Sulcha - Forgiveness - Israeli-Palestinian Retreat with "Focusing" (Including a Good Summary of IEA Principles), 12-13th May 2007:

On May 12-13 a joint retreat, of the Interfaith Encounter Association and the Israeli branch of Focusing, took place in Ginosar, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, on the theme of "Forgiveness". The retreat participants were Israelis, Palestinians and guests from the world, especially Europe, USA and Canada.

I am not knowledgeable enough to explain the principles of Focusing and I do not want to do it in an inaccurate way so I rather refer the interested reader to their website www.focusing.org and will focus here on presenting the retreat from the interfaith perspective.

On Friday night I presented the principles of our NGO. It turned out that many of our principles are shared also by the "Focusing" organization. For example: in Focusing they talk about listening out of empathy, without blame of judgment. And indeed: this is what we are doing! I can at least testify for the group of young adults that for us this is a basic principle. One of the beautiful things in our group is that people can share their views, feelings, hopes etc. freely, knowing that the other side will listen and and "absorb" even when it is against his world's values. Of course – without being offensive.

The second principle I stressed is equality – joint facilitation of all IEA groups by people of the different faiths, rotational serving in the board, so that chair of the board is not always from one faith, etc.

I also spoke about our sensitivity regarding language and symbols – I told about how much thought we invested when we came to select the logo for the IEA, making sure it will be respectful for all faiths and will offend none. Each of IEA stories is distributed in the three languages, so that everyone can read it in his or her own language and will not feel alienated.

In addition I spoke about our approach to avoid, as much as possible, translation challenges that disturb the flow of the conversation. Therefore, in the group of young adults discussions usually take place in Hebrew – the only language which is common to both sides. On the other hand, IEA runs a Arabic speaking group, where discussions are held in Arabic. When the language is fluent, the encounter flows and the hearts open.

A third principle is the living encounter – in our groups we do not have passive sitting of the audience in front of a podium of distinguished speakers, which prevents face to face view between participants, but sitting in a circle where everyone can see everyone. A circle does not have a beginning and an end – everybody is equal. The encounter is more important than the information conveyed. We are not an academic body that aims to research or distribute information as its own goal, but an NGO that aims to use information and knowledge as a means to break down barriers between people. That's why, paradoxically, many times the "coffee break" is more important than the planned part of the encounter. Because the encounter takes place according to a determined plan, following a pre-selected theme etc., but in the coffee break things happen spontaneously, in and un-planned and un-mediated way. Then we have the opportunity to really meet the person of the "other camp" and not his stereotype.

The forth principle is perseverance – the value of a one-time encounter is limited. In order to create the change there is a need for an on-going and continuous encounter. I told about the constancy of our groups, and especially about the difficulty to continue and hold encounters after terrorist attacks in Israel or events in which Palestinian civilians are killed. I shared how I felt that I can not continue in interfaith activity after a friend of mine was killed by a Palestinian sniper on his way home. A Muslim colleague then spoke with me and claimed that we do not have the privilege to give up. Indeed I continued.

The fifth principle – religion is in the center. Unlike other dialogue organizations, we do not put politics in our focus but religion. The same "religion" that so many think is the source of all evil and the cause of conflict between Jews and Arabs. Indeed in my opinion the root of the conflict is not only political but religious as well, but – as I heard from my rabbi and teacher Rabbi Froman – religion is like nuclear energy: it can be used for peace as well as for the opposite. As the Jewish sages say: "If he is worthy [the Torah] becomes for him a drug of life, if he is unworthy – it becomes…". Religion can be a means for bringing the sides together through joint learning, seeing the common and different between the traditions and more.

A live example we saw in the next morning. I presented the Jewish view of forgiveness and used as an introduction the story of Jacob and Esau and asked: Esau wanted to kill Jacob for stilling the blessings from him. But when Jacob came back from Haran, after 20 years, Esau went to welcome him. Jacob, and with him the reader of the Biblical story, is anxious. He is sure Esau is going to kill him. But at the moment of encounter Esau hugs and kisses Jacob. I asked the participants – what created the change? Saheer, my colleague in IEA, tried to translate what I said into Arabic for the Palestinian participants who did not know Arabic. And a vivid whispering started among the Muslim participants: they heard of Jacob, but who is Esau the brother of Jacob? They tried to offer identification from their own tradition: Joseph? – No, replied the Christian and Jewish participants: Joseph is the son of Jacob. Isaac? – No, he is the father of Jacob. And so on. In this way the conversation rolled far from the original route – to personalities from the Torah, the New Testament and the Koran. In my eyes it was a simple example to the way things develop in every encounter of the young adults group. This is the power of the joint learning.

Reported by Dotan Arad

 
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