Prayers of Peace for Palestine and Israel

In a region which conditions us that the Palestinian cause is an Arab and Muslim cause, my political ideals were pretty much thrust upon me. I grew up believing in these ideals but fortunately outgrew them when I realized I was polarizing the world and complicit in a matrix of divisiveness. This is not to say I no longer support the Palestinian cause, but that I no longer see the situation from only an Arab and Muslim perspective. I now see it through a more expansive lens, a lens in which I am not a Kuwaiti or an Arab or a Muslim, but a human being.

The most pressing political crisis in the region, one which seems never-ending, is the Palestinian cause. Of course, seeing only images of Israeli soldiers pointing machine guns at children, arresting juveniles, pushing elderly people and women, storming Al Aqsa Mosque, reducing buildings to rubble, displacing families, implementing legislation of undeniable apartheid, dehumanizing Palestinians at checkpoints, it was easy to stand with Palestine. And yet, I couldn’t shake off the silent whisper of compassion toward Israelis that was taking hold of me when I realized that for years Jews had been ostracized, killed, condemned, and kicked out of one land after another.