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Ferryhill Parish Church, Aberdeen Letter from Jerusalem
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2nd June 2001 |
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| Circular Letter No 43 9th June 2001 I know that I most readily pick those items of news from the Press or TV which fit in with my own point of view, and find it easier to gloss over those which do not fit my theories. It will not take a genius to recognise that I am more likely to pick up news items that are critical of the Israeli government than those that are supportive of it, or critical of the Palestinian authority. Perhaps one reason for that is the great sense of frustration that what is happening day by day to ordinary people in the West Bank goes largely unreported. However, one person who receives these letters keeps me on my toes by pointing out to me those items of news which I might otherwise miss. One such item which was drawn to my attention concerned the plight of an Israeli Arab journalist – Yusuf Samir – who vanished when visiting Bethlehem more than 2 months ago. His story was on the front page of Ha’aretz on Friday. He escaped, or was released, on Wednesday night, and made it back to the IDF position at the check point at Rachel’s Tomb, on the way into Bethlehem. His story had made headlines on many occasions – as an Arab who was being held by Arabs, and who was, he says, “interrogated, accused of spying for Israel, beaten about the legs, and otherwise humiliated.” His release may have been ordered or allowed as his detention had become an albatross for the Palestinian Authority. It is hard to occupy the moral high ground when you are guilty of doing the things that you accuse your adversary of doing. His release was long overdue, and it is good that he is now free. On an inside page of the same paper, which my correspondent did not mention to me, was the story of another Israeli Arab, Ghassan Athamneh, from, the village of Reine, near Nazareth. He was arrested on November 12th last year, and released this past week without any indictment being brought against him. His arrest followed the riots in October in the Nazareth area, when Israeli Arabs were killed by Israeli police forces. A large detachment of police and Shin Bet Security Service agents came to his house at night, walked in, handcuffed him, and informed him that he was under arrest. His story continues with repeated detention orders being issued, until his release without charge last week. Two stories, which are not all that dissimilar. One gets picked up by one person. The other by another. Violence is a strange word. Most of the time, in this part of the world, it is used to describe the activities of the Palestinians. And it is right – they have used violence and are still using it. There is a major argument as to why they use it, and it is distressing to see both English language papers coming up with the same stories over and over again. However, little is said of that other sort of violence which is intimidation – sonic booms over Ramallah, not so many over Jerusalem recently – letting the people on the ground know who rules the skies; two soldiers at a check point seeming to have some sort of shooting competition, while waiting motorists queue to get to the check point. The first soldier shot at something while the other watched with his binoculars – then they changed roles, and the second one had a shot. On Wednesday afternoon I was working in my office when the phone went. It was a call to say that Lara, the adopted daughter of Helen Shehadeh, of the Al Shurooq School in Beit Jala, had died suddenly that afternoon. I stopped what I was doing and got ready to go to see Helen. However, I had to take with me a coffin. Muslims and Jews bury their dead without coffins, whereas Christians use them. So, St Andrew’s Church usually keeps a supply of two coffins in the basement, so that they are available at a moment’s notice. I had to take one with me, which necessitated taking the Renault van of the Hospice. I thought it might be easier going through the Check Point if the lid was off the coffin and the soldiers could see that it was empty, and we managed to manoeuvre it into the back of the van. Sure enough, when I got to the check point, the coffin did excite some interest, and I was asked to confirm that it was empty. There was no hostile questioning, - just surprise as it is not an everyday occurrence for soldiers to see a coffin in a van. When I got to Helen’s, I got the story of what had happened. Lara had not been too well for months, with first one infection and then another. For those who did not know her, here is a wee bit of her story. Brain damaged at birth, blind, physically handicapped, she was left with the Red Crescent when she was 18 months old. They brought her to Helen, who at that time was running a school in north Jerusalem. Helen took her in, and in time she more or less adopted her. She brought her to St Andrew’s to be baptised, and as she grew she often came with Helen to church. However, for the past few years this has been a more occasional occurrence, and never since I have been here. She was loved and cared for at Al Shurooq, and in turn gave back love and affection. Her breathing had been very poor for a couple of days, and when being given some lunch on Wednesday, she began to turn blue, and within a few minutes was dead. Here, funerals usually take place on the day someone dies. However, in this instance, we had first of all to find a place to hold the funeral. Security, the closure of the border, and all that goes with that made it unlikely that it would be possible to hold the funeral in Jerusalem, where many of Helen’s friends live. Also, if the service had been in Jerusalem, it would have been unlikely that any of the school community would have been able to attend the service. So, Helen suggested that we contact the Lutheran Church. This was the church to which we had made donations earlier in the year to help it with its Relief Programme for people affected by the violence. The pastor met with me, and all was arranged in a short time, and then I had to go to the cemetery to choose a “grave”. I had no idea what I was going to see or to do. So down to the cemetery, and there I was shown a construction about 8 feet high, about 8 feet from front to back, made up of 3 layers of horizontal cubicles about 2.5 feet square, into which coffins were placed. Once inside, the opening at the front would be closed with concrete blocks, and in time a sort of tombstone placed over them. This was where Lara would be buried the next day. I had to choose one! The price for the grave was NIS 1,200, which I paid to the Pastor the next day – St Andrew’s paid for this, and also gave Helen some money to help with other expenses. When I went back to Helen to say that all was arranged, we then talked a bit about the service, and about whether or not the children of the school would go to the church. I thought it right that they should go, and this is in fact what happened. Some of them knew Psalm 23 to the tune Brother James’ Air, and they had all learned the worlds of “Praise him, praise him, all ye little children” so it was agreed that these would be the two hymns. Having got this sorted out, it was back to the Hospice, leave the van and take my car, hurry home and change to come back for the wedding of one of the staff of the Hospice – Israel. It was taking place – a Jewish ceremony – outside the Hospice, followed by the party. The invitation said the Ceremony would be at 2015 hours – in fact it was at 2130 hours. I found it surprisingly brief, though I was assured that all the normal elements had been included in it. Neither Israel, the Bridegroom, nor Tamar, the Bride, are “religious” Jews, and so the Rabbi who conducted the ceremony was of the Reformed tradition. In Israel there is no such thing as a secular wedding, for Jew, Muslim or Christian. The food was good, the music as loud, and the dancing fun. Home about midnight. Next day, at about 1500 hours, we arrived at the Lutheran Church in Beit Jala for the funeral. Helen had come with one of the staff of the school, and the children were coming along later. Remember that most of them are