Ruth: Sunday
Posted on | November 16, 2008 | No Comments
Woke up early to a clear, crisp sunny autumn day in Patricia’s beautiful home overlooking the Potomac. There’s something about a North American fall day that is so exhilharating and tranquil at the same time. I miss that in Paris.
Patricia has invited 2 of the Israeli and 2 of the Palestinian women in the book to come to Washington for the Peace X Peace book launch/annual fundraiser. Nira Lamay, Louise Brody, the book designer, and Reem Alshareef (who is still stuck in Amman) and I are staying at Patricia’s.
Barbara Sofer and Jumana Odeh are staying with friends and family. They joined us for brunch today. Barbara is the recipient of the Search for Common Ground 2008 Eliav Sartawi Award for journalism in the Middle East. And Jumana was awarded the Nobel Prize for Children at the UNICEF House in New York just last week. One of the best parts of working on this book with Patricia was getting to meet such great women. Oh, and Nira heard today that she finished her Masters Law Degree from Northwestern and Tel Aviv with Honours!
The discussion was at times heated – need I say it ? Strong, intelligent, passionate women from both sides of the conflict, each with different experiences, different histories, different realities. But each one let the other speak her truth. And when things got rough, Pat Morris was there to remind us that « we are the ones we have been waiting for ».
