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Partnership
in Conflict
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Circular Letter No 129
7th June 2003
Monday 2nd June. Road maps, summit meetings, Settlements, dominate the
news.
Mr. Sharon is quoted as saying that he will uproot "illegal" outposts.
It is an interesting use of the word "illegal", and exemplifies part of
the problem - who defines what is "legal" and what is "illegal"? And if
one speaks loudly and often about "illegal" outposts, will it perhaps
contribute to a feeling that there are such things as "legal" outposts?
Below are two Jewish people giving their points of view. Palestinians
have entirely different perspectives - for them all Settlements are
illegal.
South of Bethlehem is a whole raft of Settlements, called the Gush
Etzion bloc. Today there are short interviews with 3 people living in
that area. One, the widow of a doctor killed in a shooting attack,
speaks of the possibility of the evacuation of her Settlement : "If,
heaven forbid this should happen, I imagine the feeling would be like
the one at Shmuel's (her husband) funeral: a painful silence of a world
destroyed, quiet that cries out. The pain would be enormous. The
settlements here are not just an ideological statement. They are a
lifelong project, a personal and communal home to us all."
Aviad Mahlev has lived in his Settlement for a year. He is unwilling to
consider any compromise: "The demand for us to compromise is
inappropriate. In my view, the compromise is that they (the
Palestinians) will continue to live here as they did prior to 1987 (when
the first Intifada erupted). If there are any occupiers in this land it
is the Palestinians who are sitting in a land that does not belong to
them. I don't intend to expel them, but am determined that they won't
expel me either."
It is in this area that the family of one of our members has its farm,
which is under threat from the expansion of Settlements.
Thursday 5th June. The morning after the day before.
The two Summits have come and gone, and everyone is wondering exactly
what has been achieved, and where we are going now. If I had a crystal
ball, I would give you the benefit of my insights into the future. Not
having anything remotely like that at all, all I can do is give you a
few pickings from what is being said, and what is happening.
In an Analysis article on Wednesday, prior to the Aqaba Summit, there is
the Headline "It's now terror versus settlements." '…Sharon, who was
swept up by the winds of American diplomatic activity in the last two
weeks, was forced to accept the equation between terror and settlements,
and it will be at the centre of his speech today…' The very real
personal difficulty for Mr. Sharon to come to accept this, and implement
some sort of withdrawal from Settlements, lies in the fact that he has
been a prime architect in the construction of Settlements over the past
20 years. Thursday's paper carries an article headed "What Sharon sowed,
now he reaps." The article mentions two of Mr.. Sharon's actions in
connection with Settlements over the period since the Massacres in
Beirut in 1982. There was reaction to a Peace Plan put forward by Mr.
Reagan, when more and more Settlements were built under the prompting of
Mr. Sharon.. As Infrastructure Minister in the Government of Mr.
Netanyahu, Mr. Sharon urged on the settlers, and on return from the Wye
River summit, he called on the settlers to grab every hilltop as
outposts, to prevent any further withdrawals from the territories.
It is this sort of track record which causes scepticism among people
now, be they Israelis or Palestinians. It is very much a case of wait
and see what will happen.
Side by side on the front page of Thursday's Ha'aretz are an article and
an advertisement.
The article is headed "Only 20,000 answer settlers' battle cry." It
reports that around 20,000 settlers and their supporters rallied last
night in Jerusalem's Zion Square to protest against the deal struck at
the Aqaba summit between Israel and the Palestinians. '…Speaking at the
rally - held in the same venue where Yitzhak Rabin was infamously
compared to a Nazi SS general a month before he was assassinated - was
National Religious Party Minister Effi Eitam and MKs Zvi Hendel and Uri
Ariel. They earlier sent a letter to Sharon indicating that the moment
the governments starts implementing the road map and evacuating
outposts, they will quit the ruling coalition.' (On an inside page is a
report "Anti-Sharon violence feared." There is a great deal of tension
within the Jewish community.)
The Advertisement is for an Israeli and Palestinian Human Chain for
Peace, on Saturday June 14th at 1700 hours, at the Jaffa Gate of the Old
City of Jerusalem. It reads 'A window of opportunity has opened. This is
the chance that must not be missed. Israelis and Palestinians are coming
together to demand immediate implementation of the promise to put an end
to occupation, and bring peace for the peoples of this region.
The Minister of Tourism, Mr. Benny Elon, inaugurated a new Headquarters
for a Jewish right-wing organisation called Moledet. This building is in
East Jerusalem, and the photo of the opening shows a large poster
proclaiming "Jordan is Palestine." With the road map threatening
Jerusalem and Palestinian Authority institutions about to reopen, it is
important to establish a Jewish hold in every corner of Jerusalem,
according to Mr. Elon.
One of the elements in the Road Map is the cessation on the part of the
Palestinians of incitement against Israel and Jewish people. How does
one classify such a poster in the heart of Arab Jerusalem?
Tensions on the Jewish side are matched by tensions on the Palestinian
side. There was an interesting comment on a News programme a couple of
evenings ago, about the huge social programmes of Hamas. Hamas has the
support of a very large section of the population, and when a spokesman
says "Suddenly, the suffering of the Jews is the important thing;
suddenly from victims we've become the aggressors", one has to take
note, as this will be a widely held view among ordinary Palestinians.
