the people coming together in Gaza

I just received this from the Santa Fe Friends Meeting.  It was sent
by a former member now living (I believe) in Palestine.  These might
sound like small actions compared to the enormity of the situation. 
Although, taken all together, it'd surely take a pretty cynical
person to say these actions were meaningless...

*****************
Hello friends and supporters,

While most news you receive from the Holy Land in the aftermath of
the Gaza war is awful, the peacemakers continue their work, invisible
to the eyes of the world.  This has been a difficult time, the gap of
mistrust and anger between the Israelis and Palestinians is as wide as
ever.  In the face of all of this though, we have deepened our
commitment to work for peace. As Elias Jabbour, director of the House
of Hope puts it, "its up to us to keep the torch of hope alive, we
have no other other choice."

Take the time to read this update about the sacred work of our family
of peacebuilders, hope you will be inspired.

ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS GATHER FOR SOLIDARITY AND CELEBRATION AT THE
DEAD SEA, January 30-31

Eighty Palestinians and Israelis came together for the Gathering of
Light and Unity on Metzukei Dragot beach, an oasis of beautiful fresh
and saltwater pools on the Dead Sea shore. This area is easily
accessible for both Israelis and Palestinians who came from across the
West Bank without the need for travel permits. For two days we shared
meals, music and dance, prayers and speaking from the heart together.
This gathering, organized by Ilana Meallem, brought together many
people yearning to connect as a family of human beings in light of all
thats happened recently.

HEALING ABRAHAM'S FAMILY PRAYER AND HOSPITAL VISIT, AT TEL HASHOMER
HOSPITAL, TEL AVIV, January 26

Forty people came together as Jerusalem Peacemakers joined with Rabbis
for Human Rights to organize a prayer gathering at Tel Hashomer
hospital in Tel Aviv. This event was advertised in Israeli media:
"Muslim, Jewish and Christian Religious Leaders Raise Their Voices
Together for:   A Cry of Mourning; Affirmation of Responsibility to
work for Reconciliation, Human Rights and Peace, a Future of Hope and
Healing of the Wounds between our People".  We read traditional
prayers for mourning of the dead in the Jewish, Christian and Muslim
traditions and offered personal prayers followed by a group prayer for
peace in Hebrew and Arabic. We then split up, some going to visit a
wounded Israeli soldier and many others visiting Izzedin Abuelish and
his daughter, the Gaza doctor whose 3 daughters were killed in the
Gaza violence, with a fourth daughter being treated in Tel Hashomer
hospital.  Read more about our event in this LA Times article:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2009/01/israel-interfai.html

JERUSALEM PEACEMAKERS WEST JERUSALEM CENTER HOSTS TALKS AND PEACE
GATHERINGS

At our West Jerusalem peace center recently, we hosted study sessions
with Rabbi Marc Gopin on 'The Source of Peace' and a text study
session with Rabbi Daniel Roth from the Pardes Institiute.  On
December 22nd we hosted an inter-religious Hannukah peace celebration
with over 50 Israelis and Palestinians joining for dialogue, music and
prayer.

THIRD WORLD CONGRESS OF IMAMS AND RABBIS FOR PEACE IN PARIS, FRANCE,
December 15-17

We joined the Third World Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace in
Paris, organized by Hommes de Parole.  One hundred Imams and Rabbis
came from all over the world to bring the voice of Judaism and Islam
to build a bridges of dialogue and help solve conflicts motivated by
religion in the Middle East, Europe and the world.  Leaders included
Sheikh Abdallah Nimr Darwish, founder of the Islamic movement in
Israel and Rabbi Avraham Yosef, son of Sephardic rabbinic authority
Ovadiah Yosef.  There were plenary sessions, a visit to a Paris peace
monument and a mosque and synagogue. Politics tended to divide us, the
evenings of sharing in the music of Andalucia, the mutual Jewish and
Islamic heritage, brought us together.

