Reflection on hope

There is not much reason to be optimistic, but there is every reason to hope.

We reflected on these words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu earlier in the week and having read those words I believe that hope is the underlying foundation within every person. The function of hope is to keep love and faith alive.

The occupation of Palestine is fueled by a very large bureaucratic administration as we've each come to learn in our own time. In fact when we really analyse the facts as we did in a UNOCHA session, we see just how efficient and systematic this Juggernaut really is, a Juggernaut that up until now has crushed and destroyed everything that has come in its way. It is directed at a political level, administered and protected at a military level and arguably endorsed at an international level. It appears unstoppable, undeterable, unbeatable. I wouldn't like to give credit to the Israeli authorities for the injustices that they've committed but as a system one has to admit that the roll out and administration of the illegal occupation in Palestine has been the most perfect system of oppression implemented in the last hundred years. It makes me wonder what they (the occupying power of Israel) could have achieved if all that energy was directed elsewhere. What incredible achievements and contributions to the global community could they have made if that energy had been directed at creating as opposed destroying – giving life as opposed to bringing death.

Ubuntu is an African concept of togetherness. It is the simple but powerful idea that I am because you are. We can never escape the interdependency inherent in being human beings. This whole week I've been drawing strength and hope from various human beings who I've had the opportunity to engage. Scott: an American businessman who had to raise his own funding to come to Palestine and be a part of the EAPPI. He traveled thousands of miles at his own expense to come and use the talents he has to contribute, engage and initiate change. Omar: in the midst of occupation and the unusual circumstances created by it and the negative impact on day to day life he continues to apply his passion to the teaching of Arabic, the language he loves, and he uses his abilities to engage and initiate change. Debbie: A strong and rooted Israeli woman who values the importance of community and sees beyond the social construct that envelopes most of her community and she uses her skills to engage and initiate change. Hussam: in South Africa pre-1994, he would have been referred to as being a freedom fighter. He's a man who understood the punishment for the risks he took, but believed in something bigger than his own freedom and safety and he used what he had to engage and initiate change. Hanna and Michael are two more freedom fighters putting their lives and reputations in jeopardy because they believe in something much bigger than themselves.

The point I hope that I've gotten across is that the idea of freedom and the end of occupation, as fragile as the idea is, is an energy far larger than the Juggernaut that is the Israeli administration and military, and the hope that drives this idea is far more powerful than any Government, Soldier, weapon or Wall, and the people who uphold that hope are the strongest people of them all.

The function of hope is to keep love and faith alive. Love and faith are inherent capabilities in all Human Beings. We all have the inherent capacity to love and have faith; these are not things that are tough. Hope therefore is what makes us all more human.