They say the little man with his back turned to all, his head bowed down and his hands clasped in the back, actually is a little boy, aged 10, born in a refugees’ camp, a long time ago. His name could be Hindu, Arabic, Persian, or Javanese : they call him Handala. Remember him : HanDaLa, the eternal refugee-child of this Earth.

Not so many people remember where he was born exactly. Somewhere between Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee, for sure. His father took him to the West, but his father was later shot down on a London street, and Handala has remained an orphan and a refugee until this day, twice forsaken.

Others claim he was from Kobani, a Kurdish town in Syria, and the little boy whose body was washed ashore on a beach in Turkey, Aylan, with his elder brother Galip, were his siblings.

Behind the high walls of Gaza, where almost 2 million people have been locked in for 8 years, others yet say that Handala actually was a child from Gaza, a close cousin of the four Baker kids, Zakaria, Ahed, both 10, Ismail, 9, Ramiz, 11, whose lives were taken by a missile in July 2014, on the harbour beach, before the empty hotels.

But some claim that Handala is not dead, but alive today, and that he’s actually a refugee from Deraa (Syria), stranded somewhere along the banks of the Tisza river, between Serbia, Romania and Hungary. He’s even been identified as Kinan Masalmeh, and shortly interviewed.

After 111 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza were injured by the army, a rabbi and his son were shot down south of Hebron on November 13, 2015, and 44 people lost their lives in twin bombings in Beirut, Lebanon, and another 129 persons were killed and 353 injured in Paris by kamikaze killers related to Syria, all of it on the same day (but who cared about the rabbi, the Lebanese and the Palestinians?) – after such abyssal waves of darkness and shame, and before he grows up to be washed away onto the shores of normality and indifference, maybe we should listen to what the eternal refugee-child has to say :

“My message : please, help the Syrians! The Syrians need help now! You just stop the war, and we don’t want to go to Europe. JUST STOP THE WAR IN SYRIA!”

Not just in Syria. Stop the war process on its threshold : in Palestine & Israel.

Needless to blame leaders, be they Syrian, Israeli, Palestinian, Lebanese, American even, or else.

To steer away from darkness and doom, needless to identify politicians to messiahs… You only need to rekindle hope. Hope and common sense.

We, the people, the simple people, only need to become a little bit more human, a little bit more responsible, a little bit more other-centered. If only to start looking for Other Voices, voices to bring us together in the face of fear and terror, madness and separation.

Again, not to expect the moon and the stars from self-appointed or elected leaders. They only do what they are able and allowed to do. Start expecting a little more from yourself… to stop the deadly processes of war and dislocation – all the way from Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, to France and further…

With Peace Lines we have decided to open a door into Hope, to share the sound of these Other Voices rising. May you remember Kinan’s voice… May you add your part, one way or the other, and bring a little light into this night !

March 1, 2016 :

If this is your first time on this site, you are much welcome, indeed.

To help you find your way here are a few cues :

SUPPORT THE CEASE-FIRE IN SYRIA AND MAKE LASTING PEACE HAPPEN !

Throughout the Syrian horror, we remain primarily concerned with peace in Israel and Palestine.

Fully aware that it is burning badly all around this tiny bit of land, with chaos spreading in Syria, Irak, Libya,

and millions of refugees streaming from Jordan and Lebanon to Turkey, Greece, Europe...

we still hold it that Gaza and Jerusalem are the gates to the Middle-East, to the ultimate balance between East and West,

Africa, Asia and Europe, between Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, without forgetting the huge bulk of those who are not related to these religions at all.

As Peace Lines, we have been committed to peace-making from Gaza to Jerusalem since the year 2000.

In this "House of Peace", there are 9 sections, like 9 doors to push open.

1st door : News as we have lived them, from 2014 to 2015.

2nd door : HOPE, as we find it on our way : whereas the media generally feed us with all the really bad news there are, you still have people on the ground, 

Arabs, Jews, believers, atheists, who do an amazing job daily, who manage to reach out and enforce coexistence in places nobody had heard of.

