|
|
The Anglican Church in Tasmania Search |
|
a healthy church...transformingLIFE |
|
|
|
|
|
October 2005 |
|||
|
|
||||
God is watching usYoung Palestinian Zack Sabella spoke with Will Longbottom Zack says, 'Our world does not need stories of hate, it does not need bias media coverage…pain and suffering; what our world needs is stores of love and hope.' Zack Sabella was born, raised and educated in Jerusalem, it is a city he describes as 'spell-binding', 'breathtaking' and 'a land of green springs'. But for Zack, Jerusalem is also a city of suffering. As a Christian Palestinian he grew up under the Israeli occupation, and learnt that Israelis and Palestinians did not interact. Zack said that he could never interact with Israelis, 'other than soldiers patrolling my neighbourhood or in checkpoints. 'You can find streets where on the right it is an Israeli settlement and on the left it is a Palestinian neighbourhood,' he said. As part of an occupied people, he shared feelings of anger towards the Israelis. However, Zack refused to accept the segregation and decided instead to make friends with Israelis. 'Some people choose the path of violence to resist, and that's understandable because they're under oppression, and normally people repel oppression by violence,' Zack said. 'I chose the social way, because I believe that if people get to know people … and just deal with each other on a personal level … that can change the stereotype image that they have of Palestinians,' he said. Zack was granted a full scholarship to an Israeli University for his work in striving to revive coexistence though academic study. He used this opportunity to combat prejudice simply by working with and making friends with Israelis. He faced much rejection at the university, but a man who had come from a right-wing Jewish family soon became his closest friend. He says that this was his greatest achievement, breaking the social codes to become so close to an Israeli. 'I was able to hug an Israeli and to bond with him not as an occupier but as a person.' Zack says the problem is that Palestinians and Israelis have so few chances to interact socially. He says that he was very lucky to be able to get to know Israelis socially as a university student. Palestinians are stereotypically thought to be anti-Israel, and get labelled as terrorists. But by making friends with an Israeli, Zack contradicted the stereotype and showed the way forwards for peace. Although Zack says peace is unlikely while the Palestinians are an occupied people, he says simply getting to know each other can break the circle of violence. He said that you cannot wait for divine intervention; that peace will need hard work, compromises, and sacrifices. 'God is watching us! We need to make the move, we need to act.'
Will Longbottom recently graduated in Journalism and English at UTas, and is part of The Way Christian Church. The National Council of Churches sponsored Zack Sabella's recent visit to Tasmania. For more information contact NCCA Colleen Hodge.
|
|
|||
