With great sadness in our hearts, we jointly address this letter to you and your readers. Death, destruction of homes, disrupted lives and unending fear and violence are daily occurrences in the Gaza Strip of Palestine and in Israel. The overwhelming number of victims are family members: innocent children, the elderly, mothers and fathers. In the land that gave birth to the great religions of the world, there is a regrettable absence of love, mutual respect, or genuine spirituality, replaced by an ever-spiraling level of hatred and bloodshed. Amid this tragedy, we lift our voices as Muslim and Jew to ask for peace, to entreat Hamas and the Israeli Army to lay down their arms, immediately cease the rockets, the bombing and battling to observe a truce during which not a shot is fired, a truce in which children can go outside and breathe freely of the air, a truce in which all can live without being in harm's way. We ask that the voices of calm and reason discuss a way forward without resorting to violence, toward a life in which all can live among and near each other without fear. We also ask for justice, that every man, woman and child has the right to a home, food, water and medicine. We ask that the world come together and help resolve the differences that have separated our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land. We know that this is very hard and requires much effort, but it is the only way... there is no other. May our voices be joined by yours ... may all of our voices ring out until the path to peace is at last beneath our feet...may the people of Gaza Strip in Palestine and the people of Israel embrace each other as children of God and find a way to live without fear. And may we all say the words Salaam, Shalom.
Fadil Bayyari
Springdale
Ralph Nesson
Fayetteville
Commentary on 07/26/2014