Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Where change is happening

It's been 12 days since my last post. These have been relatively quiet days, interrupted by the one incident my friend Peace man mentioned in his post. Every few days a "stray rocket" is launched towards Sderot but life is almost normal.
We have been used to this type of fragile periods of quiet. They are so easily broken since the basic reality of life is not changing. Israel feels threatened by the Palestinians and The Palestinians by Israel. This fear is nurtured by old misconceptions and beliefs.
During these days I have been part of a new amazing initiative that evolved from this blog and the One Month initiative.
The initiative which we call "A different Voice" involves an amazing array of people from a wide range of views, ages and backgrounds. The clear and common ground being: Our understanding that we cannot wait for our leaders to solve our problems for us and that if any change is to happen it will happen from us, the civilians. We have partners, such as Peace man and others, on the Palestinian side, who share our understanding. This initiative is young, however it has the power to grow through the amazing people that are willing to look into their hearts and reach out to the other side in a true effort to change our seemingly helpless reality into a hopeful future. We are not alone. More to come...

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Keep it up, Hope Man and Peace Man. We are spreading the word.

You guys rock. You have the right message. Let's help this message grow.

I urge any American visitors here to send this blog to their local politicians and, even moreso, to our presidential candidates (or hopeful candidates).

Let our American leaders know that we demand their support for rational and fair peace and safety in the land. We vote them in; we can vote them out. The call for rational actions on both sides, and a real move toward the end of violence on both sides, is a top priority.

Stay safe, you two. And keep posting.

Salaam v' Shalom.

From the U.S.

Lirun said...

its sad that you canfind comfort in only a few rockets here and there..

peace

Lirun said...

check this out - you might be interested

http://emspeace.blogspot.com/2008/03/sulhita.html

Anonymous said...

Hope Man & Peace Man,
You are right! You're not alone. "Our understanding that we cannot wait for our leaders to solve our problems for us and that if any change is to happen it will happen from us, the civilians." - You took the words right out of my mouth! Keep going and we'll keep spreading the word.

aletheiak said...

we are yours
& we are not sad

we are god

& sweet tears of gladness are rolling down our cheeks for you
& for us all

Anonymous said...

I have a couple of questions to Peaceman.

What do people in Gaza think about rocket attacks on Sderot?

There're protests against so called Israeli "blocade" on Gaza. Why do the people of Gaza think that Israel has to give them water, gaz, electricity? If Israel is their enemy why do they expect all this stuff from an enemy and not from Egypt, for example?

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

You are wonderful. We need peace urgently.

Anonymous said...

There is Palestinians whom supported, and whom were opposed the rocket
attacks on sederot
all that the reaction of mutual violence
What about you ,do you agree rocket attacks on Gaza?

Palestine under occupation and international law demanding the occupier to provide all necessary needs ?

Palestinians wish to get everything from Egypt, because this is better for them .
do you think that Israel would agree?

What we need is to stop violence, and to think as human to end this situation .
I wish that’s you signed for our initiative.
Peace

Anonymous said...

Sorry to tell you this - but for me arabs in GAZA are just educated to brutal terror. I do not believe in most of them - I know some are looking for tranquility - but most of them see blood, gihad - the normal way to handle things.
Good luck to ytou two guys - but I do not believe in ahmads and mahmuds etc - they become killers in any moment - see the guy in Jerusalem that worked as a driver for many israelis and later killed 8 boys.

Anonymous said...

Why do Palestinians not form human chains to stop the rockets against Sderot, the rockets that draw Israeli return fire and which are violations of any possible cease fire?

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Hi Peaceman!

Thanks for quick response on my comment.

I do agree with attacks on Gaza as a retaliation on attacks on Sderot. Any country will do the same as Israel does and even much more when it's territory is attacked.

When the attacks on Sderot will stop, of course the Gaza will not be attacked as well.

Concerning the occupation status, the Gaza strip is no more under Israeli occupation since the "hitnatkut" (Israeli withdrawal from Gaza). So Israel is not obligated to take care of it.

I don't know what Israeli government will say about Gaza getting everything from Egypt. I think they will not oppose it. I personally think it will be OK.

Benzion.

