Eliyahu is grounded in the Torah, all Jewish traditions yet is open to the wisdom of all faith paths, in particular Sufi, Eastern philosophy and what Christ really said.
Regarding The Wall McLean responded, "I am not a fan, but man made walls can fall in a day. It is the wall's we build in our minds against the other that are the hardest to break."
Another Wall breaker is Gila S Gila Svirsky whom I first met at the Jerusalem Women in Black vigil a week before she spoke at Holy Land Trusts Celebrating Nonviolent Resistance Conference in Bethlehem Dec. 27-30, 2005. www.holylandtrust.org
Gila facilitated the workshop: The Role of Israeli Women in Nonviolent Struggle. She related many tales of middle aged Jewish women who had been moved to activism even before Sharon went to the Al Aqsa Mosque and the second Intifada erupted.
Gila stated, "Women were already getting together to protest the closures and checkpoints against Palestinians because we understood those actions would lead to frustration, anger and lessen the chance of compromise...Five hundred women gathered in front of the Ministry of Defense to practice civil disobedience. We laid down in front of the building and willingly got clobbered and arrested. We spent the night in jail and even the lawyer who bailed us out got arrested. When we met to re-evaluate our action about 60 of us showed up and all expressed such passion and the desire to try again because we had so much fun! We set up a bail fund and that was the beginning of our movement that went out to checkpoints and to where the Palestinian roads had been gouged out to prevent access. We filled the holes and trenches using only our fingernails...
"Women who had their arms broken by soldiers were denied medical treatment for hours and we wondered what we were accomplishing if anything at all. But we felt empowered and strong. We understood the Palestinians' suffering and their courage in resisting the occupation using nonviolent activism...Anyone who pays taxes in Israel is culpable in supporting the occupation...Our greatest problems are due to the religious fundamentalist Jewish settlers and the real villain is Barrack. He is the one who spun the Camp David story with Bill Clinton's collaboration. They portrayed that they offered Arafat the moon but Arafat refused...
"Most Israeli's today want to end the occupation but by my solidarity with the Palestinian cause I had lost credibility with most Israeli's. They didn't believe I cared deeply about the safety and security of Israel too. So now I work amongst Israelis and I have quit using the term apartheid wall...Talking about the suffering of others does not work here. What is working is education that focuses on Israeli self interest and our Reality Tours. This past year over 3,500 Israelis and two groups of soldiers took the tour to see the Wall up close and sat in Palestinian homes and had coffee with them. When they saw how parents interacted with their kids it was the best wake up call.
"Self interest considers the fact that over 3.5 billion dollars a year goes to continue the occupation and that Israel is considered a pariah by the rest of the world...When Israelis claim the higher ground and portray themselves as victims the rug is pulled out from underneath them when Palestinians use nonviolent resistance."
Also speaking at the Celebrating Nonviolent Resistance Conference was Reverend Naim Ateek, Founder and Director of SABEEL Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem.
Rev. Ateek underscored the fact that we who claim to be Christian cannot call ourselves Christians unless we are nonviolent.
In 313 A.D. Emperor Constantine sought to unite his empire and used the Church. Up until Constantine, Christians did not serve in armies and nonviolence was understood by all believers to be the way all Christians must go.
Under Constantine, Christianity was legitimized and that was the beginning of Christians enjoying political power and prestige.
St. Augustine was the first Church Father to write about the Just War theory and that was when Christians discarded The Prince of Peace's true teachings and began the reinterpretation of the Bible to justify warfare.
Rev. Ateek boldly stated, "The God of war, violence, oppression and terror must be rejected. Authentic Christianity is nonviolent and is all about peace, justice and liberation."
There have always been those Christians who spoke out against the corruption of scripture and they have always been persecuted and maligned. Yet there has also always been Christians who never abandoned the true teachings of The Prince of Peace, such as the Quakers, Mennonites, some Catholics and Protestants. In the USA, Big Brother is now infiltrating Quaker meetings for the fear of nonviolent resistance is anathema to Big Brother.
