A pair of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists shared their stories and perspectives at a Buxton roundtable event on September 11, 2009. During the discussion, they spoke openly about their faith backgrounds and how their religious convictions impact their approach to peace-building. The two activists, Ari Eitan and Antwan Saca, work with OneVoice, a grassroots organization that supports a two-state solution.
Ari Eitan started the conversation by discussing his upbringing in Jerusalem. Ari is the son of a leading rabbi in an ultra orthodox community, where males attend a school that focuses on studying traditional Jewish texts. Strict adherence to Talmudic law dominates this community’s way of life. Ari personally felt trapped as he encountered a “crisis of faith” and started questioning his relationship to ultra-orthodox Judaism. At 20 years old he joined the Israeli military, an act against his family’s ideologies. “Few are lucky to get out,” Ari said, describing this way of life as a protective bubble isolated from the rest of the world. As he stepped back from his roots, he explored other ways of understanding his faith and regained a strong, albeit different, Jewish identity. This process, he said, led him to peace-building.
Antwan Saca continued the conversation by describing his own background and ideas. He works as a Research Assistant in the Urbanization Monitoring Department at the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem. Raised as a Christian in Bethlehem, he began peace-building work as a way to counter-act the violence around him. He said that the most helpful way to deal with the ongoing conflict around him was to return to his Christian roots, stressing that the New Testament never condones the dehumanization of others. Only a few days before he traveled to the US to talk to policy makers about OneVoice, he held a town hall meeting in Bethlehem with about 150 youth from the area to discuss issues surrounding a two-state solution.
Participants were also given the opportunity to ask questions and give comments. Senator Harris Wofford, former Senator from Pennsylvania and one of the founders of the US Peace Corps, after reading a description and philosophy of the OneVoice movement, said, “This is the single most encouraging piece of literature I’ve read on the conflict.”
To conclude the dialogue, Antwan and Ari emphasized their hope for the future. Both stressed the fact that most moderate Israelis and Palestinians desire peace. The two activists want to be advocates for the moderate voice. “The civilian society has been neglected; nobody stood for them,” said Ari. Antwan referenced a parable from the book of Matthew: “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move.” He sees this idea as a metaphor for the potential impact of grassroots peace-building efforts.
It was also noted that this meeting fell on the 8th anniversary of September 11th – a reminder of the large amount of work to be done for improved inter-religious and cultural understanding, but also of the incremental progress made every day.
* Speakers and panelists at Buxton Initiative events do not represent the views of the Buxton Initiative.
Tags: antwan saca, ari eitan, Israel, one voice, Palestine, two-state solution
Very inspiring. Raising consciousness of the possibility of civilian peace is very eye-opening. I am glad these 2 individuals found the Buxton roundtable a safe place to share these ideas.