Before 9/11, I was apolitical and thought the world had already gone mad and there was nothing much anyone could do or say to change it. I lived a simple contended life in the rural South for over thirty years and have always been grateful to be an American.
I was born in Greenwich Village in the 50's and came of age in Levittown, Long Island during the 60's and have never been satisfied with easy answers.
9/11 was the catalyst for my three journeys into Israel Palestine and the very reason I began the research to discover why a small group of people hated Americans so much, that they would do something as evil as targeting and cold bloodedly murdering innocent people.
9/11 also led me to the interfaith, nonpolitical, non-profit Olive Trees Foundation for Peace which was founded in Orlando, Florida as a positive response to 9/11.
Keep Hope Alive is based on the memoirs of Dr. Khaled Diab, the Founder of Olive Trees Foundation for Peace. Dr Diab was a refugee from the Upper Galilee in 1948 who realized the American dream and a career in the Defense Industry with Top Secret Clearance during the Cold War.
Through the Olive Trees Foundation for Peace, generous American donors have donated he funds to provide over 30,000 olive trees of peace which are now deeply rooted in Israel Palestine.
Keep Hope Alive is also an opportunity for the reader to be a part of the Olive Trees Foundation for Peace's HOPE to transform hearts and minds by literally extending the olive branch. 100% over the cost of this book will go directly to the YWCA in Bethlehem and the YMCA in Jerusalem's KEEP HOPE ALIVE OLIVE TREE CAMPAIGN. http://www.ej-ymca.org/site/
It has bee
I was born on January 27, 1954 and lived the first three years of my life in Greenwich Village, N.Y.C. in the neighborhood where Dorothy Day, Jack Kerouac and Dylan may also have passed through. I came of age in Levittown, Long Island but have been a creature of the Deep South for over thirty years.
After 9/11 I got really restless and began asking a lot of politically incorrect questions and I have never been satisfied with easy answers. I also wanted to do something positive after 9/11 and that led me to the non-profit interfaith Olive Trees Foundation for Peace and three trips into Israel and Palestine.
I have begun the second in the series: Hope Persists. The final chapter of book two will conclude after my fourth trip in Novemeber 2006.