Peace for the Soul

A common space for harmonic peacemakers

One of the latest recommendations before ipeace shuts down.

Noa, Achinoam Nini

There are very few things worst than spiritual violence. Food for thought.

Noa is probably one of world's fiercest peace fighters. In her lifetime fight for peace she made many sucrifices, and paid a very steep price (career wise and personal) because of her burning belief that peace is possible in the Middle East and her burning dedication to help in achieving it.

Ironically, the highest price she is still paying came about a blog post she wrote here in iPeace. The treatment she received ever since changed her life, and surly my commitment to the 'peace' network that I've created.

Here's something Noa, who's considered by many interested people as a spokesman for Israel wrote recently.

David Califa

In a way I feel responsible for what happened to this beautiful beautiful human being, because I encouraged her to take part in our community.

 

- David Califa - 2nd June 2010 -

 

Please take a moment to go over her blog

 

on symmetry, empathy and peace....by Noa and Gil Dor


a group of people sharing a common cultural identity, i.e. a combination of tradition, language, historical origins and a sense of common destiny, are commonly referred to as "a people".

in order to "belong" to a people an individual must pass three tests:
1) one must identify himself as a member of the people in question.
2) one must be recognized as such by fellow individuals from that people.
3) one must be recognized as such by members of other peoples.

Both Jews and Palestinians fall under these definitions of people. This is the basic assumption behind the call for mutual recognition.

who needs a state?

The individual right for the pursuit of happiness is best manifested in the principle of equal opportunity. But in order for the individual to asses, to understand, to seize and to exploit a given opportunity, he/she must be well prepared!
The responsibility for this preparation starts at home with our parents. it includes language, traditions etc... in short, culture! or more accurately - our parents’ culture. that culture is typically most effective among individuals of the same "people". moreover the "rules of the game" within each society are best expressed by its traditional practices. these in turn are solidified then transformed into laws and constitutions of nations. however, whereas traditional practices can withhold regardless of a people's independence, formal laws and constitutions are meaningless without a territorial jurisdiction. It is no wonder that societies evolve from "wandering peoples" to "national states". It is a manifestation of the individual's wish to secure the best future for his children...

Both Jews and Palestinians have lived as peoples without their own independent country. At this time in history, both need a sovereign government running an independent national homeland of their own.

But as much as peoples need a land, lands throughout history have always been inhabited by more than one people! That is why "nations" are not synonymous with "people". Nations are born from the societies that live on a land. Israel and Palestine are no exclusion. They are inhabited by dynamic and diverse groups of people. In fact they are mixed with each other! The Israeli nation cannot and will not be comprised of the Jewish people exclusively. In fact the Israeli society has been grappling with this challenge since its inception and despite the ongoing violent conflict, it is has made substantial steps in the right direction. Unfortunately without peace based on mutual recognition, the formation of the Israeli Nation cannot be accomplished. The same is true for the Palestinian Nation with regards to its society's ethnical and religious diversity.

The failure to recognize each other's rights, compounded by exclusive claims of both people to the land, seem to be at the root of our inability to resolve the conflict.

The Palestinians need to recognize both Israel's right to exist in peace and security, and the Jewish people's right for a National home land in Israel. These are two separate and critical points.

Similarly, Israel needs to recognize both the Palestinian’s right for a national home land in Palestine, and the sovereignty of the future independent Palestinian state.

The ensuing territorial compromise has already been spelled out and should be implemented as a part of a comprehensive settlement based on the aforementioned mutual recognitions.

The right of return

The issue of the "right of return" of refugees of war to their homes should be resolved from the point of view of symmetry. both people feel they have a "right of return". We suggest replacing the term “right of return” with “the right to live in peace within secured and recognized borders of each people’s national homeland”.

Jerusalem

The issue of Jerusalem touches upon the sensitive subject of religion. On the eve of the holocaust Memorial day 2010, it may be appropriate to speculate that since the destruction of the Jewish temple by the Romans, God seems to have given us the following message:
"My existence is relative, not absolute! There are two forces that drive conscious interactions in the universe: empathy and apathy. When human interactions are governed by empathy I come to be and whenever they are governed by apathy i cease to exist."