"Freeing prisoners and issuing work permits are very nice and important,
but what kind of Palestinian state are we talking about, how big is it,
and what are its borders" mused an aide to Mr. Arafat.
A Hamas spokesman said that his organisation is ready to cease attacks
on Israeli civilians, but the armed fight against settlers and solders
will not stop 'because the armed struggle for the right of return and
the land conquered in 1948 will never end." It will be hard to carry
Palestinian public opinion along with a peace process, if a major
component of it is not the dismantling of settlements and the cessation
of the violence that settlers practice against Palestinians who go out
to work their farms and tend their olive trees.
Normal service is continued - not even resumed. At the Bethlehem check
point on Thursday afternoon, I had to wait in a queue of 5 cars waiting
while a truck was examined - average time per car was 2 minutes. The
truck and one of the cars were refused entry. The two vehicles
immediately in front of me were UN and Consular Corps - so they took
about 15 seconds each. It gives some idea of the length of time for the
other vehicles. Going in, the Border Police were operating two-way
traffic. Coming to one of the major cross roads in Bethlehem, near the
Bethlehem Bible College, there was a certain apprehension in the air -
kids on the street trying to communicate that there either was some
shooting up ahead, or that there were armed people. When I reached the
cross roads, the traffic moving north had been stopped about 75 metres
from the cross roads, the traffic moving south was similarly stopped,
but in the middle of it, about 50 metres from the cross roads, was an
Armoured Personnel Carrier, and 10 - 15 Palestinian men sitting on the
roadside with their hands behind their heads. Crossing over, I was able
to go up the hill to see the person I had come to meet. Half an hour
later, when coming back, there was not a sign of blocked traffic, nor of
the APC. I had three short conversations, and sadly they were all the
same. No change, the summits all a charade, and no hope.
In one of them, the person said that he had been going to go to Manger
Square area the day before to do some shopping, but had heard on TV that
there were soldiers in the area, and that they had even gone into the
Church of the Nativity searching for someone. He had stayed at home.
This was the day of the Summit - and he eloquently shrugged his
shoulders.
Back at the check point leaving Bethlehem - 4 cars in front of me, with
an articulated truck being examined. The truck was not allowed to leave
Bethlehem, and so had to try to turn. As it left the check point, the
first car in our line moved forward - only to find that the soldiers had
waved for a car from the other direction to come, and he had to reverse
a bit and wait, and wait. There was now only one-way traffic, and a
soldier was sitting down writing details of cars allowed to go into
Jerusalem. It was about 15 minutes to get through this time - and I was
not even stopped, so it gives some idea of the time that it was taking
to check each car.
A comment from a Jewish friend about the Summit. Mr. Sharon has spent
all his life on one mission - to build Greater Israel. In order to
ensure that he gets the $7 billion that he needs in Loan Guarantees from
the US, what do you expect him to say at Aqaba?
Also quoted by the same friend from (Israeli) Army Radio - "In a meeting
of senior IDF officers convened by (Minister of Defence and former Chief
of Staff of the Army) Mofaz on Thursday it was decided not to ease
restrictions on the Palestinians for now, despite the statements made by
Sharon Wednesday in Aqaba. Army Radio quoted security officials as
saying that the easing of restrictions would begin when the Palestinians
begin acting to foil terror attacks."
On a different plane altogether, your generosity has enabled me this
week to respond to two requests for help.
The one was for a family in the Bethlehem area where a man needed
chemo-therapy for cancer treatment. Cost, even after a major reduction
by the hospital in Israel is about NIS 1,000 per week. To give them an
opportunity to start the treament and to find additional sources of
income, I was able to pay for 1 month's treatment.
The second was a request for help on behalf of CheckPoint Watch - the
organisation of Jewish women who go to observe how the Israeli soldiers
are treating Palestinians at checkpoints. They are travelling quite long
distances into the West Bank, and into areas where cars with yellow
number plates (Israeli cars) are associated with Settlers. So they do
not feel it is wise to travel in their own cars - instead they use the
Palestinian taxis. This is costing up to NIS 1,500 per week, and again I
was able to offer support for about a month, so that they can keep on
with their work, and find alternative sources of income. Thanks for your
support.
Friday morning : setting off for Idna, to meet the Co-operative women
and their English teacher. One of them phoned the other afternoon, just
to practice using her English! Idna doing well - only trouble is finding
markets for their produce. They have a new range of table mats and
coasters. I will try to get a photograph of them in an e-mail, and
perhaps it will generate some business.
Friday afternoon : was phone by a Reporter from the Sunday Post and
asked for a comment on the Church's point of view about the Road Map!
Wonder what he will make of it all.
Friday evening : supper with Board and Staff of St George's College.
Canon Suheil had been in Ramallah on Thursday - trapped there for some
time till he persuaded the Israeli army to let him out and get back to
Jerusalem - the second time in a week that Ramallah had been closed
down, with no traffic in or out.
From a rather hot Jerusalem - greetings. God bless.
Joan and Clarence
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Circular Letter No 128
1st June 2003
Greetings once again from Jerusalem - where we are slowly getting things
together again, having arrived back safely on Saturday 31st May,
reaching the Guest House and our apartment at 0700 hours.
