I want to take you on a trip to my home-town Ramallah, Palestine which is ten miles north of Jerusalem. It is 10:30 in the morning and I am sitting in my lovely, bright living room overlooking the garden in the courtyard. In the center of the courtyard is a beautiful olive tree that my late husband planted. For him the planting of this tree was a symbol of peace, perseverance, sharing beauty, and preparing for future generations. Sure enough, a few months after he planted the tree, by husband passed on to the other shore, but our children and grandchildren are enjoying its shade, olives, and beauty. Facing me on the table is a lovely arrangement of roses that were planted by my two sons. The olive tree and the flowers outside and inside my home have come out of the darkness of the earth, which is itself the shadow of the divine darkness from which all things come. They came out of the darkness into the light of the world - radiant with its brightness and reflecting its glory.       In another corner of the room there is a lovely green plant with all the leaves turning towards the light. No matter how I turn the pot, the leaves direct themselves to the light. Facing me above the fireplace is a beautiful framed photograph of the opening prayer for Muslims that I received as a gift from Hartford Seminary. A section of the prayer reads: "Lead me God to the right path." Paintings of birds from Mexico and Egypt, beautiful handicrafts from Africa, pictures of my children and their spouses, pictures of my grandchildren, Palestinian embroidery and glass, and many other handicrafts from different parts of the world fill my room.

     As I look out on this world of things around me - each one separated in space, each moving in time ... all is one, united in a simple vision of being. I use images to help me turn my mind toward the Light and allow the Light itself to enlighten me. I can say that this room and the world in which we live are like the white light of the sun in which all the colors of the rainbow are present while each retains its distinctive character. Or I can say it is like a symphony in which all the notes are heard in a single perfect harmony, but in which each has its own particular time and place. Or going deeper, I can say it like a community of persons in love in which each understands the other and is at one with the other.

     On one of the shelves of this spacious room is a framed painting of a beautiful child carrying a lantern. The child has a halo of light around his head. I think the person in the painting is the artist's idea of Jesus.

     Next to the painting is written:

     No two souls are the same, and the experience of each is unique. Each of us is a unique reflection of the one Light. It is as though one Divine Light is received by each of us, but every one is reflecting it in his or her own way and breaking it into many colors.

     I have taken you home to my living room. I shared with you the light of beauty, of interconnectedness, of awareness, of the miracle of sharing, and the vision of equality and universality. However, I have not yet taken you on a trip to see the evil in our world, the personal and structural violence, the oppression, the poverty, the denial of basic human rights, and community rights and the injustice, chauvinism, and the religious and national fanaticism which also exists in our world. For the light that has enlightened me exposes the sin and the darkness which also exists. Sin is both personal and systemic. It is violence done against other human beings and the world around us. Those with the greater responsibility for sin - the powerful - continue to oppress and victimize others. The victims of oppression are not blameless. Often, they in turn become the oppressors of others.

     Many individuals and religious groups forget the fact that God's light shines in the heart of everyone, young and old, good or evil. By centering on God's light and enlightenment, we as human beings can become more open to the universal light rather than to feelings of exclusivity, superiority, closeness, and the assumption that their Light is the only Light. These beliefs lead people to think that the light came from them and they become the judge and master over their fellow human beings. This is the original sin and this is the great illusion. Each becomes centered on herself or himself in conflict with their neighbor and forgets to strive for solidarity with all humanity, with creatures and creation. Centering on ourselves and refusing to surrender to God leads to darkness and sin. Sin is the failure of love - a failure to respond to the movement of grace which is ever drawing us out of ourselves into the divine life into the Light.

     Light cannot be thought of apart from darkness and when we are committed to the Light, we are committed through the light to work against the forces of sin and darkness. It is not only the recognition of sin in ourselves and in others, individually and collectively, which comes as we become aware of the reality of God, but also the commitment to work for goodness, righteousness, and truth.

     Now I need to share with you something about my situation, the part of our trip which we began at the beginning of my talk.

