Thank you, Dr Abuelaish

It’s humbling … I have just finished reading Dr Izzeldin Abuelaish’s book ‘I Shall Not Hate’ and I am dazzled by the spirit, courage and humanity of this distinguished Palestinian doctor shining through every page.

This book is a plea to our humanity - our common heritage as human beings - and the call we can all feel to be forces for good in our society. 

In Australia, as I write, we are facing ourselves in the mirror with the question ‘Are we a racist society?’ I certainly hope not. However, in all our societies there are people who see our shared humanity write large, and those who are disturbed by difference. There are even a few who fall into hatred. However, I believe that the great majority of human beings can learn to see beyond difference and grow in friendship and understanding.  

This is the prime call behind, ‘I Shall Not Hate’. It is a call to establish peace between Palestinians and Israelis through understanding, mutual respect and building goodwill instead of bad. In Dr Abuelaish’s case he sees medicine as having a prime role in this.

The book reveals in a very personal way the experience of deprivation, poverty and lack of opportunity. The doctor tells us how and with what determination – and help from his mother and certain teachers – he survived his childhood and rose to become a medical doctor and a specialist.

As a doctor, he worked in an Israeli hospital and made firm friends of Israeli colleagues. He worked hard to bring about understanding and peace between Israelis and Palestinians. He calls the Israeli people brothers and sisters and notes how similar they are to Palestinians.

That is a remarkable achievement in the face of the provocations he faced: the destruction of his childhood home to make room for Israeli tanks to pass down the street; the continual humiliation and aggravation at border crossings; the rockets and the shelling; and, finally, the death of three of his innocent children and a niece. A lot of lesser people would have descended to hatred.

But hatred is an ignoble human emotion and we, all of us, are capable of rising above it. If we are to have good societies, we must do so. Being our best selves, as individuals, is crucial to building good societies. It is the pathway to peace – in families and communities, within countries, and globally. Hatred only breeds more hatred; and that is a lesson I hope we can all learn.

I was lent this copy of ‘I Shall Not Hate’ by my local minister – I’m a Christian and an Anglican, living in Sydney – which tells us that goodwill and sincere faith are able to rise above faith divisions.

Our world needs goodwill and people with the courage to give of their very best.

‘I Shall Not Hate’ by Izzeldin Abuelaish is published by Bloomsbury.

 

 

 

Hail the Imperial mandarin!

Imperial mandarins are an Australian citrus. I was surprised to discover this when I started reading about Imperial mandarins online the other day. It’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and I’ve been tucking into Imperials lately because they are a winter joy: sweet, juicy, easy to peel, and rich in vitamin C and antioxidants. Finding out that they first appeared here in Sydney, in about 1890, was the icing on the cake.

My online research said that the Imperial mandarin appeared as a chance hybrid of the Mediterranean or the Willowleaf mandarin with another, possibly Emperor. Plainly it was a hit in 1890, and has been popular ever since. Imperial is an early maturing fruit, the first mandarin in my local fruit shop just when I’m trying to avoid winter colds.

These days Imperials are widely grown, many in central Queensland, where orchardist Bindi Pressler and her husband Craig have their 2PH farms. Like farmers everywhere, Bindi and Craig have had difficulties to face – I take my hat off to farmers around the world for their courage and resilience. Craig and Bindi had to replant 1600 acres of citrus trees in 2007, after citrus canker devastated their farm in 2005. Then in 2011, the central Queensland floods arrived to set them back again. Good luck for the future, Bindi and Craig.

Further south in the Sunraysia district, near the Murray River, is Seven Fields, a 100% Australian family owned company that grows, packs and markets excellent citrus fruit. David Stephens of Seven Fields is a major grower of the Afourer mandarin. Also called the Nadorcott or W. Murcott, the Afourer is said to have come from Morocco.

The origin of mandarins is interesting. They are considered to be native to South-East Asia and the Philippines and grown abundantly in Japan, southern China and India. I read that dried mandarin peel is known in traditional Chinese medicine and in ayurvedic or traditional Indian medicines. According to molecular studies, the mandarin, the citron, pomelo and papeda were the ancestors of the commercial citrus varieties we know today. And, I’m told, the mandarin is the only truly sweet fruit among them.

I read that two varieties of mandarin were taken from Canton to England in 1805, and later adopted for cultivation around the Mediterranean. Somewhere between 1840 and 1850, the Willowleaf or China Mandarin was imported by an Italian consul to the consulate in New Orleans, and carried from there to Florida and California.

My mandarin photo, above, also shows a few cumquats from our garden. They grow abundantly and every year I make some cumquat marmalade using a recipe from the Burke’s Backyard (former) TV show. There is a twist, though. I add a little more lemon juice to reduce the sweetness and, just after it has jelled, a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar.