Written & Organized by: Mohammad M. Jamous the Abrahamic Reunion Programs Director – Palestine.
22nd September, 2019
I’ll start the story from the beginning. Every beautiful beginning has a most beautiful ending!
Several months ago, I received a call from Mr. Greg Davis, the Director of Interfaith March for Peace & Justice and Reverend, Dr. Anna Less the co-founder & Executive Director of the Abrahamic Reunion about doing an Interfaith Peace March in Palestine on September 22nd. Over the next several months we held several Zoom meetings to coordinate and arrange this beautiful event to the fullest!
We all asked ourselves, “Where can we conduct this event? Which city in Palestine would be the best city to host this event?”
For a number of reasons, I suggested that we do it in Bethlehem: First of all, Bethlehem is the birth city of Christ. Secondly, Bethlehem is a diverse city that models religious coexistence in Palestine. And thirdly, there are a huge number of tourists in Bethlehem. I think our choice was excellent!
Once the decision was made, I immediately started working to arrange and
coordinate everything.
Two months ago, I went to the police headquarters in Bethlehem and talked to the police director there. I introduced myself and told him that I am the program director of the Abrahamic Reunion activities in Palestine. I also told him about the monthly interfaith meetings and events that we carry out in Palestine, Israel and abroad. I explained the importance of holding these activities here in Palestine, and in Israel, particularly in light of the conflict that we live in.
Then I talked to him about the reason for my visit that day. I explained that we wanted to establish a peace event in the city center of Bethlehem on September 22nd, so Bethlehem could participate in the International Day of Peace.
He welcomed this idea and said that he was ready to support us in this event. He told me that he would provide me with members of the city police to secure the event and asked me to write an official letter and send it to him. The next day I made an official letter to register my name and sent it to him by fax.
After I finished coordinating the event at the police station, it was my turn to arrange the attendance of the participants, and to invite some guests.
So, a few days later, after I finished my work at 18:00 (6 o’clock PM), I traveled to the town of Zababdeh in Jenin, which is one and half hours from my home in Jericho. I went to Zababdeh to visit Father Firass Dyab – The Greek Orthodox Catholic Priest from the Greek Catholic Church in Zababdeh.
In case you do not know about the village of Zababdeh, let me tell you a little about it: Zababdeh is a Palestinian town located southeast of Jenin. The majority of the population is Christian. With an estimated population of about 4,555 people, Christians make up 76% of the village’s population. The most famous streets in Zababdeh are Church Street, which extends 6,121 meters from the beginning of the town to nearby villages, and the Arab American University Street.
It is a beautiful example of Christian-Muslim coexistence in Palestine, and I have organized several meetings there in the past for the Abrahamic Reunion.
Father Firas Diab is a man of strong faith that stems from the heart. He has a rising voice with a big message that says: “We are all one and there is no difference between us; Muslim, Christian and Jewish Samaritans. We are all one!”
I arrived at his house around 19:30 (7:30 PM) and he welcomed me. We sat in his beautiful home and after we talked about the peace work in general, I told him that in September we will have a different event from the usual monthly events that we do with the Abrahamic Reunion!
Before I completed my talk, he said to me,
Oh Muhammad, I will tell you in advance! I am at your service, and I will serve the Abrahamic Reunion, and I will be in the service of co-existence always!
I smiled and completed my talk, and I knew we would be in the service of co-existence together.
I described the event that we would be doing in Bethlehem. I went over the
important details that we would do together, and I explained how I had
coordinated everything with the police.
Father Diab thought it was wonderful that we would be working together, so together we contacted, and invited Sheikh Mohammed A-Saeed Salah – The Mufti of the Palestinian National Security Forces for Palestine.
Sheikh Mohammed A-Saeed Salah, who has also participated in Abrahamic Reunion events with us previously, has a strong and heartfelt voice, “One word: Strong spirit, great faith!”
Sheikh A-Saeed also accepted our invitation, and he told us that he would be the first to come.
After I finished inviting Father Diab and Sheikh Mohammed A-Saeed Salah, everything felt good, and before I left Father Diab’s house I asked him to invite some people from Zababdeh who believe in the idea of peaceful coexistence. And he told me that he would do it.
It was almost 11:30 PM, and I was starting to get tired, so I left the house of Father Diab, and the village of Zababdeh to travel the one and half hours back to Jericho!
The day after my visit to Zababdeh, I made a phone call to Hanan Shaaban, who is the coordinator for my events and meetings for the city of Nablus. I asked her to invite some faithful women who come to our monthly meetings in Palestine, and also to invite some other participants for the peace march we were planning in Bethlehem.
Hanan welcomed the idea of the event and she said, “Don’t worry Mohammad I will bring with me faithful people who believe in our work”.
After I coordinated the invitations, and I knew how many participants would be attending the event, I contacted the Al Waleed Bus Company that we always deal with. Al Waleed Bus Company has branches in all of the cities throughout Palestine. I called them and asked them for a big bus from Nablus, and a small bus from Jenin.
