Today’s Enlightening Entertainment will be presented in Arabic and English, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mongolian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai.

Peace, peace to the people of God everywhere Peace, peace to the people of God everywhere

Greetings gracious viewers, and welcome to Enlightening Entertainment on Supreme Master Television. While esteemed statesmen and women are making encouraging progress in peace talks between Israel and Palestine, many civil organizations and artists are also contributing to the endeavor.

Today, please join us as we listen to the voices of Palestinian people who present their culture and wishes to the world through the work they do. Let’s meet Youssef, a Palestinian taxi driver, one of Supreme Master Television’s friends and guides who kindly assisted us during the filming on location.

Some Arabs people, Muslims people, they put their hat when they come back from Mecca – why do I like this – they cover the, the, the whole head up to here. That’s also traditional. Not everybody uses nowadays actually. But Jewish people, they use it, and even though they use the kippah, and they use another hat, to cover also.

We asked Youssef how he thought lasting peace could be reached.

It depends on us, people to people, Jewish and Arabs. According to the whole situation nowadays, the peace is needed for both sides, even for the people, even for them, keep their lives, and keep their families, and society and the whole thing, to make it kind of peace, at least something like quiet, at least.

Each time we visit the Holy Land, the people we meet express a shared wish.

To really live in peace side by side with others. This is my hope as any Palestinian or human being.

Living in the Holy Land makes me somehow feel special, because well, three main religions join in one place. As I said it makes me feel good. It makes me feel very special. But on the other hand it makes me feel sad of what is actually going on. So we hope we live in harmony again.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has expressed her concern for the situation for the Palestinian and Israeli people.

Me too, I’m concerned even though I am not Jewish and I’m not Palestinian. But I love both of these people, I’m sure they can talk together and understand each other.

So, it will also depend on both the Palestinian and the Israel governments. We pray for them.

Because the people, they want peace.

It is well known that it is easier to befriend one who is familiar than a stranger. As per Supreme Master Ching Hai’s loving instructions, Supreme Master Television has been presenting introductions to various aspects of Palestinian culture. Such as music… Art… Dance… Crafts and costumes…

And visits to Palestinian cities, such as Bethlehem, Ramallah, Nablus, and Hebron.

Hebron is a very old city. It has a very famous mosque Al-Haram Al-Ibrahime, in which Abraham is buried with his sons.

We have enjoyed both famous and ordinary locations, including the warm home of Youssef, who cordially invited us to film a cooking show with his family.

We all know that Palestine has a long history regarding food preparation. In our traditions, food is considered a way to express our hospitality.

In weddings and in all kinds of events we prepare specific kinds of foods. There are foods for wintertime, and other foods for summertime. This vegetarian program will be the first of its kind in Palestine.

The Palestinian people have been known for their hospitality.

We’re very friendly, this is our culture. If you come to the Palestinian people they can welcome you at their home from the very beginning. We are very simple people who can share our culture through our communication, through our welcoming, though our inviting you to our home.

Staying here in this Arab region on the Mount of Olives is an amazing experience for me. The people here are so hospitable. Everyone wants to reach out and help you, and give you directions, and welcome you. People who walk past you, they hold out their hand and say, “Welcome to our place.” And we have these beautiful children here say “Halo!”

And yes, so I am really looking forward to meeting a lot more Palestinian people.

Many people may have heard of Gaza or the West Bank, but may not yet be familiar with the beautiful arts that are unique to these regions.

This is a thobe, and it’s a dress from the Gaza area. It is called the Majdal dress. And it is all embroidered with very nice colorful, fuchsia colors, which are typical of that area. The material also is weaved in Gaza, and it’s also famous for its stripes here and there, and here.

A Holy Land that is also a cultured, sophisticated land.

When I look, I look back at the whole centuries. I look at the Arabic and the Muslim civilizations. They were stunning. They accomplished a lot. In the general civilization, in the fields of chemistry, algebra, calligraphy, architecture.

Palestine has always been a land of exchange and co-existence. The sacred Old City of Jerusalem, for instance, has four main quarters: Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Armenian.

It's the city of faith, the city of all religions, it's for the Muslims, for the Christians, and for the Jews. Arabs and Jews lived together for many hundred years in friendship.

Harmonious co-existence is a way of life in the collective Palestinian memory.

When we are here as kids, we really meet a lot of friends, through this life. We never know about color or Christianity or Muslims or the Jews.

Today, there are many Palestinians who are working through creative social endeavors to rebuild the original peaceful relationships among the people of the Holy Land.

For example, if we practice non-violence, we not only practice it in theory, we give people preliminary training. So we go to the field, we give the non-violence training as well as we do have follow-up campaigns.

