1/28/06 Couple Goes To Iran To Promote Peace

As conflicts loom and international frustrations mount over the proliferation of Iran's nuclear technology, two Madisonians traveled to the country with a peacekeeping delegation to heal relations between the people of Iran and the U.S.

"When governments don't talk it's important that people talk to each other," said Bonnie Block, who with her husband Bob went to Iran with the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), an interfaith organization aiming to create social change through nonviolence.

During their 10-day trip in December they delivered over 500 postcards, written by people from across the U.S., each with a personalized message of peace and friendship.

"It was a people-to-people kind of thing," said Bonnie Block, 64.

"We felt we had a real personal experience with Muslim hospitality," Bob Block, 69, said, noting that they never felt threatened during their travels.

"This is not the Taliban, it's not the Wahabis in Saudi Arabia," said Bonnie Block about factions that the U.S. government considers threats to national security and hindrances to stability in the Middle East.

"They clearly differentiate between the American people and the American government," she said.

The only signs of anti-American sentiments the Blocks and the other 14 delegates on the trip encountered were while visiting the former U.S. embassy in Tehran. Bonnie Block said they saw a poster depicting an image of the Statue of Liberty with a skull covering the face and another picture with a group of Iranians held at gunpoint with what resembled the American flag.

As a family law practitioner and divorce mediator, Bonnie Block always needed to differentiate between sides and separate issues, and she said that is one reason she became involved with FOR, because she knew there was more than one side to every dispute.

"We need to listen up to the other side of the story," she said. "Then we sit down and work out our conflicts. And that for me is a critical thing, that we don't do it militarily."

While in Iran the FOR delegation spoke with many local Iranians.

"They are very mistrustful of our government and our intentions," said Bonnie Block, especially when it comes to nuclear development in Iran. She said they feel that the U.S. is imposing a double standard when dealing with Iran.

"Why doesn't (the U.S.) say anything about Israel and Pakistan and India and North Korea?" is a question Bonnie Block says many Iranians have.

"They feel beleaguered and encircled and they need weapons to protect themselves," Bonnie Block said, especially considering they are surrounded by Israel, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, all countries that, the Blocks say, Iranians fear.