Aref Dajani's Page
Profile
- Hometown:
- Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
- Relationship Status:
- Married
- My personal story:
- Palestinian-American born in Washington, DC, son of orange growers. Grew up in a Jewish community. Met my first Holocaust survivor, complete with blue numbers on wrist, at the age of five. Grew up hearing competing narratives. Became active in diaspora dialogue, leading to professional engagements promoting peace and reconciliation. Not the cold peace of Egypt and Jordan, but a warm peace where our peoples live and thrive together.
My #1 advocacy: right of return for Palestinians to make aliyah to all of Historic Palestine. The Jewish character of Israel will be preserved because the Jewish character of Israel is in fact the Arab character of Palestine. We are far more alike than different. Nothing tastes better to Israeli Jews than hot, fresh pita purchased on Shabbat from Arab bakers in Jaffa! What was most culturally different between our peoples -- the yiddishkeit -- is quickly fading into obscurity, even in Diaspora. As is said so often, Jews settle into the West Bank aka "Judea and Samaria" to experience "the Real Israel".
In other words, the Real Palestine.
- Why I want peace:
- I want to reactivate my family's orange business, which thrived for at least several centuries in our ancestral village of Beit Dajan, now called Bet Dagan. My Palestinian family had excellent relations with our Jewish neighbors, only to be violently ethnically cleansed in February 1948. As a community, we Palestinians do not define ourselves by religion, nationalism, or even language because of our widespread Diaspora. Instead, we define ourselves by very small, intimate spaces we call Home.
Case in point: talk to anyone who comes from El Bireh, adjacent to Ramallah. They are the self-proclaimed Paris of the Middle East and Center of the Universe. At least their universe! :O)
There are two large branches of the Dajani family, each with a Home: Beit Dajan and Jerusalem. As I come from the Beit Dajan branch of the family, I want to live nowhere else. I have no interest in uprooting anyone, just a healthy plot of land where the best oranges in the world will grow again.
Oranges are a symbol and source of national pride for both Palestinians and Israelis. It's a shanda (Yiddish for "sin and a shame") that Israel so eagerly uproots agriculture with Caterpillar bulldozers in favor of concrete apartment blocks and urban sprawl. We will preserve the beauty of our sacred, holy land only if we reconcile and build a cleaner, greener world together.
- Birthday:
- June 12
- Interests and activities:
- Performing opera, B-rated science fiction, low-stress bowling, and backyard volleyball
- Something you didn't know about me:
- Downstage center, stripteased to my skivvies while singing a Mozart aria
- How I found mepeace.org:
- Len and Libby Traubman of San Mateo, California, USA
- What I want to achieve here:
- Connection to a brighter world.
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Comment Wall (17 comments)
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Peter Merry uses spiral dynamics to explain how the organisational paradigms presented by Tim in part 1 reflect the evolution of human culture and consciousness.
check: http://spiraldynamics.net/
Human Capacities in the Integral Age : http://spiraldynamics.net/DrDonBeck/essays/human_capacities.htm
check this :
A New Perspective for Palestine
“Elza Maalouf and Don Beck are bringing the wizardry of Spiral Dynamics to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.”
http://www.humanemergencemiddleeast.org/docs/WIE_1207_ElzaMaalouf.pdf
I fully agree with your ideas of a 'United Holy Land' and with a Commonwealth of Levant States. I can guarantee you that the times that your and my dreams about a better future for the Middle East are not so far belong us. The populations in all these countries are suffering too long and are open for new solutions for a better future of their children.
Love, Light and Peace,
Rob Schrama
bene, parli bene l'italiano!!!so i tell you a little about this Wall inside the Masjed, befor the 25/febreuary/1994, situation in Hebron were totally different of nowadays,,i can say that people(arabs and Israelis were living normaly togehter, i remember all that because i was a childe at that time ?unless the first Intifadaand the extrimism of both sides situations were calm and peacefull.....BUT,after the Jewish comunity become bigger and bigger, and after that the Settlers of Hebron become more supported by the government and the counsil of Settlers in Israel(Judea and Sameria ), they become more violent and more aggrissive to to do such alot of things,,,,a Doctor colonist from Kiryat Arba' his name is Baruch Goldshtain, he open the fire on the muslims who were praying during Alfajer, during Ramadan, and this create a very dramatic situations of bothe sides,,,,they have closed the masjed for six months and were obbliged to be under a melitery cerfew for six months,,,,life was really imppossible and it was a very sad year because lots of people were duing every day ???aftere that we they open the mosque and we discouvered that it was divided in two two zones ,The Jewish and the muslims one,,,and for goiung to the masjid today you have to pass for a control (electric and normal)at least you have to pass for three check points inside the mosque and outside ?now unfortunately lots of people refusing to go there,because they are always soldiers,and they humelate people ???since that time settlers become more strong and more aggressive,,,,after that date ,,,All the Old City of Hebron become closed,shops,bazar,schools,centers,people,and all the movement was totally stopped until now,,Old city of Hebron is considered one of the most important centers, now it is the DEAD City, i feel very afraid to walk there ,,because in any time you could be killed, unfortuunately,afrter that ,israeli settlers have toke lots of zones and streets and they conserve them only for them ,,,for example Alshuhada street which considered the most important one to connect the old city with the new city now is totaly closed and only settlers can use it ,,not only that but also schools,quarters and mountains ?Situations of Hebron is very different fron any other city in Pal/Isr, because and i understand that it is the sacred city for both(the cirty of Fathers and mothers ) now if ther is a feast(celebrations for jewish mosque be closed , and the visa versa , in Hebron ,there is a religious jewish school called Yeshiva "Beit Romano" befor that it was a Palestinian School(Sohool of Ussama Ben Munketh) now it is Beit Romano, in this school they come from all over israel and even the world to study,and they are very extrimists,,other the Bazar"market of Vegetables and Fruites" it was called as Hesbeh in Artabic, now it is the Kazba in Hebrew and no palestinian can enter and all the Souq is tottally closed ,there are also Beit Hadasa,Beit Shnerson,Tel Rumeidah, Me'erat Hamackphela, and the Jewish Cemetry that never been touched by a Palestinian ....