blind or have a major sight deficiency, and that all of them are Muslim, though surrounded by the Christian ethos of the school. About 1530 hours, the coffin was brought to the church and taken inside. Then the lid was taken off, and it was left open for the service, and for it being carried to the cemetery. I must say that Lara did seem more peaceful in death than I had ever really seen her in life. All round the inside of the coffin were flowers and bunches of rosemary and thyme. All the kids came to say good bye to her, feeling her face with their hands. The smallest one of them, little Lara, was the one who spoke of saying goodbye to big Lara. All of this was a learning experience for me – and what a rich one. After the service, people came, including Helen, to say goodbye, and then there was a posse of young men in their 20’s or early 30’s who had volunteered to carry the coffin down to the grave. Again, a learning experience. Out on to the road, with the lid of the coffin going first, then someone carrying a Cross, then the wreaths, then me, and then the coffin, and people. Unusually, women followed this coffin, but the children all went back to the school. All traffic on the road stopped, or took some form of diversion, while we walked down 500 metres to the cemetery. There, learning as I went along, we had a prayer, the words of committal, and then the coffin was closed. It was lifted up and slid into its cubicle, and the young men started to seal it up. While they were doing that, the mourners went back to the School for a cup of coffee and a pastry – a sort of ritual. So we were there also for about 45 minutes. At 1800 hours, back to Jerusalem – change – meet Rizek Abusharr, and he drove us down to Tel Aviv to go to the Reception at the British Ambassador’s Residence to mark the Queen’s birthday. We got back to Jerusalem about 2230 hours, and picked up our car from the car park. On the way home, someone ran into the back of the car. Just what we needed. On Friday morning, I had to take it to a garage, where it is now residing. Quite a day. Friday. Joan is a member of an Art Group which has met on Thursdays. They do some art work, but they also enjoy coffee, a good lunch with a glass of wine, some more painting, and then home. Friday night was their final fling of the year, and they each had to bring along some examples of their work, as well as something to eat or drink. Again it was a good party – but very indicative of the way life goes here. One couple leave tomorrow to retire to Australia – they are both Irish, but have been working all over the world – 21 countries,- with the World Bank. One couple leaves in a few weeks to take up a posting in the Canadian Embassy in Nairobi. One couple leaves in September for a posting in Geneva. One couple is permanently here – she is American married to a Palestinian. The rest, like ourselves, are on some form of contract. It is the sort of experience that we had in Zambia, but somehow there the pace of change seemed slower. In the life of the congregation, perhaps 25% of those who were here when we came have now left. One of the continuing tensions of life here affects the different strands of Israeli society. There are those people of Sephardic background – which the Chambers 20th Century dictionary tells me are Spanish and Portuguese Jews. Then there are people of Ashkenazi background – again the dictionary tells me that they Polish and German Jews. I think it would be fair to say that they have not always been the best of friends and there have been tensions between them. To this mix has to be added those Jewish people who have come to Israel from North Africa, from Ethiopia, from America, and now in larger numbers from what we loosely call Russia. When you consider that there are Ultra-Orthodox, Orthodox, Conservative, Reformed Jews etc., as well as political parties of a bewildering range of opinions, it is perhaps something of a miracle that there is any cohesion in Israeli society at all. One person gave as his assessment of the situation, that when peace comes with the Palestinians then the real showdown will begin, to try to bring some sort of common understanding between all the different groups of Israeli society. These tensions were very evident last week at the time of the Tel Aviv bombing. The attack was on a crowd at a disco which was popular with young Russian folk. When it came to burial for the dead, who was to be buried where? Anya, being recognised as Jewish, was buried in one place. Her friend Mariana, with whom she had gone to the disco and with whom she had been standing when they were both killed, had to be buried elsewhere, as her Jewish status was doubtful. This is one of the unresolved matters that at some stage will have to be addressed – what sort of state is Israel, and what will be the status of those who have come to live here who are not Jewish? There is a strong argument put up that allowing Palestinian refugees to return would irrevocably change the nature of Israeli society. In a sense, that change is going to have to come, just to take account of those who have come here in the wave of immigration from Russia. Then add to the mix the Israeli Arab population, both Christian and Muslim. It is all a potent cocktail. Sunday 1430 hours. TV this morning gave the news of the events in Gaza. Did the Palestinians shoot first? Did the Israelis shoot without provocation? Some will believe one side, some the other. Whichever way you go, it is hard to see the justification for firing at tents with a tank. The world, quite rightly, expressed its outrage at the Tel Aviv attack. What will it say about the IDF attack? Helen Shehadeh got in to church this morning. When the soldiers at the check point said they would not let her through, she asked them if they thought that she, - blind, female and over 60 - was on her way to bomb Israel. They found it hard to answer, and let her through! Bye for now. God bless. Love from us both. Joan and Clarence |
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Circular Letter No 44 It was as if Christmas had come this morning at church – we had three different groups sharing in our worship – two of college students from the States, and one of ministers from Scotland and England. What a difference it made to the sound of the singing, and the whole feel of the place. Now our summer break is coming, and members of the congregation will begin to scatter this week – so that for many, the next time we will all be together again will be at the end of August. The major news here is undoubtedly the cease-fire – with a certain quiet that has descended on the place. No longer do we hear shooting from Bethlehem, but we still have the military helicopters overhead at regular intervals. However, one wonders how long it will survive. From the Palestinian point of view, it is in many people’s eyes, back to square one. Shooting has ended, and though they are told that the siege of the West Bank will be lifted, in the areas that we have access to, there is little sign of it. Yesterday afternoon, cars in front of us were refused entry into Bethlehem, and then when coming home, cars were refused entry into Jerusalem. The paper today spoke of road blocks coming down in the Bethlehem area – yet one of the women at the service today said that the road block close to her in Beit Jala had been enlarged. Each day there is a pronouncement from the Israeli government that they cannot lift restrictions, as the cease-fire is not being observed. There is increasing disillusionment with a process where one of the parties is also the judge of what is happening, and thus acting on its own to interpret what is happening on the ground. Yesterday a man bringing eggs from a school outside Beit Jala was roughed up by the soldiers who told him that they would break every bone in his body. When one of our congregation members approached and asked what they were doing, the soldiers told her that they did not listen to Mr Sharon. As you will have read on many occasions, I have a real problem with the word violence when used in the Israeli press – a few days ago settlers burned olive groves near Ramallah, and were harassing people there – but this was not reported, is rarely ever referred to as “violence”, and