     As a Palestinian, I am one of the approximately six million Palestinians around the world. Half of us were uprooted and forcibly driven away from our land and out of our homes more than once. The other half of us has been subjected and made strangers in our own land. We continue being denied the basic right to self-determination, which is the fundamental travesty and the basis of the other forms of human rights violations and abuses perpetrated against us. One of the key elements for self-determination is "land". For us as a people to exercise our political, economic, social and cultural rights, we must be able to exercise them in our own land. However, the continuing expropriation and confiscation of our land is one of the key manifestations of the denial of our right to self-determination. many of my people have little or no security or guarantee for their lives or those of their children. Daily they are being denied the right to develop their full human potential due to the continuing oppressive policies of the Israeli government. So as people and as a nation, we are seeking freedom, justice, and equality.

     As a woman in a male-dominated culture, the truth is I have no equality with my brothers. In my culture, girls do not have equal opportunities in health care, education, and even sometimes in nutrition. Girls are supposed to serve, to conform, and they are often condemned if they choose a style of life which is different from what society expects. There is always a double standard used when it comes to judgments about boys and girls as is the case with all comparisons between the powerless and the powerful in the world. Women do a lot in my country and their work is recognized, but they are not part of the decision making processes in society.

      As a Christian, I am held responsible by my brothers and sisters to speak out when the Bible is abused in a way that leads to the worship of false gods like material wealth, racism, and other present day idols. Also I am expected to speak out when individual interests are justified by quoting Biblical passages out of context, and when the dispossession of my people, the Palestinians, and the situation of my sisters is justified by quoting the Bible.

     As a Christian living in the Holy Land, I have witnessed how some western churches, interested in their so-called "presence" in the Holy Land divided us and made many feel inferior and alienated from our own culture and language by demanding a loyalty to a foreign leadership in Rome, England, Germany, or the United States. While the Church in Jerusalem is the mother church, western Christians often forget or don't even realize that there are Palestinian and Arab Christians - the forgotten faithful witnesses, the descendants of the disciples of Christ.

     As an active member of the ecumenical movement and the interfaith commissions for the last two decades, I have witnessed new pressures and obstacles in our work. For fundamentalist Christians, I as a Palestinian am not seen to be among the chosen. Rather I am one of the cursed as they see it. According to them I stand in the way of the fulfilment of the prophecy of God as they see it. For liberal western Christians who are influenced by Holocaust theology, European history, and guilt, I am not part of the agenda. My very existence and insistence on justice like the widow in the Bible, disturbs their agenda. For these Christians, to have dialogue with the Jewish people has meant that they have had to accept the "self-understanding" of the Jewish people and their historic right and connections to the "Land of Israel", which allows no room for us as Palestinian Christians. What I fail to understand until this day is why all these church commissions involved in dialogue with the Jewish people do not criticize the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem or the fundamentalist Christians for their theology which has no respect for Judaism, yet are alarmed when some Christians speak out of the rights and against the oppression of the Palestinians. When westerners think of fanatic fundamentalists, the first thing that comes to mind are Muslims, forgetting that there are foreign Christian fundamentalists and Jewish fundamentalists, all of whom are against the peace process and against the emancipation of women.

     As a Quaker woman, I have to struggle yet on another front for I am labelled as a "pacifist". This is often misinterpreted as being passive or submissive or even accepting of the injustice we receive at the hands of our oppressors. We are all the victims of violence. However a double standard is applied when speaking about violence. When the oppressed use violent means to bring about change, they are considered "terrorists". When the oppressors use violent means to meet their goals they are "taking care of their security needs and enforcing law and order". The root causes of violence are not considered.

     In my lifetime I have been confronted with many structures of injustice - political, social, economic, and religious. These structures have been at work in a destructive way throughout out community,

      What made me take an active part in all these struggles? 1. The message of the Gospel has sensitized me to the suffering in the world and has opened me to God's redeeming love and activity. 2. The concept of the divine nature existing in harmonious relationship with the human nature and with the natural order in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

     The teachings of these faiths in my part of the world helped undergird the belief that human beings have rights, that we are created in the image of God and that our value comes from this likeness. God's nature is loving, free, and just. God's purpose is to liberate human life from inhuman conditions. These inhuman conditions exist because humans of free will have chosen behavior that disrupts the intended harmony which provides justice, peace, and freedom for all.

