Palestinian peace activist: Duma attack should ring alarm bells for us all

Former Palestinian stone thrower-turned peace activist joins forces with settler rabbi to spread message of peace, understanding and non-violence on heels of terror attack.

By TAMARA ZIEVE
Updated: AUGUST 2, 2015 21:54
Rabbi Hanan Shlesinger discusses Israeli-Palestinian relations on heels of Duma attack
The suspected Jewish terror attack that killed a Palestinian baby in Duma on Thursday night should sound alarm bells for Palestinians and Jews alike, Palestinian peace activist Ali Abu Awwad told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. His comments came ahead of a joint prayer vigil for the three remaining members of the Dawabsha family who were wounded in the attack, set to be held at the Gush Etzion intersection and attended by settlers and Palestinians.
The prayer service is an initiative of the Israeli-Palestinian movement Roots, co-founded by Awwad and Rabbi Hanan Shlesinger, which works toward coexistence, peace and transformation in the West Bank. The unlikely duo, which comprises a former stone thrower who spent years in Israeli prison and a settler from Alon Shvut, says that the main message of the vigil is that acts such as the arson attack that took the life of Ali Saad Dawabsha, are unacceptable.
Ali Abu Awwad discusses Israeli-Palestinian relations on heels of Duma attack
“At this moment of terror and pain, we join together, Palestinians and Israelis, to comfort the Dawabsha family for this senseless, horrific loss and to redouble our efforts to create peace and justice for all residents of our troubled Holy Land,” Rabbi Yaakov Nagen, a teacher at the Otniel yeshiva and one of the organizers of the vigil said.
Awwad dismissed rumors that a third intifada hangs upon the fate of Ali Saad Dawabsha's hospitalized mother, saying "if we followed that logic, everyday we would have to create a new intifada. It doesn't depend on one act. People are suffering and getting killed everyday."
"The issue is bigger than this specific incident," he adds. "It's the whole conflict that has to be solved.