Peace in the midst of conflict
We are living in a world where violence has increased, so much so that we hear in the news of shootings in homes, families, schools, supermarkets, shopping malls, even in churches and between nations.
Currently the war between Israel and Hamas, the war in Russia and Ukraine, which have been going on for several months. In addition, we hear about the threats of other wars that could be unleashed in a 3rd world war, a nuclear war that could bring the destruction of the planet.
Someone defined war as people who do not know each other, do not hate each other (soldiers of war) kill each other for two subjects, who do know each other, who do hate each other, but do not kill each other.
What is Peace?
There are several definitions or interpretations of the concept of Peace from the political, personal and spiritual spheres. But these are related to each other because to achieve peace in our society, we must start with us as individuals.
In the political level:
Peace is the absence of war or hostilities when referring to a country.
Peace also refers to cease-fire or cease-fire agreements.
Today the term political peace is also used to refer to pro-citizen policies.
On a personal level:
Some would say that living in peace is the absence of conflict in life.
Peace is often defined as respect for the rights of others. "Respect for the rights of others is peace".
I personally define it as love. To love your neighbor as yourself. If I love you as I love myself, I will not harm you.
On a spiritual level:
On a spiritual plane, peace is a serene state of mind where one can be in harmony with oneself and others.
Peace is when the body, soul and spirit are calm.
Some seek peace through meditation, others through prayer.
In religion, seeking from God. The Bible says that Jesus is the Prince of Peace and that his peace surpasses all human understanding flooding our reason and our heart.
PEACE PAINTING CONTEST
In an art contest, artists were asked to depict the concept of peace in their paintings.
One of the artists painted a green grass with daisy flowers.
The second painted a lake with clear, serene water under a blue sky.
The third artist painted black clouds, a raging sea, high waves hitting a rock and a little bird sheltering inside a hole in the rock, calmly waiting for the storm to pass.
The latter won the Peace concept award.
So, peace is not the absence of problems, it is not the absence of conflict, peace is as I say in the title of this workshop to have faith that the storm will pass, that is to have Peace in the midst of Conflict.
LIVING IN A COUNTRY AT WAR
My personal experience
I am Dominican and after graduating from law school in my country, I came to the United States as we all did in search of the American dream. My dream was to continue my professional studies. I lived with my mother and siblings in New York.
In New York I married a Lebanese man. After achieving my professional goals, being admitted to the New York Bar, having the ideal job as a lawyer for the New York City government, after buying my dream house in the state of New Jersey, I suddenly found myself trapped living in a Far Eastern country, within an oppressive culture and religion.
That was in the 1990's. I arrived in Lebanon with my 18 month old baby for a vacation, which had no return. Upon my arrival I found a completely militarized airport, it seemed that I was arriving in a war camp.
I found a completely devastated and destroyed country. The buildings were totally or partially demolished. On all sides there were piles of rubble of stones and cement as a result of the bombs.
One could see the curtains on the broken windows, and clothes lying on the pieces of balconies, evidencing the conditions in which the families were living in the midst of the war. A collapsed infrastructure, electrical and communication cables on the floor.
TWO SIMULTANEOUS WARS.
Civil war between the Christian Maronites who were the minority but held political power and the people, whose majority was of Islamic origin and fought to overthrow the Christian government.
Lebanon was for many years a colony of France and due to its geographical location on the Mediterranean, it became the Paris of the Middle East. When France granted Lebanon its independence in 1943, the constitution stipulated that the political power, the post of the country's president and the members of parliament were held by Christian Maronites. Because the Christian Maronites were the minority, the majority which was Islamic undertook their own militias and their own systems of government. By the time I arrived that intense and bloody civil war had been going on for 17 years.
At the same time another parallel war was going on with their neighboring country, Israel, because of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were refugees in Lebanon. In my book: The Last Sunset in Lebanon I describe in detail the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which existed then and persists to this day, from the point of view I experienced it. Also from the historical point of view.
The United Nations created the State of Israel in 1948 for humanitarian reasons as a result of the persecution of the Jews in Eastern Europe in the 1930's as a result of the holocaust in Germany and Poland suffered by the Jewish people.
In Lebanon the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees, formed militias financed by the government of Iran and from the Lebanese territory invaded Israel and in turn, Israel invaded Lebanon and occupied the entire southern part of Lebanon.
In my book The Last Sunset in Lebanon I describe the panic I felt when the Israeli warplanes flew over my head with a thunderous noise similar to a big explosion. The same planes were dropping bombs. I would run with my daughter to hide under a table, because I could never distinguish that noise from a bomb. I also describe my experience of walking in a minefield, knowing that any false step would be the end of me.
SUFFERING OF THE PEOPLE
The sight of so many women who were mostly dressed in black because they had lost their son or husband in the war was a very sad sight.
The little boy who surprised me by how well he spoke English, brought tears to my eyes when I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up? To be alive, was his answer.
A large poster all over Beirut illustrated a woman running with a wounded child in her arms surrounded by military men, it read "Despite its wounds, Lebanon will rise".
PEACE AGREEMENT
The United Nations, aims to ensure human rights and enact peace, enacted April 24 as the international day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace as of April 2018 with the aim of promoting the values of the UN Charter and its principles of resolving disputes between countries through peaceful means.
The three fundamental pillars of the UN are:
1. Sustainable development.
2. Peace
3. Security and Human Rights
Let us define several terms in order to understand what this International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace signifies.
1. What is Sustainable Development?
It is development with a view to meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the capacity of future generations.
Ensuring a balance between economic growth,
Care for the environment, without causing further damage to the ecosystem.
Promote social welfare
To guarantee peace and international security
Prevent conflicts and mediate agreements between the parties involved.
The common goal of sustainable development is to achieve lasting and sustained peace through diplomacy.
What is diplomacy?
Diplomacy is the branch of politics that deals with the study of international relations.
It is the set of procedures that regulate relations between states.
The diplomat is a spokesman or spokesperson in another state and his mission is to mediate between the two states with courtesy, sagacity and dissimulation.
What does Multilateralism mean?
Multi, meaning several and lateral meaning sides.
Multilateral refers to several sides or parties.
Multilateralism is a term used in international relations to refer to the joint activity of three or more countries with the objective of addressing issues in common.
It is different from bilateralism, which is between two sovereign states.
Multilateralism can occur not only between nations, but also within the framework of international and non-governmental organizations.
Multilateralism promotes globalization, which not all the world's rulers agree on.
My book "My Last Sunset in Lebanon" narrates an unprecedented historical event that occurred during the time I lived in the midst of this war.
It was hard for everyone to believe what our eyes were watching on television, CNN in English with Arabic subtitles: Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the man Israel, the United States and the world considered the most threatening terrorist on earth, was in the United States and in the White House! Standing there, right next to President Clinton and the Prime-Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, who was speaking, "We who have fought against you, the Palestinians, say to you today, loud and clear, enough blood and tears, enough!"
In that agreement, Israel granted the Palestinians Jericho and the Gaza Strip.
SUMMARY:
Above I was telling them that peace is described from 3 different realms, from a political, personal and spiritual point of view. I was also telling you that these are interlinked. My love for my daughter and my faith in God helped me to maintain the necessary peace in the midst of conflict.
First we have to seek peace within ourselves. Where there is peace there is love and where there is love there is God. Thank you. God bless you, God bless our nations.
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