We are half way through the United Nations Decade of Creating a Culture of Nonviolence for the Children of the World. America is on the record as abstaining from voting and stated: "America cannot support this initiative as it would make it too hard for us to go to war."
From Jerusalem three good Jews and a Christian are crying out from the wilderness of violence and oppression to a world where wrong has become right.
Will America have ears to hear and do something about it?
Eileen Fleming
WAWA:
www.wearewideawake.org
Regarding The Wall McLean responded, "I am not a fan, but man made walls can fall in a day. It is the wall's we build in our minds against the other that are the hardest to break."
Another Wall breaker is Gila S Gila Svirsky whom I first met at the Jerusalem Women in Black vigil a week before she spoke at Holy Land Trusts Celebrating Nonviolent Resistance Conference in Bethlehem Dec. 27-30, 2005. www.holylandtrust.org
Gila facilitated the workshop: The Role of Israeli Women in Nonviolent Struggle. She related many tales of middle aged Jewish women who had been moved to activism even before Sharon went to the Al Aqsa Mosque and the second Intifada erupted.
"Women who had their arms broken by soldiers were denied medical treatment for hours and we wondered what we were accomplishing if anything at all. But we felt empowered and strong. We understood the Palestinians' suffering and their courage in resisting the occupation using nonviolent activism...Anyone who pays taxes in Israel is culpable in supporting the occupation...Our greatest problems are due to the religious fundamentalist Jewish settlers and the real villain is Barrack. He is the one who spun the Camp David story with Bill Clinton's collaboration. They portrayed that they offered Arafat the moon but Arafat refused...
"Most Israeli's today want to end the occupation but by my solidarity with the Palestinian cause I had lost credibility with most Israeli's. They didn't believe I cared deeply about the safety and security of Israel too. So now I work amongst Israelis and I have quit using the term apartheid wall...Talking about the suffering of others does not work here. What is working is education that focuses on Israeli self interest and our Reality Tours. This past year over 3,500 Israelis and two groups of soldiers took the tour to see the Wall up close and sat in Palestinian homes and had coffee with them. When they saw how parents interacted with their kids it was the best wake up call.
"Self interest considers the fact that over 3.5 billion dollars a year goes to continue the occupation and that Israel is considered a pariah by the rest of the world...When Israelis claim the higher ground and portray themselves as victims the rug is pulled out from underneath them when Palestinians use nonviolent resistance."
Also speaking at the Celebrating Nonviolent Resistance Conference was Reverend Naim Ateek, Founder and Director of SABEEL Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem.
Rev. Ateek underscored the fact that we who claim to be Christian cannot call ourselves Christians unless we are nonviolent.
In 313 A.D. Emperor Constantine sought to unite his empire and used the Church. Up until Constantine, Christians did not serve in armies and nonviolence was understood by all believers to be the way all Christians must go.
Under Constantine, Christianity was legitimized and that was the beginning of Christians enjoying political power and prestige.
St. Augustine was the first Church Father to write about the Just War theory and that was when Christians discarded The Prince of Peace's true teachings and began the reinterpretation of the Bible to justify warfare.
Rev. Ateek boldly stated, "The God of war, violence, oppression and terror must be rejected. Authentic Christianity is nonviolent and is all about peace, justice and liberation."
There have always been those Christians who spoke out against the corruption of scripture and they have always been persecuted and maligned. Yet there has also always been Christians who never abandoned the true teachings of The Prince of Peace, such as the Quakers, Mennonites, some Catholics and Protestants. In the USA, Big Brother is now infiltrating Quaker meetings for the fear of nonviolent resistance is anathema to Big Brother.
We are half way through the United Nations Decade of Creating a Culture of Nonviolence for the Children of the World. America is on the record as abstaining from voting and stated: "America cannot support this initiative as it would make it too hard for us to go to war."
From Jerusalem three good Jews and a Christian are crying out from the wilderness of violence and oppression to a world where wrong has become right.
Will America have ears to hear and do something about it?
Eileen Fleming
WAWA:
www.wearewideawake.org
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