EYEWITNESS FROM JERUSALEM

Index of all the Jerusalem Journals of Sister Mary

A WEEKLY JOURNAL WRITTEN BY SISTER MARY
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Jerusalem Journal # 16

April 28, 2001

 

Last week Israel celebrated it's Independence Day, independence for Israelis and dispossession and the beginning of occupation for Arabs.

The following was read at an "alternative ceremony" attended by many people who work for justice and peace in this land. It was written by an Arabic poet. I think he gives all of us much to ponder, no matter where we live.

I, Salim Jubran ... son of this land, sacred and anguished, hereby light this torch in hornor of courage:

    The courage to seek out the truth and to fight in its defense, under trying circumstances.

    The courage to long for justice and to take action to realize it.

    The courage to take a stand like a dam against murky waters, and to refuse to become one of the herd.

    The courage to struggle within one's home and within one's circles, narrow and wide, to end the violence against children,

        women, minorities, and foreigners.

    The courage to wage unceasing  battle against prejudice and racism in all forms.

  The courage to struggle for the victory of sanity over populist and nationalist madness.

  The courage to respect that which is different, to accept diversity -

                  not our of formal politeness,

                  not for lack of choice,

                  not by coercion,

   but out of understanding and love of the beauty and richness inherent in pluralism -

                   human, linguistic,

                   national, religious, cultlural, and political.

I light this torch  in honor of the many, many people in our country, Jews and Arabs, women and men, secular and religious,

                  for whom retreat from doing the right thing is unthinkable,

                  and for whom the sanctity of human life, dignity and freedom are not lifeless concepts in the law of books,

                   but a worldview and way of life,

                   a struggle that suffuses their lives.

I light this torch in honor an Israel that does not conquer,

                  and a Palestine that is not conquered,

                  and for the glory of independence, freedom, prosperity and safe existence of both nations,

                   the Jewish-Israeli and the Arab-Palestinian.

 

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