The idea of making this petition started soon after the beginning of the recent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. I was so upset to hear news about the situation; buildings and houses were destroyed, people died and suffered... Somehow I wanted to tell them - whoever involved in the conflict - to stop it, but I realized that I'm just an ordinary girl, I don't have any power to do that.
So I started to send emails to people who, in my opinion, have more power and higher social status than me. I asked them to use their power in order to stop the conflict. I didn't get a good response, though. Those who replied to my e-mail told me to 'wait and pray, and may God eventually hear your prayer.'
Wait and pray? That was not what I wanted to do. I wanted to do an action, a concrete one!
I felt hopeless until I sent an e-mail to Ari Alexander, Co-Director of Children of Abraham. I told him about my feelings and thoughts about this conflict, and how much I wanted to do something. Then Ari came with a great idea: why don't you do something with your Children of Abraham friends?
Soon, I started a draft e-mail to my Children of Abraham friends, telling them how much I was concerned about the conflict and asking them to join me to do something - I still had no idea what 'something' was, but I knew I wanted to do it. Then Ari helped me to send an e-mail to all of Children-of-Abraham alumni and participants.
Four people responded to my e-mail, frustrated with the situation, wanting a change, and eager to make a statement.
Andrew Horowitz (USA - Children of Abraham 2004), Yael Greenberg (USA - Children of Abraham 2005), Alma Karimah (Indonesia - Children of Abraham 2005), and Ariella Sevitz (South Africa - Children of Abraham 2006) gave me thier support and we decided to make a petition together.
For nearly two months we sent e-mails back and forth, filled with our thoughts and ideas. We made this petition from scratch; we put our ideas together, we agree and disagree, we chose the words carefully... and finally we're done. The petition is ready to launch.
We also decided to invite people from all over the world to give support for cross-cultural understanding through tis petition. So after you read this page, I suggest that you read our petition and take a moment to sign it. And please kindly spread the word to your friends and collegues.
Thank you!
Dania Pratiwi (Indonesia - Children of Abraham 2004)
Together with Andrew Horowitz, Yael Greenberg, Alma Karimah, and Ariella Sevitz