INTRODUCTION

It has been over four years since I visited Israel and the refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The faces of the people and the experience have remained with me. It has led me to reach out and befriend Muslims, and to volunteer to support the needs of their community in Singapore. It has also led me to make the decision to leave Singapore, sell my apartment to fund my education, and embark on a master's degree programme in Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim relations at Hartford Seminary, USA.

I have had to deal with my ignorance of the history of Christianity and Islam, its often-turbulent relationship and the issues that face the Muslim world today. In this process, I examined my own beliefs, the sources of my misconceptions and have come to understand myself on a much deeper level. I started as a Christian with an exclusive view; I am now a Christian with a pluralistic view. I no longer insist that only I have “the truth”. I am learning to not just tolerate the “Other” but also “accept and embrace” them.1 It has been an ongoing process of self-discovery and pushing my own boundaries.

THE BURDEN FOR INTERFAITH RELATIONS

In January 2001, I visited the Holy Land as a tourist with a group of Christians and then extended my stay with my friend Grace as volunteers in an old folks’ daycare centre for the elderly. The Intifada had begun several months earlier, and we witnessed the sadness and tears of the very old, who watched the television footage of the carnage of suicide bombing incidents. It was the first time we had come close to violence of any nature. We were bewildered at what was happening in this beautiful land. In a conversation with the Jewish manager of this centre, he suggested that we visit the West Bank and Gaza Strip to understand the situation better.

We took his advice seriously. In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, we undertook food distribution to needy Palestinian families, and began to see the human faces of those suffering.