certainly would not be seen as violation of the cease-fire. If I become cynical, what hope is there for others who are much more personally and profoundly involved? A miscellany from the Papers this week. Last week, I mentioned the problem that there is for Israelis – Jew and Arab - in trying to define the nature of the State of Israel. Is it a religious state? A secular state? A democratic state? Or what? Monday’s paper carried a short article about the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee of the Knesset. It was beginning to consider a bill sponsored by a Member of the Knesset, - a Basic Law on Freedom of Religion and Conscience. I quote “The Bill, which is fiercely opposed by the religious factions in the Knesset, will guarantee freedom of religious observance and prohibits discrimination on the basis of religious convictions or lifestyles.” Among other things, the bill would allow for some form of non-religious funerals and marriages, and would grant equal status to every religious community and denomination. Whose Sabbath is it anyway? The Bill to make Sundays the nation’s rest day instead of Friday was published a few days ago in the Knesset’s official records as sponsored by the Knesset’s Labour, Welfare and Health Committee, and will soon be submitted for the first of three readings. Political debate continues, despite the Intifada, and the challenges facing Israeli society are as fundamental as those facing many other societies in other countries. KLM is the latest airline to revise its schedules for flights to Israel – its flights to Israel will depart three hours later, and its air-crews will not now have to spend a night in Tel Aviv. Air France, Lufthansa and Swissair have previously made a similar change to their schedules. El Al is considering closing down its Laromme Hotels company in the light of the current drastic drop in tourism – and the forecast that it will not improve until 2003. Tourist guides, travel agents and hoteliers strongly rejected the Tourism Ministry’s statistics that show a mere 5% drop in Jewish tourism since the outbreak of the current violence. Travel agents dealing with Jewish tourism claim the drop in Jewish tourism is nearer 75%. The Ministry’s statistics show a dramatic 56% decline in non-Jewish tourism since last September. The US Reform Jewish Movement has decided against holding its traditional summer camp in Israel this year because of the volatile situation in the country. The decision, reaching on Thursday night, has spurred Israel to brief its envoys around the world to help prevent further cancellations by Jewish groups. Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert announced on Friday that he would cut relations with the Reform movement in the US and would refuse requests from the Movement regarding Jerusalem in the light of their decision. This may give you some sort of impression of the pressures on Israel – political change, religious ferment, security as seen through the eyes of the airlines, economics, and relations with Jewish folk across the world – quite apart from those coming from the relations with the Palestinians, outside political forces. I would like to share some news of two different meetings this week. One was a meeting for expatriate women, to which Joan goes, and the other was of the St Andrew’s church house group. Joan’s meeting (dictated by Joan – keyboard labour supplied by her humble servant. Joan accepts the servant bit, but questions the “humble”) The speaker was Rony Jaegar, who came to live in Israel from Canada 4 years ago. She is an observant Jew, who is a Social Worker. She also writes a column for a Canadian monthly magazine. She spoke about 4 groups : Bat Shalom - the Women of Peace, which is the oldest group. It is made up of Israeli women who work with a group of Palestinian women from East Jerusalem. Many members of the Board of Bat Shalom are Members of the Knesset (MKs); it set up woman’s health groups in the West Bank and East Jerusalem; they are a lobby group for “Peace”; all major decisions are made jointly. Support comes from Europe and the USA – money and volunteers. >From it, 17 years ago, came The Women in Black Movement. They demonstrate every Friday at a major road junction close to our house, between 1300 and 1400 hours. Last Friday they had a demonstration of over 2,000. They carry placards, make little noise, and are subject to considerable verbal abuse. Placards often say something like “End the Occupation”. As Joan was passing on Friday, a woman in a car shouted furiously at the demonstrators :”We were commanded to occupy this land.” Joan says her face was full of venom. Checkpoint Watch has also grown out of Bat Shalom. In February 3 women started going to check points early in the morning, - 0600 to 0730 hours and in the afternoon – 1600 to 1730 hours. These are the times when Palestinian workers will be crossing into Israel to come to work, and then going back home. They monitor what is happening, and send daily reports to a similar group of Palestinian women in Bethlehem. There are now 35 women sharing in this work, at 4 different checkpoints. Their presence is important, so that soldiers see that not everyone in the country agrees with what they are doing. There is also a practical side to it – soldiers who can be quite terrible to Palestinians find it hard to ignore the presence of women, who are the same age as their mothers. They try to demonstrate that the soldiers are not the enemy – it is the occupation that is the enemy. A Coalition of Women for a Just Peace brings together similar minded groups from different parts of the country. Last Friday’s large demonstration was organised by it. This represents quite a commitment on the part of many people. Unlike groups that take part in pro-government rallies, where transport is often provided free of charge, the people coming to the Coalition Rallies have to pay for their own transport – so there is a financial cost. Often demonstrations are organised on Fridays, and as they also have to get home again before Shabbat starts, this puts additional pressure on them. Rony reckons that these organisations, and people working for reconciliation and peace, represent some 20% of the population. However, their activities often receive little press coverage, as some in authority would like people to think that public opinion in Israel is firmly behind the government. Among the effects of the present “situation” with its violence, are an increase in violent incidents involving school children, and domestic violence, with more cases of wife-battering being reported. The Peace Camp are trying to get International Observers here to protect the borders and the Palestinians. However, she says that it is well known that the Israeli Government is opposed to this, as is the USA at present. The House Group. I had been struck by the arguments put forward in a little book by an Edinburgh writer, M Kennedy, called The Greatest Con. She had petitioned the recent meeting of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, drawing attention to what she called the double standards of the teaching of the Church – God is for all, yet he told the Israelites to conquer Canaan and to massacre, for instance, the population of Jericho. How could such a God have any credibility at all – or any claim to be a God for all people? In its wisdom, the General Assembly passed the matter over to a committee that is going to consider a “Theology of the Land” – that is of the Land is Israel. In its more reflective deliberations no doubt a response will be found that will be communicated to the Church of Scotland at some point in the future. I thought that it would be interesting to try to get the reactions of our house group to the book. We were : 2 Palestinian Arab Christians; an American couple who have been missionaries in Ethiopia, and now teach at the Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Pa. (they come here for 6 months a year to teach at the Ecumenical Institute at Tantur, near Bethlehem): a Scotsman, who is a Reader in the Church of England, married to an English woman who is a school teacher: a Scotswoman who is a diplomat married to an Englishman who worked with the Police Royal Security/Protection