The panelists, left to right: Yehezkel Landau, Richard Deats, Aref Assaf and moderator Cheshire Frager (AFSC). "'Holy Land' Holy Peacemaking" forum convened by Summit Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, NYYM, on March 17, 2002 in Chatham Township, NJ.

iving in the suburbs of New York City, members of Summit Monthly Meeting (New York Yearly Meeting), in Chatham, New Jersey, strongly felt the leadings to work toward increasing tolerance, understanding and peacemaking in the wake of the September 11th tragedy. Our activities in the months to follow included mailing Teaching Tolerance website information, including websites focusing specifically on, "Who are the Arab-Americans?" to over 600 local public and private schools in our area. We also featured forums in which an Arab family and some of their friends joined with our meeting to share information about the practice of the Islamic faith. Arab individuals we met during the process of creating this forum, along with Yehetzel Landau (a practicing Israeli Jew and co-founder of Open House, an Arab-Jewish Center for peace and co-existence in Ramle, Israel) helped us convene a 3-1 /2 hour workshop which brought representatives from the three Abrahamic faiths to work together toward peacemaking in Israel and Palestine.

At this forum on "'Holy Land,' Holy Peacemaking," panelist Richard Deats, co-director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, explained that part of peacemaking is creating the hope of new possibilities. Creating this hope, he said, is often a matter of many small "confidence-building measures." Building on that notion, panelists Yehezkel Landau and Aref Assaf, of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, observed that this meeting was a kind of "Interfaith Confidence-Building Measure" and that henceforth "ICBM" should not refer to inter-continental ballistic missiles but to interfaith efforts to create a vision of the possibility of a peaceful future.

The workshop was convened and organized by the Peace and Social Action Committee of Summit Monthly Meeting and was attended by more than 200 people who were drawn by the possibility of "engaging in a dialogue of reconciliation and the opening of hearts." A dozen other congregations including a Jewish one joined in co-sponsoring the event.

All the panelists, including Moderator Cheshire Frager of the AFSC, spoke to the need to defeat the spiral of hopelessness and helplessness that characterize the present situation. Mr. Assaf emphasized that acknowledging responsibility and regret is a key part of the peacemaking process. Israel should acknowledge the wrongs that had been done to the Palestinian people, he said, and he noted that the whole world thought Palestinians should have their own state. They had been living in the area long before the com-ing of Islam. At the Oslo Conference Palestinians had made concessions, agreeing that 78 percent of the land in Israel would be Jewish. Assaf concluded that the United States should be pro-Arab and pro-Israel.

Yehezkel Landau agreed that peacemaking requires not just the prophetic role of preaching justice and loving kindness, but also the priestly role of mediating forgiveness through sacrifice. He apologized to Aref Assaf for the suffering caused Palestinians by expulsion from their homes and recalled the act of reconciliation in returning his and his wife's own house for use by Arabs and Jews together, as a community center. Arabs and Jews are partners in the consecration of the Holy Land, but that land is desecrated all the time by acts of violence. It is God's laboratory on earth and anyone who wants to live there should be allowed to. If the narratives of the two sides differ, they need to find the transcending spiritual course that unites them.

Richard Deats spoke from the perspective of a Christian, and he observed that religion can bring out the very best and the very worst in human nature. As an example of dogmatic religion, he said some groups maintain that the return of Jews to the Holy Land is ordained by God. Conservative Christians give thousands of dollars and also political support through the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem to pro-mote Jewish immigration to Israel. They hope the Messiah will come again there and believe that the things which are happening now must happen for that to occur. He mentioned some prominent Christian preachers who express anti-Semitic ideas, but said we must keep in mind that there are also people who promote joining hands with all groups: Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Love is the way that opens the door to peace and brotherhood, he concluded.

Following thoughtful and provocative presentations by the panel, the interfaith group was divided into 16 small groups for discussion. Each group used a worship sharing format to consider questions such as "Why should Americans care about Israelis and/or Palestinians," "What can people like us do to advance the peace process," and "Why is tolerance important within a community of people from different religious and cultural backgrounds?" For many, it was their first experience of using reflective silence. For others, it was the first time they had spoken personally to a Palestinian, Muslim or Jew about their experiences and feelings. The feedback from each of the groups suggested that there had been a level of sharing and inquiry that went deeper than pure intellectual arguments and engaged all who were present in a personal experience of both the difficulties and possibilities of being involved in peacemaking.

The Peace and Social Action Committee is hope-ful that additional peacemaking efforts can grow locally out of the connections between people attending this event.

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