to open their hearts to the feelings of others. Some Jewish residents who had served in the IDF reluctantly in the past rushed to volunteer for reserve duty on and after October 7, a choice that was deeply upsetting to the Palestinians they had lived, worked, played, and studied with. Some Palestinians failed to offer verbal sympathy to their Jewish friends, neighbors, playmates and classmates – an act of omission that was similarly disappointing and painful.
Despite these challenges, Oasis of Peace is at full occupancy with a waiting list. Its School for Peace (SFP) brings Palestinians and Jews from all over the Holy Land together for training in facilitating dialogue between their two peoples. SFP has also launched three different mental health initiatives to address the psychological impact of the Israel/Hamas war.
Oasis of Peace is unique because it includes cohabitation between Israelis and Palestinians. But there are other peacebuilders who have persisted in their commitment to shared society through healing trauma (The Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue) shared business opportunities (Sindyanna) the arts (Polyphony) interreligious dialogue (The Rossing Center, Spirit of the Galilee) and real political solutions to the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict (Time is Now).
Organizations like these are being targeted by the Israeli Parliament, which has threatened to tax foreign contributions to them at 80%. These organizations have been attacked by settlers – physically and verbally. And yet, these organizations are providing the capacity for a peace that is not imposed by the United States and Arab nations, but trusted, welcomed and nurtured by Israelis and Palestinians themselves.
This week, two scholars from the Rossing Center, one Christian Palestinian and one Jewish Israeli, will be in Dallas and Fort Worth to speak about Jewish-Christian relations in the aftermath of October 7, and to teach faith leaders and seminary students about their Healing Hatred model. Finding holiness in the Holy Land right now means recognizing, supporting, and promoting the work of the organizations below and others like them. We may not be able to control where our tax dollars are spent, but we can control what information we pay attention to, whose stories we choose to tell, and which organizations we make donations to. In these ways, we too can build peace, in the Holy Land and here at home.
In moments of conflict, it can feel impossible to know where to look for clarity or hope.At Faith Commons, we
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