We have outgrown the living room. The San Mateo Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group, founded in 1992 by Adham and Nahida Salem of Belmont and Ramallah, and Len and Libby Traubman of San Mateo, continues. Len is now of blessed memory. The massacre on Oct. 7 and subsequent war in Gaza brought a new generation of Jews and Palestinians to our monthly meetings. With such an influx of volunteers, we no longer meet in one another’s homes, but at a church in San Mateo.
We sample delicious homemade humus (Palestinian) or Hamantaschen (Jewish) from a repurposed altar table instead of a dining room table. We sit on hard folding chairs in a circle instead of tush-friendly sofas or comfortable armchairs around a fireplace.
Although the environment in which we currently interact is not as warm and fuzzy as a living room, all of us share a vision of Jews and Palestinians living together as neighbors, supporting one another, and working together to bring peace to our shared land. We meet not to attack politicians or policy, but to develop caring relationships during these stressful times. One of the hallmarks of our dialogue is listening to one another without judgment. Even though a person’s story might contradict our own preconceived notions, we cannot and do not disagree with lived experience. We avoid trying to convince the other that our point of view should prevail, as we seek common ground.
If one must choose between Palestine and Israel, I assume my Palestinian friends would choose Palestine, just as I would opt for Israel. Our hope is to avoid such a choiceless choice. Instead, we offer a model of how Jews and Palestinians can work together, in our mutual best interests, to create peace in the land that is precious to both.
As the daughter of a 1937 German-Jewish refugee, I see the world through a Holocaust lens. After teaching a course on the Holocaust for 25 years at Notre Dame de Namur University, the lens rarely closes. Images of Gaza, reduced to rubble by the Israeli military, remind me of the near leveling of the German city of Dresden at the end of World War II. “Strategic bombing” describes the indiscriminate bombing of cities during wartime to achieve military objectives.
The eloquence of Rabbi Dr. Joachim Prinz comes to my mind. The rabbi of the Jewish community in Berlin under the Hitler regime, Rabbi Prinz spoke at the August 28, 1963, March on Washington, just before Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
Rabbi Prinz learned many things under Hitler: “The most important thing that I learned under those tragic circumstances was that bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problem. The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence.
“A great people which had created a great civilization had become a nation of silent onlookers. They remained silent in the face of hate, in the face of brutality and in the face of mass murder.”
Given the world’s silence in the face of the destruction of innocent life in Gaza, I now understand better how Germany, so cultured, so accomplished, could become a nation of silent bystanders. My Holocaust lens cannot focus on silence; it will not let me be a bystander. I must speak out.
Dr. Miriam Zimmerman is professor emeritus at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont.
What a wonderful column. I have all admiration for the thoughts presented. We have indeed been a nation of silent non-participants. I can't fathom that our administrations (the last two) can't side with the agony of the hostage families on all sides rather than with the criminals running the political apparatus (on both sides). The International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice have it right. They issued warrants to all offending parties (again on both sides).
The silence of our elected official as well as our Executive functionaries are failing miserably.
The ceasefire plan finally put into place just before the present administration took power was allowed to be trashed by the Netanyahu regime for political expedience and nothing else. Where is the caring for the families? This all could have been resolved a year back. Yet we have silence and finger pointing towards Iran! This illuminates the real agenda here. Not ending suffering but expanding geopolitical goals that ingnore the citizens of both Israel and the Palestinian territories.
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(1) comment
What a wonderful column. I have all admiration for the thoughts presented. We have indeed been a nation of silent non-participants. I can't fathom that our administrations (the last two) can't side with the agony of the hostage families on all sides rather than with the criminals running the political apparatus (on both sides). The International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice have it right. They issued warrants to all offending parties (again on both sides).
The silence of our elected official as well as our Executive functionaries are failing miserably.
The ceasefire plan finally put into place just before the present administration took power was allowed to be trashed by the Netanyahu regime for political expedience and nothing else. Where is the caring for the families? This all could have been resolved a year back. Yet we have silence and finger pointing towards Iran! This illuminates the real agenda here. Not ending suffering but expanding geopolitical goals that ingnore the citizens of both Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Sad indeed in the extreme.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.