Unit: Joan and myself. There was a universal feeling of difficulty in using the Old Testament, either in worship, or in private devotion. For some of us coming from outside recently to live in Jerusalem, this was a new phenomenon in our faith. Having experienced the closures, having seen the new siege of Jericho and the effect that it is having on the population imprisoned there – we all found it difficult to see the God whom we know, or in whom we believe, as shown in Jesus – being involved in giving orders to exterminate the population of a city such as Jericho. Or, if the orders to Joshua are in fact commands from God, can we really get ourselves involved in worshipping such a God? I know that I will find it difficult to use the story of the crossing of the Jordan and the capture of Jericho, when leading worship. For some, the Old Testament had become a closed book. We all find it difficult to sing some of the hymns and Psalms which speak of “Israel” – because of the identification of the word “Israel” with the current political state and its policies. It was an initial discussion – if any of you would like to let us have your ideas – we will meet for our final session before the summer break, this Thursday evening. It’s a “bitty” letter this week – but then some weeks are like that. We hope you are all well. For those who will be on holiday, we hope you rest, travel or whatever you are going to be doing, safely. God bless. Love from Joan and Clarence |
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Circular Letter No 45 As some have remarked, this is a bit late this week! The year is ending for me as it began – I am here in Jerusalem, and this morning Joan left to go back to Edinburgh to start her part of getting ready for Vivienne’s wedding at the end of July. It is hard for both of us to realise that we have reached the end of our first year so soon – although it some ways it seems like an eternity. I read over one of my early letters home – and was interested to see that one of the most momentous things was that I had managed to get round to boil an egg! This seemed to cause some concern that I might not last the pace! I am still here, and regretfully, I think that there is slightly more of me to be here than there was a year ago. When I got back from the airport this morning, at 0500 hours, I had a quick look at the paper before having a second go at sleeping. The English edition of Ha’aretz comes packaged with the International Herald Tribune, so that we get a smattering of US news, as well as the local news. The US section of the paper today reports on : Page 2 – the Pope praying at Babi Yar, on the outskirts of Kiev, where more than 30,000 Jews were murdered by Nazi soldiers in two days; Page 4 – leader page – over half the page taken up with Israeli news “ 1st Leader Article – Sharon and Bush : a feature article “A Sharon-and-Arafat routine before real dealing can start”, and a “Letter to a Jewish friend in America” Page 5 : 25% of the page given to Letters to the Editor about the Middle East Page 6 : 20% of the page for an article about the Israeli Minister of Defence, and a short item about a water crisis in Damascus. Since the end of April, the city of 5,000,000 has had no water for 16 hours each day – but the cuts may still not be enough to avoid a crisis. Not bad coverage in a 10 page paper, when you consider that one page is entirely advertisements, and one page is entirely about Christian places of worship. Some would say predictably, the leader is about the fact that Mr Sharon is on his second visit to the White House in 3 months, while Mr Arafat has not yet been invited once. It ends with the statement that Mr Arafat should demonstrate his commitment to the Truce, before being invited. The article about the Minister of Defence deals with his personal commitment to the Mitchell Plan and the freezing of Settlement developments, with the fact that at least 15 new settlements set up in the past few weeks are illegal, and that he has said that the army will have to move the people away from them. We wait to see what will actually happen. The Letter to a Jewish friend in America is a “realistic” view of what will have to happen to Israeli policy, if there is to be any security. “We are stuck with the dilemma – if we (Israeli Jews) keep all the territories (West Bank and Gaza) without giving the Palestinians their full rights, Israel will cease to be a democracy, and will soon become an apartheid state,. If on the other hand we keep all the territories and we give them full rights, in due course Israel will not be a Jewish state anymore. . . . We’ll have to separate from the Palestinians and gather our brothers and sisters from the settlements into Israel proper. That’s the only way to maintain a Jewish and democratic state. “ The writer, Uri Dromi, is the director of publications at the Israeli Democracy Institute. I do not know if it is a growing number, but there certainly is a substantial number of people who share the opinion of the writer – the settlements have to revert to Palestine and the settlers resettled within the area of Israel. There was an article about this, which I received from a couple of sources, as well as seeing it here – and I am putting it on to the end of this letter, as an Appendix. If you are interested, you can read it. If not, you do not need to bother! Again it is making the point about the need to deal with the settlements before there can be any hope of deals with the Palestinians. Having had Ian Alexander of the Board of World Mission here for a while – my direct boss – I took him into Bethlehem to meet people last Wednesday. We arrived at the check point in good time, but it took us about 45 minutes to get through. We were the lucky ones, sitting in a car, where we could have some comfort while we waited. Outside there was a group of Palestinian men – perhaps 20. They had been stopped by the Border Police, and their ID cards had been taken from them. They first of all were called over in a sort of group, and told to stand beside a wall. Then they were told to stand in a line along the wall, in the full glare of the sun. When one of the car drivers got out and went to ask what was happening, they were then moved to the other side of the road, down a small embankment where there were effectively invisible to the motorists, and only then did the Border Police start to deal with them, one at a time. The first one had not been dealt with in the space of the 5 minutes that he was being talked at by the Police. How long it took them to get their ID cards back, and how long to be allowed to go, I do not know. They were not there when we came back some hours later. What a breeding ground for resentment, and a desire to get even with the soldiers/police who harass and demean them. In Beit Jala, we met again the Social Worker at the Lutheran Church. Her situation continues to be desperate – people needing food, needing medical treatment, yet little or no money. Did I have any more money that I could give her? I found NIS 5,000 – but that is only a drop in the ocean. Also in Beit Jala we visited the INAD Theatre. This is a group that travels around the towns and the villages of the West Bank, presenting all sorts of plays. They have the use of the ground floor of a building in Beit Jala, where they used to do some work with children. The building faces across the valley to Gilo, the Jewish Settlement. Then one afternoon, last October/November, when they had a group of children in the building, the tanks started shelling, and the building got several direct hits. As can be imagined there was panic and terror – fortunately they got them all out and home, but after that they have been using alternative premises. When we left Beit Jala that afternoon, we had a drive around the houses in Gilo that face across to Beit Jala. There is hardly any evidence of gun fire damage at all – and yet it is the Palestinians who are guilty of all the violence. A strange world. Last Thursday, I was duly elected to the Chairman of the Board of the Jerusalem International YMCA. Only time will tell what this will mean. However, one of the principles of the Y is that it shall try to create and work with a community that represents Jew, Muslim and