Zoughbi Zoughbi ('89 Palestine), Director of Wi'am, The Palestinian Center for Conflict Resolution, Bethlehem

(Presented as part of the panel "In the Company of Peacemakers: Pursuing Peace After a Kroc M.A." at Fr. Ted, Man of Peace, Sept. 30, 2000)

Ironically, I almost didn't make it to the Kroc Institute in August of 1988. At the time, the Palestinian people were actively ‘uprising' against the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in what is known as the "Intifada." Our already unstable and depressed economy was becoming worse and unemployment was soaring. I was very fortunate at this time to be working at two full time jobs. I was working from 7:00 in the morning until 10:30 at night six days a week, and this enabled me to provide $150 a week for my mother and family. Needless to say, my family was not encouraging and thought I was crazy for giving up my jobs to go study, especially when I wouldn't even be returning with a marketable skill, like plumbing. But I identify with the last three lines of Robert Frost's poem:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

My experiences at Notre Dame were light years away from the reality of my life in Bethlehem. As a Palestinian living under Israeli Occupation my entire way of life revolved around politics. I thought it must be the same everywhere, so when I attended my first political meeting on Notre Dame campus I expected to see thousands of people in attendance and was shocked to see only 40. The next evening I was invited to something called a "pep rally" and I discovered where the thousands of people were and where their interests lay.

I came to Notre Dame at a time when dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians was actively discouraged by both sides and I realize now what a courageous step the Kroc Institute took in inviting both Palestinians and Israelis to be part of the program. It was not always easy and arguments were many and heated, but I never lost hope that there could be a solution if we could only learn and implement what it is that makes for peace.

Dialogue is one way to humanize your enemy. One evening before Christmas in 1988, Edna (the student from Israel), Jamal (another Palestinian student), and I had dinner with Fr. Hesburgh and Landrum Bolling at Morris Inn. The heat of the Middle East was brought into South Bend on that cold day in December. I remember Father Hesburgh saying to us, "Today you argue; in the near future your leaders will sit together and talk. You are talking about history now. Tomorrow you will make history!" These words turned out to be prophetic. Four and a half years later the world watched the handshake between Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and President Yasser Arafat. I tell you yes, Father, I am living with history in the making on all levels: socially, politically, religiously and economically.

"The ultimate measure of a man [or woman] is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." It was a challenge for me to study the methodology of peace in a peaceful country, and then return to my own country, which was ravaged by conflict, and try to implement my knowledge in some useful manner. In fact, six months after my graduation from the Kroc Institute, Israeli soldiers arrested me as a political prisoner and gave me 101 days of administrative detention without trial, to be extended up to five years according to the British Emergency Laws of 1945. I was arrested while I was acting as a tour guide for Ken Brown, a peace studies professor from Manchester College who had taught my wife. I was showing him around a refugee camp. The Israeli military put a curfew on the residents of the camp just as we were about to begin our tour and the result for me was arrest and imprisonment.

I never did serve my 101 days, but was released after 16 days thanks to a flood of phone calls, letters, and faxes to the Israeli military and U.S. Consulate inquiring as to why I had been arrested. In fact, after my release I was called into the Israeli military headquarters to talk to the Captain and he said that if I would tell people to stop writing and calling, the court case against me would be dropped. I was willing to serve my 101 days to show my solidarity with the 100,000 or so other political prisoners, yet what happened was a testament to what can be accomplished when people get together to protest an injustice. And the road less traveled continues…

I am currently the Director of Wi'am, The Palestinian Center for Conflict Resolution in Bethlehem. Wi'am was founded in 1994 to satisfy the needs of the Palestinian people in the absence of civil law, and in an attempt to deal with the long simmering frustrations over the continuing Occupation which were manifesting themselves within the Palestinian society.

Wi'am is an Arabic word which means ‘cordial relationship'. We chose this name because we wanted to convey our hopes for Palestinian society as we started the journey of social transformation from a society oppressed for more than 26 years of Occupation to a society of limited sovereignty.

Our goals are simple, yet sometimes overwhelming in scope. One goal is to help Palestinians to see themselves as something other than victims of conflict, and to introduce skills that could help them overcome being victimized by conflict. Another goal is to use ‘sulha', which is the traditional method used for thousands of years for solving conflicts in the Arab world, and blend it with newer and more western methods. A third goal is to be a place where people can bring their seemingly unsolvable conflicts and get practical, creative, and workable help. A fourth goal is to systematically begin spreading the ideas and methods of ‘ahimsa', or nonviolence. Finally, a fifth goal is to break down cross cultural barriers and stereotypes.

In the last five years Wi'am has dealt with more than 2,000 conflicts. The conflicts we have encountered have included disputes over land and boundaries, fighting between neighbors, fighting between youth, abuse within families, faults and reparation over traffic accidents, and many others. We find that many conflicts stem from economic deprivation, which in turn is related to the continued control of the Palestinian economy by the Israeli government.

Besides offering mediation services on a case by case basis, Wi'am also holds workshops and conferences focusing on issues currently effecting Palestinian Society such as the empowerment of women and the use of non-violence among the Palestinian Security Forces. I have been a trainer for non-violence techniques both in Palestine and Israel, as well as in several other countries. I have also attended numerous conferences around the world both as a participant and presenter. I feel extremely fortunate to have had these international opportunities because I am able to network with other organizations in similar fields and living in similar situations and to bring back new ideas to enrich the work we do.

Although Wi'am mainly focuses on Palestinians in the Bethlehem area, we have also partnered with Israeli groups who try to promote peace and understanding through dialogue and interaction. Our newest project is an interfaith project called "Track II & III Anti-Incitement through Violence Prevention by Emerging Leadership." For this project we have partnered with the Catholic Relief Services and the Harry S. Truman Institute for Peace of the Hebrew University. It was not surprising to me to learn that Father Ted is one of the members of the Anti-Incitement Committee established through the Wye Accord.

I often think that both the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams could benefit from spending a year at the Notre Dame studying the components necessary to bring about a lasting peace. My wife says that she's lived through the Intifada, the Gulf War, and the Peace Process, and the Peace Process has been the hardest to bear. Unfortunately the Peace Process has created virtual Bantustans for the Palestinian people. Isolation and apartheid will never lead to peace. It may lead to a cessation of violence for a time, but eventually the powder keg will explode again.

The world we live in today is filled with "guided missiles and misguided people." As Albert Einstein put it, "This generation has, quite humbly, the final responsibility and the last chance to turn terror into hope." The work of Father Ted, the Kroc Institute, and peace and justice workers around the world is so crucial nowadays in light of the number of times the world is capable of destroying itself with weapons of mass destruction. Thanks to Father Ted's foresight, the Kroc Institute is actively working towards peace education on a global level. Following the example of Father Ted and those who have gone before me I am challenged to spread the message of peace and justice through work, education, and personal example.

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