Algodon

Incidents in Beit Ommar

2011-02-23T11:36:00.001-08:00

Sometime toward the end of January my friend Ahmad (not his real name) sent me a distressing message that the IDF had surrounded the homes of his parents, grandparents and in-laws at 2 AM, seeking his two oldest boys, Ashraf -15 – and Nabil – 13 – (again, not their real names). At one of the homes, the husband/father worked at night so was not there when the IDF demanded entrance. His wife was terrified and fled with her children to a relative living in an apartment above them. Being denied entrance, the IDF broke the door, several windows and mirrors in the home before locating family members on the second floor. Before the night was out, they entered four homes of families related to Ahmad. In each case the family answered the demand for the two boys with “No one with those names lives here”.” Ironically, the IDF has not sought the boys where they live. The IDF either has poor intelligence (pun intended) or learned the boys were unlikely candidates as rock-throwers or informants on others. Ahmad and his wife now require the boys be home immediately after school to avoid the chance they will encounter an IDF patrol.

Ahmad and his extended family live in Beit Ommar, a Palestinian village of 15,000 on route 60 a little more than half way between Bethlehem and Hebron. The surrounding Israeli settlements (referred to as colonies by Beit Ommar’s mayor) make growth in the village impossible, and settlers are now encroaching on their farm land. Ahmad is an extraordinary man. Imprisoned three times during the first Intifada and beaten severely during the last imprisonment, Ahmad became convinced that non-violence was the only viable and moral strategy for resisting the occupation. Believing resistance alone was not sufficient, however, he founded an organization dedicated to “crossing the borders” with dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians. In a recent meeting convened in Beit Ommar a Palestinian who had been imprisoned in Hebron sat one seat away from an Israeli who commanded that prison. And they listened respectfully to each other.

When I visited Ahmad in November he told me of his 15 year old nephew (whom we’ll call Sami) who had been roused from sleep by the IDF sometime after midnight in June (2010) and taken from his distressed family for questioning. What Ahmad told me was, frankly, difficult to believe. The military leveled charges (rock throwing) against Sami, but they were also after the names of other boys and adults who encouraged them. Sami was held for a little more than a week and, at some point in the interrogation, he was threatened with electrodes being attached to his genitals and told by the guards he would be like his sister and never marry. Sami was understandably terrified and signed whatever he was told to sign. Again, no matter what the circumstance, I had difficulty believing the Israeli military/police would threaten a 15 year old boy with torture which, in itself, amounts to torture. Sami was eventually released to his family if they paid a fine of 500 shekels (approximately $140) and pledged to return Sami for questioning within an hour whenever required to do so.

I returned this past weekend (February 19) to Jerusalem and to Beit Ommar the following Monday. Before I did, however, I planned a meeting with B’Tselem’s Jerusalem staff to discover what they knew about this particular incident with Sami. B’Tselem has field staff in Beit Ommar who interviewed Sami after his release and received essentially the same report as I did from Ahmad. Torture is of course illegal under any conditions and is a serious abuse when used with juveniles. Because of B’Tselem’s work and that of others, torture is not regularly practiced, but they acknowledged there continue to be isolated incidents, even with young people. The practice of arresting young Palestinians, telling them they were identified as rock-throwers (whether this is true or not) by some of their friends and demanding they name others as well as adults who organize and encourage violence is described by B’Tselem as a common practice. Strict laws govern the detention of juveniles in Israel and the occupied territories which B’Tselem alleges, at least in the case of arrests in the Silwan neighborhood, the police “consistently breach.” An excellent discussion of these laws and a report on their observance by the authorities may be found in B’Tselem’s December, 2010 publication Caution: Children Ahead.

Like parents anywhere and maybe, given the circumstances in which they live, more so, Palestinian parents are intensely protective of their children. Many must live with the constant fear of police banging at their door sometime after midnight, and children with the fear they will be awakened from sleep and taken away for questioning. For many this is what it is to live under military occupation.

The Most Galling Veto Yet

2011-02-22T06:17:00.000-08:00

At about the same time in the UN Security Council U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice was issuing our veto to the resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, I was leaving Newark's International Airport for Israel’s Ben Gurion. I came here in part to visit Israeli and Palestinian friends who devote their lives to pursuing a just peace for both peoples. Sadly, I come ashamed of my country’s and, more importantly, my President’s actions. Ambassador Rice compounded our shame with the double talk explanation of why we really do condemn this construction; we just don’t think the UN is the proper venue to discuss it. As my friend Bob Tobin said this morning, “What better place to discuss it. This is the body that created Israel in 1948.”

Later this morning, I walked to my favorite money changer on Salah Ed-Din to buy some shekels. The young man behind the counter is invariably pleasant and engaging. As I was his sole customer, we chatted for some time. When the subject of our recent veto came up, he said, “It’s okay. We no longer expect anything from the U.S. government. The Israeli lobby seems to have them locked up pretty tight. To tell the truth, I think Americans are just naive. They don’t know much about the world, and the media doesn’t help. We’re invisible to most Americans.” All this said without any sign of animosity to me or to Americans in general.

Message to President Obama: the average Arab man on the street “gets it.” And I fear they will not forget it for decades.

What I fail to understand is the reasoning of those in the administration who made this decision. This veto takes place in the context of an historic movement among Arabs in the Middle East, seeking an end to economic and political oppression and autocratic rule. Cautious as it may be, this administration sends the courageous Arab young (and old) men and women messages of encouragement, and, at the same time, tells them by our actions: “Don’t count on us. When the chips are down, we didn’t really mean it.”

I cannot believe it is primarily the strength and success of AIPAC, or even our genuine devotion to Israel that leads us to such duplicity. There must be some larger mythology, some ideological frame like those that brought us Vietnam and Iraq, that drives us once again to fail to be the beacon of hope we so want to believe we are.

I have hunches about that mythology, but if anyone thinks they have a handle on this, please offer it. We need the best analysis we can muster if we are going to make any contribution at all to redirecting the destructive path we are on.

A Day of Contrasts

2010-11-07T09:45:00.000-08:00

After breakfast this (Sunday) morning, I left Jenin with three Sabeel colleagues from Boston for Zababdeh and the liturgy at St. Matthew's Anglican Church. Following Fadi Diab at St. Matthew's, Abuna Rahmoun and his wife, Mira (now nine months pregnant), have been in Zababdeh about three years. As before, the pews are full and the number of young people impressive. Nael (Rahmoun) told me there were 50 in the Sunday School and 14 in the junior high group. The liturgy was lovely, and Abuna and the congregation welcomed us warmly. Following the liturgy, we joined them for an olive harvest festival of their own featuring fresh virgin olive oil from Zababdeh farms.

What continues to impress me here is the graciousness of the Palestinian people. They are generous, kind and steadfast in the face of systemic oppression. Given any kind of relief from this dreadful occupation, I am convinced they will create a flourishing and peaceful state.

So having enjoyed three days of Palestinian hospitality, we drove from Zababdeh to Tel Aviv, which is where the contrast between the two societies became apparent. From Zababdeh to Nablus to Tappuah Junction, where we turned east on Rt. 5 toward the Mediterranean. I realized we would be passing the Ariel settlement but was totally unprepared for what I saw there. It's enormous, much like a medium-sized town with an industrial park a few kilometers distant. Stretching for many kilometers along a ridge, on land confiscated from the Palestinians, Ariel is green with plantings made possible only by water drawn from West Bank aquifers which Israel claims as its own. As we drove along a major route into Ariel (with its center green strip irrigated the entire distance) we came upon a prominent building named in honor of John Hagee whose funds undoubtedly provided for its construction. And as we turned in for a closer look, we discovered the road to the Center was similarly named. John Hagee and his Christian Zionist followers have been most generous to their Israeli friends.

As the sheer size of Ariel and the thousands of Israelis who live there sank in, I realized again how futile these "peace" negotiations seem to me. A continuing Israeli Ariel smack in the middle of the West Bank makes a Palestinian state damn near impossible. And the political possibility of any Israeli Prime Minister removing those residents seems equally remote. For years Israel has been creating "facts on the ground" as the international community stood mutely by. Continuing talk of a two state solution - at least one which envisions a viable Palestinian state - seems based on a healthy quotient of denial.

Continuing on Rt. 5 from Ariel, we came to an Israeli checkpoint which turned out to be anything but routine. Although we were driving a car with a yellow Israeli license plate, the fact that we spoke no Hebrew, came from the West Bank and were driving a Palestinian rental car made us suspect. Passports now in the hands of the soldiers, we were told to drive "over there," open all the car doors, trunk and hood. "Now take all your luggage out of the car to the building where it will be examined." "Why were you in the West Bank?" "Because we have friends there." "There is a book and a plate in your bag; take it out and show it to me." "Take the lens off your camera." This was a very thorough security check. And of course my bionic hips made the screening machine sound repeatedly. My explanation would not do, nor would a wanding suffice. "Why did you have your hips replaced?" "Because I'm an old guy, and they gave out." "Both of them?" "Yes, both of them." "Show me." "Sure." So there I was displaying my scarred hips and butt to two Israeli soldiers. When we were finally cleared and told to repack our car (they declined our request to help with the bags), I asked if I could take their pictures. To no one's surprise, this request was denied as well.

On reflection, we realized we were not stopped entering or leaving Ariel. If we had meant harm to Israelis, Ariel would surely have been an easy target.

Based on the Israeli assumption that Palestinians in general are a threat, and those in the northern part of the West Bank particularly so, it's reasonable that those who travel among them and then want to enter Israel are given careful scrutiny. Fair enough. What is unreasonable is for Israel to confiscate the Palestinian's land, steal their water (and then sell it back to them an inflated prices), demolish their homes, limit their travel, restrict their economy and then label the entire Palestinian population terrorists and declare the occupation justified on the grounds of "security". The many forms of enforced separation which guarantee that Israelis will never get to know their neighbors feed a paranoia which, finally, will undermine the Israel they are so determined to defend.

Picking Olives with Nabil in Kufr Rai

2010-11-06T08:41:00.000-07:00

It may well be more burden than help for Palestinian farmers to welcome internationals to their olive harvest - particularly for short periods - but Nabil Nasser, president of the farmer's cooperative, met us this morning in his village of Kufr Ria to lead us to one of his farms for a morning of olive picking. As it was a weekend, sons and nephews were already at work when we got there. Large black tarps were spread under the tree to catch the olives as they fall. My group of about 8 stayed on the ground stripping olives from the branches we could reach while Nabil's sons climbed into the trees to get the upper branches. Nabil owns about 600 trees and it takes him nearly 50 days to harvest his crop. He explained that diminishing rains and a shorter winter are effecting their harvests. He projects this one to be about 40% of "normal" harvests.

Stripping the branches takes little skill - and is quite satisfying - but negotiating the rocky ground is another matter. The soil is rich, but the hillsides are strewn with rocks, making walking difficult. With six trees harvested by noon, I began feeling we had actually been some help, and Nabil's wife and sister-in-law had prepared a feast for us in the shade of several trees.

When I drove from Jerusalem to Jenin on Thursday, an Israeli soldier at a check point cautioned me to "be very careful" when he learned I was headed for Jenin, suggesting I was entering dangerous territory. Part of the tragedy in this land is the enormous misperception most Israelis carry of Palestinians. Due at least in part to the structured separation Israel has created between the populations, Israelis do not benefit from knowing their Palestinianl neighbors. Whenever we leave our Palestinian hosts, we ask them what they most want us to tell the world. "Tell them we are not terrorists" is their frequent response. Unless there is dramatic change here, it's not likely that poor Israeli soldier at the check point will ever enjoy the laughter, delicious food and good will we enjoyed sitting with Nabil Nasser and his family under those olive trees.