Christian, Israeli and Palestinian. To this end the Board is made up of 7 Jews, 7 Arabs, and 7 others – I am one of the others. The Y is not immune to the pressures and tensions of the community, and there have been some tense times on the Board in the past. However, on Friday I was able to call in on a picnic for the kindergarten kids. It was in a fenced park at Abu Gosh – the place which is recognised by many as Emmaus in the Gospel of Luke. It was a heartening sight to see Jew and Arab families side by side, doing the same activities, making the same pitta bread, and mixing. Being absolutely honest, it might well have been that there were two communities in one place, with some interaction, as opposed to being one big community – but the fact that they were there was in itself a real plus in a time when many people try to find excuses not to do things together. WATER : Damascus is not the only place with water problems, which I mentioned above. Articles about the expertise of Israeli engineers in being able to build de-salination plants appear regularly. There is some hope that within a few years there will be such plants along the coast, and that they will change the situation here regarding water. Today, Tel Aviv has announced that it is dropping the pressure at which it supplies water to its customers. For those who are versed in such matters, water has been supplied at 5 atmospheres, but from yesterday it was dropped to 4.5 atmospheres. It is hoped that this will save about 4% of the annual water usage by Tel Aviv residents. Some of you may remember the flower beds by the main road from the Hospice to the King David Hotel area of the city. This year they are empty – it might be because of lack of labour, with the closures of the West Bank; it might also be that it is an attempt to conserve water. When I walk down to the Hospice, I can go down the main road, or go through a series of small parks in between the blocks of apartments. It is strange to see that the lawns are being sprinkled each morning – precious water being used, perhaps necessarily, to provide playing and sitting areas for the local people. Joan cut out from the paper an article about Water : some 215,000 people on the West Bank – under Israeli control since 1967 – are without running water. When one remembers that there are closures, and so it is in theory impossible to get in or out of villages, one wonders what people do for water. Here is one wee story, told by Gideon Levy, a correspondent of Ha’aretz. On June 14, Wasaf Mahmoud, who has a small tanker and gets water for his village of 3,500 people and up to 5,000 head of sheep and cattle, as well as chickens, set out on a dirt road to get water. Stopped at 0800 hours by an IDF patrol the soldiers confiscated the keys to his truck and his ID card. At 1700 hours he got the keys and the card back again, with the warning that the next time he was found outside the village, they would shoot at him. On June 15, at 2000 hours, another water carrier, Abu Jish, was stopped by an IDF patrol. He had been hoping to avoid them and bring water in during darkness. When he said that he was bring water to the village, the soldiers are alleged to have replied “ Let them die. You are not allowed to travel on that road.” He was then beaten, and the soldiers emptied out the water from his tank. B’Tselem, a Human Rights Organisation, took up the matter, and the IDF said that there had been a grave phenomenon of soldiers preventing water getting to villages. The soldiers concerned were dealt with by disciplinary means. One hopes so – but seeing the way in which people are harassed at check points, I am a little sceptical. B’Tselem gave some statistics : Israeli water consumption – 348 litres of way per person per day. Palestinian – 70 litres of water per person per day. Daily minimum set by WHO is 100 litres per person per day. Part of the cease fire is supposed to be the lifting, or at least easing, of the closures on the West Bank. On Saturday, I met with one of the women from Idna, who came up to Bethlehem. It has been said that road blocks around Bethlehem have been lifted; there were pictures of a bulldozer removing a road block near Hebron; etc. It still took her over 90 minutes to make a journey that normally takes about 20 minutes. A road block was lifted by the IDF – settlers got at the end of the road, and refused passage to any Palestinian vehicle. Monday June 18 saw an article about the Media – Two wrongs make us right by Aviv Lavie. On TV Channel One, cameras showed an Israeli tank withdrawing from Ayosh Junction, on the West Bank. “Journalists on the scene reported a rather odd performance : One tank moved a few hundred metres, and dozens of cameramen recorded the “Israeli withdrawal”. The writer goes on – Pay attention to what A says. This is what A said – “On Thursday the armoured units in the Nablus areas were changed. We arrived in the afternoon and around 1400 hours, we moved our tanks into position. After we were organised, the unit we replaced pulled out. There were cameramen there. They photographed the tanks moving out of position, but didn’t shoot us taking up our positions. It gave the impression that there was a withdrawal, while in fact nothing changed. At 1900 hours we hard on the radio news that the IDF had withdrawn tanks in the Nablus area, and we all burst out laughing.” The writer makes the point that the propaganda machines on both sides are working overtime – to my eyes and ears, it seems as if the Israeli machine is much more powerful than the Palestinian. If we who live here are not able to be sure about what is reported, how can folk who are farther away? Bye for now. Next week, I am off back to Scotland. Joan and I will have a weekend in London visiting the two Church of Scotland congregations there, and then start holiday, leading up to Vivienne’s wedding. There may be a letter next week. If not, don’t hold your breath waiting for No 46. We should be back here about August 8th. While in Edinburgh, e-mail address will be cwm_edinburgh@btinternet.comGod bless, Love from both of us. Joan and Clarence. p.s. – With no-one here to proof read, spelling may be a bit peculiar. June 23, 2001 TO: Churches for Middle East Peace's E-Mail Network From: Corinne Whitlatch This opinion piece from the Israeli newspaper, Ha'aretz, outlines a plan for a full withdrawal of Israelis from settlements in Gaza and the West Bank With the Mitchell Committee Report bringing attention to Israel's settlements and continued building, it's heartening to read this proposal and better understand the debate that is going on among Israelis. Ha'aretz, Friday, June 22, 2001 An honorable withdrawal By Elia Leibowitz President Moshe Katsav recommended last week that any citizen who has an idea about what Israel should do in the present political-military situation, should write to the prime minister and make his suggestions. The president himself did so last week. I would like to respond to the president's request, and to publicly propose to the prime minister, the principles of a six-part political plan. In my humble opinion, only such a plan, or a similar one, can (perhaps) save us from a war which is apparently about to engulf us in the not-so-distant future. The plan is based on four assumptions: 1. In the future (at a time as yet unknown), a Palestinian state will be founded on the territory of the historical Land of Israel, alongside the State of Israel. Its boundaries will be no smaller than those of the territories on the other side of the Green Line. The Palestinian state will not include a single Jewish settlement under Israeli sovereignty. 2. The State of Israel cannot gain anything from a war with Palestine and with other Arab countries. The security situation of the state will not be better than it is now, and its geographical boundaries extend beyond the present Green Line, no matter what the outcome of the battles in an all-out war. 3.All of the Arab countries combined not to mention Palestine alone lack the military or political power to cause a strategic blow to the State of Israel within the borders of the Green Line. Nevertheless, this situation will not go on forever, and it is likely to change for the worse if Jewish settlements continue to exist by force of arms within the (designated, as of now) area of Palestine. 