Patricia Smith: Friday
Posted on | November 7, 2008 | No Comments
A time of such transitions: personal lives, governments, redefining ourselves and our world. And today a transition. Ruth and I leave the hotel at 6 am in the morning for the Tel Aviv airport and our homes. Thoughts return to what is ahead and the November 19 U.S. book launch and Peace X Peace fundraising dinner at the House of Sweden along the Potomac River in D.C.
Reem Alshareef and Dr. Jumana Odeh will be with us there representing the Palestinian women; Barbara Sofer and Nira Lamay will be with us representing the Israeli women. Do not ask about the complexities of official letters of invitation and transportation! If I hear one more time, “It’s the Middle East, everything is complex, everything takes time,” I might leap over my plates of hummus and eggplant for an upfront and personal conversation, forgetting I’m a peace-loving person.
And the blog will transition to Rula Salameh tomorrow. (Ah, the 5 pm call to prayer just began outside my balcony door.) Rula, my Palestinian “sister” who found and gained the trust of all the Palestinian women in the book, who drives a mean car through lines at checkpoints when there are stone throwers (Palestinian youth) and tear gas throwers (Israeli soldiers from towers), who has a voice that matches the twinkle in her eyes, who left a life of comfort in Dubai to return to work for her people in Palestine, who was just elected chair of possibly the most powerful Palestinian women’s organization in the West Bank, who is beautiful and stunningly generous, and who managed the book launch in Ramallah. Rula, may your life be filled with the grace that you give all of us!
Remember: Men, listen to the women. Women, speak up!