Now I had almost completed coordinating the arrangements for this wonderful event, and I began to wait eagerly for the passage of days as if I was waiting for a friend, or a lover that I had not seen in years.
After two months had
passed, I had arranged for everything.
On Thursday, September 19th, I went to one of the advertising stores in
Jericho, so I could start the work of printing the banners for the “Interfaith
March for Peace and Justice”.
Then I went to a public library in the city and bought some equipment such as pens, cardboard, and glue to create signs with slogans about humanity, family, dignity and peaceful co-existence.
I went to my house with this equipment and I started to create some banners that included both Arabic and English. My goal was to write in both languages so we could not only deliver our message to the Palestinians and Arabs in Bethlehem, I also wanted to deliver our message to the many tourists and visitors in Bethlehem, from all over the world, who are also longing for this message.
On September 21st, the night before the event, I received a phone call from Anna Less asking if everything was going well and asking if I needed anything. I told her, “All I need is your prayers for me to have a successful event tomorrow.”
On that same evening I also received a call from some people who had previously participated in my interfaith events with the Abrahamic Reunion, asking if they could come to support the Bethlehem march tomorrow!
I told them that I really didn’t have any more money to bring people, but they continued to press me.
After a long discussion, I agreed to secure another small bus for them, even though I knew I would have to pay for it with my own money.
So, in the eleventh
hour I called the bus company, and requested another small bus, and
paid for that bus from my own resources.
After all, an event such as this deserves that I sacrifice
some of my own money.
On Sunday, September 22nd, a small group of my friends and I started
out from Jericho towards Bethlehem, carrying the banners and signs we had
created.
After traveling several hours, we arrived in Bethlehem at around 14:00 (2 o-clock PM). I wanted to be sure that everything was going according to our plan, without any mistakes.
The participants and guests arrived in Bethlehem at around 4 PM and I welcomed everyone. While we waited for the photographer, who was also coming from Jericho, and the Bethlehem police to arrive, to secure the event, we exchanged conversation among us.
At 17:00 (5:00 o’clock PM) the Palestinian police and photographer arrived, and we all gathered with our signs and banners in front of the Omar Mosque in the city center.
The guest speakers began to deliver their speeches to the participants and all the people in the audience.
They talked about
coexistence, humanity, dignity, justice, love, peace and non-racism in
Palestine, and outside of Palestine.
We all started walking from the front of the mosque, which is in
the center of the city, toward the Church of the Nativity, and
gathered again there.
At that location
Father Firas Diab delivered his influential speech in English so the
English-speaking tourists and visitors could understand what was going
on and understand what this activity was about.
He said in English:
I invite you all to join us, we are one family and no one and nothing separates us!
He also talked about
many other beautiful things.
Then another guest, Yaser Nazzal, from Jenin, who is a lecturer in
Jenin University, gave a beautiful speech. He talked about the unity of all of
us in the Holy Land. He said, “The land supports all of us,
and this land will not allow us to be divided no matter
what.”
Then we all raised our hands, stressing that we are one human family and our human unity is stronger than anything!
We were able to make a big impression and communicate our message, not only in the short term, but also in the long term, especially because our event took place before a large number of visitors and foreign tourists, who took pictures and videos of us.
At 6:30 PM after the march was over, we went to the police and thanked them all for providing us with protection, and for understanding the basis of this activity.
Then I thanked all of them who shared in this beautiful day with us! I told them that I wished to meet them in upcoming programs again in the future!
* Another small report
International Peace Day Event
September 22, 2019 ☮️
On this day I organized a peace event that brought together Muslims and Christians in Bethlehem, Palestine, the cradle of the three monotheistic religions.
This event started by gathering in front of the Omar Mosque in the center of Bethlehem and walking towards the Church of the Nativity.
The event was titled “Dignity and Justice for All”; and celebrated the firm conviction that the true teaching of all religions calls upon all of us to uphold the value of peace, and to uphold the mutual understanding that the values of humanity and brotherhood rely on coexistence.
These teachings remind us that we must apply wisdom, justice and charity towards young people to awaken within them, the tendency toward the true message of religion. We must protect the next generation from influences that seek to control them physically in order to control their thoughts, otherwise we are at the risk of policies that support blind profiteering and indifference. Policies that are on based on the law of power, rather than the power of law.
Let us be a symbol of the embrace between the East and the West, the North and the South, and of the embrace between all those who believe that God created us to know one another and cooperate and coexist as loving brothers.
This is what we hope and seek to achieve; in order to live in a world of peace that everyone enjoys in this life.
I thank all those who helped establish this event:
- The Palestinian police in Bethlehem
- Sheikh Mohammed A-Saeed Salah – The Mufti of the Palestinian National Security Forces for Palestine.
- Father Firass Dyab – The Greek Orthodox Catholic Priest from the Greek Catholic Church in Zababdeh.
- Wissam Soudah – Jenin Coordinator
- Hanan Shaaban – Nablus Coordinator
- Moses Sabatin – Bethlehem Coordinator
- Studio Al-Helou- who filmed and photographed this event.
