[Cork] MIKO PELED: Beyond Zionism: A New Paradigm for Israel/Palestine

cork | rights, freedoms and repression | event notice Friday April 05, 2013 23:13 by IPSC - IPSC

The IRELAND-PALESTINE SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN presents:

MIKO PELED, Israeli activist and author of The General’s Son

3pm, Sat 13th April, Gresham Metropole Hotel, McCurtain St, Cork City

Don’t miss this unique oppurtunity to hear firsthand from an Israeli activist for freedom, justice and equality in Palestine and Israel. Copies of his book will be avaialble for purchase and signing on the night.

ABOUT MIKO PELED:

Miko Peled is the author of the acclaimed “The General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine” and has spoken extensively in the US and UK on the need for a solution where Israelis and Palestinians are afforded equal rights.

He grew up in Jerusalem in a well known Zionist family. His grandfather, Dr. Avraham Katsnelson was a Zionist leader and a signatory on the Israeli Declaration of Independence; his father Matti Peled was a famous general in the Israeli army.

Miko was 39 before he really engaged with Palestinian people. His reason for doing so was to try to better understand his sister’s reaction to the death of her daughter in a suicide bombing. Nurit Peled-Elhanan placed the blame for her teenage daugher’s death on the Israeli state. From this time he explored the issues further, confronted his own fears and prejudices and spent time in the West Bank. Ultimately, he came to the conclusion that Israeli control over the lives of Palestinians must be defied and the separation wall must come down.

“It didn’t matter that Peled overcame a racist ideology. That’s his own personal journey of growth. Nor did it matter that he went so far past his fears that he befriended and came to love certain Palestinian individuals. It didn’t matter that he embarked on humanitarian projects to help. Or that he participated in protests that got him arrested by the Israeli occupation forces.

“In the end, what truly mattered was setting the record straight and acknowledging that Palestinians are native sons and daughters who have been cruelly dispossessed of home, history, heritage and story. What mattered was the acknowledgement. Uttering the truth, no matter how painful, is what I needed to hear. Because it was in that admission that Miko Peled became a man I could embrace as a brother and fellow countryman.

“In that sense, it can be said thatt can be said that this book is about how Miko Peled was transformed from being the general’s son to being a native son of the land.” – Susan Abulhawa, author of Mornings in Jenin