SHALOM

When you have been in the media world as long as I you cannot avoid having worked with Jewish people – many of whom have become and remain good friends.

One such was Peter who sadly passed away last year. I still have some of his paintings to remember him by and some of his sage words.

Peter was a young man as World War II approached, he was German and of course Jewish. His family sent him to Africa to escape the Nazis – his parents perished in the holocaust.

Peter served in the British forces but proudly kept his German name, his strong Germanic accent and his Jewish faith till he died.

One sad day such as this he told me he had no time for Israel because all it had learned from the terrible events of the holocaust was hate and the worst of the Nazis’ habits. His words not mine.

He repeated that view on more than one occasion over the years.

It strikes me that Israel has few friends in the world. Nations support it out of guilt – others despise it.

Israel would have us stand in awe of its strength – for most people we stare in contempt.

Shalom to Peter’s spirit at this tragic time.

Join the Avaaz petition for an independent investigation into the raid, accountability for those responsible, and an immediate end to the blockade in Gaza -- click to sign the petition, and then forward this message to everyone:

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SPAIN NEEDS JUSTICE

The Spanish High Court says it will launch a war crimes investigation into seven Israelis, including a former defence minister, over a 2002 attack that killed 14 civilians and a Hamas commander in the Gaza Strip.

Spanish law allows the prosecution of foreigners for such crimes as genocide, crimes against humanity and torture committed anywhere in the world. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak called the Gaza legal case "delusional" on Thursday.

The Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights is bringing the case against then-Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and six military personnel involved in the decision to drop a one-tonne bomb from an F-16 plane into a housing block on July 22, 2002.

Although the blast killed Hamas commander Salah Shehada the human rights organisation said it was only bringing the case on behalf of the families of 14 civilians killed, nine of whom were children, and 96 injured.

Palestinian Centre's lawyer Gonzalo Boye said: “If Israel would like to be a civilised nation it will have to accept the rule of law, and the rule of law is not served with a 1,000-kg bomb.

“I do not justify the actions of Hamas. I think both parties are guilty. The only people that are innocent are the civilian victims. We have excluded from our criminal case that person from Hamas who was the target of the Israeli army.”

Judge Fernando Andreus will lead the investigation which will last several years. The case was taken up by after Israel declined to reply to a question from the court last August as to whether the seven would be tried at home.

This is all well and good. I fully approve of Israel and Hamas being called to account for the slaughter of innocents. However is this the job of the Spanish court system and should it not be left to an international court of justice?

I beg this question as Spain’s judges are about to go on strike in protest at their workload and lack of resources. Many important cases are suffering lengthy delays because of the huge backlog. The Huelva child Mari Luz Cortes died after being kidnapped by a paedophile who should have been in prison at the time if the court system had been working effectively. Yes I believe in justice – but Spain needs justice first before its courts go show boating on the international stage.

SORRY ABOUT THE DEATHS

It is estimated that over 1,200 people have been killed and another 5,000 injured in the Gaza tragedy.

Announcing the ceasefire the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in Tel Aviv on Saturday:

"We regret very much the fact that there were so many who, in spite of the genuine efforts made by the Israeli army, suffered from this confrontation. I want to apologize on behalf of the government of Israel for everyone who was unjustly affected, in Gaza, by this operation."

You’re sorry! That’s alright then – we’ll drop the war crime investigations. Better luck next time!

PALESTINE: TIME TO START AGAIN

At some point the current war action in Gaza will stop and Israel will return to a fragile peace. Without any doubt violence will flare up again, may be in Gaza or the wider Palestinian territories, perhaps in the Lebanon, it could be a regional conflict or in Israel itself. What is certain is that it will happen. It will happen because the very creation of Israel was born in violence and until those real or perceived injustices are sorted out violence will remain to the forefront.

It is time to start again.

The Zionist movement was calling for an independent community in their historic homeland of Palestine back in the 19th century. Britain declared its support for the concept in 1917 and in 1920 the League of Nations placed Palestine under British administration. From that point on there were disputes between Jews who wished to settle there and indigenous Arabs who opposed their arrival.

Back in 1937 Britain proposed separate Arab and Jewish communities, this was accepted by the Jews and not the Arabs and the fighting started. My father was stationed there at the end of World War II. In 1947 the United Nations, which had succeeded the League of Nations, supported this concept. Hence when in 1948 Britain ended its mandate the State of Israel was proclaimed with David Ben Gurion as prime minister.

This saw neighbouring Arab states send forces to crush the fledgling Israel but they failed. In 1949 a cease-fire was agreed but by then Israel controlled more land than was originally allocated to it. Hundreds of thousands of Arabs fled to Jordan and the Lebanon and Israel declared Jerusalem as its capital, although its status is not recognised by the UN.

Within that mishmash of events you have the birth of the tragedy that continues to this very day and will carry on its bloody way in to the future.

It is time to start again.

There is no doubting Israel’s right to exist. However to start to live in peace with its neighbours Israel has to put past wrongs to right. That is not achieved by killing innocent people in Gaza or negotiating with the Palestinian leadership with the sole objective of giving nothing but demanding everything in return.

In the coming weeks Israel will elect a new government. Yet I see nobody in that country or on the international stage with the will, skill and determination to take this problem by the scruff of the neck and sort the problem out.

