Painful hope | Ali Abu Awwad | TEDxJerusalem

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.

A bereaved Palestinian, former prisoner and a non- violence activist talks about his peace work and his activities towards finding non-violent solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Well, it's a story of a human being

it's an act of a survivor,

and it's a vision of a leader.

I was born as a refugee,

to a very political Palestinian family.

My mother joined PLO,

she became a Fatah leader.

She led many events against Israel

as a freedom fighter.

I grew up in an environment

where my childhood was forbidden.

I grew up where my dreams were surrounded

my rights were not there.

It didn't take me a minute
to participate in the First Intifada,

the first Palestinian uprising in 1987.

And sometimes people ask me,

"Why do Palestinian educate
their kids to hate?"

Hey guys. If you grow up
in such an environment,

do you really need
a specific curriculum for hatred?

It does the job for you.

I became an activist, a fighter,
I was arrested with my mother.

We spent four years in an Israeli prison.

And the first encounter with non-violence

actually was inside the prison.

After three years of being there,
I wanted to meet her.

She was in another prison,

then we both participated
in a hunger strike for 17 days,

to meet each other.

And for the first time in my life, 1993,

I could achieve something from Israelis

by acting non-violently.

Because I was very educated
in the prison.

Palestinian political prisoners
have succeeded to build a system

and to create five committees
to lead and manage their daily life.

And I didn't know that I'm going to
the best university that you can imagine.

Then I was released
[when the Oslo Accords were signed].

Then, [as the leaders wanted us]

to transform the Palestinian nation,

the Palestinian Authority wanted us
to transform the nation

from a place of revolution,
as an identity,

to a place of citizenship;
to become a citizen for the first time.

But we were confused and challenged

by the continuation
of the Israeli occupation on the ground

and by many, many other domestic issues.

Finally, the Second Intifada has started.

As a consequence of these acts,

I was badly wounded by a settler,

and my brother
was very violently murdered

by Israeli soldiers, in my village
Beit Ummar, next to Hevron.

So what do you do
when this happens to you?

You're not the same person.
It's not the same life.

These are not the same enemies.

And I was having this conflict
between my non-violence, political mind

and my heart, which was bleeding.

Then you think, how many Israelis
shall I kill to heal this pain?

How many Israeli mothers have to cry

to experience the salty taste
of my mother's tears?

And how many dead people
[does it take]

and how many graves
have to swallow Israeli bodies

to tell Israel

that my brother
didn't deserve to die?

Then I couldn't do anything.

Thinking about revenge is easy,
which is normal,

but whatever I do,
he's not going to come back.

There is no limit to revenge.

This punishment
that you think about, as a victim,

can not lead you to any future.

So I was stuck, until I met a group
of a bereaved Israeli families

where I realized there is
another face of Israel.

Israel successfully showed me

air force, tanks, check points,
aggressive behaviors,

but it took Israel 32 years of my life
to show me Jewish tears.

I could not imagine
Jewish people have tears or feelings.

Then, suddenly, you see a victim.

Then you realize
that you're not the only victim.

Then my whole world has changed,

I became an activist
for non-violence and reconciliation,

and I realized that my real enemy
is not the Jewish people.

It's their fear. The fear of the Jews
is our biggest enemy.

And the daily suffering of the Palestinian
under a military occupation

is the best enemy for Israel.

So, to overcome that, we have a mission.

And I'm not talking
about peace events and dialogues

and 5-star hotel conferences for peace

where many millions of dollars are wasted.

We can hug each other
and eat hummus forever.

(Laughter)

I'm talking about action.

I'm talking about a strategy.

I'm talking about a vision.

I'm talking that both sides
have to reach the conclusion

and to stop this competition of suffering.

We are very good at that.

We are even collecting--

(Applause)

We are even engaging the whole world
to be pro this or pro that.

I was speaking to the House of Lords,
pro-Israel and pro-Palestine,

two groups of Lords, where I said,
"Can you not be pro-solution?

What are you waiting for? For one
of us to disappear from this land?"

So, this is my voice,
and this is my call. (Applause)

And to do all of that - you know,
this is nice - but to do all of that,

I have three missions now in life.

First, my book, "Painful hope."

To have hope in this land
is such a painful issue.

Second, I landed
in the middle of six settlements,

in the land of my family,

and I started building
a Palestinian Non-violent Center,

where I found out there are settlers
coming to have debates.

And I said, "Come on,
we don't speak to settlers."

You know this is
the huge left-wing statement

in these nice peaceful cafés in Tel Aviv.

People would say, "Ali, you are nice,
we don't speak to settlers."

What does that mean?
Shall I speak to settlers?

Who's going to engage these people?

More than 600,000 people?
You can't just cut them off and that's it.

And they are not Gandhis, for sure.

(Laughter)

And I think that dialogue
is the secure place for arguments.

Not exactly for agreements.

But if we don't dialogue,
with the people that we disagree with,

how can we reach any solution?

I don't want to convince the convinced.

The convinced are nice.

But we want to activate the dream.

I am a slave of my dream.

A dream where both sides
would reach the conclusion

that whatever the price of peace will be,

it's much cheaper than the price of war.

We have to accept that.

And this is not an easy road
that you take and everything is amazing.

My life has become more difficult
and complicated.

And the third thing is change.

We are creating a Palestinian
non-violent national movement

to build an identity for ourselves,

because non-violence for me
is the art of being a human being.

It's the celebration--
(Applause)

It's the celebration of my existence.

The one who murdered my brother

wanted to bury my humanity
in the same grave.

But I said no. I'm not a victim anymore.

Why? Not because I am not pained.

Not because I can erase all the past,

the catastrophes,
and disasters in my life,

but because I belong,

and I know how to serve this belonging.

I am [right].

If Jewish people are right here,
we are also right here.

So peace is a place where two truths
can fit together in one place.

And Gandhi said it once:

first, they ignore you,

second, they tease you,

third, they attack you,

fourth, you win.

We're going to win.

(Applause)

Thank you so much.

(Applause)

Thank you.

(Applause)