On December 29, the Abrahamic Reunion hosted a journey of solidarity with the global event “Healing Hearts at Wounded Knee” to remember the 125th anniversary of the massacre of Native Americans at Wounded Knee in South Dakota, on this day calling to . We made this trip together from Jerusalem: Israelis with Palestinians from Nablus, Jericho and Bethlehem, to pray for healing in places of historical trauma in the Holy Land.
At the Garden of the Mothers, on Daliat-al Carmel, with Garden Co-Founders Elana Rozeman, Ibtisam Mahamid, and Siham Halabi.
In the Druze city of Daliat il-Carmel we began the day, when Druze woman peace leader Siham Halaby escorted us to the community center, where Amer Hussesi, deputy head of the regional council welcomed us. I spoke about the history of the massacre at Wounded Knee and how the Native American community there asked us to host this day in the Holy Land as part a global series of ceremonies to heal places of historical trauma.
We then descended to Garden of the Mothers, which Elana Rozenman explained was planted by TRUST WIN (Women’s Interfaith Network) in honor of the Christians, Druze, Jews, and Muslims killed in the Carmel mountains forest fire. Prayers and teachings for healing and peace were offered, as our partners from Gaza, Marwan and Ahmad joined in on Skype. Sharing teachings were: Rabbi Ronen Lubich, from Nir Etzion, Bedouin Imam Khalil and his wife Sana Albaz, Druze Sheikh Hussein Abu Rukkun, and Sheykha Ibtisam Mahamid. Sharing prayers from the West Bank were Arafat from Sawiya, Muhammad from Jericho, offering the Christian prayer was Charley from Bethlehem. I said Kaddish, the traditional Jewish Aramaic prayer for the dead, Gaby Meyer, peace musician got us going with chants in Hebrew and Arabic.
Ibtisam Mahamid receives prayers for healing after sharing the story of the Massacre in Tantura, her grandmother’s village.
Later, at the Arab village of Faradis, we gathered for lunch in a local restaurant, where Ibtisam Mahameed shared the history of the 1948 massacre at Tantura village, on what is now Hof Dor/Dor beach. Residents of Faradis are descendents of those who fled Tantura, Ibtisam’s grandmother lost a brother and uncles, among well over 100 young men from the village who were killed by Jewish forces in the 1948 Independence war (also called in the Palestinian narrative the Nakba), then buried on the beach. After hearing her story we surrounded Ibtisam and the restaurant owner, who also lost a family member, with prayers for healing. Gaby Meyer said, “as an Israeli, I’m sorry”, embracing them… in a powerful moment.
We then continued to the Park Hotel in Netanya, site of the 2002 Passover suicide bombing. Gathering in the event hall where the bombing took place, Park Hotel manager, Arik Cohen , who was there that day, described how many families were just sitting down for the Passover Seder, when a Hamas affiliated bomber walked past security and blew himself up, killing 30 and injuring 140.
Arik Cohen, Manager of the Park Hotel where the Pesach Massacre occurred, receives prayers from the group.
This manager himself lost friends and family that day. We then prayed for the souls of the killed, the survivors and their families. We prayed for peace, and justice and an end to all this violence we the Children of Abraham both perpetrate and suffer from. We closed with a universal prayer of healing for all victims of violence.
We ended the day with celebration looking at a stunning sunset, led by Gaby with his guitar, on a Netanya beach, Jews and Arabs celebrating our shared humanity.
Shalom, Salaam,
Eliyahu McLean,
Abrahamic Reunion, director,
Thanks to event organizers Siham Halaby, Abed Manasra, Ibtisam Mahamid, and West Bank coordinator Arafat Abu Rass, and for the support of our global office in Sarasota, FL
