Eid Mubarak

I wish all my Muslim friends and readers God's blessings on Eid al-Adha (The Festival of Sacrifice)!

It's an important festival which I think Christians should also celebrate. It remembers the day that Abraham did not sacrifice his son (Issac or Ishmael, depending on you preference). The focus is often on the obedience and faith of Abraham in his willingness to give to God that which he cared about the most. This is certainly an important part of the story, but I think another perspective on it is even more significant. People often wonder why God should ask Abraham to prepare to do such a horrible thing (building the altar, tying his son to it, raising his dagger to kill...) even if he granted a last minute reprieve? I think this question reveals the great truth behind of Eid al-Adha. Abraham lived in a time when human sacrifice, including child sacrifice, was central to most of the religions of the day. God was giving Abraham a very clear lesson: He was not that kind of deity. He is the God who creates, and life is precious to him.

How ironic then, that in a day that we remember a life being spared, in Iraq a life was taken. I was no fan of Saddam. I know many people who suffered directly and indirectly because of his harsh rule and, but for his regime (and the reaction of other countries to it), Iraq might today be a wealthy and peaceful country, the cradle of civilization. However executing him does not undo the damage. In fact in the long term it may inhibit the healing process for Iraqis, who will now not have the chance to have the wrongs done to them because of Saddam heard in court. Saddam is of course not the first person to be executed. There are of course many serious crimes such as murder and kidnapping being committed daily in Iraq, and the Iraqi courts are handing out the death penalty frequently and often on a tiny fraction of the evidence and judicial process that existed for Saddam. I have lost many friends in Iraq in recent years, and I can relate to the desire for punishment and revenge. But sadly I doubt this will set the foundation for the peaceful Iraq, respectful of human rights, that the long-suffering Iraqis deserve.

I would have preferred the punishment for Saddam that Norman Kember has suggested: for him to be dressed in an orange jumpsuit and put to work on a building site, ending his life repairing in a small way a tiny part of the destruction he brought upon his country. And we could think of a few other leaders closer to home who might justly be expected to join him in laying those bricks.

a little good news on Christmas Day

For a couple of months I've been trying to find someone to pay for the treatment of Badr, a 2 year old Iraqi boy who is the nephew of a friend whose father was killed by US soldiers last year and who has a life-threatening heart condition . Now I've just heard confirmation that, thanks to help from CIVIC, an American medical foundation has agreed to pay for him to be fully treated in a hospital in Ohio! Of course this is a small thing set against the hundreds being killed everyday, but at least this boy has a chance at life.

Bethlehem

CPT hostages call for forgiveness

I've just been to the press conference in London (at St.Ethelburgas, a church which was destroyed by an IRA bomb and is now a peace centre) where the former CPT hostages, Jim Loney, Norman Kember and Harmeet Singh Sooden called for restorative justice not the death penalty for their former captors:

"We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us. We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us. What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution. Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency. We categorically lay aside any rights we may have over them... Kidnapping is a capital offence in Iraq and we understand that some of our captors could be sentenced to death. The death penalty is an irrevocable judgment. It erases all possibility that those who have harmed others, even seriously, can yet turn to good. We categorically oppose the death penalty." (Statement in full)

It is a very clear message and my friend Tom Fox, who was kidnapped with them but killed a few weeks before they were rescued, would have agreed wholeheartedly with it. In response to a question, Norman said "Tom was the most compassionate of the four of us. Whenever we heard a bomb go off somewhere in the city, Tom would immediately pray for both the victims and the perpetrators."

Separately... the BBC today reports on the pioneering grassroots video-blogging from Iraq that my friends Omar and Brian have been doing in Baghdad. Alive in Baghdad was being run from my flat in Amman earlier this year.

White poppy controversy

For years I've been quietly wearing a white poppy in the run up to Remembrance day (the 11th November, when Britons commemorate those who have died in wars, traditionally wearing the Red Poppy of the Royal British Legion which became a symbol due to the flowers that grew in the trenches of the 1st World War). Until this year, most people were unaware of the white poppy's meaning (as only 50,000 are worn annually compared to 10's of millions of red poppies) which is to honour the dead while not glorifying warfare, and expressing a commitment to non-violence.

