End of March Speech

I was blessed to have organized the Interfaith Freedom March and to welcome a group of enlightened and beautiful participants. I was also privileged to have given the following speech at end of the Interfaith Freedom March in the outskirts of Ramallah on Oct. 6th. The three first lines of the speech, derived from the Torah, the Qur'an and the New Testament, were shouted through the loudspeaker during the march several times without resistance from anyone.

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La Ilaha Illallah (There is no God but Allah, Qur’an)
Adonai, Elohaynu, Adonai Echad (The Lord is our God, the Lord is One, from the Schema, Torah)
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost (Christian prayer)

One God has brought us together without violence, Muslims, Christians, Jews, and others,
To profess our love for our brothers and sisters, in Palestine and Israel, as God has taught us to do.

Look at us, in God’s name we come together without arms, only with the Bible, The Qur’an the Torah, and with an open heart.

Take note, members of the press; this is a group representative of all of Palestine, which is ready for a durable peace. Take note, Palestinians are like you and me, members of the press, they are not a bunch of bloodthirsty terrorists.

Similar to the situation in Ireland and other conflict areas, residents of the area have become fed up with, as well as exhausted and disgusted by the violence and truly seek peaceful coexistence.

As a result, many are laying down their arms, working on interfaith projects to take religion/spirituality out of the conflict and working within the political system to bring about change in a permanent, nonviolent way.

Wake up world and accept Palestine as a peace-loving country ready to do good and turn the page on the past.

We are here to counter-balance, make up for the filtered and false information about the suffering of the people in the area. Their suffering has become invisible with exaggerated reporting on incidents of violence and subsequent retaliation, often dominating the news and distracting the world from focusing on the day to day suffering of the residents in the area.

We are here to bring together of all human rights groups in the area to expedite peace and freedom. We wish to assist humanitarian efforts to improve the education of people and the economic environment.

This event will set up a concerted and consistent effort in furtherance of freeing the area from the terrible bondage of continued conflict.

It’s time to open up our doors, let Palestinians and Israelis embrace each other as brothers and sisters, that this cruel occupation must end as a precursor to peaceful coexistence on the condition that adequate security measures are taken by both sides to preserve the peace.

Moreover, removing all West Bank settlements would help in diffusing the tension accelerating since 1967.

The West Bank is not like Gaza at the end of the occupation, the West Bank will rise up as an angel of peace and will move forward as a free country, creating a cultural and economic interdependence with Israel.

Let this march be a precursor to freedom through love and understanding by bringing all people together, as brothers and sisters and as children of the creator, showing the world that all people want peace in Israel and Palestine.