Iam sorry to talk alot ,but this is very general
Write and ask what you want
Sincerely,
Fawaz
you speak the words of my heart!
I see a future Holy Land as a kind of Yin-Yang structure. In fact Israeli and Palestinians will be united in one country, indeed in a 'Real Co-Existence Between Palestinians Arabs and Israeli Jews', no matter where they will live. It means that the Arabic Israeli will be recognized as Palestinians and their regions in Israel will be governed by themselves and the Jews in their settlements in a Palestinian state, including Khalil/Hebron, will get a kind of self-government too. This unique form of co-existence will appear as reality at the moment that Israeli and Palestinians will realize that there is no other opportunity for the City of Jerusalem than to be united, with a self-government for Israeli as well as for Palestinian citizens with an Old City that only belongs to God.
May peace prevail on Earth;
Rob Schrama
thanks for your comment. Your a right that Khalil/Hebron is a severe sting too in the peace process between Israeli and Palestinians. The scandalous behavior and asocial humiliation done by the Israeli colonialists towards the Palestinian population blemishes the whole Israeli nation. And of course, the wall in Masjid Ibrahimi/Abraham Mosque is degrading and disgraceful for the Almighty for Whom we all are One. But I can assure you that the wall in the Masjid Ibrahimi/Abraham Mosque will be pulled down at the moment Jerusalem will be united as a House of God for all prayers, for all nations and as a capital of Palestine as well as Israel.
Shalom, Salaam;
Rob Schrama
i was very happy reading your profile,and feeling your love to your lovelely Palestine,i know how you miss your home,,as you see i'am from Hebron"Khalil"but living in Italy now, i 'am planning to visit home this summer. i am happy asgaine to be friends !Ahh two years ago i been to DC, i liked it ! you are right, because in Hebron Jewish and Muslims were living aside ! this is History, not Fantastica !!!!!if you are coming to Europe,here i'am ....wish to hear from you soon,
Sincerely,
Fawaz
If that wall can come down, we will learn to pray together again in the house of worship that is highly significant to both Jews and Muslims. Then, walls between our faiths and peoples can begin to come down everywhere.
Aref Dajani, son of orange growers
The sting of all problems between Israeli and Palestinians lays in the Old City of Jerusalem. Her status has to be solved in such a way, that all parties fighting for control over her can agree upon.
On June 24, the ‘Big Hug’ will be hold in Jerusalem. Light workers from Israel, Palestine and from all over the world, ‘Lovers of Jerusalem’, will come together to bring warmth and energy to this city, embracing holding hands the Old City. If we bundle all our positive energies and bring these to Jerusalem, we can create peace to this exceptional place.
We are organizing the Big Hug to make the people aware –especially the Israeli and Palestinian inhabitants of Jerusalem- that there is a very shaped perspective for the city of Jerusalem as a city of peace: a new, undivided Jerusalem, as the capital of Palestine, Israel and at large.
Let go of the conflict concerning her command and dedicate the city to the Omnipresent. The Old City as a whole is His Temple. To give the walled Old City free to God, as a "Status Apart”, as an independent city, will be the most feasible way to come out the current impasse.
The Old City of Jerusalem must become an open city; a House of Prayer for all the Peoples. This perspective is written down in the Holy Books, this is the perspective we, as ‘Lovers of Jerusalem’ embrace as well as solution. But how many people does already notice this hopeful point of view?
What I saw in Jerusalem and also everywhere else where I meet Islamic and Jewish people is, that not so many persons really think about a future for Jerusalem. Most of the time, they stick with old ideas that the Old City of Jerusalem will always remain a part of Israel, or in opposite, that it will be absolutely a part of a new Palestinian state, as stolen land that has to be given back. With these visions, a future Jerusalem will be a divided city with an East Palestinian and West Israeli part, with barbed wire and checkpoints in between, like the situation of the city from 1948-1967. Or, coming closer to an agreement, people suggest -like proposed in the “Geneva Accord” in 2003- to make a complicated dividing of the Old City in a Israeli and Palestinian part. That will mean that the small alleys will be split by walls and barriers too. The idea that a future Jerusalem will become a divided city, is something that we have to prevent.
There are living about 250.000 Palestinian and 500.000 Israeli rather close together in one city. Do they want to make a separation of Jerusalem in parts or do they choose, deep in their hearts, for unity? So my best friends, it is our task to inform the whole city that there is an alternative for the Jerusalem of today.
All lovers of a united Jerusalem will come together to encircle and embrace the Old City of Jerusalem with love and devotion. We have to encourage all inhabitants of Jerusalem to join the coming Big Hug, with the idea of a New Jerusalem that might be realized with their support.
Rob Schrama Phone:0031-646608660 www.loversofjerusalem.org
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