Dr. Khuloud DajaniPeople's Campaign for Peace and Democracy |
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Personal Transformation and Personal Story:
“ Lately, and through working in public health, I became totally convinced that peace and a viable means of living are basic to survival. Diseases, such as cholera and malaria are not what threaten human beings. The inability to solve the problems of occupation, oppression, and continuing violence are what threaten our people today. Therefore, I became active in the fields of public diplomacy, public social work and peace making, since peace is essential to the basic life of human beings everywhere and here in particular.[...] Also, I had to work in cooperation with our enemies, with whom we want to be friends. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Family and Education and Civil Society:
“ Working for peace not only pertains to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; we work for peace as part of cultural education or social education. Our society is reacting to the oppression, the suffering, the economic and social crises and the current problems. Psychologically, human beings unconsciously act as defenders. The lack of peaceful upbringing affects children’s daily behavior and their emotional and philosophical upbringing. […]Therefore, raising awareness about peace education is crucial. A culture of peace has to be practiced and lived daily, and to be embraced through behavior and speech. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ […]both peoples had lived in this area peacefully and securely for centuries. They had gone through good and bad times together. Unfortunately, the experiences they shared have turned to confrontation today. Colonization and Zionism have caused this situation, not Judaism, in addition to the political variability in the area and in the entire Middle East in the last century. The establishment of the State of Israel and its occupation of the remaining Palestinian Territories, and the competing claims that continue to exist, have caused a tragedy in the area. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Political Peace Processes/Political Leadership and Intifada and Martyrdom and Nonviolence:
“ The mutual violence rose out of the fear that peace agreements would not succeed, especially after the failure of Camp David, Taba negotiations and the return of Israel’s practices of oppression, killing, confiscation of land, checkpoints, etc… Palestinians responded to the oppression in order to defend themselves. One way of defending themselves was by carrying out martyrdom operations. At a certain point, we needed the parties who carry out such operations to think twice about the operations that target Israeli citizens. Despite the fact that we are living in a period of conflict, we should let our plight be known through the media on the international level and find an Arabic, Palestinian, and even Islamic spokespeople who could reflect the truth about us; the truth that we are not for the killing and targeting of civilians. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Identity and Occupation:
“ We [Palestinians] suffer on the international, regional, national and individual levels. We all suffer; we suffer at the borders, we suffer in claiming our identity, which is our right. There is fear, suffering, loss, torment, martyrdom, death, disabilities, a certain weakness, and the stripping not of one’s weapons but of the basic elements that provide security and stability. All these elements have created great challenges for the Palestinians. They have dealt with this challenge since childhood, and it has created exceptional people. This challenge has given their lives a different meaning than all the other people in the world. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Political Peace Processes/Political Leadership and Palestinian Refugees and Settlements and Justice:
“ The people working for peace need to be able to give the Palestinians back their legitimate rights. If you work for peace and do not achieve anything, you will never be remembered in history, or you will be remembered negatively. People are for peace, but for a just peace based on international legitimacy, including the 1967 borders, compensation and return of the refugees to the Palestinian state, return of Israeli settlers to Israel, etc. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Obstacles and Challenges and Religion and Human Rights:
“ The main misconception is that Israelis think this is their promised land, given to them by God, and that they should have this land without a people. Even educated professors and doctors still believe that it is their promised land.[…] I met with Israeli scholars and very high ranking individuals in higher education etc. Some of them come with an illogical argument of the land promised to them by God and ignore the issue of the people who are living in the land with all the historical, social, cultural dimensions of life and mainly their basic human right of existing and living in their own homes and lands, as well as having the right to justice and equality! ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Obstacles and Challenges and Political Peace Processes/Political Leadership and Democracy:
“ I am sure that a large percentage of the people who know the word “Oslo” know it just by name. They are not aware of what exactly Oslo was, even the people who signed Oslo. I am serious. I wish that people would carefully study the papers they sign, and be able to discuss and explain them to the people. There are many missing, unclear issues. Secondly, the different treaties--take for instance Camp David-- there was a chance, but the Palestinian resistance movement was not mature at that time. We are always backwards and we never carefully study our opportunities. We constantly refuse some opportunities illogically. We do not deal with opportunities in a tactical way. […] we are not mature enough in politics, negotiations, and in different roles. Centrality exists here. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ Equality shall be between all people regardless of their location-Palestine, Israel or any other country in the world. Justice shall be served too. If we are talking about an Israeli and a Palestinian state, I hope we shall share the major land which we call Palestine and they call Israel, with some form of independence. […] Even though the borders exist on the map, that does not mean they are heeded. In case of humanitarian peace, borders would not exist, because both people would be merged together; they share similar interests. Both depend on each other economically. I hope that peace will be present as a humanitarian value ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Community Responses to Peace Work and Family:
“ I once told her [my daughter] that we were attending a meeting for peace, and she answered: "Mom, don't kid yourself. You are not working for peace; you are working for surrender." She was eight years old then. She challenged me. The peace we are working for ought to be a genuine peace for the courageous. People should be convinced that peace is in line with what they want. People think that peace is surrender. My daughter's reaction was normal for her because she was living in the midst of the intifada and violence. She was thinking, "What are you talking about?" ” [Source in Complete Interview]
“ My red line is the shedding one drop of blood from a human being. I hope that tomorrow the violence will end and then we can sit and try to resolve the problems. Because we are fighting over nonsense; we are fighting over sand and stones. This is the red line, especially when children are involved. Sooner or later, problems will be resolved and all the people who have been killed would be a waste to us and to the Israelis. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
Obstacles and Challenges and Women in Society:
“ I noticed that it is hard for many people to listen to the women of our society. A woman and a man may talk about the same topic, but when the man speaks, all people listen and understand, whereas when the woman speaks, it is not the same thing. It would be good for women to be heard, yet it is even better to be understood. This means that half of our society is marginalized.[…] Traditional women in our society, rather than the working women, embrace their role of being mothers more than being professionally productive, even though as human beings they should appreciate their role of being productive in addition to their role as mothers. This does not only make them equal to men, but rather puts them before men. ” [Source in Complete Interview]
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