By Laurie Archbold, Israel and Palestine Journey Leader and Compassionate Listening Facilitator
On my first trip to Palestine I had the pleasure of meeting a man named Sami Awad, founder of the Holy Land Trust. He is a peacemaker. And he became and remains an inspiration to me.
I remember being struck by how he shared about his relationship to his faith. He said “A big part of my journey has been spiritual. Coming from a Christian background, I began to read about this rabbi called Jesus 2000 years ago. I thought - wow - this guy is really cool! He called on his followers, who lived under occupation, to love your enemy. What does it mean to love your enemy?”
Sami shared with us about his family background. About what happened to his grandparents in 1948. About how they were forced to leave Jerusalem and became refugees. About how his Grandfather was shot and killed. He said, “I give all honor to my grandmother for the work that I'm doing. She insisted that as a family, we will never seek revenge and retaliation for what happened. And we will never remain silent in the face of violence and injustice. We will actively seek peace.” His life has unfolded honoring this vision. He has taken young Palestinians to Auschwitz, to bear witness to the horrors of the Holocaust, and acknowledge that reality as a part of the interconnected wounding that is at the heart of this conflict feeling so intractable.
And now, as we’ve watched with grief at all that’s unfolded: the horrors of the October 7th attacks on Israel, the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing, emboldened settler violence in the West Bank, the most far-right government in Israel’s history, and U.S. complicity in it all, the Compassionate Listening Project is heading back to Israel and Palestine in November.
We’re committed to fostering compassionate and courageous truth-tellers in service of co-liberation. As Fannie Lou Hamer taught us, “Nobody’s Free Until Everybody’s Free.”
This feels like something worth putting my energy towards. And even though I feel this deeply, it’s sometimes still hard to explain. People have been asking me about my “why” for this trip. I don’t really have words. But I think it does have something to do with my sense of Jesus’ teachings. Like Sami Awad, my spiritual path has unfolding with and around Jesus as my spiritual ancestor.
I used to wear a bracelet in middle school that read “What Would Jesus Do?” I thought it was super cool and I made it myself at church camp. Honestly, at the time, I was more concerned about sitting next to the boy I liked during worship service, but still, I listened to some of what was said about Jesus’ teachings. I gravitated to overly referenced bible versus from the Gospels like “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” But as I grew up, and I began to understand more deeply what Jesus was pointing to, and all the hypocrisy in the world, I found solace in Christian teachers like Desmond Tutu, who said “God gave each of us inherent worth and value; accept it in yourself, discover and encourage it in others, and peace just may be possible.”
Which brings us to the crux of the matter, and some more of my why.
I’ve been to Palestine. I’ve seen with my own eyes how Palestinians are treated. I’ve seen them treated as less than human. And I can’t unsee. We know where dehumanization leads. We know what it does to both the oppressed and the oppressor. Yet here we are. Repeating history like it’s taught us nothing.
And so, I find myself planning and organizing to return to Israel and Palestine to hear stories from those on the ground. To tend relationships we haven’t been able to tend in person for years. To be with friends and colleagues who cannot tune out because the horrors unfolding are their day to day lives. And I know that these stories will be both inspiring and heartbreaking.
Psalm 34:18 says “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” I pray this is true. As our founder at The Compassionate Listening Project says, this is a trip for the warriors of the heart. So I am preparing to go, to witness, and to be heartbroken. To let the stories and relationships change me. To let them bolster my spirit to speak truth to power in my own country. And to hopefully find some of the grace and love that Jesus preached so many years ago in that same place.
Laurie Archbold was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has B.A. in Comparative Religions and Middle East studies. She's traveled to and connected with the region through various people and organizations, including with Soliya's Connect Program, Mideast Wire's Beirut Exchange, and The Compassionate Listening Project. She is a Certified HeartMath Trainer and a Certified Compassionate Listening Facilitator. Her facilitation work is holistic by design and has spanned the realms of Conflict Resolution, Resilience Training, Emotional Intelligence and Nature Connection. Laurie is passionate about cultivating connection between humans and the power of heartfelt communication. She loves being a part of this delegation and supporting people in learning these embodied listening practices that are applicable across all aspects of life. She leads a variety of workshops and has a coaching business that you can find out more about here.
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