Letters - 13 January 2023
From Putin to Cover and smile
Putin
‘Love to the loveless shown that they might lovely be.’
Would it be too childish to imagine what effect there might be if hundreds of us sent birthday and Christmas cards to Vladimir Putin, wishing him the gifts of the Spirit, love, joy and peace? Might he realise he’s missing something?
Dorothy Woolley
In a militarised society
In the 8 December 2022 issue Barbara Forbes asked how many Quakers think about the effect of the Israeli population living in a militarised population. It’s a good question.
I have recently joined Women in Black – for justice and against war, and discovered that it was founded in 1988 by Israeli women protesting against the occupation of Palestinian land.
This is only one way in which Israelis can work towards peace. In 1953, Bruno Hussar, a member of the Dominican Order whose work took him to Israel, built a vision of creating a place where co-citizens of Israel, Jews and Arabs, would live together.
Young Israelis and Palestinians were soon attracted by this vision of peaceful living between two peoples, and from that time the organisation has been called Neve Shalom-Wahat Al-Salam (NSWaS). Both words mean ‘Peace’, and for some time there has been a NSWaS School.
Sometimes an Israeli and a Palestinian come to our country together to speak about what they are doing and hoping to achieve.
There is in our country an organisation called Oasis of Peace, which supports Neve Shalom-Wahat Al-Salam and passes on donations to it.
These are not the only ways in which there are opportunities for Israelis and Palestinians to come together: for example, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.
Janet Toye
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