DHRC@FHI Faculty Advisory Board member Professor Nina Balmaceda sat down with us to talk about her work on peacebuilding in Israel and Palestine. Part of her work is supported with human rights funds.
How did this program start?
With a group of colleagues from other universities and especially practitioners from peacebuilding organizations, we have been for some time thinking how we could contribute to peacebuilding efforts in the Holy Land. Obviously, this will require immense efforts, and our team is going to play a rather modest role as academics and practitioners working on peacebuilding issues. Many other efforts will be needed to allow Gazans to rebuild not only their city but their lives.
The teams that are co-organizing this conference believe that there should be an immediate ceasefire, that the Israeli hostages who are still alive can return to their families, and the bodies of those who have been killed can be returned to their loved ones. Yet that is not enough. It is important to support Israelis and Palestinians who want to learn to live as good neighbors.
How has your research prepared you for this project?
Many in the peacebuilding field do not consider the situation in Palestine before October 7, 2023, a situation of peace. It was a situation of ongoing taking of land by Israeli settlers and of the ongoing humiliation of Palestinian people, subjected to many abuses. My current research focuses on the relevance of human rights for peacebuilding. We need to start by affirming the equal dignity and fundamental rights of all human beings, including all Palestinians and Israelis. We are for equal dignity. No one in our team is antisemitic, nor does anyone want to see another life lost. With the same passion and the same conviction, we want to defend every Palestinian life, every Lebanese life, and every Israeli life, while we recognize that the context is extremely complex.
This is a conflict of decades where many competing narratives are also in conflict. If we want to find a way to affirm the equal dignity of all people involved in this armed conflict, we have to do it by affirming their traditions, their religion, and their history, but not in a way that justifies exterminating the other group or pushing them out of the land. We have huge aspirations of seeing everyone in the Holy Land flourish. That is our motivation in this extremely challenging context. So, while my colleagues will be analyzing other aspects connected to the conflict, my research and presentation at the conference will be focused on human rights, both from a legal perspective and a theological perspective.
How does religion play into this project?
The conveners of this conference are all Christians from many different traditions. As Christians, we recognize our responsibility to accompany in solidarity people who are suffering violence. We do this with profound respect for people of other religions. I do not see religion as a barrier but as an inspiration. I believe that spirituality in this longing for just peace, not any peace, but peace founded in justice for all. We hope that the armed conflict will end as soon as possible, so that something different can be cultivated in the Holy Land, as well as everywhere in the world.
The Duke Divinity Center for Reconciliation is here to serve students, faculty, and staff at our university. Some people misunderstand the purpose of our Center and assume that we think that we have all the answers, and that we can tell them what to do. That is not who we are. . We are a center that explores theologies and best practices that contribute to conflict transformation. That does not mean that we have all the answers, but we recognize the complexities. We do not oversimplify reality.
What message do you hope Duke students take away from this?
It is not our intention to go and tell people what to do or how to fix their problems. We want to be offering the support that we can and share best practices and deep listening. In my experience working in human rights in Latin America, especially in Peru, my home country, I discovered that one of the best things we can do is to offer respectful, active listening to survivors. It's a healing practice. It's not enough, of course.
The human rights framework can contribute to building just peace in the Holy Land as well as around the world. We definitely want the hostilities to stop, but again, that is not enough. Human life deserves freedom. Human life deserves safety and equal dignity. We hope that this international gathering on Peacebuilding in Palestine will be a great opportunity for contrasting perspectives and learning from one another and see what we can offer from our respective areas of expertise.