Collective Liberation & Shared Grief
This week we have experienced a powerful source of hope during such a devastating time. Hosting the joint ceremonies was particularly challenging against the background of extreme violence and daily suffering.
Our Palestinian and Israeli teams devoted great care and effort to ensure that the Joint Memorial Day Ceremony and Joint Nakba Remembrance Ceremony took place. And you, our international community, showed up with profound solidarity. If you missed Sunday’s Joint Memorial Ceremony, click here to watch the recording.
As we work for collective liberation, we enlarge our hearts. Author Cole Arthur Riley writes, “Don’t believe the lie that energy given toward one liberation cause is energy taken from another liberation cause. Every wound is connected. And we won’t settle for a partial healing.” As a joint movement, we know this well and we share our days of grief.
Yesterday, as a vital step for a peaceful and just future, CfP gathered for the Joint Nakba Remembrance Ceremony to acknowledge the painful history of displacement and erasure of thousands of Palestinians from 1948 to this day. We were honored to have the support of guest speaker Rep. Tlaib who thanked Combatants for Peace for “speaking truth to power” and bringing Palestinians and Israelis together to unite for an end to the occupation and lasting peace. Prof. Peled-Elhanan shared, “We must teach our children to say no. No to evil. No to racism. No to the idea that there are superior and inferior people, essential and non-essential, and no to the idea that some have the right to live and others must die.”
Click here to watch the recording of the 2024 Joint Nakba Remembrance Ceremony.
I leave you with words from Joint Nakba Ceremony co-host, A’ida Shibli, beloved Palestinian activist and CfP community member,
“As sounds and words are born from silence, from the ruins of the past, life will grow like flowers. We, Palestinians and Israelis, will do all that we can to nurture them. We will do everything in our power to liberate ourselves from the burdens of occupation and oppression, from the shadows of war; so that the sounds of laughter, music, and children playing will drive away the thunder of guns and the stillness of death. Join us so we can all rise from the wreckage to life.”
We are strengthened by this week together and there is much more work yet to do. Thank you for your support and participation.
In solidarity,
Tiffany Goodwin-Van Camp, Executive Director of AFCFP