By Mark Zirnsak
Hearing from Palestinian and Israeli peace-builders
The Synod and the Victorian Council of Churches are funding a visit to Australia by Palestinian and Israeli Jewish peace-builders, Riman Barakat and Peta Jones Pellach.
The speaking tour serves two purposes:
- To make Australians aware of Palestinian and Jewish people who are working for peace together through non-violent means; and,
- To provide an example to the Australian community of how people can work together in situations of conflict through mutual respect. Thus, the tour will make a contribution to reducing racism in the community, including antisemitism and Islamophobia.
Peta and Riman will speak at the Synod meeting. While in Melbourne they will also speak at a public town hall meeting, a church, a synagogue and the University of Melbourne. They will meet with politicians in Canberra and have speaking events in Sydney before the tour finishes on September 8.
Riman is a Palestinian from East Jerusalem and the co-CEO of FeelBeit, which runs a small venue on the border of East and West Jerusalem.
The name is a play on words: “Beit” means home in both Hebrew and Arabic. In Arabic, “FeelBeit” also sounds like “At Home”.
It is a meeting place for Jews and Palestinians.
FeelBeit hosts workshops, meals and meetings, and the highlight is weekly performances which are attended by hundreds of Jews and Palestinians.
The performances were suspended during the first few weeks after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 and opening of the war of revenge in Gaza. Since then over 20,000 people have attended events at FeelBeit.
“The events of October 7 and the war were not distant to me”, Riman said.
“We have family and friends in Gaza, while on the other hand, in 2016 I was part of a peace initiative with women and met Vivian Silver.”
Vivian Silver was a Canadian-born Jewish peace activist who was a resident of Kibbutz Be’eri and was murdered in the Hamas attack on the kibbutz. Vivian was also a founder of Women Wage Peace.
Formed after the 2014 Gaza war, Women Wage Peace is the largest women-led peace movement in Israel, with over 45,000 members.
The movement spans political, ethnic, and religious divides, and is dedicated to the achievement of a negotiated political resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“In 2015, my friend Shelagh Shalev told me that she was part of a 50-day strike outside the Prime Minister’s residence,” Peta said.
“I went to the tent to support the women (and a couple of men) demanding peace.
“In 2016, I participated in the March of Hope, along with my sister, who was visiting from Australia.
“It was then that I formally became a member of Women Wage Peace.
“From the beginning, I have been disappointed that not more religious women are active in Women Wage Peace.
“We pray every day for Shalom; why don’t we do more to make it a reality? As a friend and colleague, Alick Isaacs, said recently, ‘If it’s worth praying for, it’s worth working for’.”
“Not many Australians, including people in the Uniting Church, know there are Palestinian and Jewish Israeli peace organisations striving hard for a non-violent resolution to the conflict,”said Mark Zirnsak, Synod Senior Social Justice Advocate.
“The speaking tour will give people a chance to hear about this movement and provide support. It is this movement of people that provides the greatest hope for an end to the current escalation in the war and for a long-term peace.”
The organisations involved in the speaking tour are the Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania; Women Wage Peace; the Victorian Council of Churches; Pax Christi Victoria; New Israel Fund; and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
Riman and Peta will speak at a public town hall event in the inner south-east suburbs on Sunday, August 31 from 6.30pm-8.30pm.
Click here to register to attend.
Mark Zirnsak is the Synod’s Senior Social Justice Advocate