See great pictures from the Tel Aviv prayer event, Hannukah peace
celebration and World Congress of Imams and Rabbis at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerusalem_peacemakers/sets/

SHEIKH BUKHARI HELPS FAMILIES IN GAZA REBUILD THEIR LIVES

Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bukhari has a wide family and community network in
Gaza. His wife is from Gaza, his sister and his daughter are both
married and live in Gaza. They are part of the Sufi, Uzbek and wider
communities in Gaza that have seen their homes and lives shattered in
the recent fighting. Sheikh Bukahri has been collecting donations and
sending it directly to families in need in Gaza.

RABBI MENACHEM FROMAN CONTINUES HIS WORK FOR A CEASE FIRE AND DIALOGUE
WITH HAMAS

Throughout the Gaza war, Rabbi Menachem Froman was working on efforts
to bring about a cease fire between Israel and Hamas. Please read this
article about his call for for dialogue with Hamas, and a new chance
for peace in the wake of the recent war:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1058461.html

Rabbi Froman was also recently featured in the New York Times, calling
for Barack Obama to involve Israeli and Palestinian religious leaders
in the renewed peace process:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/world/middleeast/06froman.html?_r=1&emI

IBTISAM MAHAMID CONTINUES HER PEACEMAKING WORK

Ibtisam Mahamid is building a new peace center, the Tent of Hagar and
Sarah in her town of Faradis in northern Israel. She initiated a
project to train and empower Muslim Arab women. These women formed a
women's council and got their chosen candidate elected mayor of
Faradis. During the Gaza war, Ibtisam spent hours visiting wounded
children from Gaza in Israeli hospitals and joined a delegation to
visit the Israeli town of Sderot. Ibtisam was chosen to receive an
award, "Unsung Heroes of Compassion",  by the Dalai Lama in San
Francisco in April.

A message from Ibtisam:  "We are the children of Abraham, family.
Every day I light a candle in my heart-- no anger, no hatred. We want
peace, we will take peace by the hands, for the sake of our
grandchildren. As a peace activist, I give compassion to myself and to
the world... if you dont have inner quiet and peace in your heart, you
cant give it to the world."

A MESSAGE FROM IBRAHIM ABUELHAWA

We are asking God to stop the war and fighting especially in the Holy
Land between the seeds of Abraham. We have to go back to God, and to
study the word of God, which it is that we are all one, and we have to
love one another, and especially to love our neighbors as our brothers
and ourself.  Thats the key for everything between the children of
Abraham.  Is really been hard and tough time with everyone in this
land, and we wish everyone to be healthy and safe in his own home.


We are doing all this work with almost no budget. Please make a
contribution, small or large, to support the work of the Jerusalem
Peacemakers.  We count on your support, in its different forms--
prayer and financial support --to empower us to continue this work in
the Holy Land.


In the USA, in order to make a tax-deductible contribution, write a
check to:

'Rising Tide International', make a note on the memo line: 'for
Jerusalem Peacemakers' and send it to:

Rising Tide International,  5102 Swiss Road,  Sarasota, FL 34231



To make a donation by check in the UK,

AND to make a donation by credit card with Paypal from anywhere, click
this link of Jerusalem Peacemakers UK. Calculate your donation in its
equivalent in British pounds:

http://www.spiritofpeace.co.uk/jerusalempeacema.html



To send support directly and to contact us by mail:

Jerusalem Peacemakers, PO Box 31894, Jerusalem, 91316 Israel



For making a direct donation to help the people of Gaza, Sheikh
Bukhari is collecting donations. Contact Sheikh Bukhari by email for
info of how you can contribute: azizb17@hotmail.com




Shalom, Salaam,
Eliyahu McLean,

Jerusalem Peacemakers, co-director
www.jerusalempeacemakers.org
***********

Friends statement: immigration policy

American Friends Service Committee
Statement on Immigrant Detention

The Quaker vision of justice is grounded in our core
belief that "there is that of God in everyone" and the
Biblical call to welcome the stranger. Our vision, as
it applies to immigration, draws on years of experience in
international human rights work and with immigrant
communities worldwide. Human migration is a global
phenomenon driven by political, social and economic
considerations that demand not just our attention, but
our humanity and compassion.  We are all God's people, no
matter our circumstances.