Anonymous said...

This is a great idea for a blog.

I will spread the word and comment after reading all your posts.

Anonymous said...

Hi Peace and Hope Man ..... congratulation for your blog ... I am a french guy and i would like to talk with yu by mail .... i give yu my email : selvita2@free.fr ... could yu contact me please .... thank yu very much an take care .... sebastien from paris ......

Anonymous said...

Hope Man and Peace Man,

I really hope that all those voices will be heard!

Although I'm not directly affected with the ongoing situation, but I do think that in the midst of globalization we only forget the main meaning of being global, being ONE. So I think, if for nothing else but for spiritual support, you could aim the hearts of people from other nations and countries, too, as I do believe there are many people and hopefully it's the majority of the people that would only want peace... globally.

I would also ask your opinion on something I wrote years ago about the conflict. Please, contact me at blasius80@mailbox.hu, so I can send it to you.

Keep up the nice work!

Peace
From Hungary

Anonymous said...

A friend of mine from Haifa says there's a story about you two in today's paper. Unfortunately, for me at least, it's in Hebrew. Is there an English version?

"www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3520546,00.html"

Anonymous said...

For me I had the same answer before I meet my friend hope man ,and I said its retaliation on Gaza attack ,but after I met my friend and other Israeli people
I changed my answer to I disagree to attack both said , and we working to stop the ongoing violence
If we will blame each other ,we will not solve the problem through violence ,because violence will create more violence
What we need is to be open ,and talk to each other and see where is the problem

Concerning the occupation status , I would like to tell you that’s Israel still control all the boarders and we cont leave Gaza to Egypt ,and we cont get any supply before the approve from Israel government ,so do you think we are under occupation or not
You didn’t answer my question did you signed our initiative

aletheiak said...

question
since the qassams falling on sderot are fired by islamic jihad & al aqsa martyrs brigade
which are affiliated not with hamas but fatah
why are israel & the usa talking to fatah but not hamas

Anonymous said...

How are you guys doing?

Please update. We are spreading the word. It will get out.

Anonymous said...

The "problem" is...

A matter of the heart!

What people believe about God greatly, if not completely, affects the condition of the Heart.

We must learn to fight the "Holy War" verbally. After all, it is the word we're fighting over, isn't it? We must allow the WORD to win or lose, whatever the case may be. I think the violent one's are the one's that don't really TRUST the words they preach!!!

Or, they are just greedy glory seekers, selfish in all their ways?

Anonymous said...

It seems like a big trouble,must be ceased

Ash said...

It's a difficult situation, I am sure, for both of you. The truth is that neither side is always right, and neither side is always wrong. And I am only an observer on the outside, but it seems to me that it is often the Politicians that raise the conflict. To me, it seems that the people are the ones who want rest and peace. The issues are complex but I hope that your initiative will be beneficial.

oldbag said...

I recently visited Israel as a "big-eyed" tourist and enjoyed all the benefits of being a tourist.(although we were "trapped" for a few hours inside the old city because of a shooting). I was, however, not fully aware of all the turmoil that is going on. Of course, most people would not worry about things that does not affect them directly.I suppose that is just plain old human nature...? But the bond between Peaceman and Hopeman just shows that the majority of citizen usually just want peace. To bring up their families, earn money for a living etc. It is usually the politicians and extremist that steer the boat, isn't it?
I am from South Africa (and like Anonymous on 20 Febr. described to you, from the Apartheid's Regime).The majority of us, White as well as Black, Coloured,etc. in South Africa, want the same...peace.
I met a old man at the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem, saying that we have peace in our country, not like in his. Yes, I suppose we do have peace, compairing to what you are going through. Although a lot can be said about the relative idea of peace, but this is not why I comment. I wanted to thank you for giving all of us a little peek into your world, into your daily life, as a "normal, ordinary" citizen.This is what I wanted to find out on my tour. I wish I had more time to spend in Isreal and to know more about the people and not only all the historical sites.
Thank you, may God be with you and keep you both safe.
Shalom, Salaam, peace and in my language, "Vrede".

MARYYX said...

I applaud your efforts to speak out. May God bless you in your efforts to bring peace to your region.