If the World Were a Hospital

In 2006 Paul and I went on a Journey of Peace to the Middle East, led by Rabbi Joshua Stampfer (of blessed memory) and Rev. Rodney Page. They had led a trip some 20 years earlier with the same desire to bring together people of the Abrahamic faiths to further our efforts for peace. The trip afforded us a chance to meet leaders and peace makers in Israel/Palestine. Among them, we were fortunate to meet Sari Nusseibeh. Sari was a Palestian whose family were the keepers for generations of the key to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. (This because of generations of feuding branches within Christianity), and Sari was of an esteemed Muslim family. A former member of the Cabinet of the Palestinian Authority, a philosophy professor, and then President of Al Quds University, and an author, his books are numerous and include Once Upon A Country: a Palestian Life. We returned to Israel with Eric, Rebecca, Max and Sophie, for our grandaughter’s trip celebrating her pending Bat Mitzvah. Paul had written to Sari to see if he would consider again meeting with us. He suggusted we meet at The American Colony Hotel which was perfect, since we’d planned to go there to celebrate Sophie’s 12th birthday. We were honored to meet there with Mr. Nusseibeh, co-author of the Oslo Peace Accords!. At our table, Sari told us he'd had dinner with his good friend / Shimon Peres, just a few nights before, and Shimon said: "If the world were like a hospital, we'd have peace already.” Sari said “Shimon was correct. He told us his personal story exemplifying this truth. He looked at Sophie and said: “Sophie, when my daughter was your age, she had a bicycle accident, and we took her to the hospital. A terrorist attack had just occured, and the ambulances were bringing in the wounded. As a Palestinian, I thought we’d be told to go elswhere, but that didn’t happen. They took wonderful care of my daughter.” During this time of Coronavirus, Paul and I heard an NPR story as a current example of Sari’s story and Shimon Peres’ dream. I hope Shimon is listening from Heaven. And I am so heartened to have met Mr. Nuseibeh. Here is a link to the story. https://www.npr.org/2020/05/13/855237010/hotel-corona