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Listen to a powerful interview on Krista Tippett’s Speaking of Faith program.  In this show, she features Robi Damelin, who lost her son David to a Palestinian sniper, and Ali Abu Awwad, who lost his older brother Yousef to an Israeli soldier. But, instead of clinging to traditional ideologies and turning their pain into more violence, they’ve decided to understand the other side — Israeli and Palestinian — by sharing their pain and their humanity. They tell of a gathering network of survivors who share their grief, their stories of loved ones, and their ideas for lasting peace.

Listen to the full interview and check out other resources here: No More Taking Sides

Every Monday night, Iranians by the millions watch the most expensive show ever aired on the Islamic republic’s state-owned television – and the subject would surprise you.

The hour-long state-funded Iranian drama   “Zero Degree Turn,” centers on a love story between an Iranian-Palestinian Muslim man and a French Jewish woman. Over the course of the 22 episodes, the hero saves his love from Nazi detention camps, and Iranian diplomats in France forge passports for the woman and her family to sneak on to airplanes carrying Iranian Jews to their homeland.

The aim of the show, according to many inside and outside the country, is to draw a clear distinction between the government’s views about Judaism — which is accepted across Iranian society — and its stance on Israel — which the leadership denounces every chance it gets.

In creating the show, the director enlisted the help of Iran’s Jewish Association, an independent body that safeguards the community’s culture and heritage. The association has criticized Mr. Ahmadinejad’s comments about the Holocaust but has praised Mr. Fatthi’s show.

While Iran makes it no secret that it considers Israel an enemy, it has been extremely touchy about criticism of its treatment of Jewish citizens. Iran is home to some 25,000 Jews who are guaranteed equal rights in the country’s constitution. Despite Mr. Ahmadinejad’s statements, it isn’t government policy to question the Holocaust, and the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hasn’t endorsed those views.

“In this show, you notice that a new method of political dialogue is being promoted that is more in line with the modern world,” says Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a reformist cleric and former Iranian vice president.

The message appears to be grabbing the public. Sara Khatibi, a 35-year-old mother and chemist in Tehran, says she and her husband never miss an episode. “All we ever hear about Jews is rants from the government about Israel,” she says. “This is the first time we are seeing another side of the story and learning about their plight.”

Read the full article about the show HERE.

A Mideast Bond, Stitched of Pain and Healing
By Ethan Bronner

JERUSALEM — He can be impulsive. She has a touch of bossiness. Next-door neighbors for nearly a year, they talk, watch television and explore the world together, wandering into each other’s homes without a second thought. She likes his mother’s eggplant dish. He likes her father’s rice and lamb.

Marya, a Palestinian, and Orel, an Israeli, are 8-year-old neighbors at Jerusalem’s Alyn Hospital.

Friendship often starts with proximity, but Orel and Marya, both 8, have been thrust together in a way few elsewhere have. Their playground is a hospital corridor. He is an Israeli Jew severely wounded by a Hamas rocket. She is a Palestinian Muslim from Gaza paralyzed by an Israeli missile. Someone forgot to tell them that they are enemies.

“He’s a naughty boy,” Marya likes to say of Orel with an appreciative smile when he gets a little wild.

When Orel arrived here a year ago, he could not hear, see, talk or walk. Now he does them all haltingly. Half his brain is gone. Doctors were deeply pessimistic about his survival. Today they are amazed at his progress although unclear how much more can be made.

Marya’s spinal cord was broken at the neck and she can move only her head. Smart, sunny and strong-willed, she moves her wheelchair by pushing a button with her chin. Nothing escapes her gaze. She knows that Orel is starting to prefer boys as playmates and she makes room. But their bond remains strong.

In a way, a friendship between two wounded children from opposing backgrounds is not that surprising. Neither understands the prolonged fight over land and identity that so divides people here. They are kids. They play.

But for those who have spent time in their presence at Alyn Hospital in Jerusalem, it is almost more powerful to observe their parents, who do understand. They have developed a kinship that defies national struggle.

Read the full New York Times article here.

This expresses some of my feelings since returning from Syria. More poems by Huda can be found here.

The Peacemakers

by Huda Orfali

Friday, September 15, 2006

Dedicated to His Holiness Pope John Paul II and the Grand mufti of Syria Sheikh Ahmad Hasoun

The Peacemakers

Collaboration by Peter Paton and Huda Orfali

As the religious divide grows

In the troubled world

They call for dialogue and harmony

In a country where prayers are heard

From two divine neighbors

The church and the mosque

They echo one another

In one call for love

In the world of Islam

He is a shining light

Who teaches tolerance

And unconditional love for all

A spiritual leader

Of great virtue and purity

Who extols and promotes

The Brotherhood of Man

A magnificent orator

Whose words celebrate the truth

Healing all the divisions

That separate faiths and beliefs

A tireless and blessed worker

For the oppressed and the poor

Who embraces all humans

As sacred children of God

In the world of Christianity

He was a shining light

His touch healed the divide

When he visited the Umayyad mosque

Where his namesake is buried

And prayed with his Muslim brethrens

A Saint who embraces all humans

As sacred children of God

Peter Paton & Huda Orfali

© 2006

Meet our friend, Hanan, a fabulous new peacemaker, a cool mother,  a deeply progressive and courageous Muslim woman, one of a legion that we are discovering around the world. This is the hope of the Middle East.

For one Israeli Arab woman, peace begins within
By Karin Kloosterman

Real peacemakers are often the quiet ones, like Hanan Gaffaly – who works at the NGO Kids Creating Peace and volunteers for Sulhita, an NGO that brings together Palestinian and Israeli youth. Thousands of peacemakers like Gaffaly are not high profile activists like Ghandi and Martin Luther King were. They work from deep within, starting with themselves and their communities, and move on to take small, bold steps to influence the ‘big picture.’

ISRAEL21c first met Gaffaly, a 34-year-old Israeli Arab woman from the city of Jaffa near Tel Aviv, while at a San Francisco-based United Religions Initiative conference. At the annual meeting, held in Madaba, Jordan in December, which brought together different faiths from the Middle East-North Africa region, she sat with Elad Vazana, director of the Sulha Peace Project, an Israeli-Arab peace organization that also runs the Sulhita youth NGO, and proffered her personal story.

Palestinians, Israelis and the world at large fail to comprehend how uncomfortable it is for Gaffaly a “Palestinian Arab Israeli” who feels wedged in a major cultural rift in the Middle East. On one hand she identifies herself strongly as an Israeli, but at the same time she has Palestinian relatives with whom she empathizes.

Read the entire article from ISRAEL21c here.

Melih Kesmen created his company StyleIslam as an unconventional antidote to prejudice.  This German designer of Turkish background made his first t-shirt, bearing the slogan “I love my Prophet,” during the cartoon controversy in Europe.  He received a lot of positive feedback from Muslims and non-Muslims, which then motivated him to create a fashion label for street wear with Islamic slogans. Reconciling the two cultures he grew up with, Turkish-Islamic and German street art, his label has become very popular.  He says:

“We communicate Islam in a language young people can understand, without sacrificing our values in the process. Our customers can go out in public with StyleIslam messages across their chests and they often find the opportunity to speak with curious passersby about the designs. And since communication is the best antidote to prejudice, I really think that StyleIslam offers something which helps build bridges.”

Explore the various designs and products–maybe even purchase a shirt–in their online store HERE.  And note that a portion of the sales from his shop are donated to AIDS orphans in Africa.