That means that God, in the deepest sense, is a metaphor for empathy without which no human society could have ever evolved. This notion connects perfectly with the idea of "love thy neighbour" and the concept of God as love on a universal scale, a concept common to many philosophies and religions in the world.

This piece of philosophy is entirely relevant to the political issue at hand since God, as an expression of human empathy, could not have promised anything to anyone based on apathy to the needs of other people! Human Empathy is all we need to enable us to recognize apologize and share, and that includes Jerusalem. When we do, we will finally arrive at the two state solution:

Israel - a "Hebrew" state:
1) The "national homeland" for the Jewish diaspora
2) A pluralistic democracy for all of its citizens

Palestine - an "Arabic" state:
1) The "national homeland" for the Palestinian diaspora
2) A pluralistic democracy for all of its citizens

 

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Comment by Genie on June 14, 2010 at 9:36pm
What is missing here is the fact that Jews , Christians, Muslims and other were living together in peace long long before the Zionist "state" was violently established on top of the inhabitants. The Palestinian Jews, Christians, Muslims and other opposed the "Jewish state." They formed joint committees to oppose the mass immigration of European Jews. The immigrants who came over on boats and established "Israel" were Caucasian Yiddish speaking European Jews, not Semitic Hebrews. And let's not forget who invented the "Israel" people to begin with. It was 2 Brits named Rothschild and Balfour who had commercial interest in the region. The holocaust Jews were anti-Zionist and were chased into Palestine while the Zionists held the door open.
I am always happy to fill in the gaps.-)
Comment by Eidolon on June 3, 2010 at 7:19pm
I think she is spot on. I would live in a ditch to tell that truth...
Comment by Bente Sædal on June 3, 2010 at 7:48am
Hello all :-)
Is it true that ipeace is going to shut down?
I believed it was ok now and would stay on
so this is very sad news.Havent been on for
a while and have been away on a short holiday.
Really hope ipeace will keep on.Maybe if there
was less alike groups,it would be easier to keep
a few going insted of so many??? I didnt know
there was so many groups on net so sometimes
I feel lost in all the groups around,but ipeace is
one of the best I do believe.Will try to go true my
as many emails that I can today and keep intouch
here too to see what happens.Have a wonderful
day and let us pray for us all,not for a religion or an
other,just for us humans... :-) We need to get peace
around and that we all are humans,not a religion and
do after that.BE and DO and FEEL peace,that I DO
believe in, and in GOD and GOOD humans :-)
Hugs and blessing to you all :-)
Comment by Genie on June 2, 2010 at 11:58pm

Comment by Genie on June 2, 2010 at 11:56pm
Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs. What is going on in Palestine today cannot be justified by any moral code of conduct. The mandates have no sanction but that of the last war. Surely it would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine can be restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their national home. - Mahatma Gandhi
Comment by Kerrin Charles Muir on June 2, 2010 at 11:01pm
Great reading and very enlightening. Some very good messages there. Thank you David for sharing. I have just one point to make, seeing people as different because of their culture is old thinking, and is of Planet Earth, Seeing people as Souls with a Physical body expands our thinking to universal consousness, which is a fancy term for, reality.
Comment by Ned Hamson on June 2, 2010 at 10:32pm
Thanks, I found her web site and have connected. IPeace is shutting down?
Comment by Irit Hakim-Keller on June 2, 2010 at 8:05pm
Thank you Eva. And thanks you David for sharing. And most of all - thanks you Noa, for the nice,important ,interesting blog.
I echo David's saying about Noa. She is a beautiful person ( and a beautiful woman:)), and a great singer, and making a lot for peace.

Quote of the moment:

"PEACE
NOT WAR
GENEROSITY
NOT GREED
EMPATHY
NOT HATE
CREATIVITY
NOT DESTRUCTION
EVERYBODY
NOT JUST US"

* * *

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