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| May 11, 2008 Despite the gunfire, some people are still willing to give peace a chance
After the feasting, Zimmo's father invited all the kids to plant a tree. The farm workers showed them how, and the children fell to the task eagerly, each planting several. Every time Zimmo has visited in the decades since, he has sat under one of his trees and eaten one of its oranges, the best in the world. A few weeks ago, he received word from his brother that the Israeli army had bulldozed the farm, one of 15 levelled in that area that day. No reasons were given, but Zimmo's family assumes the action was a form of collective punishment for a nearby firefight between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians. All the trees were mowed down, including the olive and orange groves, and the farmhouse, well and irrigation pipelines were reduced to rubble -- devastation curiously at odds with Ehud Olmert's assertion last week. Celebrating Israel's 60th anniversary, the Israeli prime minister said, "We sanctify life, not death ... We never intentionally harm the innocent." Zimmo's reaction, apart from anger and sadness, was extraordinary, a message to those who believe in policies of annihilation: "Perhaps one day you will wake up, end your madness, recapture your humanity." In the land of Canaan, he said, he still hopes that "all of us will join hands to protect life and build 'peace for all.'" Farms will be rebuilt -- over and over, if necessary -- "until you learn that life and hope are not only more beautiful, but also much stronger than death and fear." The message was in an e-mail Zimmo sent out to fellow members of an equally extraordinary little organization of Ottawans, "Potlucks for Peace." Made up of Jewish and Arab men and women, the group meets regularly to share food and ideas, particularly ideas that promote mutual understanding. Several Jewish Potlucks members have described their eureka moment as suddenly recognizing Palestinians' profound sense of disenfranchisement, and all it implies; several Arab Potlucks members have recognized for the first time the justifiable reality of Jewish fear. Each side has come to accept the other's longing for a homeland. But Potlucks also engages the larger community in its vibrant dialogue. This week, for instance, to mark both Israel's anniversary and 60 years of conflict, the group is sponsoring a special evening, open to the public. (Thursday, 7p.m., at the National Library on Wellington, admission $5.) With the theme "Lessons from the Northern Ireland Peace Process: Can They Work in Israel-Palestine?" the event features an address by retired Canadian general John de Chastelain, a key architect of the Northern Ireland peace accord, and responses by two Potlucks members. One is Brian Rothberg, who has close ties to Israel and describes himself as believing in the Zionist dream, though "often disturbed by its reality." The other is Monzer Zimmo. Egyptian-born Tyseer Aboulnasr, a longtime Potlucks member, says: "We hope to shake this general acceptance of the ongoing tragedy over there as an irresolvable conflict. If the South African conflict was resolved, if the Irish conflict was resolved, why can't the Middle East conflict be solved?" The evening will also feature a screening of Oasis of Peace: Neve Shalom-Wahat al-Salam, a documentary that explores the unique village that has existed for nearly 40 years on a plot of land halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Populated equally by Arabs and Jews, it operates on principles of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence, using bilingualism and binationalism as its cornerstones. Ottawa's Potlucks group works similarly, its mission statement noting that the Jews of Israel and the disenfranchised Palestinians are "caught in an escalating spiral of death, destruction and desolation, fighting over a land they could share, choosing to die together rather than strive towards living together." Potlucks members believe "that, one day, these two peoples of this holy land will rise up and live out the true meaning of peace." What a concept. An end to the decades of fighting that has turned neighbours into relentless enemies? An end to the grief of sons and daughters stupidly, needlessly killed in their youth? What a gift that would be to both the disenfranchised and the remarkable nation now celebrating its birth with pride and a justifiably sacred sense of self. "I really believe it is time to say enough is enough," Aboulnasr says. "We need to stop accepting that this conflict is somehow 'special.' It is no more special than all the other horrendously 'special' conflicts that have been resolved when people decided they had enough." That sounds like an impossible dream made possible, and it has its echo in the tagline with which Zimmo ends all his e-mails: "Hope is the stuff from which life is made!" When bullets are flying nearby, when the logical response is despair, when bulldozers flatten life's sweetest memories, there are Zimmo and the Potlucks gang and the residents of a small village filled with mighty hearts. Strong, shining and magnificently stubborn, they are the human face of hope. ************************************** Originally published in the Ottawa Citizen http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=ca6e76e6-2741-43e4-a01f-0b84cd0d0376&p=2 Fair Use Notice: The above newspaper article is copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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