And so we react with dismay to the increasing
criminalization of individuals with tenuous legal status
in the United States. In particular, we see the
increasing overuse and abuse of detention as a
demonstrably failed policy and practice. The U.S.
government's punitive focus on arrest, detention and
deportation diverts attention from more compelling human,
civil and labor rights issues and from the complex causes
of immigration. This punitive focus, in its harsh and
capricious application, shatters families and stokes fear
in communities; creates incentives for individuals and
businesses to profit by the incarceration of others; and
shames our highest ideals as Americans and our deepest
convictions as Quakers.

We envision an immigration policy free of imprisonment, a
policy that offers humane treatment to asylum seekers,
refugees, and economic migrants, and that provides for
legal status for undocumented immigrants.

We call for the end to the misguided and profoundly unjust
policy of detention in our immigration system.

Approved by the Board Executive Committee, January 10, 2009

2 local events

Okay, this is more the kind of thing I meant to post here. Local, accessible, hopeful, doable. Don't know if these will reach anybody who will find them of interest. But this is the kind of thing I want at the least to pass along, and give witness to: it's happening. Right here, we fellow humans are coming together, now and then. Thanks to my old friends at Abq Mennonite for this information.

1. Faith Community Climate Change Breakfast: New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light is hosting a breakfast presentation with discussion on the topic of climate change as an ethical and spiritual matter, Wednesday, February 4, 7:30-8:45 p.m. at Congregation Albert (3800 Louisiana Blvd NE, Albuquerque). Larry Rasmussen, author of Earth Habitat and Earth Community, Earth Ethics, and past Reinhold Neibuhr Professor of Ethics at Union Theological Seminary, will offer a presentation and opportunity for discussion. For those able to stay for a second course, after breakfast we will spend about an hour in follow-up with more detailed discussion exploring how to reach the faith community. Suggested donation of $10 includes breakfast and resource materials. For more info call 266-6966.

2. The Jewish-Catholic Dialogue of New Mexico 16th annual Interfaith Spring Colloquium. Abraham's Sacrifice: Perspectives of Three Religions. Tuesday March 3, 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Congregation B'Nai Israel, 4401 Indian School Rd. NE, Albuquerque. Presenters: Michael Nutkiewicz, Ph.D, Fr. Hilaire Valiquette, OFM, Ph.D, and Dr. Jamal Martin, MPH, Ph.D. Info at (505) 299-3807.

politics postscript

Here, courtesy of a few of my other inner voices, is the unabashed, heart-defense of a not-really-activist who, however futile, can't seem to let go of the idea entirely.

It's been 8 years of what, at the global level, was in most ways a tragedy. And what, at the personal level, I think can be compared to a long-term dysfunctional relationship. Hear me out here, if you will. Maybe others who have lived any of the struggles I described in last night's other post - with a parent, with a partner, with a close friend - can relate. It's not just the larger-than-life drama and chagrin of fights in public places, beloved voices sharpened into weapons, words beaten into swords. It's not just the feelings of alienation, depression, disappointment that set in. It's all the little things, the really not-okay things, that you come, over time, to take for granted. Not being listened to. Being asked to sacrifice wants, and then needs, and then security. Losing the confidence that the word spoken is the word you can believe. Accepting the insensitivity, not only to your own soul's asking, but by outward extension to the people and the things that you love. Any of this sound familiar? At the heart or soul level, haven't we been hanging on in a dysfunctional relationship with our government, for the last several years? Sure, there are a few people who walked out on it (and that's their right to choose). And a lot more who learned to just shut their mouths, power down their hearts, and sit tight. But for us who can't seem to not give our hearts to relating - at all the levels in which it manifests - it was a soul-depleting struggle, and yes maybe a ridiculous and futile one, to stay and "try to make it work".

So. In the last couple months, and the last week, it seems obvious that we would experience what you could only call a "honeymoon phase", with President Obama's election. I was feeling silly for thinking of it this way, and then I heard an NPR commentator compare inauguration day festivities to a wedding for the people, with Obama as the bride. See. And, like all honeymoons, this one will surely end, in at least some respects. He won't be willing, or able, to make every one of us happy. This president, and this round of government, will let us down. Will embarrass us in public. Will deny us some of our basic needs. Will in fact, turn out to be human too. But for the moment - again, at the heart-level - it is just sweet news to believe that it's okay to feel again. To think that somebody's listening. To be safe enough at least to turn some energies from the center outward, direct them toward what we desire, instead of against what we need defend ourselves from.