Canaan Fair Trade Company, Burqin, Jenin

2010-11-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

"Insisting on Life" is the motto of the Canaan Fair Trade Company in a little village just a few kilometers from Jenin at the northern end of the West Bank. And the Canaan enterprise is an excellent example of that insistence. It is a modern plant where a variety of wonderful products are made from olives harvested from a large cooperative of Palestinian farmers. Canaan was the vision of Nasser Abufarha, a cultural anthropologist, author of the recently-published The Making of a Human Bomb: An Ethnography of Palestinian Resistance (The Culture and Practice of Violence), and brilliant entrepreneur, who launched the enterprise just five years ago. Canaan now ships its products to the US, England, Europe and Japan. Canaan olive oil is found on Whole Foods shelves and is sold through many parish churches. What sets Canaan apart from others is the quality of its products and its commitment to Fair Trade and organic farming practices. As Nasser has written, "Canaan Fair Trade has reinvigorated olive farming in our homeland of Palestine from a losing practice to a profitable economic activity, creating an opportunity for growers to earn a living, invest in their farms, and provide a future for their children."

Canaan throws a big party at its headquarters in Burqin the first Friday in November to celebrate the olive harvest, an event not to be missed if you're in the Middle East. So I rented a car from a Palestinian company (Middle East) and, after getting careful directions for getting out of Jerusalem, headed north yesterday. To say the least, signage on Palestinian roads is scant and maps are minimally helpful. But it's Route 60 all the way (if, at numerous intersections you can figure out which way Rt. 60 goes). A couple detours into Palestinian villages were "interesting" and only provided confirmation of the kindness of the Palestinian people - and I made it to Jenin by mid afternoon. As I drove north, I realized there were fewer and fewer Israeli yellow license plates (Palestinian plates are green) which is when I realized the thoughtfulness of my friend at Middle East car rental. He knew I was driving to Jenin so he pasted Middle East stickers all over my car which, at the time, i thought was just a marketing strategy. His intent was to let Palestinians in this part of the West Bank know that I was (at least potentially) a friend.

As some of the pictures illustrate, the festival was wonderful. It was packed with Palestinians and internationals and lots of children. After sampling delicious products in the sales room and dipping just-baked breads in olive oil, Nasser took a group of us on a tour of the facility. As I sell Canaan's products in my parish, it's a treat to see the olive oil I will be selling this spring in the process of being made. Food, music and conversations followed the tour as several hundred of us sat on bales of hay on the hillside above Canaan's factory. A wonderful day. We rise early tomorrow to drive to the two farms of the president of the farmer's cooperative to pick olives. We'll worship at St. Mathew's in nearby Zababdeh on Sunday.

Kufor Ni'Ameh, a Model Community

2010-11-02T12:45:00.000-07:00

I've no doubt Kufor Ni'Ameh has the usual assortment of conflicts and unsolved problems every community has, but it is also a village that is doing a lot right. We came to visit the recently established Seraj Library Project, presently housed in an existing facility, and found it bursting with energy. There were at least 30 children reading at tables when we arrived. Two volunteers oversaw the happy confusion, moving from child to child, helping with words, answering questions, praising the work of each. From another volunteer, a teacher himself and textbook author, we learned that the community began a Children's Club in 1995, including summer camps, reading, tutoring and physical education. And lots of fun. Two volunteers, both highly skilled and delightfully animated, were Club alumni, returning now to give back what they received. The Club had recently instituted a program called "My Father Reads to Me", and this week was the mayor's turn (himself a father of five). We watched as kids gathered around him and he began reading from a book they all seemed to be enjoying. Later, one of the volunteers who had university training but who was also a "natural" teacher led the children through another book, calling individual children up to read one at a time. Since it was all in Arabic, we understood nothing but that these children were loved and having a splendid time learning to read. This was a master teacher at work/play.

Just across the street from the older facility, temporarily housing the library, a new community center is under construction. The library will be located on the first floor in a room bathed in light. There is a large room upstairs for community gatherings, film nights, and other activities. A passageway has been built under the road from the new building to a garden and playground which would be the envy of any American city. I have no idea how the mayor and community leaders found the vision to make this such a child-friendly community, but from the many happy faces we saw, they are clearly succeeding.

The proposal for a Seraj library in Kufor Ni'Ameh came from someone in the PA's Ministry of Planning office where Estephan also works. Because it is centrally located, Kufor Ni'Ameh draws children from ten neighboring villages. And because so much community development has preceded it, the library has taken off like a rocket. What it shows us, though, is that the 3,000 books we have already delivered is nowhere near enough, nor will the 5,000 we plan to deliver be enough either. This library will put all the books we can deliver to good use - as well as a computer, a large screen and the equipment for good quality projection. They have the space, the interest and the organization. All they need is the equipment.

The Seraj Library Project's goal is to create children's libraries in five villages clustered in the Ramallah area. We may well reach that goal within just a few years. Then our task will be to help develop each of these libraries with more books, equipment and, most importantly, the programs which make reading fun. The talented people of Kufor Ni'Ameh have already offered to become consultants for the other libraries.

More Miscellany

2010-11-02T07:24:00.000-07:00

More images, stories, experiences - reflecting both hope and despair - that make up the strange collage that is this holy land:

A RESURGENT RAMALLAH As we drove with Estephan from Ramallah to Kufor Ni'Ameh, we talked about development in the northern West Bank. Fellow passengers who had seen Ramallah in 2002 remember seeing cars squashed by Israeli tanks lining the streets. A new auditorium at the Friends School in Ramallah, built with money from the Pilgrims of Ibillin and totally destroyed by an Apache Israeli helicopter gunship during the Intifada, had been rebuilt by 2006. A sign next to the auditorium read, "Built with US Aid." Joan Deming, a friend working with the Pilgrims of Ibillin, commented, "It was destroyed with US Aid and rebuilt with US Aid."

Due apparently to a new approach by the Palestinian Authority, there is measurable improvement in the Palestinian society. Corruption is drastically reduced; drivers stop at stop lights and citizens actually queue up. The windows of new buildings are no longer covered with bars; streets are repaved and garbage is collected. Yet when we drove back to Kalandia, we entered an area designated C by the Israelis, where traffic is congested and chaotic, and where the Israelis will not allow repairs to the roads or Palestinian policeman to manage the traffic. As we crept along beside huge semis, Palestinian children ran alongside, marketing their wares. Estephan knew one and asked if he was going to school. Another child persistently banged on the window as he ran backwards with our car. One slip and he would have been under the wheels of the truck that was no more than a couple feet away.

DAILY TRAUMAS Joan Deming is staying in Bethlehem with Usama from the Wi'am Center. Usama's wife reported an incident that had just occurred. Her sister and husband were taking their four children through the Bethlehem checkpoint for a day in Jerusalem when they were detained in a room for two hours with the weapons of Israeli soldiers in full riot gear pointed at them. When released, they were given no explanation for their detention. Beside the trauma of the experience itself, Palestinians have no way to file a formal complaint for this type of mistreatment. And there are few who do not have a similar story. The tragedy is compounded by the fact that few Israelis have any awareness of what is being done in their name. Or if they do, they do not speak of it. And that may be even worse.

A SOURCE OF ENDURING HOPE Ahmad Al'azzeh is the nonviolence program director at the Holy Land Trust. Ahmad grew up a student leader and activist, organizing fellow high school and university students to resist the occupation. In 2003 he met and began working with the famous Peacemaker, Sis Levin from Birmingham, Alabama. As he learned the philosophy of nonviolence from Dr. Levin, he soon realized they were the principles by which he had always acted. He has now trained thousands of children, young people, activists and teachers in living non-violently and becoming Peace Builders.

Ahmed has paid a price for his activism. He was imprisoned for three months for leading this year's Palm Sunday march through Israeli security into Jerusalem. Israel has made it impossible for him to honor recent requests from Poland and the U.S. to travel for speaking engagements.

Asked by one of our group how to respond at home when Jewish Americans explain the wall as needed for security, Ahmed responded, "Security will not bring peace; peace will bring security."

A Miscellany

2010-10-31T08:21:00.001-07:00

It's impossible to traipse around Jerusalem, through check points into nearby Palestinian communities without collecting a miscellany of people, images and experiences that gradually become a collage of impressions of the "Holy Land".

SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION I was wandering around hopelessly in Bethlehem this morning trying to find the entrance to the Christmas Lutheran Church of Mitri Raheb and passing it at least once when an attractive Palestinian woman said, "Looking for the church? Follow me." Mitri's sermon exceeded the endurance of this Episcopalian, but the sound of his voice and the Arabic words I find so melodic provided a most satisfying contemplative half hour. During the coffee hour, my just-in-time Palestinian guide identified herself as Amal Nassr, Daoud's sister, at the Tent of Nations. "I recognized you on the street from your visit last March. Good to see you again." I went to Bethlehem to meet Joan Deming, the development director for the Pilgrims of Ibillin who had just met and then introduced me to Dorothy Jean Weaver, a New Testament scholar from Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Virginia who shared her delight at the prospect of having Don Wagner and Mark Braverman as colleagues at EMS. We cemented our friendship over a falafel sandwich and mint lemonade at a nearby restaurant she regularly patronizes.

THE TEDIUM OF CHECKPOINTS I've gone through a lot of checkpoints in my five trips here. Beside their being barbaric, dehumanizing and of questionable use as a security measure, I find them tedious. And, as an American with special privileges, I find them embarrassing. For the second time this week I experienced the Bethlehem checkpoint to get back into Jerusalem. As I moved through the long corridors and the repetitive turnstiles, I got to the place people wait in line, watching for the green light which means a few more may pass through the next-to-last turnstile to x-ray your belongings. Palestinians begin taking off their belts and shoes, emptying their pockets, getting ready to put everything through the machine and they signal to me, "Don't bother. You're American" These are often people who put up with this rigamarole twice a day. And, though my bionic hips set off the alarms, Israeli guards just waved me through. Some security. I am ashamed that the 3+ billion dollars the U.S. ships Israel every year help maintain this system of harassment.

RAYS OF HOPE? So I called my Israeli friend, Gila, to ask her take on things. She and her partner, Judy, had just returned from a week in Cairo where Judy was working. "So, what do you think, Gila? Any chance of a break-through?" Gila is one of those intensely loyal Israelis who is as deeply committed to justice and peace and an end to the occupation as she is to her country. The essence of what Gila said is that because Netanyahu is from the right, because there is an environment favoring peace, he could, if he played his cards right, make a difference. But he's too afraid of losing support, he hasn't the confidence a Sharon had (who pulled out of Gaza - for good or ill - against strong opposition, lost a vote and started a new party), and he's afraid of disappointing his "daddy". If Tzipi Livni were prime minister, could she do it? Sadly, Gila said, in Israel, probably not. Before I leave, I hope to meet with with several young Israelis, not of Gila's persuasion, in Tel Aviv. I'll be interested to hear their take.

