Enrico Macias by Jamil Shawwa

I was maybe six or seven years old when I first heard of the legendary French singer- born in Algeria-Enrico Macias . I loved his songs from my mother who loved his voice. My father-may God bless his soul- used to sing Enrico Macias famous song, Le Grand Pardon, the great tolerance or the great forgiveness. Enrico Macias sang that song for peace between the Jewish people and the Arabs in the holy land in Israel and Palestine and all over the world. Enrico Macias still sings for peace and still hopes to live to see a lasting and just peace in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine. Few years ago, Enrico Macias came to Washington DC and I went with my mother and other family members to see him at a theatre downtown, he was the same gracious artist, polite, accommodating his audience and of course singing for peace. In the middle of the show, he told us, his audience, that the president of Algeria, Bouteflika, has allowed him to go back to his original country to visit and sing. I am not sure if this invitation has ever been materialized but I know one thing that Enrico Macias never give up on peace between the Arabs and the Israelis and never give up on peace between the Muslims and the Jews, the sons of Ibrahim or Abraham. In addition, for sure the peace among the three great divine religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Enrico Macias still sings for that inevitable destiny that no one can run from which is that these two nations, people, have no choice but to live side by side, that they can not run from each other and that no matter what happens neither one can drive the other away from their homeland. So why not making love instead of making war.