When we last wrote, we were getting ready for our trip to Scotland, and
hoping that all would go well with the travel arrangements. It did, all
three folk from Bethlehem area got to Scotland, they all made their own
contributions to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and
Nuha is back in Bethlehem while Helen and Doris continue to visit
supporters of Al Shurooq School in different parts of England. They will
be back on June 12th.
A few words about our departure. I picked up Helen and Doris at Doris'
home in Beit Jala, which is outside the checkpoint, at 0315 hours. Back
in Jerusalem we collected Joan and headed for the airport. In all the
times that I have gone to the airport, I have never yet been asked to
pull my vehicle over to the side of the road - this time I was. We
pulled over, and our passports had to be produced. Joan's and mine were
swiftly returned, while Doris and Helen were asked to remove their
luggage from the car. Doris was taken into a room in a building adjacent
to the checkpoint, where she was questioned and her luggage inspected.
She requested that Helen be not asked to undergo the same checking, and
so a Supervisor was called. He arrived, inspected our papers, and
allowed us to proceed. We spent about 13 minutes in this procedure. At
the airport terminal, I left all the luggage and the women, while I went
to park the car. Back at the Terminal, we met Nuha who had travelled
independently to the airport and we joined the line for security
clearance about 0515 hours. For some time now we have not encountered
the sort of aggressive questioning that often was experienced by people
leaving the country, nor were we questioned this time. Our luggage all
went through the x-ray machines, and then each item of luggage was
unpacked into a plastic storage box. When it has been ascertained that
all was well, it was repacked, and each one of us in turn was taken for
a body-scan. Joan and I were finished first, and we went to check-in. We
were told by a security person that if we did check in she would have to
escort us to the stairs to go to Passport Control and we could not wait
for Helen and Doris. So, we waited, and a few minutes later we all
checked in together. Standing beside us was a security person, and this
prompted at least one of those waiting in another line for the same
flight to ask a question about us. We were all then escorted to the
stairs, and went up to Passport Control. That was safely negotiated, and
by 0630 we were all in the Departure Lounge. All the Security Staff had
been polite and non-threatening - which had not always been the case. At
0805 hours the plane took off, and I relaxed!
So, all in all it was a quick check-in, and as Helen, Doris and Nuha all
had their Travel Permits from the Israeli Army, there was no hassle.
However, for the first time, Joan and I were checked at the entrance to
the airport, and escorted within the airport. One can only surmise it
was the fact that we were travelling with Palestinians that made the
difference.
The General Assembly took place - some parts of more interest than
others. From our point of view, it was good that Nuha and Helen were
able to speak to the Assembly, and they got a sympathetic hearing. They
both also participated in various meetings while in Edinburgh, and got
invitations to attend several of the social events associated with the
Assembly. I suppose the one thing that I hope will lead to some
developments here in Jerusalem was the Report on the Theology of Land
and Covenant. This was the Report of a Study Group set up by the
Assembly of 2001. If anyone would like a copy, please let me know and I
can send it by e-mail. The Assembly did endorse a request that it be
translated into Hebrew and Arabic for distribution here in Israel and
Palestine, and also supported the idea of a conference later in the year
in Jerusalem, if ways can be found to arrange and finance it. So, we
hope something will come of that.
hile at home, we had the sad news of the death of Clarence's step-mother
Millie. She had had to leave her house at the end of 2002 and move into
a Nursing Home. She seemed to have made a positive adjustment to her new
environment, and Joan and I had planned to visit her after the end of
the Assembly. However, she had a fall, and while in the Recovery Room of
the hospital following an operation on her leg she suffered a heart
attack, and never regained consciousness. Joan and I, along with our son
Peter, went to Ireland for her funeral. This was a sad time, but it gave
us a chance to meet Millie's family, and also to see Clarence's elder
brother (who lives in Bangor) and sister (who came from Vancouver
Island). Then it was back to Edinburgh, and clear up to come back here.
It is good to be back, and meet the friends with whom we have shared the
past couple of years. They are gracious enough to say that they are glad
we are back!
While there is all the uncertainty about the political developments, the
story of our church service this morning illustrates the importance of
having our church community here.
Maria and Victoria are two young Jewish women who came to see me over a
year ago, saying that they were thinking of becoming Christians. For a
long time, nothing else happened, but in the past while they have
started coming more often, and are slowly finding their way in their
search for answers to their deeper questions about life and faith. I
have no idea if they will ever formally become Christians - in a sense I
feel that that is secondary. The main thing is that they are able to
find room to ask their questions, and meet a community (albeit a small
one) which gives them acceptance.
Asaf is a young Jewish man who has been attending worship for 18 months.
He shared his particular story with the Congregational Discussion Group
some time ago, and since then has been also finding space to be accepted
and develop his thinking. Interestingly this morning, he told of being
able to make some sort of confessions about things in his early life,
and his hope of finding forgiveness. Where he will end up in his
"faith-quest" is anyone's guess, but again, it is good that folk here
have welcomed him, accepted him, and allowed him to be himself. What is
good is that he has made contact with some other young folk in the
congregation who live and work in East Jerusalem - and they have taken
him to meet some of their friends there. He has learned that life is
just the same there as in West Jerusalem - there are families, and
children, and stores and people go out for meals --- and so on. It is
quite extraordinary that people have to learn such rudimentary things
about each other.