We focus on non-violence to let people believe about these things.

Here in Palestine, all of the people receive their news from the TV or the internet or the radios. And we try every time to say the truth about everything. And it really touched people. When you touch people by their personal things and by their reality, it will be so effective.

The Peace it Together program, founded by Adri Hamael and Reena Lazar, brings youth from Palestine, Israel, and Canada together for constructive activities on the topic of intercultural peace.

I was motivated to create this group because there is a tragic conflict going on in the Middle East. The majority of them, Palestinians living in the West Bank or Gaza never have the opportunity to meet Israelis, and vice versa, of course. So this project was inspired by projects around the world, where Israelis and Palestinians come together.

We are going to make films together. That means you’re going to have to put skills with each other, and practice the filming and practice everything together, talking. So each one of us knows the other really good and that makes us really close to each other.

Palestinian artists use their talents to share the message of peace.

Music is really a very powerful technique. They say music is the language of the world. We are exposing more internationally through music, in a positive way, that we talk about peace.

Here is my voice, from the brown land, it's coming… coming… coming My voice from the mountain of spirits is coming… from my field… from my sun, from my field… from my sun

Usually people who do Debka either, like for example our dances, we have dances that celebrate a wedding, dances that kind of portray the struggle of the Palestinians and we also have fun dances that are just for fun.

I think that one portrays a lot of the Palestinian pride, the feelings of being back in Palestine and the beauty of the dance.

Hebron is well-known for many traditional industries such as pottery, faience, glass blowing, and many others.

Thanks to Allah, I'm number 1 in Palestine in this field, and I represent it outside. I went to France about 20 times, and to Italy, Syria, and Dubai.

I will take you to the story of Christ. Here are some products. This is how Palestinians used to wear (clothes) when Jesus was born. This is the story of Jesus. And that’s also made of olivewood, which Palestine is known for. This is also made of olivewood. We have many, many products in our houses that are made of olivewood.

This is one kind from about one hundred of kinds of sweets. This factory is maybe about 175 years [old] nearly, since my father and grandfather.

We send for all people in West Bank, here in West Bank, Hebron, Ramallah, Bethlehem, and everyone. Now some of people from Palestine in Qatar live in Jidda in Saudi Arabia, [they] say to their family, “Send to us from this kind.” Because everything is natural in it. Okay. Tel Aviv took it from us many, many, million from this kind.

Some women, you see this, they’re carrying hope.

When I’m in trouble, I remember my mother, then I gain the strength, that I don’t want to let her down. As a Palestinian, this is the way I see the Palestinian woman. And all of it, it comes from the affection to my mother, always. They are very, very powerful; they are strong. When you carry the hope, you’re always strong.

So if we look here on this right side, you will see a Palestinian woman who is carrying a basket on her head. It could be filled with olives. It could be filled with grapes. It could be filled with oranges or apples or figs. You never know, it doesn’t matter what she is carrying. And then her features are Palestinian.

This is the bride's dress.

The fish is also a symbol of Christ and the good. This crescent and star are Islamic symbols.

Part of the Palestinian is traditional clothes. Part of the Palestinian traditional clothes is the Palestinian kaffiyeh and the kaffiyeh is usually worn on the head. All the world knew the Palestinian kaffiyeh through the kaffiyeh that used to be dressed by Yasser Arafat. Now, the Palestinians are doing the traditional kaffiyeh, which is the black and white. There is another kaffiyeh that is red and white.

This book, it’s written between me and a friend of mine. He is Jewish and I'm Palestinian. We became really good friends. Each short story tells a lot about this friendship and the harmony between the two people. I know from the beginning, this book will have a voice. And this book will have lots of feedback from people, admiring this courage from me and from him. “If they can make peace there, we could make it here.”

Indeed, the peace message from Palestine, as brought by the past prophets and saints who walked here, has prevailed. Upon getting to know more about the people, all else fall away and only beauty and love remain.

My wish, everybody’s wish, that I work with, they want peace and love to be on Earth. Not just here, everywhere in the world.

It’s such a beautiful dance and it’s beautiful because it shows our culture. And I think that’s the most important thing that we perform, to preserve and show our culture to the world.

I believe in one God. I believe the request from God to be good for each other, not to kill each other. And this is so important that everybody’s got to love each other.

Our appreciation for all the wonderful Palestinian people who dedicate themselves to promoting mutual reconciliation and respect through their magnificent crafts, projects, and daily examples of tolerance. May our combined efforts ensure a bright future of peace and prosperity for all humankind, with God’s blessings.

Thank you for joining us on today’s Enlightening Entertainment. Coming up next is Words of Wisdom, after Noteworthy News, here on Supreme Master Television. Blessed be your noble and kind hearts.