I also had lunch with E and Z, two Palestinians who, because of their position and experience, know more of what is going on than most I talk to. After an extended discussion, I concluded they were as cynical as I about the present "negotiations". Within the last couple days they said there had been a giant rally in Gaza featuring the "exterminate Israel" rhetoric. "When hope wanes for justice and peace, the extremists are strengthened; when rays of real hope appear, the extremists are weakened." I suspect some elements of the Israeli right rejoice at such rhetoric; it buttresses their position. What was clear from the conversation, however, is that there is a lot going on that we in the U.S. don't hear about. E commented that a recent statement by the World Bank to the effect that, from their perspective, Palestine is ready - or will soon be - to assume statehood provides significant support for the Palestinian cause. Both observed that the PNA (Palestinian National Authority) has made significant progress in eliminating corruption, strengthening security and building a reliable justice system. AND, they said, with obvious pleasure, that their negotiators were finally becoming as good as the Israelis!

Because this "peace" process, if that is what it is, is so complicated; because there are so many self-defeating human impediments to achieving the justice and peace that will serve both people, we all probably need to dig very deep to discover the hope that will make it possible.

The Khaders of Al-Ram

2010-10-31T06:10:00.000-07:00

Fadwa and Suheil Khader are the parents of a bright and talented young Palestinian woman, Mai Khader Kakish, living in the Chicago area and a recent addition to the board of the Seraj Library Project. They live in Al-Ram, a village of about 60,000, which lies just outside the wall beyond the Kalandia checkpoint. With an introduction from Mai, Fadwa and Suheil welcomed me warmly Saturday morning and introduced me to their family (now mostly launched) and the remarkable work they do on behalf of their community. Like so many Palestinians we meet, their story is characterized by a courage and steadfastness (sumoud) that inspires.

Suheil is an official with the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions and the Deputy Mayor of Al-Ram. Before the wall and checkpoints made travel so difficult on the West Bank, Fadwa and Suheil created a string of 12 kindergartens providing quality care for the young children of working mothers. They are now reduced to 2, one of which Suheil took us to visit near their home. It's a well-equipped facility staffed by six women caring for about 35 young children. Suheil is justifiably proud of the Farah Nursery, but must work continuously to find the resources to keep it open.

Just up the street from the nursery Fadwa is the manager of the Sunflower Association for Human and Environment Protection. With her staff she is lobbying for healthier foods for children (who, like many American children, start their day with fast foods), cleaner air, better waste management services and a greener environment.

The Khaders are the kind of Palestinians few Americans know about. And they are not the exception. We continue to meet so many who are helping build a healthy Palestinian society under the most trying conditions of occupation.

The Miqbels of Beit Ummar

2010-10-29T11:00:00.001-07:00

On Thursday I made my way from Jerusalem south on Route 60 to the Palestinian village of Beit Ummar, just 20 minutes north of Hebron. My dear friend Jamal Miqbel met me warmly and drove me to his home where I was introduced to Jamal and Saddiya's new baby, Ameer, now 1 1/2 months old. Ameer rewarded the multiple sounds we all made (language didn't seem to matter) with lovely smiles and miniature sounds of his own. Friends and admirers of the Miqbels from Chicago and Boston had sent money, a laptop, an I phone and gifts for all the children which it was my privilege to help deliver. No one deserves this kind of support more than this lovely and courageous family.

Jamal and Saddiya's family continues to flourish in a tense and frequently dangerous context. The Israeli settlement next to Beit Ummar is expanding - construction never stopped there during the recent "freeze" - and now Palestinian farmers are prevented from entering their fields by threats and attacks from settler residents. Palestinian land is consistently being appropriated by settlement expansion. Residents in Beit Ummar have responded with weekly demonstrations protesting these violations of their land and their rights. Inevitably, rocks are thrown and the IDF quickly declared the village a military zone, meaning anyone can be arrested at any time. Jamal told us the story of his 15 year old nephew, Ibrahim, who was recently awakened in his bed at home at 2 AM by Israeli soldiers and taken for questioning. While in prison he was severely beaten and had electrodes attached to his genitals with the threat he would "become like his sister" and never marry. Jamal and his brother finally gained Ibrahim's release with a fine of 500 shekels and their signature on an agreement that Ibrahim would be returned for questioning within an hour of notification by the IDF.

I don't know how people like Jamal continue their work creating bridges of awareness and understanding between Israelis and Palestinians while living under such oppression. The T shirt the Miqbel's son, Zain, wore spoke volumes about his and his family's commitment to non-violent resistance: End the Occupation; Stop the Abuse of Detainees; Free the Peacemakers. Their oldest son, Yazan, is studying English and Hebrew in Hebron with the intent of teaching these to his younger sibs. Speaking Hebrew may help save any one of them from abusive treatment by Israeli soldiers.

Finally, a remarkable story about Jamal. Israeli friends who participate in his project invited him to spend a day in Jerusalem. They would take him wherever he wanted to go. To the amazement of his host family, he asked to go to Yad Vashem. He wanted to understand better, he said, the terrible history his friends had experienced.

We should all have such willingness to understand those who mistreat us.

Muhannad's and Ilone's Cuisine

2010-10-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

Muhannad's little restaurant sits on a corner behind St. George's Cathedral compound. He and his Russian wife, Ilone, serve delicious and inexpensive food and have become one of my favorite hangouts in Jerusalem. "Moe" welcomed me warmly back to Jerusalem and over the course of several visits told me his story, one common to many Palestinians. Moe's father had sent his younger brother, Rami, to the U.S. after a late night break-in to their home in which IDF soldiers snatched Rami from his bed, beat him in front of his parents and took him for "detainment" until he revealed the names of friends suspected of rock-throwing incidents.

In 1991, when Moe was 17 and schools had been suspended for six months, his father sent him as well to the U.S. to protect him from similar treatment during the Second Intifada. Moe continued his education in the U.S. and remained there until 2008. In 2000 Israel revoked Moe's citizenship on the basis of remaining too long in America. When he applied to the Israeli consulate to have his citizenship reinstated, they took his passport, promised him reinstatement and never contacted him again. Because he had a green card by then, Moe applied for and was granted U.S. citizenship.

Moe's return to Jerusalem, where he was born, was prompted by the need to care for his elderly parents. Moe's other brothers are in the tourist business and not available to provide the daily care his parents now need. (While I was confirming the details of this story, Moe said "I'll be back in 5". He returned about a half hour later explaining he had to get some medicine to his father.) Moe had married in the U.S. and he and his wife have a son, now 7 years old. He is petitioning the courts to have his Identification as a Jerusalem resident reinstated and has engaged an attorney to represent him for a fee of $15,000. He has been told it will likely take 3 years as his petition must be appealed all the way to the Israeli Supreme Court.

Moe told me later he has many Jewish customers who are his friends. All he wants, he says, is a chance to live like a human being, with the same rights and responsibilities as everyone else in this land. He wants to live "side by side" in freedom with his Jewish neighbors. He rejects violence. "The only way we can fight them is with peace."

A footnote to this story: On the morning Moe and his wife first told me this story, he had been driving his wife's parents to catch a 9 AM bus. An Israeli policeman who spoke neither Arabic nor English stopped him for "crossing a line" directly outside his restaurant. He was held for two hours (making it impossible for his parents-in-law to catch their bus) and fined 500 shekels).

Jerusalem via Istanbul and Tel Aviv

2010-10-29T09:50:00.000-07:00

This relatively brief visit to Israel/Palestine (October 24 through November 10) will focus on visits to Palestinian and Israeli friends, training centers for non-violent resistance to the occupation and conflict transformation, two of the Seraj children's libraries in Jifna and Kufor Ni'Ameh and will wind up at the Olive Harvest Festival in Jenin. Good advice from fellow travelers directed me to Turkish Airlines which not only delivers more than a skootch of leg room between the rows but great cuisine and the option of a one day stopover in Istanbul. One day in Istanbul is but a teaser for more. I caught a bus from my hotel into the center of the city to visit the magnificent Blue Mosque, enjoy a delicious meal and be invited to purchase any number of elegant carpets.

Christian Cowboys in Sderot

2010-03-17T08:39:00.000-07:00

The drive south from Tel Aviv to Sderot takes only a little more than an hour. Sderot is, of course, the Israeli town lying closest to the border with Gaza, known to us primarily as the town that has been the target of so many Qassam rockets. In the past the residents of Sderot have been regularly terrorized by incoming rockets but, as a waitress told me this morning, there have not been any rockets for more than five months. "It is quiet, thank God." Reinforced concrete shelters stand along most roads and I saw new shelters being constructed behind a row of two flats.

My goal in these visits is to learn how people live and what they hope for. Most want what we want ... to live normal lives, to feel safe in their homes, to educate their children, to support their families. The waitress I talked with this morning lives with her husband and children in his parent's home. She likes Tel Aviv better, but economic necessity brought her and her family back to Sderot.

Much of what I saw in Sderot was what I expected to see - ordinary people trying to live normal lives in abnormal times. What I did not expect to see was a gaggle of Christian cowboys from Texas, easily identified by their Stetson hats, fancy buckles and cowboy boots. They were from the Cowboy Church, a self-described community of Evangelical Texans who love horses, think alike and love Jesus. They were both friendly and eager to tell me why they were here ... to support the Jews in restoring Israel to the people God gave it to, to prepare for the rapture when the Messiah returns to bring all this messy history to a close. "We'll all be one then." Except for those who don't accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. "How about the Muslims, will they be saved too." No, they've had their chance and they've rejected Jesus. "It's what the Good Book says."

Well, it went along like that for awhile and then got worse. Learning that I was from Illinois, the inevitable question came: "What do you think about Obama." Well, sir, do you know he has disobeyed every one of the ten commandments? And do you know that "mercy killing" - just like the Nazis carried out on disabled Jews - that could happen in our USA? "When they come to the door to get my disabled daughter, I've got a plan how to hide her." And you watch, "if ever the United States does anything negative toward Israel, there will be negative consequences for us. You just watch and see if that's not true."

These are not the first Christian Zionists I've met in Israel. John Hagee was here recently and was honored as a great friend of Israel by Bibi Netanyahu. Many members of CUFI (Christians United for Israel) must have come along with him.

It's frankly a little bizarre encountering these folk. I try to approach them openly, listen respectfully, ask questions gently. I think what disturbs me most is the abandon with which these Christians give their support to an Israel I cannot believe in and the extreme caution with which progressive Christians, especially my own Episcopal Church, advocate for our Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters and their Muslim neighbors. If we wanted justice and peace as strongly as CUFI wants whatever the hell they want, we might see a little less violence in this troubled land.

With Brian in Jenin, Jit and Khalandia

2010-03-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I traveled to Jenin with Rabbi Brian Walt, the co-founder Ta'anit Tzedek - Jewish Fast for Gaza, to visit the Palestinian Fair Trade Association and Canaan Fair Trade facility that produces the wonderful olive oils, Za'atar, olives and couscous now available in the US through Whole Foods. After a tour of the facility we visited one of the farmers who is a member of the cooperative. As we introduced ourselves our host said (through a translator) "I do not understand how a people who have suffered so much can turn around and inflict that same suffering on others." Later, after coffee and apricot nectar had been served, Brian responded to our host. I'm sure I don't have his exact words, but he told our host that he shares his sadness at the suffering of the Palestinian people and wants him to know there are other Jews who are deeply sorry for the suffering they experience. It was a privilege to be present at a moment of such honesty and compassion.

Brian had been in touch earlier in the day with a Palestinian friend in Jit, a small village west of Nablus, who is field staff for Rabbis for Human Rights, an organization Brian headed in the US. He told Brian that he and one of his brothers had been attacked by settlers the previous Friday and asked us to visit on our way home from Jenin. Zechariah told us his story but not until he had fed us a sumptuous meal and introduced us to all seven of his brothers who gathered in his apartment to meet us. Zechariah is a large man who in addition to his native Arabic speaks fluent Hebrew and English. The story he told is typical of so many incidents in which settlers harass or attack Palestinians. In this case both he and his brother were injured, two video cameras and cell phones were stolen, and the police said there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone. Israeli authorities frequently comment that these ideological settlers are out of control, but it seems far more likely that they function as shock troops to push Palestinians into smaller and smaller enclaves.

