Margaret Karram, a Palestinian at the Synod in times of war
The president of the Focolare Movement, an Arab Christian who hails from Haifa, spoke at this tragic moment for Israel and Palestine. “I asked myself what am I doing here?" she said. “Should I not do something else to promote peace at this time?” But praying and learning to walk together even with different ideas is a sign of peace for the world too. “Jewish friends I know in Israel have called me [. . .] saying that they are worried about those who live in Gaza.” We should not stop at the horror. “We have collective images of these two peoples that do not correspond to the reality.”
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Margaret Karram is an Arab Christian who grew up in Haifa and has headed the Focolare Movement for the past two years. Taking part in the Synod roundtables in the Paul VI Hall, she has been following recent events in her homeland torn by the war between Israel and Hamas.
Speaking about her own turmoil, she said: “A short while ago, a Jewish friend called me. She told me: From now on I have decided that I will pray at the same time as my Muslim friends. Even if there are many things that divide us, I will do it with a deep heartbreak because I know that, at this moment, I am united with them, at least in prayer.”
This morning, the ongoing tragedy in Israel and Gaza dominated the prayer that starts the day at the Synod. Cardinal Louis Sako led it. As patriarch of Baghdad, he comes from another land wounded by war over the past 20 years, where the wounds of Iraqi Christians have reopened in recent weeks.
Margaret Karram and Sister Caroline Jarjis, a nun from Baghdad, witnesses representing Eastern Churches and the Middle East, made the invocation for peace reading a passage from the Gospel in Arabic. Their testimony today was also at the heart of the daily briefing with the journalists present at the Synod.
"I asked myself what am I doing here?" said the Focolare president. “Should I not do something else to promote peace at this time? But then I said to myself: Here too I can join the Pope Francis’s call and everyone’s prayer.
“With my brothers and sisters from every corner of the world we can ask God for the gift of peace. Many steps can be taken for peace, but I believe in the power of prayer. Moreover, the Gospel in today's liturgy also says so: Knock and the door will be opened to you, ask and you will receive.”
“Being here at the Synod also teaches me what it means to walk together. Here too we are realising that it is not easy to listen to others and understand. Yet if we manage to do it among ourselves, it becomes not only a method but a lifestyle for the Church that we can bring to many other places. Listening to others with respect, beyond different opinions, can also help us at a higher level to build bridges of peace.”
Asked by a Palestinian about the political positions on Hamas that seem hard to emerge, she said: “We need the help of the whole world. It is necessary to speak out to help resume negotiations between the two sides.
"I hope that all countries today, Arab and non-Arab, can feel the urgency to address this conflict. Not for partisan interests, but for the cause of peace. We must understand that there must be respect for the human rights of all peoples and renew reconciliation among everyone.” This also applies to Iraq, another forgotten corner of the world.
To those who cite Patriarch Sako’s decision to move to Erbil in protest over the failure of Iraqi civil authorities, incited by pro-Iranian movements, to fully recognise his authority, Sister Caroline Jarjis said that "every period brings some particular suffering” in Iraq.
“The patriarch is asking only for respect for our dignity as citizens, which is also respect for the blood of the many martyrs that soaked our land,” she explained.
Prayer and small tokens of fraternity are the response, in Jerusalem as well, where Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa’s call for a special day of fasting and prayer on 17 October to invoke peace joins other spontaneous initiatives currently underway.
"Yesterday some members of our movement in Ukraine joined in prayer via Zoom with people in the Holy Land and Italy,” Margaret Karram said.
"With the schools of the Living Peace project we asked the children and young people to do three things: Join everyone in prayer at 12 noon Rome time, perform concrete acts of solidarity towards someone of another religion, and write an appeal for peace to political leaders.”
“Amid the ocean of suffering, these deeds look like a puny drop, but at least they are concrete acts,” she said.
“Even Jewish friends I know in Israel have called me, a Palestinian Arab, saying that they are worried about those who live in Gaza. For me, it is a very beautiful thing.
“Everyone knows the negative stories between these two peoples, but so many people, so many organisations are working to build bridges and nobody talks about them.
“We only talk about hatred, division, terrorism. We have collective images of these two peoples that do not correspond to reality. We must not forget that even today many people are working to build bridges. A seed is being sown even at this difficult hour.”
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