4. The circle of Israeli citizens who will recognize the validity of the first three assumptions will continue to grow, as the damage to life and property in the State of Israel increases. The following are the points of the plan: 1. The government of Israel will declare a five-year plan for a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from (almost) all the territories beyond the Green Line. The first two years will be dedicated entirely to preparations for the withdrawal. 2. The government of Israel will establish a special government ministry (the Ministry of Reunification), headed by a senior minister and an effective director-general, whose only job will be the resettlement and rehabilitation within the boundaries of the Green Line, of all the citizens now living beyond this line. 3. The government of Israel will establish a ministry headed by a senior minister and an effective director-general, to deal with the water problems of the State of Israel. One of the main jobs of the Water Ministry will be to minimize the dependence of the Israeli water system on the geology and ecology of the territories beyond the Green Line. 4. The government of Israel will carry out, at its own expense, a project to build a roadway connecting the Gaza Strip with the areas of the West Bank (the Inter-Palestinian Highway). 5. The government of Israel will publish a strict schedule for withdrawing from all points of Jewish settlement beyond the Green Line. The government will decide on a very small number of exceptions (such as the Gilo neighborhood in Jerusalem), during the first two years of the plan, in consultation with the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and with additional professional advisers. The withdrawal will begin during the third year of the plan, and will continue for three years, in accordance with the schedule published in advance. The withdrawal will be carried out without regard to the degree of violence in Israeli territory, and will be stopped only if a foreign army enters the territory of Israel, or in the wake of a strategic threat to Israel by any external factor. 6. The government of Israel will make an offer to the PA to leave in place all the buildings and infrastructure of the civilian settlements from which Israel withdraws. In exchange, the government of Israel will demand concrete political benefits. For example, in exchange for leaving the city of Ariel in place, Israel will demand a public declaration by the PA, in all the languages in the world, including Arabic, from every possible platform (such as the UN General Assembly), and via all existing media, that the PA considers the receipt of the city of Ariel part of the compensation to which citizens of the PA are entitled, in its opinion. In exchange for not destroying other settlements, Israel will demand the establishment of a Palestinian embassy in Jerusalem, etc. If the PA refuses to pay the political price demanded, Israel will blow up every place left behind, and will leave the Palestinians only scorched earth. Whatever the case, the withdrawal will take place. Does the proposed plan guarantee that there won''t be war? Unfortunately, the answer is negative. With the exception of divine interference, there is nothing that can guarantee that there won''t be war. However, in my humble opinion, implementing the plan will turn the outbreak of war from a near certainty into a matter for reasonable doubt, and that''s a very big difference. In addition, if war breaks out after the plan is implemented, or while it is being activated, Israel''s military situation will be better than it is now, when the army is required to protect tens of thousands of citizens, women and children, who are scattered in dozens of settlements in the heart of the Arab area. It''s true that the economic price of the plan is enormous. There is no doubt that its implementation will be a financial burden which will be felt by every citizen of the state. Nevertheless, it is worth remembering that the cost of the plan will be no greater than the cost of only a few days of war. Any government in Israel will have a very hard time selling this plan, or any similar idea, to its citizens. It will be particularly difficult to convince Israelis who live in the territories, those who will have to pay the highest price for its implementation. Therefore, at this stage, the first and most important role of the prime minister and his cabinet will be to convince the citizens of Israel that there is no alternative plan for significantly reducing the danger of war. The government must explain to the people that the moment of truth will come, and better sooner, with only a few Israeli casualties, than later, with many unnecessary victims on both sides. The government must do this, even at the price of its collapse. In such a case, the prime minister will have fulfilled his main obligation for now, and made his contribution to preventing war; then the sole and decisive responsibility for continuing to prevent it will pass from his shoulders to the lap of the next prime minister. The writer is a professor of astronomy at Tel Aviv University. (Star gazer? CWM) |
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Circular Letter No 46 Sunday afternoon , and there is a sort of quiet time before having to go down to the Church for the possibility of an evening service – possibility, as this morning there were very few people at worship. If no-one turns up, then there will be no service. It has been sad to sit and watch what has been happening in Northern Ireland – and to hear on the news this morning that the First Minister has resigned. Not knowing the whole story, I am not in the least qualified to speak about it, and to say who might be right or who might be wrong. All that I would say is, that from this distance, it would appear that in the anxiety to get an agreement certain ambiguities were built in to the whole scenario. One has either to live with these ambiguities, or decide that the tension is too great, and so end up with the possibility of no agreement. It seems to demonstrate the difficulty of making progress between two parties who have radically differing agendas – who is to say that one is right and the other not, or that one is more right and the other more wrong. In the end what ultimate sanctions are there that can be imposed to enforce adherence to an Agreement? Quite apart from the sadness that there is for the people of Northern Ireland, there is also a sadness that we may be starting down a similar road here. There has been a great deal of activity this week, with the presence of the American Secretary of State in Jerusalem and Ramallah. With Mr Powell standing beside them, representatives of the Government of Israel have tried to claim the moral high ground, and accuse the Palestinians of breaking the terms of the cease-fire, and then say that nothing can be done until they, the Government of Israel, say that their opponents have met their conditions. And they are quite right. There has not been a cease fire. I am sure that you will have seen the cartoon which has an Israeli saying that the IDF has ceased, but the Palestinians have kept on firing. Again with Mr Powell standing beside them, the representatives of the Palestinian Authority have in turn tried to claim the moral high ground, and accuse the Israelis of breaking the terms of the cease-fire. And they are quite right. Villages have been attacked, crops burned, - but not by the IDF – rather by settlers. And so you have both sides right – but both sides wrong. And on the sidelines is the international community, trying to get an Agreement in place which at this moment has little chance of working, as there appears to be little chance of getting any outside way of checking it, or enforcing it. Why should the Israelis surrender their position of power, by being able to be both judge and jury of what is happening within the cease-fire, or negotiations etc? Why should the Palestinians get their way by having some form of Observer Force to monitor what happens on the West Bank? Why should it be possible for the world to accept the Israeli condition that Mr Arafat should control all