A Plea for Peace
As I was taking a break and reading some news for the first time this semester, I came across an article that I found utterly profound. Let me share a few snippets of it with you:
(Violence) has taken away the language of brotherhood and replaced it with arms ... It has stolen our unity and divided us into two camps, or three, or ten. ... Shouldn't we be ashamed of this ugly behavior which scandalizes us before our people and before the world?
...
Are we all responsible? Yes. Do we all participate in this great sin? Yes. ... All of us have the desire not to see arms in the streets except with policemen. ... We want to disown this disease, this cancer, which has damaged our brains and paralyzed our hearts. ... Have mercy on your people. Let us walk in peace, sit in peace, have a dialogue in peace and sleep in calm.
As I was reading this, I was honestly in awe of what I was reading. The speaker here sounds so much like Ghandi, and so much like what I imagine Christ would sound like, that I was amazed at who he really was: Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas who also acts as the spokesman for the Hamas-led Palestinian government. This is the voice of peace in the midst of a region absolutely torn by violence and hatred. I don't even know what to say. It's just that profound to me.
What Hamad said doesn't just apply to the behavior of the Palestinian militant groups he was denouncing. It applies to all poorly thought out acts of violence, violence chosen when peace would be so much better for everyone. It applies to Israel, it applies to the US, it applies to Christians, Muslims, and Jews, and it even applies to American political parties. Israel so often chooses violence, justified by whatever rhetoric they can find, and sacrifices the opportunity to foster any kind of international goodwill (i.e. Lebanon). The US makes the exact same bad choices (i.e. Iraq), and completely alienates nations that we should have been building relationships with (i.e. the whole world). Though I can't speak for Jews and Muslims, I know too many Christians who focus way too much on differences, finding fault, and making unsound (and unfair) accusations against people of other faiths instead of seeking to work together to alleviate the horrible effects (and confront the root causes) of so many sources of human suffering. Instead of bickering about details, we need to unite on common ground and work for God's glory through our actions - actually live our faith instead of just arguing amongst (or killing) each other about it. American political parties spend far too much time on negative campaigning, mud-slinging, and partisan politics (non-physical violence) and far too little time focusing on issues, how to best reflect their values in policy, and actually doing what's best for the people or the country instead of merely what's best for themselves. In doing so they lead the nation to tear itself apart with bitter and devisive speech and sentiment that makes the people weary of politics in general.
But Hamad doesn't accuse anyone but his own people of failing to find the best solution. It's clear that there's a long, hard road ahead, and the last thing Palestine needs is for the world to dismiss them as hopelessly violent and unreasonable. He personally laments "this cancer" that has "paralyzed our hearts", and makes it clear that there is no one group at fault, but that "we all participate in this great sin". That means that "we all" are going to have to work together to make it stop, to cure this disease, and to make things better. We must restore the "language of brotherhood" and "walk in peace, sit in peace, have a dialogue in peace and sleep in calm". If our opposition feels that they have no other choice but to commit violence against us, we must work to understand where they're coming from and try as best we can to give them another choice. The cycle of violence will never end until everyone is dead.
Jack