It strains my heart when I see the escalation of the war in the Middle East. Again.
For so long already. When will this madness come to an end? The Hezbollah is throwing bombs on Israel. The Israeli government is bombing Lebanon while talking about the “disarmament†of the Hezbollah as if this were a short, fair action by which the violence would finally be ended…
In reality, they are bombing a whole country thereby sowing thousands of new reasons for violence every day. And the world remains silent.
Hundreds of people have already died in the bombs of this war – children and parents, soldiers and people who innocently got between the lines of fire.
It does not really matter what country they are coming from, does it?
Does it really still matter who started it?
Can we not see that each new bomb, each new act of violence results in new violence?
All the warring parties follow the same matrix of fear and revenge, of the idea of being victims and feelings of powerlessness, of incapacity to understand the other side and the belief that violence is the only option. The war will only end though, when one of the parties involved has the courage to leave this matrix. Governments will not do this by themselves. It depends on us.
LET’S START ANOTHER CHAIN REACTION!
We ask all our friends in the Middle East: Even if your whole surrounding is infected – do not let yourselves be infected by this madness. Even when we are all challenged to understand the matrix of war but also remember the real possibility of peace.
The most important news now is that there are people on either side who do not react with anger, fear, or hatred, people who continue to do everything for peace with courage, tranquillity and solidarity.
In this way, for example, members of the peace group Middleway plan to go on a silent march in white clothes to the Lebanese border.
In this way, the Holy Land Trust in Bethlehem, who have trained 600 teachers for non-violent resistance in Palestine and motivated whole villages to recall their non-violent tradition, is currently facilitating a non-violent Summer Camp.
In this way, the Combatants for Peace – former warriors of both sides who put down their weapons organize peace activities together.
In this way, in Neve Shalom / Wahat al Salaam, Israeli and Palestinian families have been living together in one neighbourhood, the "Oasis of Peace" for many years with the conscious decision to overcome the conflict.
Currently their guesthouse is full with families who fled from the north of Israel. A large proportion of Neve Shalom’s / Wahat al Salam’s inhabitants participated in the demonstration in Tel Aviv against the war.
And in this way, there are people from the Middle East now studying the ecological, social, spiritual and technological knowledge at the Peace Research Centre in Tamera / Portugal, for the building up of peace villages in order to bring it back to their home area. The Tamera plan of Healing Biotopes offers a perspective for people of different cultures to end the matrix of war together, firstly on a smaller scale, and to replace it by the matrix of life and peace.
Let us also not forget that a political solution for peace already exists, the Geneva Initiative – a peace plan for Israel and Palestine that was negotiated by both sides in a long and fair way.
TO ALL DREAMERS AND REALISTS
To all those who love life, and to all friends of peace, let us swim against the tide: In a time where bombs are falling let’s feed the dream of changing this region, the Holy Land, the Middle East from a region of conflict into a land where peace can be learned: peace between cultures and nations, peace among human beings, peace with nature.
We call out to all our friends in the world, may they be Israelis, Palestinians, US-Americans, Europeans: Let us understand the matrix of war and end it. We turn to our own society first and recognize how it is a part of this war: Whether by direct violence, whether by suppression of the truth and one-sidedness, whether by weapon supply or by indifference. Let us recognize the military regime and the matrix of war and inform others about it.
Most of all, let us choose to recognize the matrix of life on the other side. It is always there.
There is another possibility instead of violence in every situation.
Copyright peacejournalism.com. Reprinted with permission.
________________________________________________