Our job is to introduce these people to you. Let you know that "hope" is not a silly notion for wishful thinkers. It is a bridge over troubled waters,

and it implies bridge-building, tunnel-digging, for the sake of common sense, coexistence, creative survival together.

3rd door : Our Ongoing Work

4th door : Our Newsletters

5th door : All the daily articles from the Media that bring needed information and viewpoints

6th door : Our Accomplishments from our birth in 1993 to 2014

7th door : Any entity must define itself through a constitution of some kind, that will state exactly what it is, what it stands for (hence our Manifesto & Statutes)

8th door : A small sample of our Library : without Books, what would we have learned from the past ?

9th door : Links to other organizations that follow parallel roads, or whose paths at times cross ours...

Make yourself at home in this virtual House. Feel free to comment. To bring your own info, suggestions. To get into a dialogue with us (peacelines@gmail.com).

1er mars 2016 :

Si c'est votre première visite sur ce site, vous êtes bienvenu(e), vraiment.

Pour vous aider à trouver votre chemin, voici quelques indications :

PLEIN SOUTIEN AU CESSEZ-LE-FEU EN SYRIE, JUSQU'A UNE PAIX DURABLE !

A travers l'horreur en Syrie, notre engagement premier demeure la paix entre Israéliens et Palestiniens.

Pleinement conscients du chaos et des incendies qui font rage tout autour de cette minuscule bande de terre, en Syrie, en Irak, en Libye, et des millions de réfugiés qui en sont la conséquence, de Jordanie et du Liban en Turquie, Grèce, Europe... nous considérons Gaza et Jérusalem comme les grilles du Moyen-Orient, qui ouvrent sur l'équilibre entre Orient et Occident, entre l'Afrique, l'Asie et l'Europe, entre les Chrétiens, les Musulmans, et les Juifs, sans oublier l'immense masse de ceux qui n'ont rien à voir avec ces religions.

En tant que Peace Lines, nous nous sommes engagés dans le travail de la non-violence de Gaza à Jérusalem depuis l'an 2000.

Dans cette "Maison de Paix" virtuelle, vous trouverez 9 sections, comme autant de portes à pousser.

1ère porte : Les Nouvelles, telles que nous les avons vécues, de 2014 à 2016

2ème porte : l'ESPOIR, tel que nous le rencontrons en chemin : si les média nous gavent généralement de toutes les sombres nouvelles quotidiennes,

ils nous informent aussi de l'existence de gens sur le terrain, des Arabes, des Juifs, des croyants, des athées, qui font un travail étonnant, chaque jour,

qui réussissent à sortir de la logique du ghetto, et qui mettent en pratique la coexistence dans des lieux dont personne n'avait entendu parler.

Notre travail est de vous faire connaître ces anonymes. Témoigner de ce que "l'espoir" n'est pas une notion imbécile pour songes creux. 

L'espoir, c'est un pont sur des eaux troublées, dangereuses. L'espoir implique de construire des ponts, creuser des tunnels, pour le sens commun, la coexistence,

et une survie créatrice ensemble.

3ème porte : Nos Travaux en Cours

4ème porte : Nos Lettres de Liaison

5ème porte : Tous les articles quotidiens qui apportent l'information, les éclairages nécessaires

6ème porte : Nos Réalisations, depuis notre naissance en Bosnie en 1993 jusqu'à 2014

7ème porte : Toute entité doit se définir au moyen d'une constitution d'une sorte ou d'une autre, qui établisse avec clarté son identité, ses principes

(d'où notre Manifeste et les Statuts)

8ème porte : Echantillon de notre Bibliothèque : sans Livres, qu'aurions-nous appris du passé ?

9ème porte : : Les Liens avec d'autres organisations qui suivent des routes parallèles, dont les chemins croisent parfois les nôtres...

Sentez-vous à l'aise dans cette Maison virtuelle, qui n'a pas fini d'évoluer. Sentez-vous libre d'apporter vos commentaires, vos propres informations, suggestions et d'entrer en

dialogue avec nous (peacelines@gmail.com)