A Healing Bridge: report on Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish's talk at Beth Tzedek
by Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb

About 350 people jammed into the Beth Tzedek social hall to hear Dr. Izzedlin Abuelaish talk about peace and reconciliation among Israeli Jews and Palestinians. Dr. Abuelaish came to world attention toward the end of Operation Cast Lead which, according to B'tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, lead to the death of 1366 Gazans, of which 1038 were civilians and 13 Israelis, including 3 civilians killed by Qassam rockets. Among the dead in Gaza, Abuelaish's daughters Bessan (20), Mayar (15), Aya (13) and his niece Nur (17).

Abuelaish, one of the few Gazans permitted to work in Israeli, had been traveling to Israeli hospitals for 15 years as a gynecologist and researcher. During the war he was interviewed daily by Channel 10 in Israel. Minutes before the broadcast on January 16, 2009 an Israeli tank bombed his house. Shlomi Eldar, the newscaster, spoke on air to Abuelaish minutes after the strike.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNa4lj60eLM  "My God, My God, my daughters! Shlomi, can't anybody help us?" Eldar made calls on air and managed to get an ambulance to transport Abuelaish's daughters to a hospital in Israel. During the war there was a black out on news from the Strip. Israeli journalists were not permitted to enter (nor were any internationals). Abuelaish was one of the few who managed to break through the wall of silence.

In spite of his tragedy, Abuelaish is passionate about advancing reconciliation. An international foundation, inspired by Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish’s vision for peace and reconciliation, is developing programs promoting education, health and leadership for women and girls throughout the Gaza and the Middle East. Educated at Harvard (Master’s of Public Health) Dr. Abuelaish is currently associate professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto and recently received a Common Ground Award at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC in recognition of his reconciliation work.

The evening was initiated by Canadian Friends of Peace Now. DJC was listed among the 16 sponsors that included Hillel, Holy Blossom Temple, New Israel Fund of Canada and Canadian Association of Jews and Muslims.

These are some of the statements of peace Abuelaish made that evening to the overflow crowd who gave him a standing ovation before and after his speech.

"'We are one planet, one humanity. We must speak and listen with a strong belief and presence of hope. We must open our hearts and minds and fill ourselves with love. Although my house was a pool of my daughter's blood, I believe life must continue. To keep ourselves in balance, we must keep moving forward. We have to turn tragedy into acts which are good for humanity. We have to focus on prevention and not treatment. No one is immune or free from risk, therefore we must choose life. It is better to choose life than to live with hatred or be concerned with revenge. As a doctor I see that revenge and hatred leads to medical disease. I choose to be healthy and human. Therefore, we must emphasize three things: justice, trust and peace. These are the three things that cause the world to endure. Conflict arises when human dignity is violated.

"We need innovation; we need to discover the source of our humanity inside each of us and in this way we can defend ourselves. Palestinians and Israelis must say, we are interdependent. We need an independent Palestinian state side by side an Israeli state. Like Martin Luther King, Jr. said, The day we become silent about things that matter is the day we succumb to despair and death.

"Our focus must be to save lives and not to destroy them, to forgive each other because forgiveness opens the door to the future and to hope. We must also search for the cause of failure. Like a doctor must diagnose the disease so it can be treated and not deal with things superficially. (The disease) is in our hearts and not far from us. There is a serious disease inside us. Justice, love equality and respect leads to conflict resolution. We must save the many poor. We must get rid of blaming and stop using 'I am/you are' divisions and, instead, turn to dialogue of action and mind. We need to create collaboration and partnership. Our enemy is ignorance of each other. Instead of building walls of separation, we must build bridges of understanding. My daughters were betrayed by those who think violence is the solution. The solution is with women. May women be heard and heeded for the sake of peace."

The questions from the audience mostly referenced fear. How does Abuelaish respond to anti-Israel propaganda on campuses, what about Islamic radicals, how to make peace when there are profound political divisions among Palestinians, what does he tell his kids about Israel?

With his usual grace, Abuelaish re-emphasized the positive. After bringing one of his survivng daughters to the stage to demonstrate her knowledge of Hebrew (she said I love you), he again emphasized the need to focus on peace building and not fear.

"People are radical, not Islam. Islam is a religion of peace. It is written that you can destroy the kaba (the holy shrine) if it means saving a life!  We need one on one relationships that celebrate the potential for love so we can find our common ground."

Rabbi Baruch Frydman-Kohl delivered the final words of the evening, affirming Abuelaish's vision. "No matter where you are on the spectrum of opinion...we must find ways of creating peace."  He urged us not to let this be the only event, but to build on this moment and find new ways of working together toward peace.

The next step is clearly up to us.

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