The story of the Guest House is also important - as a place where folk
can find a welcome and a night's rest. One such person was a young
Jewish woman from the US who spent a night here last month. She had a
chat and a meal with us, before leaving the next morning about 0500
hours to go to Nablus. One of the messages that we found on our Phone
Answering Machine was from her - calling up from Rafah, in the Gaza
Strip where she is a "human shield" (a young American Jewish lass trying
to shield the Palestinians) - to say that she had heard of a bomb in
Jerusalem and wondered if Joan and I were safe. How good that there is a
Guest House making its contribution to such a situation and a process.
The chance to be part of such a community, and such a process, is a
great privilege - and we get paid for it! Any Church of Scotland
minister wanting a job?
The struggle within the different communities of Israel and Palestine
continues. Today's paper carries the same sort of stories that it has
carried for the past 2 years - "Stop the Violence" - "End the
Occupation". While people have their hopes for the summit meetings with
Mr Bush, expectations are not high. More later.
If you are looking for a book to read, try The Dignity of Difference, by
Jonathan Sacks, ISBN 0 8264 6850 0. Rabbi Sacks is the Chief Rabbi in
the UK. We are hopefully going to study it in the Congregation
Discussion Group.
Bye for now. God bless, and love from us both
Joan and Clarence
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Circular Letter No 127
13th May 2003
Someone had a wonderful idea - to nominate Helen Shehadeh as a
Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, as one
of the Commissioners from the Presbytery of Jerusalem. It will turn out
to have been a wonderful idea as and when she appears in Edinburgh!
Steps to be taken were :
- Have valid travel document from Palestinian Authority - done
without too much trouble.
- Obtain Visa from UK Government to permit her to enter UK - done
without too much trouble.
- Arrange with Church of Scotland for a support person for Helen to
be included in the invitation, and in the expenses! - done without too
much trouble, with the assistance of various people in the
administration of the CofS.
- Arrange flights - not difficult if you have the cash. Done.
- Apply for permission for people from the West Bank to travel to
Ben Gurion Airport in Israel, and take a flight from there to UK. The
day that the application was lodged for this permission, Joan came
back from a meeting with the cheerful news that the Military
authorities were not allowing any Palestinians to travel through the
Airport. Application papers handed in about 1st May for flight on 14th
May.
- A General Strike is called and offices of Ministries are closed.
Nevertheless help was forthcoming from Ministry of Religious Affairs.
Phone calls regularly in week leading up to May 10th - interrupted by
Independence Day here. Finally told that a decision might be available
on Monday 12th.
- A phone call from Ministry of Religious Affairs on morning of 12th
confirms that Permits have been granted, so I get ready to go to
collect them - 22 kms from town at the Military Administration office.
A further phone call advises that Permits have to be collected on
13th!
- Tuesday 13th - we are due to fly in less than 24 hours - I arrive
at the Military Administration Office at 0945 hours. Despite
permission having come through from the Main Office at Beit El, no-one
of the front windows of the office at Gush Etzion knows about the
matter. Not at all surprising - it is issuing work permits etc.
However, at 1235 hours I leave with the permits. They are valid from
0200 hours to 0800 hours on 14th May - the day of the flight. I had
thought it would be helpful to have the people spend the night in
Jerusalem so that we would all get a bit of a rest etc. No such luck.
So, we will pick them up about 0330 hours, and head for the airport.
Plane due to fly at 0800 hours - so that should give plenty of time
for security checks etc. However, there is also the threat of an
all-out strike at the Airport - at present there has been a go-slow by
baggage handlers - so it may be a case of "thus far and no further".
Assuming that everything works as planned, Helen and co will be in
Edinburgh 24 hours from now.
- All this is possible for me - with contacts etc. How difficult it
must be for those who do not have such opportunities to talk with
people.
So, for the moment, bye from Jerusalem. We hope to be back here on
June 1st, having been to the General Assembly, to Ireland to see
Clarence's step-mother and our families there, and taking a bit of time
off in Edinburgh. Stay well. God bless.
Edinburgh e-mail address is
cwm_edinburgh@btopenworld.com
Joan and Clarence
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Circular Letter No 126
10th May 2003
Some of the most horrendous injuries inflicted by a suicide bomb are
caused by the things such as nails or ball-bearings that are packed into
the bomb. When it is detonated, they then cause injuries over a wide
area. Rightly, this sort of "weapon" has been condemned.
There was an interesting ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court, reported
in Ha'aretz on April 28th, headed "International Law does not ban use of
flechettes." 'The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that international law
does not bar the IDF from using flechette shells. According to the
court, an international treaty restricting the use of conventional
weapons, which Israel ratified in 1995, does not ban flechette use.
These shells, which are generally fired from tanks, explode in the air
releasing thousands of metal darts 3.77 mm in length, which disperse in
a conical arc 300 metres long and about 90 metres wide. …On one occasion
a flechette shell, used in response to shots fired at an IDF outpost
near the Gaza Strip settlement of Netzarim, landed near a Bedouin tent,
killing three women. On a separate occasion three youths were killed
when a flechette shell was fired at suspect terrorists thought to be on
their way to carry out an attack. Attorney Yochi Gensin, representing
the IDF claimed that according to IDF Commanders in the Gaza Strip, the
use of flechette shells is necessary, and has no real substitute.'
