Noemie Nalbandian
Deputy Head Nurse at Hadassah Medical Center-Mount Scopus
People ask if I hate the Turks. I do not hate the Turks, I hate what they did to my grandparents. They have to recognize what they did and apologize. I live in a world where the Arabs and Jews fear each other and can’t depend on each other. The wounds and the sorrow are continuous—the way my ancestors were treated and the way Jews, Christians, and Muslims treat each other. It goes on and on. I teach my children, “If you strike the person who hit you, you are no better than he is.” We can’t get out of this mess if we strike back. [..]
Barbara: Wednesday
I was back at Hadassah Hospital last night for some family. The ophthalmologist I needed to see for something was unexpectedly busy. He had to rush to the emergency room where the neurosurgeon was working on the teen who had a cinder block thrown at his head. A Jewish teen, by the way. The conflict [...]
Barbara: Tuesday
Today I spent part of the day brainstorming with a mixed team of Israelis and Palestinians staff members about the best way to improve the experiences of Palestinian parents, (mostly mothers) who visit Hadassah Hospital. We have thousands of patients from Gaza and the West Bank, and many arrive without pocket money, let alone the [...]
Badia Khalaf
Chair of Annahda Women’s Association
The best thing in life is love. Without love we cannot live. As Christians, we want only peace. This is our Christianity. We can love each other, we can live with each other. It’s not hard for us to live with Jewish people, Israeli people. [...]
Khuloud J. Khayyat Dajani
Professor and Chair of Al Quds Child Institute
The Palestinian nation has one of the highest fertility rates and a median age of 18. Large numbers of children need special care. It is obvious nobody looks out for them by the results in the streets of Gaza and the camps of Beirut and the West Bank. There’s little investment in refugee children by Palestinian leaders or Israelis, so they don’t know how to be proper citizens of the world. They suffer from a toxic environment—if you feel your country move towards civil war, it tells what kind of atmosphere the children live in. [...]
Jumana Odeh
Founder-Director of Happy Child Center
I argue with Israeli soldiers at the checkpoints. I say “I am human,” but they don’t want to see me as human. They are in denial. They are there to defend and protect their country. When they pass by hundreds of Palestinians, they don’t want to see the suffering children.
Barbara Sofer
Journalist and Director of Public Relations for Hadassah
I’ve been in rooms where people are taking care of terror victims while everybody around the table had to worry that day about being blown up as well—and at the same time, a terrorist would be taken care of. When people come into these hospitals, they move a switch inside and elicit their best selves. We’ll never have a future unless we switch off the static of all the anger and conflicts to move ahead to peace.
Tirza Moussaieff
Psychologist, writer, and imagery worker
The Torah says Redemption will come from women this time. Women give birth to children and are more open and sensitive. They see reality. Men are little boys. But there is hope because women have a lot of power over men. If they guide men with respect and knowledge, I think men will be happy to receive it because they are more lost than women. They are little boys with toys. When they are impotent, they love to use a gun. If you look at the profile of major generals, I wouldn’t be surprised if you find a background of impotency.
Buthaina Doqmaq
Chair of Mandela Institute for Human Rights
More than 380 Palestinian children under 18 years of age are in Israeli prisons. They need to be educated—not tortured, abused inside prisons, deprived of their parents’ visits. The Israelis tour the world demanding the release of one abducted soldier. I demand the international community intervene to free prisoners who are seekers of freedom and peace. We want our detained children home with their families.
