Sabeel

"The Holy Land is not what it is anymore because of what happened to it." 

Sabeel--The Way--A drink of fresh water along The Way

As a Palestinian Christian organization, Sabeel works to empower local Christians to "stand for the oppressed, work for justice, and seek peace building opportunities." By working for peace, Sabeel believes they are making strides to create a sustainable community in the midst of violence.

 Although I could go on about the mission and vision of Sabeel, what stands out to me the most is the use of story telling from the speaker. Because of her story telling, our conversation at Sabeel marks the beginning of my deepening confusion of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. It marks the beginning of my journey to truly understanding the concept of Dual Narratives. 

Having previously heard the narratives of a few Israeli people, I began to notice a significant difference in the way certain pieces of history were portrayed in the different stories. As a clear and obvious example, according to the Palestinian people, the war of 1948 is called Nakba, or catastrophe, as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had to flee from their homes to avoid the war and bloodshed. However, for the Israeli people, the war of 1948 is called the War of Independence. Because of these opposing views on the war, the people of Israel and Palestine continue to tell their history in a variety of ways to this day. The Israeli and Palestinian people re-story their experiences by highlighting or disregarding pieces of history that "the other" may find relevant or irrelevant to their personal stories. Who is correctly portraying history?

Looking back on the conversation at Sabeel, I would argue that it's not about who has the correct factual story. From my experiences in Israel and Palestine, I have found a significant amount of trauma, pain, anger, and violence to be evident and present on both sides of the conflict. The question that remains for me is the way in which the people of Israel and Palestine can begin to recognize and value the stories of the other. "If we sit at a round table and talk about justice then I will be glad to participate," declared the speaker at Sabeel. 

What's involved in the process of justice? Should peace negotiations be the primary item on the to do list, or is there value in creating opportunities for narrative and story telling in the process to justice and peace?