One hears many voices commenting on the events that take place here and
the way they are reported in the various news channels. Much air-time
has been spent on the identity of the person who was the most recent
suicide bomber in Tel Aviv - the person with a British passport.
Generally speaking, the view from the Jewish people with whom we have
spoken supports the involvement of the British police in the
investigation, and is pleased with the level of co-operation. There is a
different point of view from others. They remark on the way that the
young Peace Activist was killed in Gaza, the young British Peace
Activist was shot in Gaza, and the Journalist/Photographer was killed in
Gaza - and the fact that the investigations into these killings are
being carried out by the Israeli army, whose members were responsible in
the first place for the killings. If deaths on one side can be
investigated by outside police forces, why not deaths on the other side
also? 'Tom Hurndall, a young Briton active in the International
Solidarity Movement, was shot in the head by the Israeli Army when he
tried to get a 5-year old girl out of the line of fire in Rafah. As of
May 1st, he was still in intensive care, in a coma, in a hospital in
Beer Sheva. The Israeli Army had refused to meet his family. The family
was told that the Israeli army had begun an investigation of the
incident. Ha'aretz has been told by the Israeli army that the military
authorities will meet with the Hurndall family and that "upon the
completion of the investigations and the formulation of conclusions, we
will present them to the relevant people."' (Ha'aretz Week's End, May 2)
When is a mobile home (or caravan) not a mobile home? I was having a
conversation with a Jewish person during the week, and we were talking
about the effects of the proposed Austerity Measures of the Israeli
Government - reductions in Social Security type payments, redundancies
in the Civil Service etc. He was speaking of the effects on these
measures on himself and his family. It was interesting listening to him
describe the situation of one of his family, currently unemployed due to
the employing firm having gone out of business, living with spouse and
baby in a "mobile home" supplied by the Government. I know that the
person speaking to me lives in a Settlement, and I suspect that the
"mobile home" he was speaking about was in fact a caravan placed as part
of the expansion of the Settlement. For him, this demonstrated the
caring face of Government while making a positive contribution to the
claiming of the Land for the Jewish people. For others to whom I have
listened this past week, both Jewish and Palestinian, the mobile home is
a sort of cancer eating away both at the land, and at the heart of the
Jewish people. Yet, it all sounded so benign and so considerate in the
original conversation.
We have been able to listen to two speakers this week, participating in
a week-long programme organised by Sabeel, the Palestinian Liberation
Theology Centre.
The first was by Jeff Halper of the Israel Committee against House
Demolitions. He is an American Jewish person who is now a citizen of
Israel, and is an outspoken critic of the policies of the Government of
Israel about the Settlements, the Wall and the use of the policy of
demolishing houses of the families of those suspected to have been
involved in acts against Israeli citizens. He was speaking about the
Road Map, and illustrated his talk with a single transparency. It was a
map of Israel and the West Bank, setting out the details which he
describes as the Matrix of Control (control of the Palestinians by the
Israelis.) He made a coherent presentation of the long-term plans behind
the Settlements - to carve up the West Bank and prevent there being a
viable Palestinian State; of the long-term plans behind the road network
constructed on the West Bank - to keep control of the country in Israeli
hands; of the long-term control over natural resources and utilities
such as the electricity grid - which gives the Israeli government the
power to turn off the lights, and shut down the water supply. It would
be well worth looking up his map on his website : www.icahd.org It was a
thoroughly depressing evening, probably because in the experience of all
those present who live here, it was so accurate and fitted in with our
own observations.
The second was by Jonathan Kuttab, a Palestinian lawyer who is on the
Board of Sabeel, a devout Christian. He too spoke of the evils of the
present situation, but stressed that as Christians we were not bound by
the same assumptions as other participants in the drama here. We know
that Christ has won the victory on the Cross, and we are engaged in
mopping up operations. Some smiled wryly, and wished that they had lived
in a more congenial time! He, like Halper, accepted the Road Map as the
only document on the table at present, but also stressed that people
like Sabeel and its supporters have to make sure that their voices are
heard, and that attention is kept focussed on the big problems - the
flouting of UN Resolution 242, Collective Punishment, destruction of
houses, etc. Do not let the general public lose sight of these topics.
On this front, I was greatly heartened by one friend who receives these
letters who had forwarded part of Letter 124 to his MP, dealing with the
Wall (Letter 124). He had had a reply which included the following :
"Thanks for this. The whole issue of the Wall has been debated in
Parliament and was raised by, amongst others, Ming Campbell for the
LibDems. The PM and Foreign Secretary have both made clear that they -
like us - oppose the Wall and are putting pressure on to see if it can
be stopped." (See later in the Letter following our visit to Jayyus on
10th May)
Perhaps a look at the ICAHD website, a perusal of the map, and a letter
to the Israeli Embassy in your country might be one way of letting
people know that their actions are being watched, and opposed.