From Jit we were driven by a generous neighbor of Zechariah to the Khalandia check point through which we would reenter Israel and catch a bus to Jerusalem. I had walked through this check point before so was accustomed to the routine. Brian, however, had not, and was stunned. At one point there is what can only be described as a cattle chute through which everyone must pass waiting to be admitted to the x ray machine and the soldier to whom permits and visas are presented. We passed without incident, but with a painful reminder of the humiliation Palestinians experience daily.

Brian and I talked the following day. We acknowledged the emotional impact the experience had on both of us and and our decision to give ourselves a day "off" to recover. Our Palestinian brothers and sisters never get a day off from an occupation that is now at 42 years and counting.

Miracles on the Mount of Olives

2010-03-15T03:07:00.000-07:00

"The Israelis are very fine people; they are clever, but they are not wise. No one wants to be occupied. They damage themselves. How can we have peace when there is no justice?"

When I visited Betty Majaj last week I did not expect to encounter a fire-brand whose words and wisdom still ring in my head and heart. I toured the Princess Basma Centre for Disabled Children which Betty heads to learn more about an institution I had heard about through the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem (AFEDJ). Since I am very near Betty's age, I can say that she looks like a refined, mild-mannered senior citizen. She is indeed refined and mild-mannered and she was a gracious host to me later in the week when I went for tea with friends at her home. But this is one powerful woman who speaks the truth in love. People like Betty Majaj are the best friends Israel will ever have.

Betty has been director of the Princess Basma Centre for Disabled Children for more than 20 years. She was born in Lebanon, trained as a nurse and married a physician who later became the Minister of Health in Jordan and, later still, medical director of two hospitals in Jerusalem. I visited her at the Centre a week ago and joined her for tea last Friday at her lovely home just a few minutes walk from St. George's Guest House. If a tour through the Princess Basma Centre doesn't break your heart and, at the same time, inspire a vibrant new hope, nothing will. The Centre runs a school and treatment center for 756 boys and girls, serving children with cerebral palsy, the hearing-impaired, creating prosthetic devices for children wounded by the violence, and a great deal more. What was most striking though was the atmosphere of warmth, professionalism and competency that pervades every aspect of the Centre. Room is provided for mothers to stay overnight with their children when they are brought for treatment. An Empowerment of Women for Women helps teaches Palestinian women to demand their rights. Since West Bankers can no longer come to Jerusalem, two satellite clinics have been established in the north near Nablus and in the south near Hebron. One of the Centre staff described a 5 year study comparing the traditional training for cerebral palsied children with a new functional training that has already shown promising results. Another showed me the workshop where he builds prosthetic limbs for amputees and braces for cerebral palsied children. The carbon fiber and titanium joints used in his work are state of the art and very expensive.

It would be difficult to overstate the impact of the loving care and professional treatment children and their families experience at the Princess Basma Center. I rarely speak of miracles, but the term applies when, against all odds, a person like Betty and her staff not only bring new life to disabled children but, by their words and the actions, become powerful witnesses for the justice and peace so desperately needed in this land.

Reunion in Jenin

2010-03-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

I left early this morning with Rabbi Brian Walt (former director of Rabbis for Human Rights and founder of Fast for Gaza) for Jenin, the Palestinian Fair Trade Association Offices and the Canaan Fair Trade facility. It was an "interesting" ride from Jerusalem to Ramallah and then to Jenin via a road which read "Road closed to Jenin". We made it though, and our introduction to PFTA and the Canaan Fair Trade facility was wonderful. I went to Jenin specifically to shoot enough video and stills to create a 5-7 minute introduction to PFTA and Zatoun olive oil, a product I hope more churches and synagogues will market in their congregations. More about that later.

The totally unexpected surprise came, though, as the small group that gathered to learn about the Association began introducing ourselves. When we got to a man I thought I recognized he told us he was a chiropractor from a kibbutz near Haifa called Harduf. I suddenly realized this was the man who rescued me several years ago from the Jalameh checkpoint where the soldiers had refused to allow me to return to Israel and a group I was to meet in Nazareth. It was Harry Finkbeiner! Without any display of anger Harry had argued with the soldiers for a good hour and a half until they finally released me. It was the most elegant display of negotiating and peacemaking skills I have ever witnessed. Harry apparently recognized me at the same moment I recognized him, and we both erupted in howls of laughter and joy ... and repeated hugs. What a gift to know Harry Finkbeiner who was my saint-at-the-checkpoint is still working for justice and peace in Israel/Palestine!

Visiting Jamal in Hebron

2010-03-13T11:30:00.000-08:00

Well, not exactly Hebron. Just north of Hebron in a small Palestinian village called Beit Ommar. I set out fairly early from Jerusalem with a friend from Sabeel to visit Jamal and Saddiey Moqbel and their family. Colleagues in Chicago told me of the courageous work Jamal is doing with an organization dedicated to peacemaking by creating opportunities for Israelis and Palestinians to talk with one another

The #121 bus left from the Damascus gate station and dropped us at the junction of Bethlehem and Beit Jalla. From there we took the Hebron mini bus south. Shortly after we boarded, I gave my seat to an elderly Palestinian woman. After standing in the aisle for awhile she signaled for me to come take her seat as she went to the rear of the bus where fellow travelers were smiling and crunching up to make room for the older woman. Palestinians could teach us all something about courtesy.

As we approached the check point at Beit Ommar, traffic slowed before an incident taking place about 10 cars ahead of us. IDF trucks and soldiers were everywhere, people were running and tear gas cannisters were exploding. I immediately began shooting pictures through the front of the bus and was ushered to a front seat by the other passengers who were clearly pleased someone was recording the incident. As this was our destination, we left the bus and followed about 15 of the press to the embankment just above the clash which, by then, was somewhat quieter. We got most of the story from English-speaking journalists and internationals. ISM (International Solidarity Movement) had staged a similar demonstration the preceding Friday, protesting the unjust treatment of Palestinians in Hebron and the IDF were apparently not well prepared. This week they were.

As we stood on the embankment, the soldiers basically ignored our presence and our photography as well as our questions about what was going on. Suddenly, they were no longer ignoring us. There was a lot of loud shouting (in Hebrew) and we were being pushed up the hill; most of the press were running. When I looked back my Sabeel friend had just stepped aside from someone being pushed in front of her and the next thing I saw a soldier was dragging her by the arm down the embankment to the street and the army vehicles. When I got there an Israeli policewoman was explaining that she had been arrested, would be questioned and later released. My friend’s broad smile told me she was having something of a good time, so I quit worrying about her and asked why she had been arrested and where she would be taken. Suddenly, a soldier grabbed my arm, asked if I had been arrested (I had not - yet) and began shoving me up the hill. My continued resistance was clearly going to lead to my arrest so I followed the journalists/photographers to higher ground and a road which led past the scene of the clash.

Things continued to calm down, so I walked back toward the soldiers, found a friendly one and explained that I wanted to find out about my friend. He said he would walk me up there ... at which point I saw her walking freely toward us. As she explained, the policewoman (soldiers apparently cannot arrest) was quite kind, gave her some water to ease the sting of tear gas and warned her not to put her hands near her eyes. For whatever reason, they decided not to keep her. We were both aware that had she been Palestinian the result might have been very different. But she got a good sample of how Palestinians are frequently treated.

Jamal kindly met us a little later and drove us to his home and family. His wife, Saddiye, and four children came out from their lovely home to meet us, all smiling and politely introducing themselves. Amr is three, Yara is 9, Zain a bit older, and Yazan 15. A very handsome bunch. As the day unfolded we learned a great deal about the Moqbels. They are refugees from 1948 and 1967. Jamal was 16 when the first Intifada broke out. Soldiers suspected him of throwing stones (he was), came in the middle of the night, blindfolded and handcuffed him and held him for 20 days. He was imprisoned three more times, the last time at an infamous prison near Hebron for 1 1/2 years. He was shot once and was beaten severely during his last imprisonment. He and Saddiye were married in 1995 after a seven year engagement. With a wife and children, Jamal realized he had to take a different course in resisting the occupation. So he decided to build a house in Beit Ommar where his family lived and open a barber shop. Although it is in Area C (Palestinian-controlled), Israeli authorities repeatedly denied him a building permit. When he began to build, they repeatedly brought demolition orders. But the house stands and Jamal and Saddiye have raised four wonderful children. “First in Class” awards hang on the walls.

In spite of or perhaps because of all he has been through, Jamal began the organization sponsoring dialogue between Jews and Palestinians. Jamal proudly told us that their son,Yazan, had talked their Jewish Israeli friend into realizing it would be safe for him to come visit the Moqdels in Beit Ommar. And he has.

As with all my visits to Palestinian families, the hospitality is abundant and kindly given. Saddiye prepared a wonderful lunch for us. But before we ate, Jamal and his son spread a prayer rug and offered silent prayers to Allah ... as we respectfully watched and offered our own prayers of gratitude for Jamal and his family.

Jamal and Saddiye have precious little worldly wealth (he turns off his car’s engine to coast down hills), but they are obviously rich in what counts. After all they have received at the hands of Israel, they refuse to hate, continue to seek justice, and work for a world in which all can live peacefully. A Lenten inspiration for us all.

Easy Leaving, Not So Easy Returning

2010-03-09T06:23:00.000-08:00

One of the realities Palestinians have become accustomed to is the ease with which they can leave Jerusalem (or anywhere else in Israel) and the difficulty they experience in returning. It's a little complicated for those of us with US passports, but nothing like what the Palestinian must put up with day after day.

On Sunday I shared a cab to Ramallah with friends to participate in the hundredth anniversary of the Ramallah Friends Meetinghouse and International Center (more about that later). On the way north we buzzed right through the Khalandia checkpoint (which looks very much like a national border facility). On the way home, though, I boarded an Arab bus that regularly goes from Ramallah to Jerusalem. When we got to Khalandia, everyone piled out of the bus and walked toward the facility housing equipment similar to that used in US airports to scan for weapons and explosives. After these scans everyone moves through turnstiles where identification papers and permits are inspected. As I moved to leave the bus an older man and the bus driver called me back, saying that people over 60 did not have to deboard and walk through the check point. That's what I call "geezer identification".

Our bus slowly approached the auto checkpoint and stopped, waiting for the car ahead to be inspected. As the soldiers opened the car's trunk and ordered the passengers out for inspection, I took out my rather large camera and began shooting. Big mistake. A woman soldier saw me and signaled her displeasure. When we pulled into the checkpoint, they boarded the bus, demanding to see my passport and the pictures I took. I heard the word "delete" several times. To my good fortune I had also taken pictures of cabbages for sale on the street in Ramallah (beautiful vegetables!) and the soldier got to those after seeing the shots of them inspecting the car. At the cabbage shots the male soldier mellowed a bit and said "ok" ... much to the disapproval of the female who turned out to be Russian (Tatyana). No smiles from Tatyana. We pulled through the check point, drove to the parking area on the other side to wait for those who were slowly coming out of the facility.

