A Hopeful Word After by: David Hazard Summary and Analysis

Writing in 2002, a full twenty years after the original publication of the book, Hazard deplores the continued conflict and violence between Arabs and Jews. Elias Chacour's work, however, continues from his office in Ibillin, despite international awards, honors, and invitations to do otherwise. He has become such a figure in the peacemaking process, moreover, that, in 2001, he was named "Man of the Year" in Israel. Chacour's accomplishments since the publication have been significant. He began a high school in Ibillin with eighty Palestinians in 1983, and it has grown to over fifteen-hundred students of all faiths. In 1995, he opened a technical college, and, in 1997, a college of Religious Pluralism. The only Israeli non-Jewish college, the Mar Elias Educational Institution, now has over forty-five hundred students of all religious beliefs.

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