Dema: A New Hope

By Dema Taya and David Barol

There is no single cause to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and there is no easy solution. This conflict exists within the broader Arab-Israeli conflict, which in turn is part of the fourteen hundred year struggle between Islam and the other cultures and religions of the world. This is a clash over land and resources, people and cultures. It is

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bala House Publishing
• Release date: Mar 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9780991455959

Dema Taya

Dema Taya is an Arab Muslim Israeli woman, committed to making the world a better place. She is an author, speaker, and television personality. Her writing and speaking revolve around democracy, economics, freedom, and the truth. Dema grew up in a small Arab city in the center of Israel named Qalansawa, which once served as a trading center on the ancient route from Damascus to Cairo. She attended the ETC International College in Bournemouth, England, where she learned to speak English and became interested in other cultures, opening her eyes to the wider world. At 15, she starred in a film about a Bedouin girl who breaks free of her culture to become educated. The first woman from her town to serve on the police force, she later worked for the Ministry of Diaspora in the Israeli government representing Israel on speaking tours across Europe and America. Dema was the first Arab Muslim woman to run for the Knesset on the Likud Party. She hopes to represent her constituents in the national governing body in Jerusalem.

Book preview

Preface

F

ace it. There is no

easy

way

to solve the many issues gripping the Middle East. Although we learn from the past, we also have to find a way to escape it.

I felt this book might be the most significant undertaking of my life. But this book is just the beginning. Achieving peace, freeing people, creating a new beginning will take years of work until enough people decide to look forward to a new world.

Dema and I worked on this book across seven time zones, discussing ideas, telling jokes, comparing food pictures, but mostly going over words until every page captured her voice and her vision. These are Dema’s ideas, her words, her hope. My role was to put them down on paper or keyboard or whatever.

Like Bobby Kennedy, Dema doesn’t dwell on why there is so much conflict but rather asks how Arabs and Israelis, Jews, Muslims, and Christians — men and women — can recognize the good in each other and live together as one.

So, there is yet hope for this world. If enough voices speak out against hatred, find paths for peace, and recognize the value in each other, there is a chance that the world we leave our children will be better than the world we live in today.

I am honored to help with this quest.

—David Barol

Introduction

H

ave you ever found

a flower growing from a rock? It may seem impossible, but it does happen. Why? Because of the sun. A flower will overcome all odds to grow toward the light.

I also overcame all odds to follow the light. God instilled in me the power to sacrifice, the power to fight, the power to be unique. I chose not to be a victim in this life, but rather to be inspirational and to lead.

Whatever happens, don’t be lost in the night darkness. Keep your heart like a bonfire, leading you in the right way. You will never be lost.

—Dema Taya

I believe truth is stronger than lies. I decided to devote my life to fight for the truth, for justice, for the light of hope. I am dedicated to fight for the oppressed and to fight for my country, Israel, my home, the place that gives me freedom, dignity, and respect.

If I were born in any other Middle East country but Israel, you would have no book to read now. Nor would you have the chance to hear my voice. But I was born and grew up in Israel, a land governed by law, that grants respect to women as well as men, Arabs as well as Jews.

Right after I came into this world, I lost everything I could ever fear losing. So, I grew up with nothing left to lose. I grew up without fear. Today, I can tell you the journey has been worth the effort. Pain sometimes leads to hope.

From the darkness to the light, I have held my head high. My smile never left me. My dreams remain intact, and my heart beats with faith.

I am Dema. What you see, I built with my own hands. Life has not been a party for me. Life has thrown darkness at me, daring me to find the light.

I am Dema. Born a lioness. Clothed in iron to deflect the harshness life has thrown at me. I struggled against the waves of criticism from those who should have encouraged me.

I am Dema. I am fire and power. My heart is my sword. My smile is my weapon. Defeat is my teacher. I will conquer any challenge. My purpose is to speak the truth. This is my journey, my path, my destiny, my struggle.

I am Dema; my heart is full of passion.

From here, my story begins.

—Dema Taya

My Story

From Darkness to Light

L

et me tell you

about me. I come from a small city in the center of Israel called Qalansawe, which once served as a trading center on the ancient route from Damascus to Cairo. Beautiful fields, best known for strawberries and flowers, surround our town.

On a cold, rainy day, while the sky was busy bringing the nation the blessing of its raindrops, I came into this world. Dema means, in Arabic, the First Rain. I was born in January on the first day of the rainy season. I must have come from God because my mother left me not long after I left her body, shortly after I took my first breath. She didn’t die; she just took off. So, I was very young when I faced my first challenge.

God’s will is stronger than any of us.

My mother was such a beautiful woman that my father showered her with love, but that was not enough. She tried to end the pregnancy, then abandoned me after I was born. I don’t hate her for this, but I certainly don’t love her. I believe she served God to bring me into this world, but not to raise me. Who knows? Maybe she did what she was placed here to do.

When my mother flew to Europe, she left me, a newborn, with her father and mother. My grandmother, who more than anyone in the world should have doted over me, called my father, saying, If you don’t get her now, I will throw her into the cesspool.

My Father’s Princess

Since he was not nearby, my father called his sister, who took along a social worker and the police. They told my grandmother if she so much as harmed my finger, they would throw her in jail. My father won custody over me because my mother wrote the judge, I don’t want Dema; I don’t want her father.

Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.

—Bruce Lee

Because my father worked, I lived with his sister in a strict religious family, but when I was a child, they treated me with love. My father, they were none too happy with, saying he was too modern. This created a paradox, which would later cause much sadness.

My uncle owns lots of strawberry fields. My father had a few acres, but not enough to make a living at it. He used some of his lands to build a villa, later selling another parcel to pay for my education.

My second birthday with my father, aunt, and cousins, enjoying four homemade cakes

It upset people that a single man was raising a young daughter. He had pressure to remarry, so I would have a mother to love me. My father found a woman from another village, older than himself, who had never married. He said, I am marrying you because I want someone to be a mother to my daughter, to provide her with a mother’s warmth.

When he moved her into our villa, he came for me, but I didn’t want to leave my aunt, because she was the only mother I ever knew. I loved her, my uncle, and my cousins, who were like my brothers and sisters to me.

My father said, "If I’m getting married, I’m doing it so my daughter can live with