ABRAHAMIC REUNION PEACE JOURNEY IN THE GALILEE
May 1, 2015
Chris Miller
“We get more requests for permits than people we can take on our journeys,” says Eliyahu McLean, Abrahamic Reunion (AR) Jewish Co-Coordinator, “and we haven’t been granted permits for the people in Gaza that want to come with us.” Sheikh Ghassan Manasra is the Muslim & Arab Co-Coordinator for the Abrahamic Reunion and was also present.
Yesterday, April 30th, almost 120 Israelis & Palestinians – Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Druze – traveled from all over the West Bank and Israel to pray together, eat together, and participate in the Upper Galilee Peace Journey with the Abrahamic Reunion.
The three busses traveled first to St. Anthony’s where Muslim, Christian, and Druze children are schooled together and taught inter-religious and inter-cultural peacemaking. Headmaster Deacon Jiries Mansour, an AR Peacemaker for years, also coordinates Galilee regional Inter-cultural exchange for the Ministry of Education.
Next, the Chief Rabbi of Tsfat, Shmuel Eliyahu, along with three other Rabbis (ranging fromZionist to Ultra-Orthodox Non-Zionist) welcomed the group to the holy Jewish city of Tsfat, where a powerful interfaith prayer circle was held under a willow tree right in the heart of the Old City.
The group then journeyed to the tomb of Prophet Jethro (Nabi Shuaib), to meet and pray with Druze Head Sheikhs. Nabi Shuaib is one of the most sacred sites to the Druze religion, which considers Jethro their founding Prophet.
A cross border prayer with Lebanon unfortunately did not occur – “leaving more work for us in the future,” says McLean. “We were on the border – we saw the border – we sent our intentions across the border for peace – but could not find a place to stop the busses to pray at the border.”
“Last month we included the voices of Gaza in our prayer circle. Today, we had an intention to include the voices of Lebanon in our prayers today, and unfortunately we were not able to include them – that just means we have more work to do – we have more work to do until voices from all across the region, across all borders can be included in this call for peace.“
I got a chance to catch up with Eliyahu McLean on the bus ride back to Jerusalem after the day’s events.
On participants’ reaction to the event:
“A lot of the people on the trip were inspired to encounter the diversity of spiritual expression – and how from all these different peoples – Orthodox Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Druze – that we encountered today, that it is possible to live in harmony. That in the Middle East, where we’re surrounded by news of extreme violence and religious minorities being threatened, here is actually an island of inter-faith cooperation and harmony. The Abrahamic Reunion is at the forefront of this movement in the Holy Land.”
On the climate in Israel during the event:
“I think people are holding their breath to see what will be the makeup of the new government of Israel. There actually tends to be a belief that perhaps it will take more of a right-wing government to make peace – because then you have more people behind you.”
The biggest challenge to peacemaking:
“So I would say the biggest challenge is not necessarily the buildup on any weapons or any borders, but the sea of cynicism that peace is not possible. There are all these reasons, rational reasons, why peace could not be possible, but our work is to lift up people beyond these reasons and to show them that peace is possible, that harmony is possible, and to experience it on our journeys.”
The next Abrahamic Reunion event will be a 2-day Leadership Conference at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute, including an Interfaith Peace Summit with other organizations in the Holy Land, June 3-4th.
To support the Abrahamic Reunion please go towww.abrahamicreunion.org/online-donations/ – our goal is to raise $19,000 by May 24th – please help the AR meet this goal.
– Chris Miller, Abrahamic Reunion US Coordinator
Some Photos from the Event
