My dear Brothers and Sisters,
May the peace and mercy of God Almighty be upon you.
I send you my warm regards from the Holy Land …
I am writing to you while I am under the height of tension and psychological pressure, because I have been put in the recently built quarantine center, used to isolate people who are suspected of being infected with the dangerous Coronavirus in the city of Jericho.
Perhaps you may not know that besides being a peace worker for the Abrahamic Reunion, I also work as a cashier in an Israeli tourist site called Qumran, located north of the Dead Sea, and daily I deal with more than 1000 tourists from around the world.
Brothers and Sisters, this virus has recently appeared in several different countries, but we did not expect it to reach the Holy Land (Israel – Palestine) at this speed.
Until recently I had been working to coordinate the Abrahamic Reunion’s February program, which was titled “Mural Painting”.
More than two weeks ago, I coordinated with the governnent, municipality, and Jericho police to get the permits to do this program, and I got all of the documents necessary for this project. I had also coordinated with the Fine Artist, Samer Khamis, to direct this program, which we had planned to be done on one of the city walls of Jericho to greet visitors from around the world.
However, fate willed, and the virus arrived to Jericho at great speed. Perhaps you do not know how difficult the situation in Palestine is, all educational institutions and group centers have been closed, shops are closed, the roads between Palestinian cities are closed. A short while ago, the Allenby Bridge border between Jordan and Palestine and Israel was closed.
Brothers and sisters,
a few days ago I was taken by the Palestinian authorities to the Quarantine
Center in my city, Jericho due to the nature of my work with the tourists. The
necessary checks were made. And a sample of my blood was taken for analyzes. I
will stay here for some time until the results of that analyzes are clear.
Yes, I suffer from difficult psychological, and physical pressure, due to my
presence here in this center, I am away from my family. My father recently had surgery, and now I cannot
be by him, but this is not my big problem.
My big problem is this: I keep thinking how a very small virus, that cannot be seen not with the naked eye, is distracting the whole world and causing them to forget about the conflicts and wars between them. Everyone’s focus is on finding the solution for this virus.
Do we need a deadly virus to forget our wars, our conflicts, our poverty and our oppression?!
Why can’t we forget all of these wars and conflicts without such a virus?
Why can’t we unite and cooperate without such threats in our lives?!
Yes, I will remain a peacemaker, and a fighter for peace. I will remain a defender of the rights of all human beings, regardless of their religion, nationality, or color, with or without such threats.
This lifetime, I was created to defend humanity, and I have submitted my life to achieve peace on earth.
Our children, women, and men are more precious than our own souls.
In the end I pray to
God to cure every person infected with this deadly virus. And I hope that this
crisis will end soon in all countries around the world. I hope that the whole world will learn to
unite, to work and to collaborate to achieve peace on earth, without these
threats.
When I leave this center in health and safety, I will work to complete my
“Mural Painting Project” and I
will continue our work in an even stronger way.
With my Love and Respect!
Mohamad M. Jamous
Abrahamic Director of Programs, Palestine
mohamad@abrahamicreunion.org
Please Note: Mohamad has since been released from Quarantine, and held the Murals program on March 16th. A report is forthcoming.
