BUILDING BRIDGES
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SO WHO ARE WE? WHO IS "BUILDING BRIDGES"?

We are a small group of people concerned about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. We support the only path to the ending of that conflict: justice for Palestine, security for Israel, and peace for both.

We showcase the work of those who through art, education, dialogue and constructive action seek to bridge that divide. We are a project of the Multifaith Action Society, through whom tax-deductible donations may be made to our work (), and have also been endorsed by the Thomas Merton Society of Canada ().

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not essentially a religious conflict. It is primarily a conflict about land, justice, anger, fear and security. However, because the people of the area are strongly identified as Jews and Muslims (not forgetting the Palestinian Christian minority), there is a strong though mistaken public perception that it is a religious conflict. It is true that as the conflict has continued, there are small and very angry groups on both sides which bring religious energy to their desire to "win" - but this is secondary to the primary reality.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not essentially a religious conflict. It is primarily a conflict about land, justice, anger, fear and security. The peoples on both sides of the decades-long conflict are suffering as peoples from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). However, because the peoples of the area are strongly identified as Jews and Muslims (not forgetting the Palestinian Christian minority), there is a mistaken public perception that it is a religious conflict.

It is true that as the conflict has continued, there are small and very angry groups on both sides which bring religious energy to their desire to "win" - but this is secondary to the primary reality. This being so, it is necessary for those of us committed to multifaith co-operation, as is the Multifaith Action Society, to counter this misperception by holding up to public view and support those within and beyond all three faith-groups who are seeking to bridge the divide.

We offer presentations once a month from September through November and January through May. Two presentations a year are held at the Vancouver Public Library, main branch, downtown. The others are held (as of November 2009) at Langara College, 100 West 49th Avenue in Vancouver. Since early 2009, a planning team of young volunteers has been working with me to develop this project. A visioning workshop for planning team members and presenters held in November 2009 affirmed our focus and encouraged us to continue on our present path.

The goal of our planning team, through this program of public education, is to strike a balance between the encouragement of hope and the acknowledgement of difficulty. We want to reach out to the people in the middle, of whom, I am convinced, there is a greater number than the number of those with loud, angry and fearful voices from either edge - which is not to say that there is not a lot to be angry and fearful about. I am aware that there are those who would say that what we are doing is simply a distraction from the injustice of the occupation. Contrariwise, and without trivializing the suffering involved, we need to affirm the profound value of people-to-people contact, and the need for a comprehensive vision of justice, peace and security for the entire Middle East, not just for any one part of it.

This is why I ask any reader of this page to join me in supporting this modest program as a grassroots Canadian contribution to peace in the Middle East. Tax-deductible contributions may be made through the Multifaith Action Society ().

Shalom (Hebrew) / shalam (Aramaic, the language of Jesus) / salaam (Arabic)!

Don Grayston, chair, Building Bridges Planning Team

UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS

No presentation in February (the Olympics!). Watch this space for offerings in March and April.

AND FOR 2010, WE ARE ALSO WONDERING ABOUT OFFERING...

* A presentation of “I saw a man in Jenin,” by actor Noah Lepawsky

* A presentation and a workshop on PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) as it affects the entire populations of Israel and Palestine

* A participatory theatre-workshopped presentation on the conflict

* A reading group, to extend our knowledge of the context of the conflict, facilitated by retired school teacher Barrie MacFadden