Yes, this is a phase. But some of us really needed this phase. I'm not staking all my hopes on what my national or state or even local government can do with the next few years. I don't need to base my faith (in world, in people, in systems) on political ideologies or political actions. Whatever my religion is, it's not activism. But it is so sweet to stretch those cramped muscles of body and heart for just a moment, look around, and speak my soul in a larger world context again. And to affirm something.

what is this

Do I serve any purpose at all, in the little writings and forwardings and recommendings under this particular heading?

Does everybody have more than enough of the Real World already without my adding to the equation? (saying that with just a little sarcasm - not that I believe for a minute that what's on the news is the Real World...)

Maybe I just wanted a chance to think - and talk - about something besides myself, for a change.

Maybe I wanted my soul to take in more, give out more, reach compassion more. Maybe even to think others would join me. Maybe others are already doing all they can. And maybe sharing information and being informed doesn't go that far toward such give and take of life.

I'm gonna go back in my head now. Or my heart, as the case may be.

Other

My other half wrote earlier of the wish for an end to the habit of Other-bashing, with this change of administration and hopefully of direction. Our TV-sedated acceptance of "polarization" as a social norm seems to have excused all sorts of embarassing manifestations of opposition, judgment, and petty name-calling, over the last 8 years, even among some of the most intelligent, tolerant, and peace-seeking people I know. Of course, there will always be an Other. And maybe, probably, there will always be a degree of polarization. Even in this purportedly enlightened, certainly privileged, and ideologically spacious country. It's a challenge to accept the humanity, the dignity, the motivations of those who are Other. It's hard for many, apparently, to realize that diversity actually exists. And there's almost no group or perspective that I ain't talkin' about here.

My wish today simply speaks to the same recognition that Melissa Etheridge pointed out, in that interview 2 weeks ago : now is our chance not to be them. Whoever They are. Even better, Now is our collective opportunity to stop being Us and Them. That being, quite practically, the only way we can make Them not exist. And of course I'm not talking some sappy sentiment or covering the eyes or glossing over. I'm talking having the courage to LOOK, and to accept that we share our privilege, and our now very immediate responsibility, of citizenship in this country with a whole lotta people we don't personally want a thing to do with.

But, if not everybody can do that (and of course, not everybody will): at the very least, it's an opening to be better, clearer, more free, than whatever traits we despise or despair of, in whoever we see as the Other. If we don't have it in us to be better, to act with more integrity, to speak with more purpose, to be We The People guiding this supposed democracy back into its humanity, then what have we made this change for? And if we can't come up with anything better than boos and jeers, distanced complaints and vague fears and armchair condemnations (of those who lead, of those who live here)...with what our history's just given us, with what we've just asked for, with - its and our eventual imperfections guaranteed - what as a whole we are embarking on...if we can't be more and better NOW, then when?

end torture on Day One

Received this from Friends Meeting. Another really easy,
tangible action to take in the Here and Now.

Ask Obama to end torture on Day One of his presidency

In August the Meeting endorsed the Declaration Of Principles of the
National Religious Campaign Against Torture, which urged the next
president to issue an Executive Order ending torture on Day One of his presidency. NRCAT sends this appeal:

Dear Friends:

NRCAT leaders met yesterday with members of the Transition Team and urged President-elect Obama to issue an Executive Order ending torture on Day One of his presidency. (See the article about it in today's New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/us/15torture.html)

We're optimistic, but we'd be thankful for your help in reinforcing our request.

Please take a minute to email President-elect Obama's Transition Team and ask him to end torture on Day One of his presidency. Just take these three easy steps:

* Visit his transition website at http://change.gov/page/s/ofthepeople.
* Fill out your contact information. Write "torture" in the "Another issue" box.
* In the "Your ideas" box, write something like: "Please issue an Executive Order ending our use of torture as an interrogation technique on Day One of your presidency. As a person of faith, I have been deeply troubled by our country's use of torture as an interrogation technique.
Torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of detainees is wrong, and it is contrary to American values."

Thank you for your help!