The Challenges of the Peacemakers
A Message from the Heart from Abed Manasra, AR Israel Programs Director
September 2020
On the Mount of Olives, I stand opposite of a fantastic scene that steals your attention and stirs the longing inside you that carries you to the Infinity. No wonder it is Jerusalem, Beautified by the Temple Mount. It’s always been there. A treasured pilgrimage, the hearts come to it from everywhere.
I stand here where I have memories that my memory evokes from the boxes covered in the past’s dust. I had a childhood here, and I had a dream here. I loved those days, but the wound inside my heart too enormous.
I wish I could come back young, play in those mountains with my friends who came together with the language of childhood, the language of innocence and love. Our utmost dreams were only to play. We had not yet learned the language of contention Days and beliefs separated us and forbade us to live as children in peace.
At a distance of no more than 200 meters, I look to my right to see our closed house. When I first look at it after 11 years, my eyes cried even before I realized what they saw. A long history full of beautiful memories deprived of it as a flower, as soon as it ripened, covered it the shades of hatred and fanaticism. My home is my childhood, where I grew up and learned. Where I loved for the first time, where everything is beautiful. I feel a pain that almost suffocates me. I cannot approach my house, not because I don’t want to go, but by going to my home, I may cause great problems that may lead us to great danger.
I am just watching from afar, and the train of memories takes me on tour back in time in this place. I didn’t know that I would come back here again until fate led me. And the reason was my wife’s grandfather passed away, may he rest in peace. We had decided to move forward 11 years ago.
We proved to the world that we are a family that has given all its strength and knowledge to build massive roots and bridges carrying the message of peace between peoples. This message has been handed down for generations because we believe in love, peace, and human beings wherever we are in the world. And always, our message is peace for all humanity.
Despite all the unbelievable painful hardships I went through in the past, even when I went through my most intense states, like a coma caused by the extremists before, I did not feel the same feelings that I feel now. I pray that no one goes through this scary experience.
Then some of the extremists learned of my presence, and they started pursuing me and threatening me, direct and indirectly, through weapons and intimidation. I remembered what my father and mother went through in terms of pain and fear for their children when I saw the same scene repeated.
I have been with my pregnant wife, and with my first daughter, she is three years old. I never felt as afraid as I did today. I never felt as anxious as I did today. My fear was not for myself, because my voice and mind and what we have resisted for will remain eternal. My fear was for the lives of my wife, daughters, and my family. I lost my mind and got lost in a profound moment of silence as if the world has gone around me and remained in endless emptiness. At that moment, my wife collapses and faints in front of me. I don’t know how we got to the doctors, and I do not understand what is happening around me as if I were dying every moment a thousand times. Fear takes me into the unknown where to go and what danger we face. What is the guilt of my daughters and my family? All that we seek is love, justice, peace, and freedom.
We do not have weapons; we do not fight. We do not believe in violence, extremism, or terrorism, and certainly, the prophets were not terrorists or fighters, but advocates of peace and mercy. I do not know how a person can be proud of killing a person or rejoice at the idea of killing and entering paradise because he is under the illusion that it is a religious matter. There are terrorists, regardless of their different beliefs.
They share common essential points based on hatred and violence and disdain for people’s lives. What danger do we face, and why do they try to prevent us from expression and freedom? They deprive us of humanity and childhood. Before this accident, my life had a specific path until all aspects of my life changed. Our mission and our work for the sake of humanity, love, peace, and justice will not stop, no matter how we are exposed to accidents and danger. But I realized the value of life; when I looked in my terrified daughter’s eyes, I realized the extent of the danger that people face every day because of a different point of view. I understand how difficult and terrifying it is to live with family, all of them females, in a society that includes extremist male groups who express their feelings with their instincts, not their minds. I realized how many people are oppressed in this world because of violence and terrorism. How difficult it is for you to resist with your heart all this darkness. Here, you can feel even a little of what the prophets suffered. When they called people to believe in God through words and the right approach, many people’s response was intensity, rejection, and hostility. But the result is always in favor of truth, love, and peace.
We do not try to impose a particular opinion on someone or even interfere with others’ beliefs. Our message is clear: respect for the human being as a human being, not for his race, religion, color, or gender. Faith and belief are a personal relationship between God and His servant, with no intermediary or guardian between them. Must base the relationship between a human on mutual respect and freedom. Preserving social norms, freedom, justice, and care is a fundamental imperative for all human beings to promote a prolific human civilization. In the Quran and other holy books, many verses indicate the necessity of pluralism, cultural difference, and thought, which results in a tremendous artistic tower based on the foundations of its principle of accepting and respecting others as a human being. In our work, we try hard to focus on knowing the other and so resolving the complex of fear of “the unknown” that is a problem leading to anxiety and then hostility in terms of self-defense and then a habit and character that cannot abandon. We always try to raise social issues and the many common aspects between all religions whose message is clear: God is for all human beings, He is the creator of all creation with different images, shapes, and colors, and the goal is to get to know each other as God mentioned in the Holy Quran: O humankind, We have created you male and female and appointed you races and tribes, that you may know one another. Indeed, the noblest among you in the sight of God is the most God-fearing of you.”
That is our message that they are fighting and they are chasing us because they have seen how powerful the impact and the change we’re making is, especially in Jerusalem, with all the youth who are tired of a life of violence, extremism, and imprisonment. The larger part, silent and fearful, wish to live in dignity, far from all harm. We gave them a platform to know each other and express themselves; thus, we posed a difficult challenge to the extremist ideas, which made them try to take revenge.
We will not stop, but we need you and your support with all kinds of help available.
We are making progress in making history in terms of tolerance. We were and still are soldiers defending freedom, dignity, and justice for all people. I experienced a feeling with my wife and daughters. I do not hope that it will happen to anyone. With your support for us, you can prevent terrorism from spreading.
Always remember that peace has soldiers in the Holy Land.
Message from the heart,
the Manasra family
Abed, Susu, Laila, Gulnar, “the new baby.”
