10/14/2025
Grateful to partner with CWR who is doing amazing reconciliation work like this!
"Musalaha, one of our partners in Bethlehem, Palestine, holds an initiative called Desert Encounter, where Israelis and Palestinians engage in truth-telling and racial reconciliation. Here's a story from one of their participants:
"I am Tamar, a Palestinian Christian from Jerusalem. Firstly, I joined Musalaha's program because I believe in its mission of reconciliation. The occupation leaves the Palestinians powerless to liberate themselves on their own, and it is impossible for us to meet Israelis that want to reconcile. Musalaha offers us the opportunity to create a reality we want to see [and] co-resist nonviolently to end the occupation, in good neighborship with each other. Through Musalaha, I have met some truly amazing women, who I have built relationships, and I am even friends with some women that were born in a Zionist identity. I help them struggling with their injured identity, and we grieve together the loss of life in Gaza, the West Bank, and the rest of the Land. Even during the toughest of circumstances, our relationships have sustained because of the magical time we spent together in the desert. Through the storytelling exercises, we have truly learned to listen to each individual story, and I felt true compassion for the pain of my Israeli neighbor, without forsaking my own pain and immediate, urgent call for justice. We can now show true solidarity to one another and stand together in heart and action and I hope this stayed the same. I needed this to even think about a new future here."