Religion As A Force For Peace In Israel & Palestine – The Work of the Abrahamic Reunion
A Solution When The Political Peace Process Has Stalled
Come spend an evening with an international peacemaker from Israel. Sheikh Ghassan Manasra is International Executive Director of the Abrahamic Reunion, a multi-faith group of peacemakers committed to using religion as a force for peace. Its members are committed to the principles of nonviolence, tolerance, coexistence, and a religious, human solution to the ongoing struggle in the Holy Land. They are responding to the tense and violent situation in Israel and Palestine by establishing ongoing projects that embody their ideals of “Love, peace, communication, cooperation, and dialogue among the people of Israel and Palestine, including men, women, Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Druze, as well as other spiritual traditions.”
The projects of the Abrahamic Reunion bring hundreds of people of all religions together – both Israelis and Palestinians – in programs across the Holy Land to eat during Ramadan, walk publicly in demonstration of interreligious and Israeli-Palestinian friendship, study each other’s religious texts in each other’s houses of worship, pray for peace at the border of conflict zones, and get to know each other beyond concept and prejudice. When a synagogue is burned, or a Christian monastery is torched, or a mosque firebombed – the Abrahamic Reunion responds in solidarity by bringing fresh scriptures and praying.
The wounds are open and flowing in the Holy Land, where violence has become commonplace. The Abrahamic Reunion keep hope alive, exemplifying peace amidst conflict. These brave men and women often risk their lives, but still they continue in their desire to help others tear down the walls within their hearts and reunite the “Children of Abraham.”
