If lies distort truth, silence will kill it
An eye on Lebanon, an eye on Gaza, I was on my way to participate in a women workshop in Bern, Switzerland between 16-19 July 2006 and an international seminar for writers and translators in Rhodes, Greece from18-23 July 2006. I was hesitant to attend, questioning the importance of participation and the role of our friends all over the world at a time when no echo could be hared all over the world with the human conscious in deep sleep in spite of the vicious atrocities that inflict upon those longing for freedom and fighters for peace all over the globe. The question was eminent during the women convention in Bern. There, they discussed the need to continue their efforts for peace at a time when bloody violence is increasing to the extent of violating all international laws, giving strong blows to peace. The women network “Women for Peace Across the Globe” (formerly”1000 Women for the Nobel Prize”), they, could not continue their sixth workshop without raising their voice loud against the bloody violence that stands in the way of world peace.
They called for stopping all military aggression in Gaza, Lebanon and Israel. “Women for Peace Across the Globe” realized that the current misery is is only a by product of the continued occupation of Israel to the Palestine when stating: “We recognize that the current situation is the direct result of the continuing Israeli occupation of Palestine.
This is most severely experienced in Gaza by 1.4 million Palestinian residents who are facing the escalating violence by the Israeli Defense Forces and enduring severe related hardships and in Bethlehem, where the systematic containment of Palestinian residents of the city is occurring at breakneck speed while all eyes are on Gaza and Lebanon. We appeal to the Israeli government and all parties to the conflict to meet at the negotiating table to begin a serious, multilaterally negotiated, peace process. We also demand the adherence to UN Resolution 1325 that requires women be involved centrally in the formal peace process.
Women are central to creating and sustaining peace in communities all around the globe.” A number of writers and translators from 30 countries, gathered in Rhodes on 22nd July 2006 for the symposium “The Necessity of Dialogue among Cultures” organised by the “International Writers and Translators’ Centre of Rhodes”.
The writers and translators expressed in a written document their condemnation and strong protest against the ongoing war that caused so many deaths of innocent civilians in Lebanon, Palestine and Israel, while the international community does not take any measures to stop this bloodshed. When free voices are raised high condemning atrocities and occupation, demanding to stop bloodshed and to secure just peace, they do not only stand for the values of freedom, justice and human security, but also they stand to their conscious and humanity.
It is the awakening of the human conscious from its deep sleep. It is the screams of freedom lovers to achieve world peace. Peace that is difficult to have without stopping the military atrocities in Lebanon and Palestine first then ending Israeli occupation in Palestine by sending back Israeli troops to the 4th June 1967 borders; then by ending Israeli occupation of Shibaa Farms in Lebanon and finally to free all prisoners by sending them to their homes. No peace could be achieved without human justice and no freedom could be foreseen under the guns of occupation. Yes, “If lies distort truth, silence will kill it”
Dr. Faiha Abdulhadi
30/7/2006