Palestine

Palestinians at Their Worst and Best

Arthur Waskow 3-24-2011

During the past week we have seen both the worst and the best versions of Palestinian action.

Opportunity Missed in the U.N. Veto of the Israel Settlement's Resolution

Tom Getman 3-04-2011

President Barack Obama's decision to veto the February 18 U.N.

Prayer of the Day: Work for change

the Web Editors 3-04-2011

In the strength of your spirit and inspired by your compassion, we make this promise to work for change which empowers the forgotten.

Five Frustrations When You Debate Israel and the Palestinians

Gary M. Burge 3-01-2011

I've been fascinated watching an earlier blog hunker down into a strong debate about Israel and the Palestinians (February 22, "

Grace Under Fire

Ray Higgs 8-01-2010

Thank you for the revealing “A Visit to Birkenau” (by Sami Awad, May 2010).

A 'Hidden History' in the Holy Land

Ben White 8-01-2010

The Israeli group Zochrot seeks to introduce fellow Israelis to the people who lived on the land before them -- and to engage Jews and Palestinians in an open recounting of their painful common history.

Outrage about Helen Thomas

Jim Rice 6-11-2010

Sometimes it feels like there's hardly enough outrage to go around. I started this post to condemn the recent, well, outrageous, words of Helen Thomas.

The "Freedom Flotilla" Tragedy

Arthur Waskow 6-01-2010

On May 31, I awoke to news reports that the Israeli Navy had boarded and fired on 10 small ships in international waters approaching the coast of Gaza and bearing humanitarian supplies for Palestin

Something There Is That Doesn't Love a Wall

David Vasquez 5-28-2010

In this simple statement from his poem Mending Wall, modern American poet Robert Frost voices the deep concern with how human fear leads to building walls that separate us from others.

Palestine's True Leaders

Sami Awad 5-05-2010

For many years, Palestinians have engaged in nonviolent actions aimed at resisting the Israeli military occupation and its violent and humiliating policies aimed at suppressing the will of the Palestinians in seeking to achieve their legitimate aspirations.

'Tear Down This Wall'

Jim Rice 5-01-2010

Sami Awad’s vocation is to tear down walls in the Middle East. As executive director of the Holy Land Trust, based in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Awad works to build bridges between Palestinians and Israelis—and between Christians, Muslims, and Jews—as a necessary path to peace in the region. He was interviewed by Sojourners editor Jim Rice this winter while Awad visited Washington, D.C., to address a gathering of Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding.

Sojourners: What is the role of nonviolence in the liberation struggle and search for peace and security in Palestine and the broader Middle East?

Sami Awad: Nonviolence is the only option that Palestinians should engage in and the only option we have, in terms of resisting occupation. At certain points, I could have seen it as a strategic option, where people look at it and say, is it the right way to engage in or not to engage in? But now, I have come to the conclusion where I see it as the only option that Palestinians should engage in. It’s very important for us to realize this and focus all our efforts on nonviolence.

From a strategic point of view, we understand our strength. The strength of the Palestinians is in the people. We don’t have weapons. We don’t have armies. We don’t have training in military warfare. But we do have the power to unite the community, and the struggle for liberation and the struggle to end occupation is something that people can be united around.

What are the foundations for your philosophy of nonviolence? I grew up in a Christian family, which always said that reconciliation and seeking peace is the way we should go. The struggle for me was balancing my upbringing with an occupation that was treating us as Palestinians in a very unjust way. The question “How do you resist this injustice but not engage in violence” was always a challenge for me.

My uncle, Mubarak Awad, established the Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence in the mid-’80s. As a teenager, I started finding myself in that center, where I could really be engaged in standing up and saying no to the occupation and no to injustice, but in ways that also addressed my own faith-based background, which is not to engage in violence toward those who do this to us.

This Palestinian Life: Stories of Nonviolent Resistance

Ryan Rodrick Beiler 4-14-2010

Last weekend I was at a family reunion where I had been invited to show pictures from my sabbatical in the Middle East last spring.

Can Petraeus Push the U.S. Toward Peace in the Middle East?

4-13-2010

The taboo was finally broken and the genie is out of the bottle, despite some attempts to force it back.

Enough Jawboning: A Bold but Hopeful Proposal for Middle East Peace

Arthur Waskow 4-12-2010

There is a biblical story in which Samson used the jawbone of an ass to defeat his enemies. Today some politicians seem to think "jawboning" -- talk and more talk, whether sweet or angry -- can actually win peace in the Middle East. But it will take much stronger action.