Jerry Levin: From Hostage in Beirut to Peacemaker in Hebron
CNN's Beirut bureau chief was kidnapped by Hezbollah-linked militants in 1984. What he did after his escape surprised many who knew his story.
In March 1984, Jerry Levin, the Beirut bureau chief for CNN, was abducted on his way to work. He was one of a series of Americans taken hostage in Lebanon during the 1980s by militants linked to Hezbollah. Levin was held for almost a year, much of it in isolation. In February 1985 he escaped, lowering himself from a balcony using blankets tied together, and reached safety with the help of Syrian troops.
A transformed man
Levin's captivity changed him. He later said that during his imprisonment he came to faith as a Christian and resolved to understand, rather than simply condemn, the grievances behind the violence. After returning to the United States, he and his wife, Sis Levin, became committed advocates of nonviolence and reconciliation. She had campaigned tirelessly for his release.
Peacemaking in Hebron
In later years Levin worked with the Christian Peacemaker Teams, spending long periods in the West Bank city of Hebron. There, volunteers accompanied Palestinian residents, documented abuses and tried to reduce violence between settlers, soldiers and residents. He wrote about those experiences and about his conviction that understanding the other side was the precondition for peace.
Legacy
His life is an unusual arc: a journalist taken hostage in one of the Middle East's darkest periods who became a witness for nonviolence in another of its conflicts.