None the less I say - it is time to start again.

SHALOM, SALAAM

We know that in the coming days or weeks the current tragedy in Gaza will come to a halt. We equally know - surely as night follows day - it will be only a matter of months before tensions are heightened and in due course the fighting will flare up again – perhaps in Gaza may be somewhere else. I am grateful to my friend Veronica in Ireland for sending me this letter from the Sulha Peace Project. I have had to shorten it but have included the link for those wishing to learn more. In these dark days let us grasp and encourage every small glimmer of hope! Shalom. Salaam.

“We are mourning the loss of lives and are praying for the safety of our friends who are in danger in both Gaza and southern Israel. We pray that both peoples come to true compassion and forgiveness toward the other.

With the only news coming from the from the Holy Land being about the war, we send some news of another picture from the Holy Land. Though we Palestinians and Israelis who work together for peace are being tested more than ever, the relationships we have built stay strong. The Sulha Peace Project continues to aspire to create a new reality and prepare the people in the region for a life of mutual respect and trust.

Not long ago, over three days last August 26-28, thousands of Israelis and Palestinians met for the seventh annual 'On the Way to Sulha' gathering on the grounds of the Latrun monastery between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The Sulha Peace Project worked in full partnership with the Palestinian organization, Al-Tariq, to plan the event. Israelis and Palestinians came from all over the Holy Land, and including 200 Palestinians from the West Bank cities of Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah and Hebron. Our partners in Gaza who have been with us at previous events sent messages of blessing and support from the people of Gaza.

The Kitchen, made fully kosher brought Israeli and Palestinian volunteers together to chop vegetables and cook side by side to feed hundreds of peace each meal.

Our special guest was Rabbi Marc Gopin, director of the Center for World's Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University. Rabbi Gopin spoke about his work in Syria for building bridges of dialogue. We had a special corner set up at the Sulha gathering for children and adults to write messages of peace that were then delivered by Gopin to the people of Syria. As Marc Gopin is now in the Holy Land, visit his website for his insightful commentary and post cast about the present war in Gaza and south Israel: http://www.marcgopin.com/

In the prayer tent, we held inter-religious study sessions, with panels on the themes of 'Forgiveness' and 'Religion and Ecology'. In addition to Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious leaders and scholars from the Holy Land, joining us were Geshe-la Thebten Phelgye a Tibetan lama and member of the Tibetan Parliament, Sheikha Khadija, teacher of Sufism from New York and Rabbi Marc Gopin. On the main stage the final day religious leaders spoke about Sulha, reconciliation, in our religious texts and traditions.

Each evening there were highlights. Sheikh Abu Falastin from Sakhnin led hundreds of us in a Sufi 'zikr' ceremony together, after which Rabbi Menachem Froman led us to chant in unison, calling out Allahu Akbar in Arabic and HaShalom Yinatzeach (Peace will Prevail) in Hebrew.
Later, there was a magical performance by "Acharit Hayamim"- an Israeli religious Jewish reggae band, who performed with an ensemble of refugees from the Darfur region in Sudan. On the final evening, Sheikh Abdul Qarim al-Zorba, Imam of the Dome of the Rock chanted songs from the Islamic tradition.

The 'Sulha Family', Israelis and Palestinians continue to meet, planning events to heal the wounds and re-build trust between our peoples. After the riots in Acco between Arabs and Jews last Yom Kippur, we organized a peace tent there, with two days of bridge building activities. The 'Sulha Family' met recently, gathering for Shabbat in Jerusalem to support each other during this time. Israeli 'Sulha Family' members are meeting with friends from Palestinian partner organization Al-Tariq. The Sulha Peace Project is joining Middle Way for a peace walk in Jaffa January 9th and setting up a dialogue tent in Jaffa.

Please send a prayer of healing for the children of a Gazan peacemaker who has brought his family to several of our Sulhita youth gatherings. His son and daughter have been seriously wounded in the violence in Gaza."
http://sites.google.com/site/sulhapeaceproject/

SHALOM

As Israel is once again in conflict with one of its near neighbours my mind goes back to frequent conversations I had with a Jewish friend.

For the sake of this piece his name is Daniel.

He grew up in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s and his parents sent him and his brother to safety in 1939. Neither of his parents survived the holocaust.

Daniel went to relations in Southern Africa. Eventually in the 1950s he came to Spain. He is trilingual speaking German, English and Spanish but with his heavy Germanic accent in tack.

His brother, who went to England, anglicised his name.

Daniel is proud of his German Jewish roots and refused to change anything.

To this day he is a practicing Jew.

However when the subject turns to the State of Israel his hackles rise. He is a proud Jew but wants nothing to do with the Jewish state. To him Israelis have learnt nothing from the history of the Jews. Or rather they have learnt too well the injustice handed out over the centuries and now exercise it over others.

When you hear an educated man speak of Nazi Germany and Israel in the same terms you have to listen. When that man fled the Nazi’s and his parents perished in the concentration camps you listen very carefully indeed.

I know that at this time, this man who has suffered more than most of us can comprehend, is in anguish yet one more time.

To him and all the people of the bitterly divided near East – Shalom!