     Directed by my faith, I became involved in the struggle for justice on all fronts and I could not be selective. I could not reconcile myself to structures of domination and oppression, covered over with words of peace and reconciliation. This hypocrisy became problematic for me because the words of peace were preached without regard to any genuine change in the oppressive situation created by the powerful over the weak. Too often in our talk about peace and reconciliation the victimized are called to forgive and reconcile in a way that perpetuates rather than rectifies the root causes of injustice, alienation, and division. While reconciliation suggests a genuine change in relations, reconciliation can also mean a collapse into acceptance of the status quo because of the belief that nothing can be done.

     In the Israeli-Palestinian case, there were hopes for change that would lead to justice, allowing for reconciliation and peace. These conditions are being betrayed as the peace process shows its real face by which the Israeli government consolidates its occupation over us in terms of demography and land.

     Stirring events in South Africa, Europe, and the Middle East have pushed the topic of reconciliation to center stage. What does the message of Jesus contribute to the building of a new order in situations dominated by so much violence? What do we mean by reconciliation?

     Reconciliation involves a fundamental repair to human lives especially to those who suffered. It requires restoring the dignity of the victims of violence. Reconciliation contains four dimensions: political, economic, psycho-social, and spiritual. Christ did not merely announce the good news that the sick can be healed. He healed and in the act proclaimed the Kingdom. Word and deed are one. They are inseparable. Reconciliation is central to the Gospel and we must be active in reconciling - in repairing lives and proclaiming the good news.

     "If you take away the yoke, the pointing of the finger ... if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted ... your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt ... you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell." (Isaiah 58:9-12).

     All along as Palestinians and as women we were told to be peaceful in the sense of being passive and nice, and to allow ourselves to be walked over. Many talked to us about peace that was to be achieved by pounding the opposition into submission, peace maintained by crushing protest against injustice, peace for the rulers the oppressors at the expense of the oppressed. Sometimes the call for reconciliation has come to us from the oppressors or the perpetrators of violence, in the hope they will be spared punishment and the responsibility to change and transform the violent structures, or from people who are outside the situation and have accepted the narrative of the lie - the lies about our situation. We must not give in to the lies and myths that were created either to demonize the Palestinians or to conceal the appalling human cost we suffered as the result of the creation of Israel and from its continuing domination and oppression. We cannot move to reconciliation if the truth about our human hurt and human hope is unknown. We have to find a redeeming narrative to restore truth.

     But the fact remains that many Israelis do not feel guilt for what they did for they do not feel that they have done anything wrong because of their Zionist ideology and therefore reconciliation is not an issue. Many talk to us about reconciliation by suggesting a hasty peace, or reconciliation instead of liberation or reconciliation as a managed process. These calls want us, the victims of violence, to let bygones be bygones and exercise a Christian forgiveness. In trivializing and ignoring a history of suffering the victims are forgotten and the causes of suffering are never uncovered and confronted. Reconciliation is not a hasty peace that tries to escape the examination of the causes of suffering. If the causes are not addressed, suffering is likely to continue and the wheel of violence keeps turning and more and more people get crushed.

     Let me share with you our Palestinian and Arab way of making peace and granting forgiveness. If my neighbor or any member of the community has violated my dignity in any way or even has taken my land or injured any of my family members, the first step to make peace is for the person who wronged me to choose a mediator who is well respected in the society for his or her values of justice and reconciliation. Then we proceed in the following way:

     1. A date is set to visit me in my home in the presence of my extended family members.
(community participation and reconciliation)

     2. The person who wronged me will come with the mediator and his/her extended family members.
(humility and reconciliation)

     3. The person who has wronged me recognizes the hurt that was done. A commitment is made to repair the damage and forgiveness is asked for.
(truth and reconciliation)

     4. The mediator takes the responsibility of executing the repairing of the damage.
(justice and reconciliation)

     5. Then forgiveness is given ("ahli amah imnah") by saying: "You are in our home. You are one of us and we take it upon ourselves to help and protect the person who has done us wrong." It is then proclaimed: "Forgiveness is a gift from God" ("Samah min Allah").
(forgiveness and reconciliation)

     6. All share in eating together, breaking bread together, which is a commitment of friendship and sharing rather than enmity and exploitation.
(communion and reconciliation)

     This way of making peace and reconciliation (the Arabic word is "sulha") respects and restores the dignity of both parties.