Independence Day. As you quickly learn here, a "day" starts one evening,
and ends the next. So the celebrations for Independence Day for Israel
started on Tuesday night, and have only just finished. There were two
parties close to us, with bands or discos that went on most of the
night. One person's party is another person's misery when you cannot get
to sleep! But at a more profound level, one person's Independence Day
may well be a completely different sort of day for other people. So,
crossing over from West to East Jerusalem, one crosses over from a city
that is celebrating and on holiday, to a city where it is very much
business as usual.
Each Independence Day there is a Reception hosted by the President of
Israel for members of the Diplomatic Corps and Heads of Churches and
Christian Communities. The Minister of St Andrew's is on the Invitation
List. So, about 1700 hours, I reported to the President's Residence and
joined a few hundred other people queuing up to greet the President.
When he had welcomed all his guests, it was time for speeches - one by
the Foreign Minister and one by the President. The speeches were little
different from those given at the Reception for the Heads of Churches at
the New Year. "Israel has always extended the hand of peace, but the
Palestinians have never reciprocated. So there has had to be constant
vigilance and struggle. Israel calls on all the nations of the world to
join with it in combating Terrorism. In the case of Israel, this
terrorism comes from the Palestinians on the West Bank, and from people
on the northern borders." It is always impressive to see and hear the
conviction with which leaders of the Government of Israel speak of their
readiness to make peace - without mentioning the terms upon which they
would conclude 'peace'.
Coming home, there were two things to give a different perspective. The
first was the news report of the shooting in the head of an 18-month old
baby boy in Gaza. The second was a book review in the Independence Day
Supplement to Ha'aretz. The English title of the book is "Wars don't
just happen" by Motti Golani. "Golani's basic assumption, which - it
should be emphasised here - is harshly critical, is that Israeli society
has adopted, with almost no questions asked, the 'culture of power' and
the being that the relationship between Israel and its neighbours must
be based almost exclusively on military might. …The most prominent and
most controversial argument that Golani presents seems to be that 'peace
has not always headed Israel's list of priorities, and war has not
always headed its neighbours' list of priorities. …Israel is still the
only country in the world where security problems constitute so central
a component in its very essence. … There is no other democracy on earth
where the army has such a major role and exerts such critical influence
on policy-making." It is a very different voice from that of the
President and the Foreign Minister, and would call into question the
assertions made this afternoon at the Reception that Israel has always
wanted peace.
Saturday afternoon. Last week Joan was critical of the letter in that
there was little of hope in it. Not that there is much change in the
situation, but today we got a chance to do what I like doing - giving
away other people's money! After the letter about Jayyus, we got a
donation from a church in Scotland for the woman whose story we told in
letter No 124. So today we went to see her, and to take here some money.
As you can imagine, this is delicate, and so we had a friend with us who
was able to converse in her own language and hand over the money. "B" is
35, with a face of a woman who has seen much more than a 35-year old
would in Scotland. She was very gracious in welcoming us to her home.
When work is available in a "sewing factory" in the village which makes
clothes up for finishing in Israel, she can earn $115 a month for 6
days, 8 hours a day. In this she is little different from many people in
a third world country, but one of the major differences for her is that
she can look out from her window and see Tel Aviv - most definitely a
first world city. To our Scottish donors, many thanks.
We also went to the Kindergarten, which has 4 classes, in a purpose
built school financed some years ago by a grant from Canada, from Save
the Children and with money raised from the local community. Cost per
child is NIS 35 per month - about $8. It does not sound much but when
put beside the wage of $115 per month, it is quite a significant cost.
So, perhaps 40 or so children had to be asked to stay at home, as their
family could not pay the rent. Donations, including one from the Royal
Memorial Chapel at Sandhurst, enabled us to give over $1,000 to help get
some children back to kindergarten.
Your support is good news. The dedication of families and teachers in
Jayyus is good news - the situation is most definitely not good
news. Since we were last in Jayyus, the metal poles for the exclusion
fence have gone up. When we visit next, the whole fence will be in
place.
Mr Powell is visiting us this weekend - so of course there has to be an
assassination to provoke a response, and then the Israeli government
will be able to once again say to the Americans that the violence from
the Palestinians has not ended.
Next week Joan and I travel to Edinburgh - assuming that there is no
strike at the airport. We will have with us Helen Shehadeh, Doris Rabba
and Nuha Khoury, all from the Bethlehem area - if they get travel
permits allowing them even to get to the airport. You might get a short
note before we go, otherwise, you will be spared for the next few weeks.
We are due back at the end of May.
Stay well. God bless.
Joan and Clarence.
top
Circular Letter No 125
3rd May 2003
Tuesday 29th April. Having been given some teddy bears with the request
to find homes for them, Joan and I went out to the 4 Homes of Mercy at
Bethany this afternoon. We picked up the person who was to be our guide
at the New Gate of the Old City, and I was a bit flabbergasted when told
to head for the Jericho Road and Ma'ale Adumim. The reason for my
surprise can be found in the Guide Books. "Bethany - a small town just
over the Mount of Olives, Bethany is only 5kms from Jerusalem" (The AA
Explorer Guide to Israel, p 209) So, off we went, through the new tunnel
under the Mount of Olives, and down the main road. On the right on the
first hill tops are the buildings of the village of Bethany, but to get
to it, you have to keep going down the road a couple of kilometres, and
then take the new road up to the illegal Israeli settlement of Ma'ale
Adumim. The reason for this circuitous route, taking 10 or 11 kms, is
that the direct road has been blocked by the Israeli army and there is
no direct vehicular access to Bethany apart from the long way round.