Two days later I visited a remarkable man, Daoud Nasser, who has developed a place called "The Tent of Nations", south of Bethlehem on the way to Hebron (more about Daoud and the T of N later). I rode a bus from Jerusalem and, as to Ramallah, we buzzed through the check point leaving Israel. In mid afternoon I got dropped back at the Bethlehem checkpoint to return to St. George's in Jerusalem. I got in the long line waiting to move through the checkpoint and welcomed a Palestinian who needed to get to work in an hour to enter the line in front of me. He kindly reminded me of the routine. He would have to empty everything on him in trays to be x-rayed and then move to the turnstiles where a device read his handprint and he showed his permit to enter Jerusalem. I could simply put my backpack through the x ray but did not need to empty my pockets and take off my belt. "Just show them your US passport". Even when the electronic monitor I walked through picked up my metallic hips, I was waved on. So simple for me. So tiring and humiliating for my Palestinian acquaintance. But he is used to it; he makes this passage twice daily.

As my Palestinian friend and I left the turnstiles, the sign on the wall read, "Welcome to Jerusalem. Have a nice day".

A Celebrative Evening in Sheikh Jarrah

2010-03-07T11:28:00.000-08:00

I approach demonstrations in Israel very carefully. I usually don't know enough about the organizers to be sure of their commitment to non-violence, and even when I do, serious incidents can occur. I usually attend as an observer. But the demonstration planned for last night in Sheikh Jarrah merited support. I had visited Palestinian family members evicted from their homes, observed the Ultra Orthodox settlers who claimed their homes and knew enough about the protest to have confidence in the planners. I also knew the Israeli Supreme Court had issued strong orders supporting peaceful protest.

Usually, the only ones on time to a demonstration are the police. When I arrived a half hour before the announced start time the Palestinian police were there in full force - I would guess at 1,000 police with riot gear and all the military accoutrements. We were well protected.

Israeli authorities had issued a permit for the demonstration to take place on a nearby soccer field. When I arrived only a few hundred had gathered, and I feared a non-event. Gradually, though, buses began arriving from Haifa and Tel Aviv and Beersheva. And by the time the event began in earnest, there was at least several thousand (Ha'aretz reported 5,000 this morning). What was most wonderful about the crowd was its great diversity and positive mood. There were parents with their children, a good number of older people (like me), lots of young adults; Jews, Christians and Muslims. And they were all in a celebrative mood! There was great music, lots of dancing, dramatic speeches (few of which I understood) and chanting crowds. A Jewish woman told me, "This is wonderful! Protests used to be filled with angry and unhappy people. These people are happy. I feel like dancing!" And she was.

The assymetry of Israeli law, the evictions of poor Palestinian families, the taunting presence of Ultra Orthodox settlers, and the seeming intent of Israel to claim more and more of East Jerusalem have clearly mobilized many - Palestinian residents, Arab and Jewish israelis, internationals.

As I left the demonstration a sizable counter demonstration was being organized by the Ultra Orthodox. The Jerusalem police moved quickly and effectively to move them out of any proximity to demonstrators. Happily, there were no incidents. Happily, too, there was a powerful witness to values held by people of every faith and of no faith - and perhaps the beginning of a new coalition working within Israel for a more just society.

More Kindnesses

2010-03-06T05:52:00.000-08:00

Earlier today a guest at St. George's guest house became faint and collapsed near the front desk. When I learned of the incident the staff had already made her comfortable and called for an ambulance. The Israeli emergency medical team was talking to the woman, suggesting that running some tests at the hospital was probably a good idea. Having been on the receiving end of such an incident, I know how very much you do NOT want to be taken to the hospital. Denial sets in immediately and going to the hospital means something may actually be wrong. She explained to the team that she would get up in just a moment and be fine. Her words were slow, though, and she was obviously not going anywhere on her own steam. The team leader patiently and kindly kept encouraging her to go for some tests. In addition to this man's gentle manner, there were three other attendants whom I learned were 11th and 12 grade Jewish Israeli students who volunteered their time every Saturday to work in ICU or on an ambulance. They were most impressive.

Sometimes in crises our common humanity takes over and potential enemies become people just like us.

Sheikh Jarrah

2010-03-05T23:47:00.000-08:00

A neighborhood in East Jerusalem called Sheikh Jarrah has recently become the focus of an intense struggle between Palestinian residents and Israeli authorities and ideologically religious Jewish settlers for the future of this Arab community. A web site which mobilizes support for Palestinians describes the source of the conflict and the injustice of laws which favors Israeli Jewish citizens over Israeli Palestinian citizens.

"The asymmetric legal situation in Israel, through the Absentee Property Law, makes it possible for Jews to return to property that was owned by Jews before 1948 — while Palestinian property return is completely impossible. This is both unjust and unwise. In Sheikh Jarrah, this has resulted in Palestinian refugees, originally housed in the neighborhood by the Jordanian government after 1948, becoming refugees a second time. Of course, unlike the settlers forcing the Palestinians out of their homes, the Palestinians cannot return to the homes they owned before 1948 — not in Jaffa, nor in West Jerusalem or anywhere else..."

Yesterday I visited members of two families who have been evicted from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood that is only a few blocks from the Anglican Cathedral where I am staying. Where I stood with an international observer from Denmark, Miriam and Aiman and Nabil Said Alkurd was immediately across the street from the home Miriam and Aiman used to occupy. It is now the home of Israeli settlers who have draped the house with Israeli flags and who, while I was there, walked between us to the empty house Nabil built but is not allowed to live in. The home now occupied by settlers has been claimed as Jewish Israeli property. Both groups have deeds to the property and both claim the other's deed is forged. It is, obviously, a very provocative situation.

Nabil explained to me his history in the property where we stood and where they now camp. As a Palestinian refugee he came to this location in 1956 when the Jordanian government and the UN built a simple house for him and his young family. When he came, he said, there were only olive trees here. After 1967 and the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem he repeatedly applied for a building permit to expand his home to make room for a growing family. Like many Palestinians, however, these permits were never approved. Finally, he proceeded to build the addition without a permit. He has never been allowed to live in this addition and it is now claimed as settler property, although no one lives there.

Demonstrations by Israeli Palestinians, Jews and internationals have been held here each Friday for many months. A much larger demonstration is planned for this evening. Tension has clearly risen in Jerusalem in part because of Prime Minister Netanyahu's recent appropriation of the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem as Israeli national heritage sites. Clashes occurred yesterday between soldiers and Palestinian students near the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount and soldiers were inspecting all cars on the road outside my room at St. George's guest house, something I have never seen before.

I will observe the demonstration tonight. The Israeli court has so far upheld the right of citizens for peaceful demonstrations. 50 people will be allowed in the space in front of the house. The rest - however many - will remain at the top of the street leading to the evicted families and the home now occupied by settlers. If the police keep their cool and the demonstrators retain their disciplined non-violent approach, it may well be an important witness to the claim of many for justice for all the citizens of this land.

Ibillin Conversations

2010-03-02T09:14:00.000-08:00

Mar Elias is a school the legendary Melkite Archbishop Abuna Elias Chacour built following years of struggle in the small village of Ibillin near Haifa in northern Israel. At Mar Elais more than a thousand Muslim and Christian children are taught by an interfaith faculty of Jews, Christians and Muslims. During the course of my day here I've had three conversations which begin to describe the complexity of life as an Arab in this land.

Abuna Chacour is an Israeli citizen. At lunch today Abuna talked about his experience of Israeli bureaucracy as an instrument of Israeli policy, seemingly to make it as difficult as possible for Christians to remain in this land. A Lebanese Melkite priest Abuna needs to serve a parish in Israel has been waiting a year and a half for the visa required to come here. "And he is still waiting," Abuna said. For this academic year the Israeli Ministry of Education has withheld over a million dollars owed Mar Elias as punishment for assisting a Muslim school in a neighboring community. Some teachers, Abuna said, have not been paid for many months. Despite a robust faith and a long record of perseverance (no one will push this man out), Abuna is clearly discouraged.

Later in the afternoon I talked with two high school students on their way home with their mother who teaches in the lower school. Both told me they did not like to think or talk about politics. "The Israeli government is better," they said "and the Israeli technology is far superior than the Palestinian." These are two very bright and ambitious students. One will major in technology, the other in medicine. Later this evening I talked with another Palestinian family who was more outspoken about the racism they experience from Israeli Jews but made clear the difference that being an Israeli citizen makes in their lives. They can travel as they wish and they live under Israeli law rather than the far more restrictive law of the occupation. All of these people are trying their best to live normal lives in an admittedly abnormal situation.

Finally I talked with ......., a Palestinian gardener and maintenance man from Jenin who is not an Israeli citizen. ....... spends two to three months working at Mar Elias and then returns home for a week or two. He has six children whom he misses, but, he said, "if I want to eat, I need to work". To get to Ibillin, ....... travels 6 - 8 hours, crouched in a truck with other men, from Jenin to Bethlehem, through Jerusalem to Tel Aviv to Haifa and Ibillin. Without a permit he is not allowed to travel the half to three quarters of an hour from Jenin directly to Ibillin. Before I headed back to my room, ........... proudly showed me the English-Arabic book he had purchased for his son and read me words he had learned to pronounce. "My son will learn English soon."

Ordinary Kindnesses

2010-02-28T13:52:00.000-08:00

In the midst of so many high profile issues that absorb our attention in this troubled land, it is easy to overlook acts of ordinary kindness that occur in the course of everyday life. I think of my young Jewish seatmate on the flight to Tel Aviv who, when I looked bewildered, stopped what he was doing to show me where to plug in my ear phones; of the Israeli man at Ben Gurion who stopped to explain to my companion how her cell phone worked; of the airport bus driver from who phoned an anxious passenger’s companion in Jerusalem to tell her where to meet her friend. None of these extraordinary, but they are the kinds of civility that constitute a viable society. The tragedy for both Israelis and Palestinians is that they are now so isolated from each other by walls, curfews, bypass roads and Jewish Israeli-only neighborhoods that they have little or no contact. And that which they do have is almost always accompanied by weapons and enormous power differentials.

This morning’s adventure was to make my way from Jerusalem to Ramallah and the Quaker Meeting for Worship by way of the #18 bus. When I arrived in Ramallah a fellow passenger observed my opened map and asked if he could help. By the time he had walked several blocks with me, I had learned of his years in New York and Chicago and been invited to his shop for coffee. Despite this kind man’s help, I lost my way and approached a Palestinian policeman. Big smile, no English, but eager to help. Lost again, I entered an office building, found a lovely young woman who escorted me to the president’s office who did his very best in Arabic and many gestures from his large window. Recalling that the Meeting was across the street from the best ice cream store in Ramallah, I hailed a taxi who took me there in minutes for only 10 shekels. Many ordinary kindnesses made my morning an adventure rather than an ordeal.

Signs of Hope ... and otherwise

2010-02-26T13:03:00.000-08:00

Jerusalem is raining like there is no tomorrow (including some hail) and is matched by chilly temperatures ... hard on the driving and those without winter jackets, but good for the land and its produce. Sun and more warmth promised for next week.

As always when I visit Is/Pal, I encounter remarkably encouraging signs for the future together with unmistakable indicators of a worsening conflict. In the former category is a British pediatrician I met at breakfast Friday who just spent a week in Gaza and a week in Ramallah creating teaching modules for young physicians. Asked what gave her hope she said, "It's the relationships with these young doctors; they're bright, committed and, given the conditions under which they work, most creative." At breakfast this morning I talked with an Australian woman with CARE who is helping link markets in Ramallah and Nablus to women in Jenin who are producing excellent cheeses and other dairy products. Travel is difficult for the women in Jenin, so instead of having them take their produce south, she is working to bring the market to them.