the people on his side of the fence, including Hamas and Hezbollah, and yet not to accept the Palestinian claim that Mr Sharon should control the settlers on his side of the fence? There is not a lot of optimism here, basically because there is not a lot of trust. Who can blame either side? And who is going to be able to help build up trust? It is unlikely to come from the two parties by themselves. There is, however, a great deal of confusion. Wednesday, Elias the cook at the Hospice, was allowed through the checkpoint coming out of Bethlehem. However, 50 metres up the road, there was another sort of checkpoint which had never been there before, and everyone was being turned back there. So, no work. And for many, though not for Elias, no work means no pay. Thursday, the second check point had disappeared. People get through as they had done earlier in the week. What was it all about on Wednesday? Thursday I had to go to Ramallah to do a couple of items of business. The last time I had been there with Joan, getting in was comparatively quick – getting out took about an hour from the first to the last checkpoint. So, as I wanted to be back in Jerusalem by noon – we are talking of about a 20 minutes drive each way, and perhaps 30 minutes of work – I left at 0730. I reached my first stop - Kalandia Refugee Camp with its Women’s Co-operative, at 0750 hours. There had not been a single soldier at any of the checkpoints, and traffic had loved easily, if not quickly, past the concrete barriers. However, on the road out of Ramallah, there was shorter queue than usual, and only 3 lanes wide! I was so early that there was no one in the office, so I went on to the second place. Again I was so early that I had to wait for it to open. I got a bit of reading done, in the shade of a tree. Eventually when I got finished everything that I could do, at 0930 I headed back to Jerusalem. I was at St John’s Eye Hospital on the Ramallah side of the city, 20 minutes later. Again, apart from the obstruction caused by the concrete barriers, traffic was moving easily. It just so happened that Mr Powell was going to Ramallah that day. Am I a cynic, if I think that the freedom of traffic movement had anything to do with his visit? I have to go back again on Tuesday, so it will be interesting to see what it is like then. Saturday morning I was in a meeting between some representatives of churches and church organisations working in Israel and Palestine and a delegation from the World Council of Churches. “Local” people included 3 representatives of the Christian Peacemaking Team (CPT) in Hebron. I suppose it could be summed up as the WCC wanting to try to do some co-ordinating of all the different programmes and activities that are being carried out by a great range of agencies, with the premise that people may all be a bit more effective if they are seen to be working together, and part of some overall strategic plan. We will see what happens. However, one thing that did come out of the meeting, was the need to have some form of international presence alongside the Palestinian people in their villages and in their farms. It was here that the contribution of the CPT people was so significant. They are a group of people, organised by the Mennonite Church in the States, but by no means all Mennonites or Americans, who apply to join the team; who are selected on a fairly rigorous basis; who are given special training for their role; and who spend a limited amount of time in Hebron on any one occasion before leaving for some rest. They can, and often do return for a second, and third, term of “duty” – and even more. One of the young people there, a Canadian, spoke of how she and others accompanied Palestinians out into their fields to harvest fruit or crops, or to tend animals. If there are no international people around, there is often a lot of harassment from the settlers and the IDF. If there are CPT people there, life is much easier. Building on this experience, there is the possibility of trying to organise some sort of wider Christian presence in other parts of the West Bank, again to accompany Palestinian people to their farms, and to monitor what is going on. Certainly, in my very limited experience, such presence could well make the difference between an Agreement that has a chance of success because it will have some form of outside verification, and an Agreement that includes within it, its own seeds of failure, if it is only depending upon the assessments of either the Israelis or the Palestinians. I wrote a letter this week to the congregations with which we are linked in Scotland and London. It was a sort of end of term, or end of year, report. As some of you who read these letters will also read it, I do not intend to repeat it. However, there are many who will not see it, and so I will take a wee bit from it. There has been the sense of powerlessness at getting out to the world the fact that, while there is the violence of the Palestinian community, there is the greater violence of the IDF with huge numbers of people injured, property damaged etc. How does one begin to get a fairer, clearer, picture presented to the world, and then get this information to shape government policy? If I feel powerless, how much more do those who live here – and who are so much more affected by all that is going on. There is the challenge to one’s faith. In one sense, it is a continuation of a challenge for some form of justice that I saw in California in 1964, with the strike of Mexican grape pickers. Their lives were reminiscent of the novels such as The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck. It is similar again to what we lived through in Zambia, with UDI in Rhodesia and all the suffering that was caused there. How can God allow it? Then there is the challenge to one’s understanding of the Bible. Paul says it is “inspired by God”. All of it? Part of it? And if only part of it, which parts and on what are the criteria by which one can make judgements? I recommend a wee book -–Western Scholarship and the History of Palestine, edited by Michael Prior CM, ISBN 1-901764-02-8. Well worth a read, to at least get you asking different questions, and perhaps finding different answers to questions about the Bible. There is the awareness that I am biased. I come with my own experiences and my own baggage. What makes my selection of material right, or more right, than that made by others? How do I include one thing, but exclude another? How is it that I feel more comfortable with Christian friends from the traditional churches, many of them Palestinian, than I do with Christian folk from the Messianic Jewish community, and from those expatriate churches that make a specific effort to work with Israeli Jewish people? In reading here, in listening to the religious community, there is great emphasis placed upon the Torah, but it is not all that often that one hears a similar emphasis being put on the Prophets. If I am critical of the selections that other people make, do I exercise the same sort of critical standards to the selections that I make? And yet, there has been all the good things that have happened and in which we have shared – meeting people with enormous capacity for love, for tolerance, for forgiveness, for perseverance . . . and so one could go on. Sharing in services at different times of the year, such as the sunrise service looking over at the Mount of Olives. Worshipping with people about whom I had read, but whose traditions I had never encountered. The year is in fact ending as it began – I am here, and Joan is in Scotland. I have done the ironing, did a bit of cooking, and survived! – for 5 days. This week will see me in Scotland. There is a weekend visiting the Church of Scotland congregations in London, and then it is holiday. What an enormous privilege to be able to go out for a holiday. So, signing off until August. E-mails sent here to Jerusalem will languish until we get back. Edinburgh has a different address : cwm_edinburgh@btinternet.comThanks for your company over the year. Have a good summer. I will ask you all in August if you want to start in to the next lot of letters – if I get round to writing them! God bless. Love from Joan in Edinburgh and from me in Jerusalem.