This year things have suddenly changed with prominent TV personalities such as newsreader Jon Snow refusing to wear a poppy on air, and the fierce backlash in the media to my friends at Christian think tank Ekklesia encouraging churches to stock white poppies as well as red ones to give people the choice of what to wear and stimulate discussion on the myth of redemptive violence (the idea that long-term peace can be achieved through war). Simon Barrow's article "Giving peace a chance proves highly controversial" gives a good overview of the debate. See also the Peace Pledge Union's White Poppy site.

Interviews from Iraq

Brian has posted up some excellent interviews on his blog with some of my closest friends from Iraq. Merky talks about his detention in Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca, Majed talks about his first experiences after the war, and Sami of Muslim Peacemaker Teams relates the amazing story of a brave Sunni who died rescuing drowning Shias after a bridge collapse.

New opportunities for me, none for Iraq

Apparently my sister-in-law in Ohio regularly checks this blog for updates and has told me off for not writing more often. I've got a little to report today, as it's my last day working on Peacemakers and next week I'm starting work on From Crisis to Opportunity, a new project of the Oxford Research Group to develop more inclusive and legitimate approaches to conflict in the Middle East.

A bigger development for us is that Jenny is now in her third week with a small and quirky accountancy firm which focuses on auditing charities. As it will take Jenny three years to qualify as a chartered accountant, it looks likely that we will be staying in London for at least that long - also conviniently about the time needed for Jenny to get British citizenship.

Looking beyond our little lives, I haven't really got anything coherent to say about Iraq today. I'm in a catatonic state these days as the violence continues unabated. Rather than reading a rant from me, I direct you instead to my friend Zaid al-Ali's latest article on Opendemocracy critiquing Peter Galbraith's book on dividing Iraq. Also visit Riverbend who has blogged at last after a 2.5 month hiatus that got us all worried for her, and Jeff's new blog War Every Day on Electrionic Iraq. The BBC aired a powerful and distressing documentary this week filmed by a doctor in Yarmouk hospital in Baghdad - it shows the real results of the violence in Iraq which we rarely see.

If you are in London on Sunday go and join in the No More Fallujah's peace camp outside Parliament. I might join it if I can get back in time from Birmingham where we're doing a workshop on CPT at a Fellowship of Reconciliation conference.

Palestinians with no where to flee

Human Rights Watch has just published a report No Where to Flee: The Perilous Situation of Palestinians in Iraq. Through Christian Peacemaker Teams I've had close contact with many Palestinians in Iraq and know those who are in hiding in Baghdad, stuck in border refugee camps and a very few who have made it safely out of Iraq.

We will not be silent

Before the Monarch flight debacle there was another example of Islamophobia on a flight from New York to San Francisco on August 12. My close friend Raed Jarrar, a secular Iraqi-Palestinian who was groomsman at my wedding in June (when you follow the link he's on at the top of the steps in the first photo throwing confetti and on the left of the second photo), was flying back from NY to rejoin his American wife Niki in San Francisco. He is a prominent figure in the peace movement and was wearing a T-shirt saying "We will not be silent" in English and Arabic (a slogan first used by opponents to Nazi rule in Germany). But JetBlue airlines decided to silence him, insisting that he remove his T-shirt in case it worried other passangers. Raed explained "I grew up and spent all my life living under authoritarian regimes and I know that these things happen. But I'm shocked that they happened to me here, in the US." (see his blog for more). You can call JetBlue on 001-801-365-2525 to ask them why he was treated like this. The Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee have lodged a formal complaint.

Today the story featured as a front page item on BBC News (and elsewhere)

Peacemakers

I've just started working on a project Peacemakers launched after the 7/7 bombings in London last year to build bridges with the British Muslim community. It's a range of multi-media products (films, commericals, a photo exhibit, a music video, teachers guide book etc.) showcasing the lives of ordinary Muslim, Christian and secular Brits and peacemakers from these communities. The materials are due to be completed towards the end of the year and I'm working on organising consultation with stakeholders (particularly the Muslim community) and figuring out how to best distribute them through schools, churches, broadcasts etc.

If anyone reading this is going to be at Greenbelt this bank holiday weekend, I'll be hanging about the Peace Zone with friends from Christian International Peace Service and Christian Peacemaker Teams UK and others, so come and say hello!