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A Ray of Hope Don Remmey, a long time CPF friend, and I, on the recent August 9th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945, met Yoshio Sato, a survivor of the Bomb which hit his home in Hiroshima killing 100,000 of his fellow citizens, including his mother and sister, who died within six months. I was thirteen in Orange, N.J. and elated by the slaughter of so many hated Japanese. As St. Paul says, When I was a child, I thought as a child, acted as a child...now that I am a man I have put away childish things. The childish fascination with violence and war has blessedly disappeared. Yoshio was in the U.S. on a speaking tour which on that day included a speech at the entrance to Lockheed Martin in King of Prussia, the largest weapons producer in the world. It was a rally sponsored by the Brandywine Peace Community to remember the dead and pledge to never again allow the Bomb to be used. Mr. Sato, his memory forever emblazoned with this human debacle, pleaded for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Indeed his last words were transparently simple, “We must in no way allow the existence of nuclear weapons. At war, every nation has been and will be apt to inflict brutalities on the opponent. This was true for Japan as well. I believe that it is thus war that we must reject.” I’m grateful for his presence that day. To shake his hand, to share in such a mundane event as a tuna roll at Friendly’s can do wonders to humanize a former enemy. That same evening, a second person, deeply acquainted with the human capacity for mayhem, visited St. Malachy. Daniel Tillias, a leader of Pax Christi in Haiti, was visiting the House of Grace Catholic Worker, among other stops in the U.S. Daniel serves as guide and interpreter in Haiti when Bishop Gumbleton and others visit. He is extraordinarily good at those tasks. He grew up in Cite Soleil, the poorest and most violent section of Port-au-Prince. Daniel and his companions seek to enflesh the body of Christ as expressed by non-violence. Their goals have become more modest: rather than transform a nation, model for children an alternative way of being. They seek to propagate the Pax Christi vow of non-violence, posting the vow in churches, doors, cars; teaching children alternatives to violence. The rejection of violence must be accompanied by redress of the massive injustices visited on the people. Daniel and his companions with infectious humor keep at it! Two good men in one day, from the far reaches of the earth, can spark a bit of hope. Voices from Jerusalem: Sabeel, the Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, led by a charismatic Episcopal priest, Naim Ateek, a Palestinian, spoke of The Madness of War; turning to Jeremiah to express their pain. The pain! I can’t
bear the pain!
Sabeel offers the Root Causes of the Lebanon conflict, a historical summary: ►
In 1948 over 300,000 Palestinian
refugees were forcibly displaced by the Zionists from the north of Palestine
into Lebanon and Syria, where they have been living in refugee camps
ever since. Most of them were driven out of an area
that was slated for the Palestinian state according to the 1947 UN Partition
Plan. Israel refused to implement UN Resolution 194 calling for their return.
The Palestinians engaged in guerilla warfare against Israel insisting on
their right of return to their homes and villages. ►
In 1978, Israel invaded Lebanon to destroy the Palestinian
Liberation Organization resistance, killing almost 20,000 people, including
the Sabra and Shatilla massacre, and destroying
much of the country. Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon lasted 22
years in defiance of UN Resolution 425 calling for its withdrawal. ►
In 1984, Hizballah, a Lebanese
Shiite organization emerged as a resistance movement to Israel’s
occupation of southern Lebanon. Hizballah proved
more formidable than the Palestinians and managed to
drive the Israeli army out of Lebanon in the year 2000. ►
In the 1990s, Israeli forces kidnapped Hizballah leaders,
including prominent religious figures, and carried out exchanges of prisoners
with the exception of three, in violation of mutual agreements. ►
It is important to point out that in the Middle East, it is the U.S. and Israel that are occupying other people’s
land, and, paradoxically, it is they who brand the people they oppress
and who resist their occupation as terrorists. They are experts at doing what is evil, but failures at doing what is good. Joe Bradley |