S3 E1: SHARING SACRED LAND | SULAIMAN KHATIB
Sulaiman Khatib grew up in a small Palestinian village, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. At the age of 14, he and his friend received long jail sentences for stabbing and injuring two Israeli soldiers. In the jail library he studied the history of the Jewish people, and began to understand that there were equally compelling narratives to both sides. A reconstructed perspective of non-violence, further impacted by hunger strikes in jail, seeded his future dedication to peace and reconciliation work.
In 2005 he cofounded the Combatants for Peace, an organization created by Palestinian and Israeli former fighters and victims of violence. Combatants for Peace is modeled on humanistic values of empathy, forgiveness and mutual respect for a future of peace on the sacred homeland that both Palestinians and Israelis love, fighting not each other - but the common enemy of hatred and fear.
Nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize, his transformative journey and visionary optimism is rooted in a deep love of the land, ancient wisdom, and spirituality.
SEASON 2_Episode 01: BELONGING TO CONFLICTED TERRITORY|Haya Haddad: A Palestinian Israeli Citizen |Human Rights Activist
In this episode, Haya Haddad, a young, driven woman, a Christian, Palestinian, Israeli citizen, delves into her personal family and communal, historical narrative of displacement, and her multiple minority identities, all which inspire her social, humanitarian and political work. She talks about the hope for integration by understanding the collective human story.
This interview was done prior to the beginning of the war in Ukraine. While this discussion focuses on the displacement experience of the Palestinians, some of the themes, although different in detail, context and complexity, correlate with the current forced evacuation of Ukrainian citizens. I thought about this a lot while I prepared the episode to air. I expect you will too.