Should Jesus want to make his way into the City of Jerusalem now, he
would have problems if he started out from Bethany.
The illegal settlement does a good job - it takes up a large tract of
Palestinian land, and effectively barricades Bethany in from the East.
Just in case anyone might think that anybody can drive from Bethany to
Ma'ale Adumim and then into Jerusalem, there is a check point on the
road, where the goats are weeded out from the sheep. Only one sort gets
to go through the check point.
The 4 Homes of Mercy was founded in 1940 and prior to 1948 was catering
for people from Jordan and Syria as well as from Palestine. It provides
full time nursing care for people with multiple physical and mental
handicaps, with approx 90 beds. There are 4 groups - adult females and
males, disabled young people who have some mobility and some ability to
contribute to their own care, and children many of whom are quadriplegic
as well as mentally handicapped. The experience of walking round the
wards and seeing the patients, the staff and the facilities is little
different from any hospital that we have visited before. The walls were
brightly decorated, the rooms large and clean, - but the beds and cots
for patients could do with a bit of modernising.
The Medical Director whom we met had the interesting name of Dr Arafat!
He had studied in Moscow for his general medicine, his specialty in
orthopedics, and then a Ph.D. He too lives in Ramallah, and travels to
his work every day. Ramallah is almost visible from the Homes, and in
normal times the journey would take perhaps 20 - 30 minutes. Today, the
doctor took 2½ hours to reach work. Every day he has to pass through the
check point at Kalandia, then a second one on a road that leads to the
Jerusalem-Jericho road. Depending on circumstances, there may be a third
one also. (This morning, I set out to go to Bethlehem, but when I got to
the check point and saw the line of cars and trucks waiting with no sign
of soldiers doing any checking, I gave up and came home.) He has to take
a minimum of two taxis to make the journey, as taxis from inside
Ramallah are not allowed to work outside the town. Despite it all, he
was amazingly cheerful, and obviously is committed to his work.
How good it would be if he had the same facilities to do his work as a
person in a similar capacity will have in Israel. How good it would be
if he were able to get to work and get home in a rather less stressful
way.
Friday 2nd May.
We are in the throes of a General Strike, which has closed down
government offices, post office services, banks, airport, schools etc.
The ostensible reason is over the proposed Austerity Plan of the
Government, led by the Finance Minister Mr Netanyahu, to try to reduce
the Budget deficit. Key parts of it include reducing levels of social
security payments - e.g. children's allowances, - while also reducing
the number of government employees, such as teachers. The news today is
that there will be a partial easing of the strike, and that the airport
will re-open and banks will start functioning again. However, the basic
problem is still there - how to fund the military operations against the
Palestinians, and the building of roads on the West Bank, and the costs
of the Settlement programme, while at the same time having to contend
with the global economic slowdown. One of the headlines in the financial
section of the paper on Monday 28th April announced that in July the
Israeli Government would begin selling bonds guaranteed by the US
Government. "Israel is entitled to raise up to $9 billion in
American-backed debt, at a pace of $3 billion per year." Who needs to
change course when there is that sort of support from the US? Certainly
the US seems to be giving two conflicting signals. On the one hand -
keep going on your economic course and we will bail you out. On the
other hand - pull back to pre-September 2000 lines, cease Settlement
expansion etc. Given the choice, which voice would you listen to?
"One swallow does not make a summer" - sorry for the pun, when you read
that the Soda Club factory (making drinks) is moving its production
factory from Ma'ale Adumim, the Settlement within the Occupied
Territories, to Ashkelon. It is doing this to avoid duties that the EU
says will have to be imposed on goods produced by Israel within the West
Bank. The EU does not recognise the West Bank as part of Israel, and
therefore companies operating there cannot claim tax breaks available to
companies operating in Israel proper.
Settlements are an enormous factor in any discussion of what is
happening here. So, it was interesting to note early in the week the
remark of the Minister of Defence, none other than the retired Chief of
Staff of the Defence Forces, in which he said that "All of the illegal
outposts will be evacuated." According to defence officials, there are
70 outposts, only some of which are illegal. Early in the week there
were reports of 2 Settlement outposts having been dismantled. Neither
seemed to have been occupied for some time. A different sort of headline
is in Friday's paper ::Some illegal outposts get reprieve after settlers
buy disputed land." It is said that in several instances, Jewish people
have been able to buy land from Palestinians, in order to establish
settlements. "In some cases, (it is reported) the sellers were flown
overseas at the settlers' expense, some of them to South America,
allegedly for fear of being harmed by Palestinian Authority agents.
Settler sources said the difficult economic situation of most
Palestinians makes it easier to buy their land now." It all reminds me
of the saying that there are many ways to skin a cat.
