"They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,
                                    and none shall make them afraid." (Micah, 4.4)

My Arab sister,
Let us build a sturdy bridge
Form your olive world to mine,
From my orange world to yours,
Above the boiling pain
Of acid rain prejudice—
And hold human hands high
Full of free stars
Of twinkling peace

I do not want to be your oppressor
You do not want to be my oppressor,
Or your jailer
Or my jailer,
We do not want to make each other afraid
Under our vines
And under our fig trees
Blossoming on a silvered horizon
Above the bruising and the bleeding
Of poison gases and scuds.

So, my Arab sister,
Let us build a bridge of
Jasmine understanding
Where each shall sit with her baby
Under her vine and under her fig tree—
And none shall make them afraid
AND NONE SHALL MAKE THEM AFRAID.

Ada Aharoni, "A Bridge of Peace"
Not In Your War Anymore (1997)

Notes: An earlier version of "Bridge of Peace"
appeared in A Song to Life and World Peace
(Selected Essays and Poems Presented at the XIII World Congress
of Poets of the World Academy of Arts and Culture), Edited by
Ada Aharoni, Mike Scheidemann, John Dicks, & Ezra Ben-Meir,
Posner & Sons, Jerusalem, 1993, p. 16