I woke up late after a cold wet night to find the sun shining through a veil of mist over the back gardens of the street, an unusual sight here in the city. Radio 4's Today programme was interviewing Judith Lifshitz the daughter of Yocheved Lifshitz, who together with Nurit Yitzhak are the hostages released by Hamas last night. Her father Oded is still unaccounted for. Judith, who was raised on the Kibbutz from where the couple were abducted spoke of his parents' high idealism as peace activists.
They settled on the Kibbutz early in their life together near the border with the Gaza Strip in order to work for reconciliation between Jews and Arabs, building relationships with Gazans. Oded volunteered to give lifts to Palestinians needing treatment in Israeli hospitals, meeting them at the nearest border crossing. Yocheved learned Arabic and taught classes to Israelis who wanted to improve communication neighbours across the border. Here for the first time in seventeen days of conflict are witnesses to the practical way of making love not war, counterbalancing the host of cries for vengeance and retaliation, people who know at first hand how risky and costly it can be. There are still prophets in Israel, thank God!
I listened to 'Thought for the Day' on BBC Sounds - Sam Wells reflecting on progress made since the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648 in agreeing and establishing the laws of war and national sovereignty as a way to prevent or limit conflict from becoming totally destructive and dehumanising. It was an innovation but it didn't stop the outbreak of new wars, each more deadly than the previous, but each time lessons have been learned about what is needed to be agreed for the 'things that make for peace' to be a reality.
This slow process led to the establishment of the United Nations in 1945, and international agreements banning biological and chemical weapons and limiting the proliferation of nuclear armaments. The UN can raise an armed peace keeping force from the military units of several different nations, to keep warring factions apart while conflict resolving diplomacy is pursued. In each case there has been a measure of success and failure. Sam Wells argues that lessons learned from the greatest tragic failures in war are often pivotal in leading to significant steps towards a peaceful future. In in this context he cites the death and resurrection of Jesus, and hopes that the present Palestinian crisis will lead to a different place, despite the pain and anger of the present. Certainly lots to ponder on today.
After breakfast, Clare went to her study group, and I recorded Morning Prayer and reflection for All Souls' Day in my armchair studio while I had the house to myself and went on to make the accompanying video slideshow. When Clare returned I cooked lunch and afterwards uploaded the video to YouTube. I sat down to read my newsfeed and fell asleep for over an hour.
It was half past four by the time I went out for a walk and took photos of trees that have turned colour. I had to return home after an hour as it started to rain. My topcoat wasn't waterproof and I didn't have a brolly with me. I got wet, but not soaked so I didn't go out again until after supper. Quite heavy rain persisted for hours after dark, but with a raincoat and my brolly, I avoided getting very wet and walked for another hour, returning in time for the ten o'clock news, and then bed.
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