#77 John Dear in conversation with Zoughbi Zoughbi of Bethlehem, Palestine: "The West Bank is a prison, Gaza is a concentration camp."
About this episode
Fr. John Dear interviews Zoughbi Zoughbi about the struggles and activism in Palestine.
Today I speak with one of the great peacemakers of our time, my friend Zoughbi Zoughbi of Bethlehem, Palestine. Zoughbi is a lifelong Catholic Palestinian activist, organizer and teacher of Gospel nonviolence. Long ago he founded the Wi’am Center, the Palestinian Conflict Transformation Center in the center of Bethlehem. Wi'am is widely recognized as a place of nonviolent conflict resolution that helps Palestinians in the day to day struggle for justice and peace ( www.alaslah.org ) For the last few years, he has also served as the president of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, which is the oldest peace group in the world ( www.ifor.org ). Whenever you think you are working too hard for justice and peace, remember Zoughbi! “This is the first time in history that Bethlehem and Jerusalem are separated, that you cannot travel between them,” he says . “We are living in reservations, separated from each other. Bethlehem is becoming a smaller reservation surrounded by 23 settlements and many outposts. The West Bank is a prison; Gaza is a concentration camp. Every day, we see more prisoners, houses being demolished, state violence, settler violence, environmental violence…
People in this episode
Host: Fr. John Dear
Guest: Zoughbi Zoughbi
Topics covered
- nonviolence
- peace activism
- Palestinian conflict
- social justice
- Gospel teachings
- human rights
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Wi’am Center, International Fellowship of Reconciliation
Places: Bethlehem, Palestine, Gaza, West Bank, Jerusalem
More episodes of The Nonviolent Jesus
- #81. John Dear with scholar, author and international leader in racial healing Dr. Catherine Meeks: "The culture in the US reinforces the notion that people of color are inferior to white people."
- #80. John Dear in conversation with author and theologian Fr. Ron Rolheiser: " In my lifetime I've never lived through darker days."
- #79. John Dear in conversation with scripture scholar and author Wes Howard-Brook: "We're faced with the choice between the religion of empire or the religion of creation."
- #78. John Dear with theologian/author/activist Lisa Sharon Harper: "We were three floors below ground, it was hot and the walls and floor were covered with roaches."
- #76 John Dear with Mel Duncan, co-founder of Nonviolent Peaceforce about his work all over the world, more recently in Palestine and St. Paul, MN: "Organized nonviolence led to ICE leaving Minneapolis."
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