Leaders Need to Sow Love Not Hatred

Nine Palestinian children and a teacher were killed on Thursday morning, February 17, 2012 when an Israeli truck carrying a fuel tank crashed into the school bus transporting the kindergarten children near the Qalandia checkpoint in Ramallah.  May they rest in peace. May God give solace to their families and to all Palestinians as this is a national tragedy.

Such a tragedy should have international coverage. Yet, a search of the internet revealed very little was posted except for the Arab press. It's hard for me to accept this discrepancy in news coverage, especially when this tragedy involves 4-6 year old children and their teacher. Additionally, what I cannot understand is some Apartheid Israelis rejoicing over such a tragedy and thanking God that it was not Jewish children who had perished in this horrific accident. Are we not all of God’s children and every human life is sacred.

I posted this incident in my Facebook status.  I expressed my sympathy and revealed the reaction of some Israelis. One person made a comment condemning the Israelis’ open praise of such a tragedy and then praised how discreet Hitler was in his actions. I did not see the connection with Hitler so I immediately deleted the comment. 

I then commented: “You cannot condemn hatred if you have hatred in your heart”

Yes the reaction of some Israelis was abysmal and I cannot understand it. What eats at my soul is not only that it was a reaction in of itself but that it was a reaction from some Jews when their ancestral history teaches the entire world that racial hatred stands contrary to human values. Because of the hatred inflicted upon Palestinians, mainly because Israelis have painted all Palestinians as terrorists, I will not tolerate Palestinians who advocate hatred of Jews or any other race, ethnicity, religion or any other group. My use of the term apartheid in reference to Israelis in my articles is not hatred, it is telling the truth—Israel is the Apartheid State of Israel.

Eventually the apartheid system that Israel continues to try to perpetuate will come to an end and Palestinians and Israelis will then live together between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean just like the different races in South Africa now live. Nelson Mandela, having been imprisoned for over 27 years by the White South Africans because of the color of his skin has taught us the following in his Autobiography:

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion.  People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its’ opposite.

            

             Palestinians should not return hatred for hatred. Palestinians should forgive those who cheer at the death of  innocent kindergarteners.  In a previous article entitled “Palestinians Can Teach Jews Forgiveness”, I wrote:

A human element needs to be a part of the Palestinian struggle to be free of the Israeli apartheid practices.  If there is no human element than the Palestinian struggle will not have been worth the effort……Palestinians cannot be like the Apartheid settlers who are using their cars to run over Palestinian children.  http://fadizanayed.blogspot.com/2012/01/palestinians-can-teach-jews-forgiveness.html

            I am sure that this message resonates in a significant number of Palestinians and Israelis. Leaders on both sides need to listen to this message and start seeking the votes from people who have this human element rather than pursuing the votes of people who hate. Leaders need to teach love rather than hatred. 

            Nelson Mandela had every reason to hate his White captors and no one would have been against him had he hated them.  However, he would have never been any better than the apartheid regime that he sought to replace had he sowed hatred in his heart.  Rather, we sowed love and lead his people to love and prosperity.

            Both Palestinians and Israelis need a Nelson Mandela. Both need to sow love.



(© Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)