After breakfast yesterday we joined Estephan and Laurie Salameh and three month old Luca ... who is a sign of hope all by himself. We drove to Jifna for lunch with Estephan's family whose generous hospitality is so characteristic of the Palestinian people. Part of my mission with my friend, Kathy Matsushima, is to look in on the Seraj Library Project's children's library in the Christian village of Jifna and the space now furnished and ready for books in the Muslim village of Al-Itihhad. Estephan, Kathy and I will meet with a resource person in Ramallah today whom we hope may become a resource for more children's books and consultant services to the women the villages provide to manage the libraries. A hopeful sign for the civil society Palestinians are building is the dramatic increase in reading among young Palestinians.

At the same time it appears that every policy of the Israeli government is directed toward appropriating as much of the West Bank as possible and encouraging as many Palestinians as possible to emigrate. In Beit Hanin, an Arab section of greater Jerusalem where Estephan lives, city services are noticeably absent. No sidewalks, streets badly in need of repair, no postoffice; and yet these people pay the same taxes as other Jerusalemites. The contrast with West Jerusalem neighborhoods could not be more dramatic. On our way to Al-Itihhad we passed a new Jewish settlement on Palestinian land. They begin as a group of trailers suddenly positioned and occupied by settlers. Although declared illegal by the Israeli government, they are defended by the IDF and supplied with electricity and water by the government. The positioning of trailers is followed by the construction of permanent homes ... and suddenly another "fact on the ground". This particular group of trailers lies on land in Area C (60% of the West Bank) as specified in the Oslo Accords over which Israel has both civil and military authority. Permission for Palestinians to build in Area C must be obtained from the appropriate Israeli authority and is in practice nearly impossible to obtain. The list of ways Israeli words desiring a negotiated peace do not match their actions is endless. The eviction of Palestinians in the Sheik Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem just a few blocks from St. George's where I am staying is testimony to the Israeli intent to take over all of Jerusalem and, so far as possible, push out Palestinians. A new policy which denies work visas for internationals employed by NGO's in Jerusalem will effectively push these organizations out of Jerusalem into Ramallah. Netanyahu's recent declaration including the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's tomb in Bethlehem as national heritage sites is, as the US stated, a provocation and another insult to the Palestinian people. Yet US administrations have been and remain unwilling to take any stronger action to stop a movement which has continued uninterrupted by every Israeli government, both liberal and conservative.

The signs of hope are sometimes small and few compared to seemingly unrelenting signs to the contrary. But so it has always been. Particularly during this season, it is the fidelity, courage and perseverance of the few that is the content of our hope.

A Fourth Trip

2010-02-22T09:07:00.000-08:00

I leave Wednesday on my fourth trip to Israel/Palestine ... with considerable excitement and lots of expectations. My itinerary this time is entirely my own, but good friends and kind people on both sides have welcomed me for visits. My goals for this trip are several. One is to ask the same question of many people ... "What contributes to your hopefulness for a just peace and what lessens it?" To the best of our ability, we obviously need to contribute to the former and cut back on the latter!

Another goal is to visit and talk with people and groups contributing to justice, reconciliation and peace. Among those are our two good friends, Estephan and Laurie Salameh (and now baby Luca as well!) who are founders of the Seraj Library Project. With E & L I will visit Seraj's two children's libraries in Jifna and Al-Itihhad and shoot enough stills and videos to make a short DVD for Seraj when I get home. On behalf of the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem (AFEDJ), I'll visit and learn more about a couple diocesan institutions in Jerusalem and Ramallah. And for sheer fun, I'll get up to Jenin where the Palestinian Fair Trade Association recently built a modern olive oil press, the source of the wonderful olive oil we sell in Chicago. I go on this trip armed with a Nikon D90, a very compact little camcorder and a voice recorder for times when videos aren't welcome. I'm currently on a crash course to master enough of the technology to be able, when I return, to create useful tools for sharing what I've learned.

Putting all of this in theological terms, I'm looking for "signs of the resurrection", an appropriate Lenten discipline, I think. My theology of resurrection is pretty humble; it amounts to signs of hope where there seems little to justify it, signs of love where it seems in short supply, signs of justice and peace where injustice and violence dominate. On these journeys, the courage and fidelity of so many Israelis and Palestinians always strengthen my own.

There are many more plans, but they will unfold as I travel. Wherever and whenever possible, I will post regular updates and include some pictures of the wonderful people and places I visit. Thanks for joining me along the way. Shalom, Salaam, Peace. Cotton

Haifa and Ibillin

2008-11-25T09:09:00.000-08:00

The train from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv winds through beautiful canyons slowly dropping to sea level and rich agricultural lands along the coast. Israeli trains are more on the order of the luxurious European than American variety. I changed trains in Tel Aviv and managed to find a seat on a very packed train going north to Haifa. I am more accustomed now to seeing Israeli soldiers everywhere, their weapon slung over their back or along their side. It’s a little harder getting used to sitting next to one on the train with his or her weapon lodged between us.

Haifa is a stunning city. I treated myself to a hotel on Mt. Carmel overlooking the city and the Mediterranean. It was pouring when I arrived and cleared shortly thereafter to reveal a sparkling city and port. The Baha’i World Center and gardens are a 15 minute walk along the Panorama; a little farther to the Carmel Monastery. Magnificent.

I had called Mar Elias, the school built by Elias Chacour in Ibillin several times during the week to arrange my visit. A very kind woman advised me to catch a bus for Ibillin at the Lev Hamefraps terminal at the northern end of Haifa. I found my way there well enough, but discovered buses for Ibillin ran only in the evening. A little bargaining with a taxi driver got us launched for only 100 shekels. My driver, however, failed to tell me he didn’t have a clue how to get to Ibillin. With many stops to ask directions, we arrived in a very much larger village than I anticipated. Mar Elias sits atop a steep hill which, on the clear day I visited, afforded a magnificent view of the Mediterranean.

The school arranged for a wonderful young American woman, Kathryn Pharr, in her first year of teaching, to give me a tour. The physical plant is quite impressive with well-equipped classrooms, science and communication labs and building continuing at several locations. The school serves over 2,000 students, about 60% Muslim, 40% Christian. There are Jewish, Christian and Muslim faculty. Tuition runs $200 a year, a fee some families still cannot afford. Gifts from abroad and from the faculty make up the difference. Because of finances, classes are large, around 40, but standards are very high and 80% of their students go on study at universities. As we walked through the campus during a break in classes, Kathryn introduced me to two of her students, Aseel and Hend, pretty Muslim girls and best friends. They said what they liked so much about Mar Elias was the open atmosphere and the permission they feel to talk about whatever they want. Nothing is out of bounds. In a conversation with the vice-principal, Elias Abu Ghanima, I learned that because Arab Israeli young people are not required to serve in the military (and few want to), they must wait three years after high school to apply to university. That supposedly keeps things “even”. Having fewer children and somewhat higher incomes, Arab Israeli Christians often don’t wait the three years and send their children to college in the US, Europe or other Arab countries. Experiencing life in a freer society, they frequently emigrate from Israel, reducing the Christian population in the Holy Land even further.

Mar Elias’ vice-principal, Elias Abu Ghanima, has been at the school “forever”. He was a student in Chacour’s first ninth grade class, graduated high school, went to Hebrew University and then returned to Ibillin to teach. Abuna Chacour is his godfather. He is a man with enormous energy and passion. As our conversation moved from education to politics, he reflected that unique combination of fatigue, frustration and hope that characterizes so many Palestinians. Regarding the difficulty of finding strong national leadership, he told me of the Arab Israeli elected to the Knesset who is now in exile in Jordan. After publicly calling for an “Israel for all its people” (Jew and Arab alike) he was charged with some sort of traitorous communications. If he returns to Israel, he will be imprisoned. Some of the tough determination I’ve heard from other Palestinians was reflected in his blunt comment, “We will never be the Jew for the Jews”. He left our conversation with the reminder that I (Cotton) am a Christian because his ancestors were followers of this man, Jesus. I’ll not forget.

Before gratefully catching a ride back to Haifa with the school’s head of maintenance and his family, I came upon teen age students practicing an exuberant form of Arab dancing. They were perfectly wonderful, reflecting all the energy and silliness of teenagers everywhere. I even learned a few steps.

Jeff Halper and House Demolitions

2008-11-25T08:59:00.000-08:00

Jeff Halper is a Jewish Israeli anthropologist and the director of the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions (ICAHD). I’ve heard Jeff before and I suspect (and hope) he is a burr under the saddle of the Israeli government. He talked to us of the continuing Nakba.

Jeff recently sailed into Gaza with the Free Gaza initiative and has sailed out from that port with Palestinian fishermen. He points out that with the Oslo accords the Palestinians were allowed to fish up to 20 miles off the coast. That has since been restricted to 3-6 miles, an area pretty well “fished out”. Internationals testing those limits with local fishermen were arrested by the Israeli navy earlier this week. On one of its incursions into Gaza, Israel destroyed its sewage treatment system. The European Union offered to rebuild the system if Israel would promise not to destroy it again. Thus far, Israel has not promised. While I have been here, rockets from Gaza into Israel have resumed and an Israeli blockade has been reinstated. In yesterday’s Jerusalem Post (11/19) Israeli generals admitted the blockade is not working, but it continues nonetheless. The population of Gaza (particularly children) and the Israeli towns within range of militant rockets continue to suffer while these warring parties persist in battling each other.

Jeff’s analysis of the situation asks whether this is a ’48 problem or a ’67 problem. As the demographic threat is so keenly felt by Israel, Jeff describes it as more the former than the latter. With the intent to “redeem” all the land from the sea to the Jordan (and for some, beyond), Israel is stuck with all these Arabs. The problem is one of exclusivity, what Jeff labels an ethnocracy. Israel contradicts itself by insisting on being a Jewish state and being called a democracy. Given centuries of persecution, I have some sympathy for Israel’s insistence on a Jewish state, and clearly the issue is deeply felt by even the most progressive Jews. The claim rests, however, on perpetuating the definition of Jews as victims, a claim that may not wash in decades to come. Regardless, it perpetuates an historic injustice to Arabs who remain second or third class citizens of Israel, occupies the land of millions more, and makes the return of refugees non-negotiable.

On Tuesday, I visited the site of an Arab home demolished on the Mount of Olives. As in this case, the claim is most often that a building has been constructed without a permit, but Arabs may wait years for a building permit and frequently never get it at all. The Israeli government claims permits are given out on an equitable basis, but that appears patently false. In another incident last week, bulldozers demolished a tent set up by an elderly Arab couple on land in East Jerusalem. The Al-Kurd family had previously been evicted from their home on the basis of a court finding that a Jewish family was the rightful owner of the land on which their house was built. The article in the Jerusalem Post noted “the dispute was the latest Israeli move against Arab squatters in east Jerusalem” (what Halper calls a creative reframing). Block by block, demolition by demolition and neighborhood by neighborhood, Israel creates “facts on the ground” which make a Palestinian East Jerusalem more and more improbable.

