Shadia Qubti feels called to be a peacemaker. She runs a podcast called "Women Behind the Wall," and it features stories of Palestinian Christian women sharing their experiences of what it's like to live on the "other side" of the wall.
"Do you actually know someone who lives on the other side, and know their story?" she asks.
Video Transcript
Bethlehem
Shadia Qubti: I think, aside from the hysteria that Israel-Palestine causes — whether it's in the Church or in the political discussion — do you actually know someone who lives on the other side, and have you heard their story? Like, what's it like to live on the other side of the wall?
The podcast is called “Women Behind the Wall,” and it features nine stories of Palestinian Christian women sharing their life and experience of what it's like to live on the other side. And so in each episode you have women discussing and contextualizing for us what it's like to live in this conflict, what it's like to be a woman, and where does her faith come into play.
Audio from “Women Behind the Wall”:
My name is Sara…
My name is Hind…
My name is Hanan...
Well, my name is Eilda Zamoud. It took me some time to also get out of these boxes. Identities is not negative until you reach a point where this box becomes like you're enclosing yourself with it. It limits you from approaching others. I would love to be seen as just me, without all these labels around.
Shadia: Oh, my gosh, it's like someone on the phone. You know, right on the other side of this wall — I think this is Rachel's Tomb. Hello?
This is really a good example of the context here. Geography and location proximity is so ... That's how it is — people live so close to each other, but yet so apart, because of physical walls, mental walls.
What resonates with me for Christian faith is that we're all peacemakers, and peacemaking has different expressions. And in my context, what does it mean to be a peacemaker in Israel and Palestine?
We're here to challenge the existing preconceptions that this conflict is about Israelis on one side and Palestinians on one side. Maybe the perception is Israelis are all Jewish, and the Palestinians are all Muslim, and having this religious covering of the conflict, which is completely not true. Because the existence of me as a Palestinian Christian — it challenges this dichotomy of the conflict of ethnicities and religious groups. And so on many levels, this podcast is trying to, again, talk about the macro issues through a story, through one person's storytelling.
