Bridges across an Impossible Divide: The Inner Lives of Arab and Jewish Peacemakers

by Marc Gopin

Overview

Marc Gopin offers a groundbreaking exploration of Arab/Israeli peace partnerships: unlikely friendships created among people who have long been divided by bitter resentments, deep suspicions, and violent sorrows. In Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Gopin shows how the careful examination of their inner spiritual lives has enabled Jewish and Arab individuals to form peace partnerships, and that these partnerships may someday lead to peaceful coexistence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199986835
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/01/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Marc Gopin is the James H. Laue Professor of World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution, and the Director of the Center on World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University's School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. His books include Holy War, Holy Peace; Healing the Heart of Conflict; and Between Eden & Armageddon.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
1. Introduction: The Spiritual Life of Arab and Jewish Peace Partners
PART I: SELF EXAMINATION AND IDENTITY
2. Ibtisam Mahmeed: An Introductory Palestinian Case Study
3. Eliyahu McLean: An Introductory Israeli Jewish Case Study
PART II: Peace Partners In Their Own Words
4. Abdul Aziz Bukhari
5. Gabriel Meyer
6. Ihab Balha
7. Hind Kabawat
8. Marc Gopin
PART III: THE INNER LIFE OF PEACEMAKING
9. A Summary of our Peacemakers' Transformative Qualities
Concluding Thoughts on The Inner Life of Peace Makers and the Future of Global Change
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"This moving and brilliant book should be read by all who doubt that peace is possible between Arabs and Israelis. The author's own life has been a journey from the comfort of his own community to an embrace of strangers, a sacred voyage that has brought him face to face with everyday peacemakers on both sides of the divide. Gopin maps the way out of hatred through the words of extraordinary people who fight for peace."—Laurence R. Simon, Professor of International Development, Brandeis University

"Marc Gopin's findings are fresh, unique, and greatly needed. He breaks new ground in the field of spiritually advanced social change, offering rare insight into the lives of these amazing peacemakers in the context of the most entrenched, complex, multifaceted, and difficult conflict facing the world today. What Gopin contributes in this book will be most important to the work for peace in the Middle East. This is a book that needs to be read."—Curtiss Paul DeYoung, Professor of Reconciliation Studies, Bethel University

"Bridges across an Impossible Divide puts before us what few have accomplished-an entry into the inner personal life and inter-subjective worlds of violent conflict. Through detailed and carefully recorded conversation we have insight into the fluidity of perception, the power of emotion, and the complex process of how people make sense of their lives and relationships, especially with their enemies. Take time to read these conversations slowly. They hold the sacred ground of authentic human struggle seeking ways of remaining true to the depth of loss and pain experienced while crafting relationship with those perceived to have cause it. The bridge rises from resilient spirits refusing to let the damage of violence destroy their own humanity or find it in others."—John Paul Lederach, Professor of International Peace Studies, Kroc Institute, University of Notre Dame

From the Publisher