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Speakers Ali Abu Awwad and Robi Damelin
Duration:
8 minutes and 6 seconds
Country:
United States
Language:
English
License:
dotSUB Commercial
Genre:
None
Views:
55
Posted by:
pangea on May 14, 2008
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Video Transcription
- [Applause]
- Ali Abu Awwad, Robi Demelin.
- Parents' Circle - Family Forum
- [Applause continues]
- I would like to read extract from the letter
- which I wrote to the family of the sniper
- who killed David, my son.
- This, for me, is one of the most difficult letters I will ever have to write.
- My name is Robi Damelin, and I am the mother of David
- who was killed by your son.
- I know he did not kill David because he was David
- if he had known him, he could never have done such a thing.
- David was twenty-eight years old
- He was a student at Tel-Aviv university doing his masters
- in the philosophy of education.
- David was part of the peace movement
- and did not want to serve in the occupied territories.
- He had a compassion for all people
- and understood the suffering of the Palestinians.
- He treated all around him with dignity.
- David was part of the movement of the officers
- who did not want to serve in the occupied territories
- but nevertheless, for many reasons
- he went to serve when he was called to the reserves.
- All my life I have spent working for causes of coexistence
- both in South Africa and here.
- After David was killed, I started to look for a way to prevent
- other families, both Israeli and Palestinian
- from suffering this dreadful loss.
- I was looking for a way to stop the cycle of violence.
- Nothing for me is more sacred than human life
- No revenge or hatred can ever bring my child back.
- After a year I closed my office and joined the Parents' Circle - Families Forum.
- We are a group of Israeli and Palestinian families
- who have all lost an immediate family member in the conflict.
- We are looking for ways to create a dialogue
- with the long-term vision of reconciliation.
- After your son was captured, I spent many sleepless nights
- thinking about what to do.
- Should I ignore the whole thing or will I be true
- to my integrity and to the work that I am doing
- and try to find a way for closure and reconciliation.
- This is not easy for anyone
- and I am just an ordinary person, not a saint.
- I have come to the conclusion
- that I would like to try to find a way to reconcile.
- Maybe this is difficult for you to understand or believe
- but I know in my heart it is the only path that I can choose
- for if what I say is what I mean, it is the only way.
- I understand that your son is considered a hero
- by many of the Palestinian people.
- He is considered to be a freedom fighter
- fighting for justice and for an independent, viable Palestinian state
- but I also feel that if he understood
- that taking the life of another is not the way
- and that if he understood the consequences of his act
- he could see that a non-violent solution is the only way
- for both nations to live together in peace.
- [Applause]
- Our lives, as two nations, are so intertwined.
- Each of us will have to give up on our dreams
- for the future of our children, who are our responsibility.
- I do not know what your reaction will be, it is a risk for me.
- But I believe that you will understand
- as it comes from the most honest part of me
- I hope that you will show the letter to your son
- and that maybe in the future that we can meet.
- Let us put an end to the killing and look for a way
- through mutual understanding and empathy
- to live a normal life, free of violence
- [Applause]
- Now you can recognize that there are heros in the Middle-East
- and peace is possible.
- I want -- You know, I'm not going to tell you all of my life story.
- I've been to prison for four years, my mother was in a prison for five years
- for resisting the Israeli occupation.
- and I grew up in a refugee family.
- I lost my land, I lost my home, I lost many of my dreams
- and in 2000 I lost my brother, and I was wounded by a settler.
- So, I believe that the case of revenge inside me doesn't exist
- because the killing of my brother was not a case of a personal case
- it's a political case.
- My brother has been killed because he was a Palestinian.
- But I believe that I lost my brother but I didn't lose my mind.
- It's so hard --
- [Applause]
- It's so hard to deal with all of this
- but I believe on the other hand that people
- cannot reconcile not because they don't want peace
- but because they cannot live with the daily suffering
- and they don't know where to put the anger
- so I believe that causing a nation of suffering
- if you bind a nation by building walls and barriers
- we'll not secure another nation.
- Maybe this
- [Applause]
- Maybe this could bring a Psychologists' solution
- but it will not bring a human being solution that people can live
- either together or side by side.
- I believe that it's easy to judge people
- it's easy to close people down.
- My message, especially to the Jewish people wherever they are
- that you are not my enemy, your fear is my enemy.
- I am attacking today your fear.
- So please don't throw your problems to the sea
- because those problems learn how to swim.
- You cannot ignore the whole reality by being
- taking a side or being right.
- It's very easy to be right because it's so hard to be honest.
- You can go and you can find the truth.
- The truth is millions of people.
- It's not their destiny to keep dying by this way.
- I'm not begging for peace, peace will come
- and I remember that Gandhi once said
- that there is no way for peace, peace is the way.
- You first do peace without any conditions
- then everybody will identify the word.
- [Applause]
- I believe [repeated]
- I believe that material can easily damage material
- Air Force can easily attack houses
- but material will never succeed to damaging human beings.
- Thank you.
- [Applause]
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