I am the son of a Palestinian refugee boy who lost his father, his home, and all his family’s belongings by the age of nine. I am the grandson of the woman who taught this boy and his six siblings not to seek revenge and retaliation but to seek forgiveness and reconciliation.
This said, I am a Palestinian who grew up under Israeli occupation and oppression, witnessing and living injustice every day of my life. I grew up seeing my enemy through the barrel of his gun; as a soldier who suppressed my peopl e, as a settler who stole my land, and as an ideology that denied my identity and existence.
Like an olive tree that takes years to bear fruit, the seed planted by my grandmother began to grow in my life when I discovered the power of nonviolence to resist oppression and create transformation, when I discovered that nonviolence is not something new to Palestinian culture and struggle for liberation.
The “long now” for me does not exist in reaching a political settlement or a negotiated peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis. The “long now” exists in the power of nonviolence to end all forms of oppression and begin a deep healing for all peoples who live in the Holy Land.
The long now exists with no racism or discrimination but in communities that are founded on the principles of love, peaceful coexistence and equality.