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Circular Letter No 46 Sunday afternoon , and there is a sort of quiet time before having to go down to the Church for the possibility of an evening service – possibility, as this morning there were very few people at worship. If no-one turns up, then there will be no service. It has been sad to sit and watch what has been happening in Northern Ireland – and to hear on the news this morning that the First Minister has resigned. Not knowing the whole story, I am not in the least qualified to speak about it, and to say who might be right or who might be wrong. All that I would say is, that from this distance, it would appear that in the anxiety to get an agreement certain ambiguities were built in to the whole scenario. One has either to live with these ambiguities, or decide that the tension is too great, and so end up with the possibility of no agreement. It seems to demonstrate the difficulty of making progress between two parties who have radically differing agendas – who is to say that one is right and the other not, or that one is more right and the other more wrong. In the end what ultimate sanctions are there that can be imposed to enforce adherence to an Agreement? Quite apart from the sadness that there is for the people of Northern Ireland, there is also a sadness that we may be starting down a similar road here. There has been a great deal of activity this week, with the presence of the American Secretary of State in Jerusalem and Ramallah. With Mr Powell standing beside them, representatives of the Government of Israel have tried to claim the moral high ground, and accuse the Palestinians of breaking the terms of the cease-fire, and then say that nothing can be done until they, the Government of Israel, say that their opponents have met their conditions. And they are quite right. There has not been a cease fire. I am sure that you will have seen the cartoon which has an Israeli saying that the IDF has ceased, but the Palestinians have kept on firing. Again with Mr Powell standing beside them, the representatives of the Palestinian Authority have in turn tried to claim the moral high ground, and accuse the Israelis of breaking the terms of the cease-fire. And they are quite right. Villages have been attacked, crops burned, - but not by the IDF – rather by settlers. And so you have both sides right – but both sides wrong. And on the sidelines is the international community, trying to get an Agreement in place which at this moment has little chance of working, as there appears to be little chance of getting any outside way of checking it, or enforcing it. Why should the Israelis surrender their position of power, by being able to be both judge and jury of what is happening within the cease-fire, or negotiations etc? Why should the Palestinians get their way by having some form of Observer Force to monitor what happens on the West Bank? Why should it be possible for the world to accept the Israeli condition that Mr Arafat should control all the people on his side of the fence, including Hamas and Hezbollah, and yet not to accept the Palestinian claim that Mr Sharon should control the settlers on his side of the fence? There is not a lot of optimism here, basically because there is not a lot of trust. Who can blame either side? And who is going to be able to help build up trust? It is unlikely to come from the two parties by themselves. There is, however, a great deal of confusion. Wednesday, Elias the cook at the Hospice, was allowed through the checkpoint coming out of Bethlehem. However, 50 metres up the road, there was another sort of checkpoint which had never been there before, and everyone was being turned back there. So, no work. And for many, though not for Elias, no work means no pay. Thursday, the second check point had disappeared. People get through as they had done earlier in the week. What was it all about on Wednesday? Thursday I had to go to Ramallah to do a couple of items of business. The last time I had been there with Joan, getting in was comparatively quick – getting out took about an hour from the first to the last checkpoint. So, as I wanted to be back in Jerusalem by noon – we are talking of about a 20 minutes drive each way, and perhaps 30 minutes of work – I left at 0730. I reached my first stop - Kalandia Refugee Camp with its Women’s Co-operative, at 0750 hours. There had not been a single soldier at any of the checkpoints, and traffic had loved easily, if not quickly, past the concrete barriers. However, on the road out of Ramallah, there was shorter queue than usual, and only 3 lanes wide! I was so early that there was no one in the office, so I went on to the second place. Again I was so early that I had to wait for it to open. I got a bit of reading done, in the shade of a tree. Eventually when I got finished everything that I could do, at 0930 I headed back to Jerusalem. I was at St John’s Eye Hospital on the Ramallah side of the city, 20 minutes later. Again, apart from the obstruction caused by the concrete barriers, traffic was moving easily. It just so happened that Mr Powell was going to Ramallah that day. Am I a cynic, if I think that the freedom of traffic movement had anything to do with his visit? I have to go back again on Tuesday, so it will be interesting to see what it is like then. Saturday morning I was in a meeting between some representatives of churches and church organisations working in Israel and Palestine and a delegation from the World Council of Churches. “Local” people included 3 representatives of the Christian Peacemaking Team (CPT) in Hebron. I suppose it could be summed up as the WCC wanting to try to do some co-ordinating of all the different programmes and activities that are being carried out by a great range of agencies, with the premise that people may all be a bit more effective if they are seen to be working together, and part of some overall strategic plan. We will see what happens. However, one thing that did come out of the meeting, was the need to have some form of international presence alongside the Palestinian people in their villages and in their farms. It was here that the contribution of the CPT people was so significant. They are a group of people, organised by the Mennonite Church in the States, but by no means all Mennonites or Americans, who apply to join the team; who are selected on a fairly rigorous basis; who are given special training for their role; and who spend a limited amount of time in Hebron on any one occasion before leaving for some rest. They can, and often do return for a second, and third, term of “duty” – and even more. One of the young people there, a Canadian, spoke of how she and others accompanied Palestinians out into their fields to harvest fruit or crops, or to tend animals. If there are no international people around, there is often a lot of harassment from the settlers and the IDF. If there are CPT people there, life is much easier. Building on this experience, there is the possibility of trying to organise some sort of wider Christian presence in other parts of the West Bank, again to accompany Palestinian people to their farms, and to monitor what is going on. Certainly, in my very limited experience, such presence could well make the difference between an Agreement that has a chance of success because it will have some form of outside verification, and an Agreement that includes within it, its own seeds of failure, if it is only depending upon the assessments of either the Israelis or the Palestinians. I wrote a letter this week to the congregations with which we are linked in Scotland and London. It was a sort of end of term, or end of year, report. As some of you who read these letters will also read it, I do not intend to repeat it. However, there are many who will not see it, and so I will take a wee bit from it. There has been the sense of powerlessness at getting out to the world the fact that, while there is the violence of the Palestinian community, there is the greater violence of the IDF with huge numbers of people injured, property damaged etc. How does one begin to get a fairer, clearer, picture presented to the world, and then get this information to shape government policy? If I feel powerless, how much more do those who live here – and who are so much more affected by all that is going on. There is the challenge to one’s faith. In one sense, it is a continuation of a challenge for some form of justice that I saw in California in 1964, with the strike of Mexican grape pickers. Their lives were reminiscent of the novels such as The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck. It is similar again to what we lived through in Zambia, with UDI in Rhodesia and all the suffering that was caused there. How can God allow it? Then there is the challenge to one’s understanding of the Bible. Paul says it is “inspired by God”. All of it? Part of it? And if only part of it, which parts and on what are the criteria by which one can make judgements? I recommend a wee book -–Western Scholarship and the History of Palestine, edited by Michael Prior CM, ISBN 1-901764-02-8. Well worth a read, to at least get you asking different questions, and perhaps finding different answers to questions about the Bible. There is the awareness that I am biased. I come with my own experiences and my own baggage. What makes my selection of material right, or more right, than that made by others? How do I include one thing, but exclude another? How is it that I feel more comfortable with Christian friends from the traditional churches, many of them Palestinian, than I do with Christian folk from the Messianic Jewish community, and from those expatriate churches that make a specific effort to work with Israeli Jewish people? In reading here, in listening to the religious community, there is great emphasis placed upon the Torah, but it is not all that often that one hears a similar emphasis being put on the Prophets. If I am critical of the selections that other people make, do I exercise the same sort of critical standards to the selections that I make? And yet, there has been all the good things that have happened and in which we have shared – meeting people with enormous capacity for love, for tolerance, for forgiveness, for perseverance . . . and so one could go on. Sharing in services at different times of the year, such as the sunrise service looking over at the Mount of Olives. Worshipping with people about whom I had read, but whose traditions I had never encountered. The year is in fact ending as it began – I am here, and Joan is in Scotland. I have done the ironing, did a bit of cooking, and survived! – for 5 days. This week will see me in Scotland. There is a weekend visiting the Church of Scotland congregations in London, and then it is holiday. What an enormous privilege to be able to go out for a holiday. So, signing off until August. E-mails sent here to Jerusalem will languish until we get back. Edinburgh has a different address : cwm_edinburgh@btinternet.comThanks for your company over the year. Have a good summer. I will ask you all in August if you want to start in to the next lot of letters – if I get round to writing them! God bless. Love from Joan in Edinburgh and from me in Jerusalem. Circular Letter No 47 Love to you all. Joan and Clarence.
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