Ronny Perlman and the work of Machsom Watch

2008-11-25T08:51:00.000-08:00

Machsom Watch is a project of Israeli women providing a watchful presence over IDF treatment of Palestinians at Israeli check points. And Ronny Perlman is one of the women who goes to checkpoints twice a day – in the morning when Palestinian adults are going to work and students are going to school – and at the end of the day when they are returning home. Her observing presence is intended to encourage humane treatment of Palestinians. Ronny and her cohorts write a report after each watch which they believe will become a history of the occupation they vehemently oppose. Ronny described an Israeli bureaucracy which makes life miserable for Palestinians. 200,000 Palestinians are denied admission to Israel “for security reasons”. Undoubtedly some are security risks, but others are put on the list “because they took chemistry in college and that may mean they know how to build bombs”. Getting a traffic ticket in the occupied territory may mean the offender’s name appears on a computer list, denying him/her entry to Israel. Removal of the name from the listg may take years.

Ronny believes the recruitment of Palestinians informers has played a larger role than the “security barrier” in reducing suicide attacks against civilians in Israel. She cites the example of a woman who took her son to Jerusalem three times a week for dialysis. That permission was suddenly denied, leaving the mother vulnerable to being pressed into service as an informer. Such a practice degrades both oppressed and oppressor.

Ronny is a remarkably loyal Israeli. She describes her two sons, one a physician, the other an ornithologist, as kind and compassionate men – and loyal IDF soldiers. Ronny says they cannot talk politics at home, but, recently, her sons called her at the checkpoint she was observing to wish her happy birthday. "Sweet", she said. She acknowledges Machsom Watch is not growing. Like many in the peace movement, they are tired and, probably, discouraged. “It is amazing”, she says, “the Western world allows Israel to continue its oppression of Palestinians.”

Tiberias, Samakh and Beisan

2008-11-16T11:49:00.000-08:00

We left Nazareth Friday morning in groups of 15-20 to visit villages and towns in upper Galilee that were depopulated or destroyed in 1948. As we drove north, we saw how the ring of Jewish settlements surrounding Nazareth has effectively prevented the city's Arab population from expanding. It is difficult not to ascribe intent to this type of urban "planning". On our way to Tiberias (now Tveria), we passed through Mashad (of Jonah fame), Cana (of new wine fame) and Toraan (where "it is said" Jesus told the parable of the sower and the seed). Tiberias itself is a thriving lakeside city which, in places, resembles the Atlantic City boardwalk. Naim Ateek told us as a child he swam regularly in the sea of Galilee. Water pumped from Galilee has significantly lowered the lake today and pollution makes swimming inadvisable. Ashkenazi Jews began settling in Tiberias at the end of the nineteenth century and by 1948 comprised a little over 50% of the population. Arabs and Jews had generally good relations until the 1947 Partition Plan was announced, the British began their withdrawal and war between Palmach and Arab Liberation Army forces threatened. As in so many other places, with few weapons and no training, Arab defenders were no match for well-organized and strongly motivated Jewish soldiers. Late in April, 1948, all Arabs were evacuated from Tiberias.

Today, no Arabs are allowed to live or own land in Tiberias. Not by law, but by custom. It reminds me of large parts of Coral Gables where, when I was growing up there, no Jews lived anywhere near us. "They just don't live here." We viewed the remains of a Greek Orthodox Church, a Roman Church and a mosque which, by Israeli law, are preserved but not allowed to provide worship services.

Samakh was a small village (a little over 3,000) southeast of Tiberias at the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee. It sat at the crossroads of commerce between areas east and west of the Jordan River with a railway which which ran from Samakh west to Haifa, stopping at 42 villages on the way. A former resident of Samakh who accompanied us candidly described the population as victims of colonial power and Arab mistakes. Citizens were caught between Jewish and Arab forces from Syria. All that remains of the former Samakh is the old railway station.

The final stop of the day was in Beisan where Naim Ateek grew up. Naim's father was a successful jeweler who built three houses on property filled with every sort of fruit tree. Naim described Beisan as blessed with many springs and a stream which flowed through their property. As a child he played often with Muslim classmates and loved climbing to the top of the local minnaret from which the daily calls to prayer were sung (without benefit of electronic amplification). Naim was 11 in 1948 when Jewish forces entered Beisan. Citizens were worried, but did not resist. Shortly after Israel declared independence, the Haganah commander ordered all citizens to bring what they could carry and gather in the city square - where we were standing listening to Naim. When Naim and his family got there they found the square encircled by soldiers. Muslims were ordered to one side, Christians to the other. Muslims were loaded on trucks, carried to the Jordan and told to find their way east. Christians were loaded on other trucks headed for Nazareth, a city at that time outside the UN partition. Naim's sisters had just baked bread in their oven (few citizens had their own) so they carried a basket of fresh bread they shared with others. As they were driven out of town, they passed their home which soldiers had already entered and were playing one of Naim's brother's accordian. As they left Beisan, Naim's sister heard her father, a very pious Orthodox, utter, "Naked I came into this world, naked I shall return, blessed be the name of the Lord".

From the square we walked to the location of Naim's home where a bank and parking lot now exist. Naim explained that there is an Arabic saying, the one who owns the land (his family still has the deed to this land) owns all that stands on it. With a wonderful smile, he said he hopes that when he comes to claim ownership of the bank, it will not be bankrupt.

That evening, after dinner, we processed our day in small groups. I sat next to Josef Ben-Eliezer, an extraordinary man who later told his story to the whole conference. He was a Holocaust survivor who, with his family, narrowly escaped the SS only to be shipped to Siberia by the Russians. As a teenager, he managed to immigrate to Palestine and, while still a teenager, joined the Haganah to fight for his survival as a Jew. In 1948 he was among the troops who depopulated Palestinian villages. As he began to witness the harsh treatment of Palestinians - and the murder of some - he began to question what was happening. He questioned his colleagues and escorted some Palestinians to safety, but began feeling terrible guilt at what was happening. After the war, Josef left the military and, later, very sadly, left Israel for England. In the years since the War of Independence and the 1967 War he has become an advocate for an end to the occupation and a just peace.

It is indeed humbling to sit with some of these people, hear their story of courage and faithfulness and wonder with them how long it will be until a just peace is accomplished.

The NAKBA: Memory, Reality, and Beyond

2008-11-14T23:48:00.000-08:00

Sabeel's Inernational Conference focussed on the Nakba (the "catastrophe" experienced by Palestinians in 1948) convened Wednesday night with an ecumenical worship service at the magnificemt Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Well over 200 of us sang lustily and prayed quietly in a setting that tempts one to the sin of architectural idolatry. Following the service we gathered in a cavernous meeting hall for a reception and viewing of the wonderful tapestries created by the more than 2,000 square patches stitched and painted by advocates for justice and peace all over the world.

Thursday was a day of presentations at the hotel where I am staying. The Golden Crown sits at the edge of the mountain on which Nazareth sits and looks out over the rich agricultural plain that stretches for miles to the west. Ironically, the hotel was completed in 2000, just before the second Intifada totally shut down the tourist business. As a very large invesrment sat empty, it was turned into a prison complete with a watch tower for undocumented immigrants. It was reopened as a hotel two years ago and is now doing a thriving business. In fact, all of Israel is thriving with hotels in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Nazareth totally full.

One of the benefits of these conferences is the opportunity to sit with remarkable people. Ever since I read Jean Zaru's Occupied with Nonviolence, she has become one of my heroes. She's probably in her sixties, is the moderator of the Quaker meeting in Ramallah and is now one of the strongest Christian voices for non-violent resistance to oppression and reconciliation between oppressed and oppressor. A remarkable woman with whom I've been delighted to hang around with for the last few days. We've talked a lot about the situation with Hamas and Fatah and the basis, theological and cultural, for the competing claims of Israelis and Palestinians for this land as their homeland.

Opinion about the struggle between Hamas and Fatah is clearly divided among Palestinians. Fadi is very distrustful of Hamas (he believes members on the West Bank are arming to overthrow Fatah) and believes a Palestinian state might be created out of the West Bank alone, allowing the Palestinians to work out over time some reconnection between the West Bank and Gaza. Estephan is frustrated with both Hamas and Fatah and wishes for a third party to lead the Palestinian people to force these warring parties to get their acts together. Palestine needs a unified government; and he fears this historical moment is critical for their future. While not a supporter of Hamas, Jean thinks Fatah has continued making political arrests of Hamas on the West Bank simply to maintain their hold on power. Their refusal to release these prisoners, accused of no crimes, led to the abandonment of the meeting in Egypt last weekend. The struggle for power, however described, is clearly making it harder for the Palestinian people to negotiate from strength. The political machinations of both Israelis and Palestinians surely rivals any of the best we can produce in the US.

The central question of a homeland was addressed yesterday by a Palestinian scholar and an Israeli Zionist (admittedly very liberal) rabbi. A fascinating discussion. I was most admiring of the rabbi's willingness to speak and be quetioned by this bunch of wild-eyed peaceniks. (Actually, most seem remarkably sane; there are always some professional protesters with whom I struggle). Rabbi Ascherman talked about God's covenant with the Jews as not an exclusive covenant but one that gave them a right (no less and no more than that of the Palestinians) to this homeland. Referring to the scriptural basis for this right always sounds to me like the trump card. "God gave us this land. So that's the end of the discussion." I thought the rabbi's interpretation opened the way to a shared understanding.

Later, Jean talked about her not so positive eperience with Jewish-Christian dialogue at the level of the World Council of Churches. Her take has been that the Jewish side has required three criteria be met before convesations could begin. First, that Christians accept Jewish self-understanding of themselves including their connection to the land. Secondly, Christians acknowledge their guilt for the persecution of Jews. And third, criticism of Israel is personal and inheritantly anti-Semitic. I doubt all have been so dogmatic, but I'm aware Jewish-Xn dialogue in Chicago about the Is/Pal conflict has not been possible for similar reasons. This rabbi and a Jewish theologian at Hartford seminary (Landau?) sound a very different and promising note.

Zababdeh

2008-11-13T13:10:00.000-08:00

My friend, Estephan Salameh, picked me up in Jerusalem Tuesday morning to drive me to the Ramallah bus station where, if it had not been for Estephan, I would still be wandering around the three level station asking "Which bus to Zababdeh?" With no one understanding me. With six other Palestinian passengers we left for Jenin sometime after 9:00. Less than two hours and 400 speed bumps later (Palestinians don't want anyone to drive fast for very long), we were in Jenin where the very kind driver pointed in the direction of some minibuses and said "Zababdeh". When I approached the driver, he asked "Catholic"? I replied "No, Anglican. I'm going to see my friend, Fadi Diab". "Oh, Abuna Fadi!" The road to Zababdeh is not long, but it makes up for that in potholes which my driver carefully maneuvered around. We went right to Fadi's house where Ruba with two year old Andrew welcomed me. Fadi went to pick up Philip ( 6 years) at school and after tea and some catching up we sat down for dinner.

Fadi told me that the last six to nine months have been easier in the northern West Bank. IDF have not been seen in several months and checkpoints between Zababdeh and Nablus have been removed. Ruba, who had not been allowed to leave Zababdeh for three years for lack of identity papers received her papers in July. Her reunion with family in Amman was a joyous event. On the other hand, Fadi has not been able to get a permit to go to Jerusalem since Israel gives out only so many to clergy at any one time. He has to wait in line and that may take months. Translated to life at St. Luke's, it's as though Jeannette (much less the rest of us) would not be allowed to cross Howard Street into Chicago until someone gave up their permit.

I had a wonderful visit with Fadi. He was delighted at the cameras and the profiles of Chloe, MacKenzie, Kaethe and Eleanor and will get to work finding matches for them. St. Matthew's has purchased a building next door to the church and is preparing it to house a guest room, small library and meeting room for young people. Last summer's program in Ireland went splendidly and he's planning an (American) woman-to-(Palestinian) woman program for next fall.

