In a
The descriptions below are based on Marcia's report
from their four gatherings in the past two weeks --
Marcia speaks of one memorable moment: "It was
quite a moving event, as the smoke plumed out over the site of the
========================
The past weeks events have certainly created a new
dynamic in our discussions here.
First we had an interview with the Associated Press
which brought 10 of us together for an interesting dialogue. There was
much give and take and suppressed rage as well.
This gathering took place at a candidates
forum arranged by the Arab American Institute out of
Thus began a relationship of cooperation with several
of the Arab American organizations which serve Bay Ridge and
On Sunday, Sept. 9th we
had a wonderful gathering with Forsan Hussein, of the
Abraham Fund, at the home of one of our Christian members. Hussein, a
young Palestinian Israeli, spoke about stereotypes and the type of hard work he
had to do to overcome his hatred and ignorance.
He spoke also of the hard work his Israeli friend had
to do to also overcome his past mis-reading of
history. It has opened many doors for us here in
On Shabbat Saturday, September 15th, a local synagogue
invited us to come after torah study to speak about the ways in which we could
reach out to the Arab American Community.
At this gathering almost all of our Arab and
Palestinian members came, honored to be invited to a synagogue. They were
hopeful that they could express themselves and so authenticate their desire to
let Jews know that Islam and Palestinians do not endorse the attacks which had
occurred only a few short days ago.
Many expressed their concern and specific stories
about anti-Arab sentiments, and verbal and physical attacks. Of course
there were also conspiracy theories (i.e. the Mossad planned the attack, no Israelis or Jews were hurt in
the WTC events, etc.). But all of this is part and parcel of dialogue and
de-mystifying the other. We decided to create escort services and
participate in anti-hate training programs.
That training program attracted over 50 attendees,
2/3's from our dialogue group.
On Sunday September 16th we participated in a vigil,
sponsored by the
Hundreds of all faiths attended. SO many of our members attended that we were interviewed for many
Arab American and foreign papers.
All spoke of their love for this country, this city
and each other as human beings. All spoke for a return to dialogue.
It was quite a moving event, as the smoke plumed out
over the site of the
And today, Sunday, September 24th, two members of our
dialogue group, Debbie and Naji from