Hope Will Prevail

Author and humanitarian, Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish is coming to Peterborough on Saturday January 29, 2011. I am pleased to be part of the Kawartha World Issues Centre (KWIC) organizing committee that is bringing Dr. Abuelaish to our town to speak at the ReFrame Film Festival, movie showing for Budrus  and we are also having a fundraiser reception for the Daughters for Life Foundation.

5:30 to 7:00 PM, Saturday January 29^th, Elements Restaurant, 140 King Street, Peterborough

Tickets – $100 ($60 tax receipt)    

Limited to 65 guests

A special opportunity to meet Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, author, physician and peace activist.

Following the reception, the group will have reserved seats at Showplace Theatre for the ReFrame Film Festival screening of the documentary Budrus.

After the film, Dr. Abuelaish will speak about his experiences, and the efforts to achieve peace in Palestine and Israel. 

Email me to get tickets, or contact me via my LinkedIn profile.

John  

 JOHN KNIGHT’S BOOK REVIEW

“I Shall Not Hate, A Gaza Doctor’s Journey”

Author – Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish

Publisher – Random House Canada, 196 pages

In answering a question about seeking revenge for a horrible wrong, the great humanitarian, Mahatma Ghandi said “an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” 

The world has watched in either in angst or cold detachment at the never-ending eye for an eye conflict impacting the people of Israel and Palestine, a turmoil that does not appear to be solvable by politicians. From afar, it appears this conflict will not end until the whole world is blind. After reading “I Shall Not Hate”, my perspective has changed, and I now think hope for peace will prevail. This hope is not based in the words or deeds by political leaders, but from examples of the Palestinian and Israeli people themselves, such as Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish (and his Israeli and Palestinian friends and supporters), and their efforts to create a peace through education, understanding and taking peaceful action.   

In this memoir, Izzeldin Abuelaish tells his fascinating story, from his birth in a Gaza refugee camp, his youth and overcoming poverty to becoming a doctor living in Gaza, and working in a hospital in Israel. 2009 was a year of anguish, with Dr. Abuelaish losing his wife to cancer, and then having three of his eight children taken away by unnecessary tank shelling.

If you have viewed the Israeli-Palestine conflict in a state of cold detachment, there is another reason to read “I Shall Not Hate”. The book helped improve my understanding of the situation impacting Palestine and Israel, but the story also engages emotions, tugging on the heart strings for empathy and compassion. The narrative is riveting, especially the sequence of detail during January 2009 events, when the Israelis launched a 23 day assault on the Gaza strip.  A warning to the reader, it is hard to even imagine the horror this man must have felt on the evening of January 16, 2009 when an Israeli tank shelled the apartment where the Abuelaish family lived, killing three of his daughters, Bissan, Mayar, and Aya, and his niece Noor, in their bedroom. Another daughter, Shatha, was badly injured. The post blast description of the bedroom is graphic and emotive.   

Dr. Abuelaish is a remarkable man of commitment and courage. His reaffirmation of faith, after the death of his daughters, and his new commitment to give meaning to their lives after their passing, with messages and life lessons on forgiveness, hope and love, is truly heroic. Mahatma Ghandi also said “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” There are no stronger humans than Izzeldin Abuelaish.

Dr. Abuelaish lays out some ways for us all to get involved in the peace process. In honour of his daughters, he has established a new Foundation, “Daughters for Life”, an organization that will provide scholarships for girls and women living in the Middle East.

If you look at the body of validated scientific research on climate change, you ought to be and should be pessimistic. Our world is on the cusp of weather related chaos being expedited into reality by human activities.

On the other hand, there are significant movements taking place, off the radar screen for most people, but once aware of them,  your perspective ought to and should shift from “doom and gloom” to optimism.

There are three reasons for optimism: Read the rest of this entry »

Hope will prevail over…..

Despair, Apathy, Fear.

I have two major beliefs about the state of our world today.

BELIEF ONE - Our planet is in a mess….namely what humans have done and are currently doing on planet Earth is not sustainable, and we all headed for some major rough times.

There are hundreds – if not thousands of books – millions of blog posts, journal and newspaper articles dealing with all our problems – global and local conflicts, the environment (global warming/climate change or pollution), social issues, economic failure, poverty….and so on. NEGATIVE, DEPRESSING Stuff…..but real issues having real impact with an overall trend line leading to chaos and perhaps even the destruction of humanity.

I would have trouble getting up in the morning if it wasn’t for…..

BELIEF TWO - even with all the crap (real stuff) happening all over the world and in our own communities…..

There are so many Good things happening, we have so much potential to fix our problems, there is HOPE…..

This website is dedicated to connecting like minds who believe there is HOPE for our future, or are looking for a reason to find HOPE….it exists, and knowing that it does, we can personally take ACTION to improve our lives, and our communities. Connected and together we build collective HOPE and when we take COLLECTIVE ACTION, we can fix the mess that exists today.

Hope will Prevail