That evening we visited with a Methodist group from West Virginia helping build a new meeting room for the Greek Melkite Church (where Fadi's brother is priest), went on a pastoral call to a mentally ill woman in his parish and witnessed the birth of a lamb at Fadi's next-door neighbor.

The gift of knowing Fadi is that he knows the Israeli commander overseeing the check point at Jalameh where I was "detained" in 2006. A call to Moshe Iva did wonders for the security process when they learned I had been to Jenin ("a military closed area") and was carrying a "zuchini tool" which closely resembles a dangerous weapon. The tool was a gift from Ruba so that I can replicate her wonderful recipe for stuffed zuchini. Fadi waved to me from the West Bank side when I emerged back into Israeli territory on my way to Nazareth.

As in earlier visits with Fadi and Ruba, I'm impressed with their hospitality, generosity and kindness. Before we left Zababdeh for Jalameh, we went by his brother's parish where he loaded me up with herbs, bottles of virgin olive oil and olive oil soap Abuna Fira's Melkite parishioners are producing. We have much to learn from these "living stones".

Masada and the Dead Sea

2008-11-13T10:34:00.000-08:00

One of my hopes for this trip was to have a day touring the first century mountain top garrison where Jewish zealots held out for months against the Roman army (and then committed suicide rather than become Roman slaves). It's a spectacular piece of geography on which Herod the Great built an equally spectacular palace where he hid out when he was feeling particularly paranoid. To get to Masada, you drive east from Jerusalem, descending 1200 meters (and 400 meters below sea level)to the rift valley which formed the Dead Sea and the now agriculturally-rich Jordan Valley.

Although not planned this way, I contracted with an Israeli company for the tour. One very Gentile-looking tourist among 20 of my closest Jewish friends - which turned out to be a particularly rich experience. As conversations with several busmates developed, we talked about our experiences and our impressions of Israel. As I had heard, Jewish tourists rarely encounter a Palestinian and almost never cross onto the West Bank. These people mentioned they had wanted to go to Bethlehem but were told it was too dangerous. There are indeed wonderful things to see in Israel and much to be proud of there, but they are denied the chance to see the whole picture. They leave knowing nothing about Palestine except that it is a place to avoid - and they never have the opportunity to meet a Palestinian. Very sad.

On the way home from Masada we stopped for a few hours at a Dead Sea resort. The sea itself is shrinking rapidly. Jordan and Israel have an agreement to withdraw all fresh water coming down the Jordan River before it reaches the Sea. Agriculture is flourishing along both sides of the valley, but every field draws water from the river. Regrettably, I had not brought my swim suit so I missed the full experience which includes bathing in black mud. People bob around on the surface of the sea, tryng their best to immerse themselves under the surface of the water. Without much luck.

Another great day.

Negotiations-Depressing/Hopeful Developments-Al Ithad Municipality

2008-11-08T00:41:00.000-08:00

A bit more from yesterday: A big plus of travelling with Estephan is that he knows a lot about what's going on. Most interesting was his description of the negotiations between Hamas and Fatah facilitated by the Egyptians. A general draft of unification has been completed and submitted to both. Now the difficult part, getting down to specifics. Both agree to a unity government and Hamas seems ok with giving Abbas another year before elections which would be for both President and Legislative Council. Among other things, designating the power and duties of prime minister is a tough one. PM was created at urging of US to diminish Arafat's power. President still has power to apppoint and fire the PM - and present PM is Hamas. Estephan believes achieving this unity critical and difficult - an historical and important moment for Palestinian people. US will probably not want unity govt., would rather disempower Hamas. So much for supporting democracy.

(Late addition: With Hamas refusing to come to Cairo yesterday (Saturday) for the meeting with Fatah, it looks like the US doesn't have to worry about disempowering Hamas; they're doing a good enough job all by themselves.)

On the other side, the Israeli elections will be held this February ... and many here believe Netanahyu will win, meaning a probable end to negotiations. Without unity among Palestinians and a strong leader - and without a strong Israeli government, neither will be able to implement an agreement, even if they could achieve it. One Israeli I talked with commented: "We lurch back and forth between liberal and conservative governments, becoming disappointed by both, never keeping one in power for very long."

Sounds depressing, eh what? Yet I keep hearing of remarkably promising things happening. Although Tony Blair has little international clout, Estephan says he has been very helpful - launching economic initiatives, getting some agreements for a new sewer project in Gaza and negotiating with the Israelis to allow more essential goods into Gaza (or was that the Carter Center?). And last night we had dinner with Estephan's wife who works with World Vision. They invest about 10 million a year into very interesting projects on the West Bank and in Gaza - with a clear policy that what they do is not from "compassion" but because education, health care, etc. is a basic human right. When they agree to partner with a village or municipality, it is at their invitation and the agreement is to stay with the project for 15-20 years. When they leave, they want the accoplishments to be the village's, not World Vision's.

I had brkfst this morning with the director of the Carter Center in Ramallah. He confirmed what Estephan said about the Hamas-Fatah negotiations and described the very quiet work the Carter Center is doing: teaching non-violent conflict resolution, entering tense situations to negotiate agreements. Their work is very often behind the scenes.

Finally, after leaving Bil'in yesterday, Estephan and I went in search of a very small Palestinian village which has joined with two others and a refugee camp to form a new municipality called Al Ithad (about 11,000 people in all). After many wrong turns and a road to the village closed by the IDF(for no apparent reason), we found our way and met with the mayor and a contact who turned out to be a physiotherapist who had treated Estephan's father in Ramallah(we discussed exercises for hip replacement patients). Estephan's mission was to evaluate this location for the next Seraj library. As the available building space is next to the local school and near a kindergarten beneath a nearby mosque, it looked promising to us. They would supply space and staff to manage the library and develop program; Seraj would supply furniture and books. The mayor was enthusiastic.

Harkening back to the demonstration at Bil'in, the mayor told us he had persuaded the IDF district commander to visit the road closed to their village. Apparently the DCF agreed there was no apparent reason for the closure. If the road is not opened in two weeks, the mayor will call for demonstrations. Hopefully not necessary.

A Day With Estephan

2008-11-07T12:16:00.000-08:00

My Palestinian friend, Estephan Salameh, picked me up after breakfast this morning and we headed north in his faded red VW through Beit Hanina where the wall has made a four lane highway toward Ramallah into two two lane roads separating a Jewish area from a Palestinian. Coils of razor wired have been added to the top of the wall since my last visit giving it a more ominous appearance. Our first destination was Jifna, a small Christian village near Ramallah where Estephan's family lives. Jifna is also where Seraj, the little non-profit begun by Estephan, Laurie and some faithful Chicagoans, has launched its first children's library. We stopped for a tour and to meet Miriam, its librarian - who was for many years a nurse in Kuwait. The library is in a wonderfully bright room with fanciful designs on the wall on the second floor of a building also housing a dentist's office and a clinic. Children fill the room after school from Monday through Thursday and now some women have begun offering free tutoring there several other days. Altough books are very costly, Seraj has managed to fill the shelves. It's a great project.

Etephan's mother had been planning brunch for us for the past week which included lentil soup, the essential Palestinian salad and a pan of well season chicken and potatoes. Estephan's brother, Samer, and two of his children dropped by and, as Harold Kimball has named her, "Lovely Ludna" was there too. Ludna is Estephan's sister who works at Birzeit University. I'm pleased to report that Estephan's father is much improved since last year. He's mobile now with walker and cane. Lovely people; warm hospitality.

Leaving Jifna, we headed for Bil'in where Friday protests have been maintained for several years at the path of the wall. The wall cuts off Bil'in residents from portions of their land where they have grown olive trees for many years. Residents took their case to the Israeli high court which ruled in their favor. But the IDF claimed "security needs" and the fence remains. When we got to the site, the demonstrators were about 75 yards from fences on either side of them (in this case electrified fences with razor wire) with IDF on the military roads behind both fences. Tear gas was being lobbed at the demonstrators about 150 yards from where we were. We walked a little closer - still a long way from the demonstration - when we heard one of the cannisters sailing in a large arc toward us. We moved quickly and the cannister landed right where we were standing. We both got a nose full then and some later that drifted our way, but were fine in a few minutes. I was reminded I don't care for tear gas.

My observation of the demonstration is that it has become a kind of game protesters and the IDF play each Friday. With some Israelis and internationals joining in, it has gained some useful press coverage, but it is hard to tell if it is effective any longer. On this occasion we saw far more Israeli than Palestinian demonstrators ... perhaps because the Palestinians have observed participants taking pictures of demonstrators resulting in later interrogations. Toward the end we observed some kids - still a good way from the fence - using slings to throw stones at the soldiers. Some real lack of discipline to maintain non-violence weakens the protest.

And that was just half of Friday! More tommorrow.

Chicago - Newark - Ben Gurion - Jerusalem

2008-11-07T12:01:00.000-08:00

The flight from Newark to Tel Aviv is remarkably easy. Leaving at 2300, they serve a good dinner, turn out the lights and you wake over the Mediterranean with Orthodox passengers preparing for morning prayers and flight attendants bringing breakfast. Quite a pleasant flight. We arrived at Ben Gurion as the sun was setting on Thursday. Wonderfully warm weather. Balmy.

I've asked everyone I've met what they think of the American election. At the cell phone store, they thought it not so good for Israel. "They say he's a Muslim". Same with the driver of our minibus into Jerusalem. "I liked McCain ... he goes straight at things" (hand gestures). I drove in, though, with a particularly happy and friendly collection of Jews from London who all thought it was "brilliant" and that Sarah Palin was an idiot. One woman confessed she wanted Hilary, but she's pleased enough just to be rid of George. Today (Friday), all the Palestinians I met on the West Bank were delighted with Obama and then very wary of his selection of Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff. When asked who won the election, Estephan Salameh's 4 year old niece said "OBAMA" (her emphasis).

Yes, we can!

2008-11-05T10:11:00.000-08:00

I will be flying to Tel Aviv later today as a very proud American.

Getting Ready

2008-11-04T14:20:00.000-08:00

Preparing for departure tommorrow for Newark and ultimately Ben Gurion airport in Israel, I've been figuring how to carry four small digital cameras on board without raising too many questions from security and Continental's luggage restrictions. The cameras are bound for four young people at St. Mathew's Anglican Church in Zababdeh, at the top of the West Bank, near Jenin. With any luck I'll be able to catch a bus from Ramallah next Tuesday morning to Jenin and then find a bus or a taxi back to Zababdeh. (The any luck part is responsive to an email I just got from Joan Deming, director of Pilgrims of Ibillin, who was blocked recently from visiting Zababdeh even though Bishop Chacour had obtained verbal permission for them from the Israel Interior Department) The cameras will help launch the Zababdeh Connection between four young people at St. Luke's, Evanston, and four young people of approximately the same age at St. Matthew's. It will be good to see Fadi, Ruba and their children again.

Other plans include a day with Estephan Salameh, visiting a Palestinian village the little non-profit Seraj is considering for a second small children's library and a stop to see the situation in Bil'in where Palestinians and internationals are protesting the building of a "security" wall which will separate farmers from their land. We'll observe, not demonstrate - and join Laurie, Estephan's wife, for dinner that night. I hope to get to Masada and later travel up the coast from Jaffa to Haifa and from there to visit the Mar Elias school built by Elias Chacour in Ibillin. The Sabeel International conference will occupy the middle week of my visit, beginning in Nazareth and traveling back to Jerusalem.

For now, we eagerly await tonight's election returns.