     In the last few years, first in Madrid and then in Oslo and Washington, we all watched anxiously the Mideast peace process. We should not forget the real issue in these talks is Palestine. The Palestinian people have accepted an extraordinary set of compromises required of no other participant. Israel is not committing itself to withdrawal, no end to settlements, no negotiation on Jerusalem, no compromise on Palestinian self-determination. Our land is fragmented. The movement of the people is not allowed between Gaza and the West Bank and no one is allowed to enter Jerusalem, even for worship. The economic situation continues to worsen and the violations of all basic human rights are continuing. Collective punishment is still used against the entire population, which is leading to economic and social strangulation. The peace that Israel is ready or offer the Palestinians is for us the surrender of our national identity, of our political rights, anf of most of the land on which we live. But such a vision is a formula for unending conflict.

     No one can suppose that having resisted for decades Israeli rule that we are about to give up. The realities on the ground are too tragic, too violent. Cosmetic peace for us is not enouth. We have no allies but we have hope for we cannot be reconciled with hopelessness. We do have a more just picture of the future than Israel, build on reconciliation and peace rather than on empty promises that are contradicted by the worsening of reality. The answer to peace is not exclusives and unending hostility. It is rather sharing and community. There is no military option for the Palestinians and Israelis. We must live together and discover how to share the land together - how to be true neighbors.

     We have agreed to work for peace. We have cooperated with the convenors of the peace process and with the Israelis. What worries us is the silence and indifference to our plight, particularly in the United States. The issues are clear and dangers are very obvious. Peace is for everybody, not just for the powerful. We need to build with different materials that are not combustible, that will produce no other wars! With the signing of Oslo I and II the world thinks that we have peace and reconciliation but without liberation both are difficult to attain. On the surface one might see less direct violence but the structural violence is present more than ever before, and suffering goes on and on.

     "Justice is turned back and righteousness stands at a distance for truth stumbles in the public square and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking and whoever turns from evil is despoiled. The Lord saw it and displeased him that there was no justice." (Isaiah 59:14-15) and (Ezekiel 13:10): "because they mislead my people saying peace when there is no peace." To have peace we have to tell the truth - without truth telling, there can be no peace and no reconciliation.

     I have tried to show that without justice there is no peace; even in the absence of open strife. Justice has two connotations. One is fairness, which is not sufficient for lasting peace. The other is the observance of the divine law, righteousness, the state of being just before God when the bonding force of love unifies the temporal and the spiritual, the task of the peacemaker is fulfilled. Peace has been established, rute justice reighs, and the outcome is reconciliation. Reconciliation is not a strategy or a skill to be mastered, but rather something discovered - the power of God's grace welling up in one's life. It is a gift of God and a source of new life.

     At the beginning of his ministry, in the synagogue of Nazareth, Jesus quoting the prophet Isaiah proclaimed, "the acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4:19). The expression refers to the Jubilee year (Leviticus 25) which was to be celebrated by Israel in intervals of fifty years in order to redress injustice and oppression, and to recognize limits placed on the human claim on God's creation.

     In 1998 Israel will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary and the Palestinians will recall their fiftieth year of dispossession. May it be a Jubilee, the year of Restoration, the year of proclamation of the good news of liberation and transformation for all God's people who are struggling for life in its fulness.

     Jesus proclaims a permanent jubilee and thereby confronts the church with the constant task of witnessing to the demand of justice, peace, liberation, reconciliation, and the dignity and rights of nature.

     Let us nurture the growth of a break though community of friends that crosses boundaries, deconstructs the dominant ideology that normalizes sin, darkness and injustice, and shapes an alternative praxis of mutuality.

"We form a circle of hope
We pass the flame to one another
If my candle goes out, yours will light it.
Together we enable a brighter light...
And each candle promises something of its own
That darkness is not the last word." David McCauley

Jean Zaru
Ramallah, Palestine.
November, 1997.