Article April 21, 2003 Issue

City on a hill—a torch lighting the darkness

By Marilyn Jones Senior Writer

Recently, Kayed Khalil, a Palestinian-American, spoke with the Sentinel about a community in Israel that bridges three religious groups—Christians, Jews, and Muslims. It is called Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam ("Oasis of Peace"). Here families live together both to celebrate and work out their differences. These families seek to reach across boundaries of violence and political views that outside of their community seem intractable and inviolable.

"If I didn't think there was hope, I wouldn't be doing this work," begins Dr. Kayed Khalil, a chiropractic physician. As a member of the board of directors of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam (NSWAS), Kayed relies on his own experiences of having grown up in Shatila Refugee Camp in Lebanon to clarify and underscore the need for a place such as NSWAS. "People are reaching out, looking for good," he says. "There's a saying my mother used to tell me when I was growing up, En khalait beliat, which means, 'If this earth is empty of good people, then that will be the end of this earth.' But it isn't the end, because there are a lot of good people, everywhere, on every side. So, I know there has to be good on this earth."

I ask Kayed if he sees evidence of that good on the world stage. "There has been tremendous progress, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of apartheid in South Africa," he tells me. "That's why, to me, Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam is like a torch in the darkness in that part of the world."

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