A Letter from Iranian Peace Advocates to the Fellowship of Reconciliation and U.S. Peacemakers

Olive Association
The Society of Peace Advocates
Tehran, Iran

To the Fellowship of Reconciliation!

Dear friends and fellow peace lovers,

We are a group of veterans of the eight-year Iran-Iraq war.

For months and years during the war we defended the Iranian people against the unjust intrusion of Saddam Hussein. We have indeed tasted the bitterness of war with all of our beings. We have received wounds and disabilities. We have witnessed how people were torn into pieces in order to defend their land and how their families were bereaved. We have seen how, on both sides of that war, people died, willingly or unwillingly, to satisfy the thirst of their selfish, warmonger leaders, and how their relatives were left to deal with the grief and pain of such loss.

We have seen disabled peoples who, many years after the war, are still living with pain and suffering. We have seen families that, even now, after so many years, are not yet able to adjust to the emptiness of their loss. We have witnessed how lives are destroyed and happiness is replaced by sadness because of war.

Even though we are proud of having defended our country, we now have come together to establish The Society of Peace Advocates, an independent non-governmental civil society, in order to serve anti-war causes for the rest of our lives. War is the place where human dignity is crushed. War is the place where human rights are sacrificed.

We would like the opportunity to meet you, to express our appreciation and gratitude to you, the FOR Delegates of Peace, who have crossed the oceans to come to our land, the land of love and friendship. We would like to join hands with you, in your work toward stopping war and violence. We would like to join hands with you, not only now – when, because of a culture of expansion and invasive actions by politicians, our country is in the verge of war and our people are subject to sanctions – but in the future, too. We will stand side by side with you and all the peace-loving peoples of this world, to do whatever necessary to prevent war and destruction.

We are asking you to deliver our message of peace and friendship, and our opposition to the policies of warmonger politicians, to the honorable and peace-loving people of America. We pray for the day when all nations, as true heirs of the earth and representatives of God on earth, live side by side and in peace and harmony.

We must seek to love each other, to be considerate of the rights and freedom of all peoples, to refrain from individual and group prejudice, and to respect each society’s culture; this will help nurture peace and friendship among nations. Conversely, a lack of regard for other humans will bring about hatred and cruelty. Understanding the fundamental principles that influence peace and war is the best way to resist against the evil of war and to establish lasting peace in the world.

In conclusion, as sign of our hospitality and respect, we once again offer you, your good offices and organizations, and your honorable nation our most sincere greetings.

The Olive Association
The Society of Peace Advocates
March 3, 2007 (Edited translation released April 3, 2007)