In search of a homeland--the keynote speaker and I

A conference (some speakers called it retreat) of two days, April 25 and 26 was held at Villanova University. I had attended most of the two days. In this article, I am trying to introduce you to the keynote speaker, and what I have in common with him.

The Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek was the keynote speaker of the two-day conference. The title of the speech was “The quest and the crisis: What Americans can do?” It is about the quest for peace in Palestine and Israel, and the current crisis due to the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the oppression of the Palestinian. It is about the Naqbah (catastrophe) which befell on the Palestinians (Christians and Muslims) in 1948, sixty years ago, come May 15. It is about the biblical and other claims of the Zionists about Palestine, and the claims of the Palestinians that can be support by biblical text. And it is about enlightening of the American Christians about the plight of the Palestinian Christians and their Muslim brothers and sisters. It was a brilliant and a well-argued address that added considerable to my knowledge. I will try to get a copy of it once I join Sabeel.
The Rev was born in Beisan, an inland village of Galilee, Palestine. I was born in Az-Zeeb, a costal village of Galilee, Palestine. He and I are probably of the same age. We were both small children, of the same age, in 1948, when the Naqbah took place. For fear of massacres that took place, my family fled Palestine to Lebanon and we became, and remain, refugees. Naim and his family wanted to stay in Beisan, but the Zionists moved them to Nazareth, further to the east. He spent his childhood in this biblical city.
He earned his BA degree at Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene, TX, in 1963. I earned my BE degree at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, in 1965. He earned his Master of Divinity degree at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkley, CA, in 1966. After four years of working in Saudi Arabia as an engineer, I immigrated to the United States in 1969, and earned my M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York. The Rev returned to Galilee and started his ministry after he was ordained priest in the Episcopal Church. Later he became the Canon of the Episcopal St. George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem. In the 1980s he returned to the United States to earn a doctorate degree at San Francisco Theological Seminary. He returned to Jerusalem and started a career in theology that included the founding of Sabeel Liberation Theology Center. His activity on behalf of the Palestinian Christians and their Muslim brothers and sisters brought him world recognition and several honorary doctorate degrees and other distinction awards. I earned my Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering degree at Syracuse University in 1974. I taught, published, and engineered, until I became a full professor. That was the highest achievement of my career.
I did not have the chance to talk with the Rev, but I hope to meet him in Beisan or Az-Zeeb, and in the love of God, every thing is possible.