2014-07-25 12:52:00

"I Shall Not Hate" Gaza doctor's gift to Pope Francis


(Vatican Radio)  As Israelis and Palestinians play the “blame game” about who is responsible for the hundreds of Palestinian deaths in Gaza, one Gazan doctor stands out as saying it’s time for both sides to stop blaming the other and to “humanize” rather than politicize the on-going conflict.

Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, who lost three of his young daughters and a niece when Israeli tank shells slammed into his Gaza home in 2009, refuses to hate even after his terrible ordeal.  In an interview with Vatican Radio’s Tracey McClure, Abuelaish, who now works in Canada, says he is reliving his nightmare every day through images of the bloodshed continuing in Gaza.  But despite his profound suffering, he’s still reluctant to point the finger of blame.

Listen to Tracey McClure’s extended interview with Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish:

“When we all take responsibility and direct the energy of blaming others into internal energy to do something - to challenge the perpetrator and the blame - then we can feel the energy to move forward,” he says.

WOMEN ARE PEACEMAKERS

Abuelaish moved forward after channeling his own pain and anger into building a charitable foundation in memory of his daughters.  His Daughters for Life Foundation supports girls’ education and health in the Middle East.  “I say it even in these days: if women controlled the armies in this world, no wars will happen," he affirms.  “If women were sitting on the negotiating table of the ceasefire, in the offices of the leadership and (management) there will never be this bloodshed and this (means we need) to give the opportunities to women…to practice their role.”

EDUCATION IS BIGGEST WEAPON

“Education is the biggest weapon to face the injustices in this world and I am sure women can (meet the challenge).  That’s why Daughters for Life Foundation was established – to support education of girls and women and also to prove to the world that from everything bad, there (comes) something good: that this tragedy was invested for the good of our world and that life is what we make it – not to blame but to take responsibility.”

RELIGIONS CAN BE PEACEMAKERS

Religions can also help bring peace to the region, says Abuelaish, a Muslim.  “What helped me to move forward is my faith.  I am a person of faith.  I believe in God and God is there to help us.  What is bad in this world is man-made.  So, faith and all faiths which came from God, came to help… so I am sure when we use faith and religion in a good way - not to politicize but to humanize - religion at that moment can play an active role (for peace).”

Pope Francis is doing his part, continues Abueslaish, looking back at the years when Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was actively engaged in interfaith dialogue as Archbishop of  Buenos Aires.  “I was in Argentina (at that time). I have seen what he (did) with the interfaith groups in Buenos Aires, with Muslims, with (the) Jewish and when he went to the Holy Land he took with him Muslim people, Jewish Rabbis – and that’s the case.  We need to use religion in a good way to humanize the lives and to use it for the good cause of people, not to politicize it …or misuse it.”

Abuelaish says the Argentine Muslim leader Omar Abboud, who accompanied Pope Francis to the Holy Land along with Rabbi Abraham Skorka, gave the Pontiff a copy of his book, “I Shall not Hate – a Gaza Doctor’s Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity.”

“I hope one day to shake hands with Pope Francis,” says Abuelaish, praising the pontiff’s efforts to promote lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.   “You know, I see it; I believe in him – how he cares, when he went there to visit.  And that is what’s needed from leaders – to go and to visit, and to act.  He is a man who ‘walks the talk.’  He did it.  He said it and did it, and acted…and he will continue…not for political (reasons) – he believes in it for the human cause.”








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