Members of the Yesha Council of Jewish Settlers in Judaea, Samaria and
Gaza produced their own solution to the situation in the West Bank on
Tuesday. There will be Jewish Cantons, and Arab Cantons. There will be
no Palestinian State, no uprooting of Settlements, and the Israeli Army
will have freedom of operation anywhere on the West Bank. The Arabs will
be free to run their own affairs, under Israeli sovereignty.
In Friday's paper (Page 2) , a report is given of a visit to the US
undertaken by the Tourism Minister, Mr Benny Elon. He will try to
persuade members of Congress that a Palestinian State in the spirit of
President Bush's vision will only feed terrorism, and that Jordan is
Palestine. His plan is based on naturalising Palestinians in Jordan,
dismantling the Palestinian Authority, and applying Israeli sovereignty
from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean Sea. He has close ties with
fundamentalist and evangelical Christians and through them has been
exerting pressure on congressmen and officials to persuade Bush's
administration to drop the idea of a Palestinian State.
This week saw the new Prime Minister in Palestine. It also saw a suicide
bomber in Tel Aviv within hours of the Government being sworn in by
President Arafat in Ramallah. What changes? The stock response from the
Israeli Government spokesman was that this was evidence of the failure
of the Palestinian Government to take action against terrorism, despite
the fact that the Government had been in office barely a few hours. An
equally stock response among many Palestinians was that this was the
Israeli government once again orchestrating a suicide bombing at a time
when it would do maximum political damage to the Palestinians and allow
Israel to wriggle out of potential pressure. Friday's paper carried as
its secondary headline "16 Palestinians killed in Gaza, West Bank," and
tells of the operation in Gaza in which 13 people were killed, including
a 2 year old boy, two 13 year old boys, and a 67 year old man. What sort
of response does one expect to be made by those most affected by this
attack? Give up their arms? Vengeance? One has lost count of the times
that such actions have been carried out by the Israeli army when "peace"
initiatives have been launched. What price now the Road Map of the US?
It is hard to find an ordinary person here, Jewish or Palestinian, who
thinks that it has any chance at all.
The following is a paragraph from a letter from Alison Philips in Rafah,
in the Gaza Strip. "Yesterday morning (I think it was 1st may CM) I
viewed some of the damage and was given tea by Abu Mahmoud who invited
us in to the little house he has been renting since the IDF destroyed
his own 3 storey home some months ago. It is the only house he has been
able to find for his wife, himself and his 8 children. Just 2 small
rooms with a corrugated asbestos roof which now has gaping holes in it
from fragments of masonry hurled up in the explosions. One large stone
is lodged across a gap. Some sixth sense made him send his family to a
neighbour's house during the night before the bombs exploded, otherwise
his children would surely have been injured by the debris crashing
through the roof. "Why are they chasing me?" he asked "I don't have a
problem with anyone. I have never hurt anybody. If Sharon came here I
would give him tea like any other guest. I just try to find a life for
myself and my family. What can I do? I have nowhere else to go." Such
people are being demonised as "terrorists" by Israel instead of being
given the protection and help they deserve… ..Last night shots were
fired against the wall of the house where I sleep for the first time
since I came and we feel the campaign to scare us off is increasing."
It has always seemed ironic that when the word "terrorism" is used it is
applied almost exclusively to actions carried out by Palestinians, and
almost never to actions of the Israeli army or Israeli Settlers. On
Friday afternoon I sat and had a cup of coffee with George and Najla
Azar in Beit Sahour. We were talking of the "situation". George said
that the Israeli army had once again invaded that part of Bethlehem near
Manger Square, and had declared a curfew while they searched for someone
they wanted to apprehend. He said that he rarely went up the hill to
Bethlehem - why should he put himself at risk of a stray Israeli bullet?
In a sense, he has been terrorised, and is just as much afraid as an
Israeli might be to go to a bar in Tel Aviv - yet the terrorists who
affect him are in uniform.
For the first time for a long time, on Friday lunch time I was able to
spend an hour with the Women in Black. Four episodes stand out in my
mind today - three "small" and one more serious. In the first, an
observant Jewish man, with his kippa on his head, sat at the wheel of
his car, waiting for the traffic light to change, and kept shouting and
spitting at us. He was calmed down somewhat when a couple of policemen
went over to talk to him. I am sure that this is not his normal
behaviour, and I doubt that he would teach his children to spit at
others - yet such was his antagonism to the thought of people supporting
the policy of ending the Occupation of the West Bank that he allowed
himself to do this.
The second was another man shouting from his car, and calling us all
"goyim" - Gentiles. If you support the end of the Occupation, you must
be a Gentile. Labelling us that way enabled him to avoid facing up to
the fact that 75% of those present and demonstrating were in fact Jewish
women and men. They gave him his answer in Hebrew!
The third was two giggling young girls in the front seat of a bus that
was stopped at the traffic lights. They seemed to be having great fun,
holding up a sign which obviously they thought was funny. It read, in
Hebrew, "Kill Arabs".
The fourth, more serious, was when a mad in his mid-30s walked along the
row of women holding their placards, and spat at them all. As he
approached the end of the row, he pushed one of the elderly women, who
fell over backwards into the flower bed. The police apprehended him and
took him to their van. An ambulance came, and the woman was taken to
hospital, probably more as a precaution than because she was obviously
injured.
So, yet again it is a sad place - and really very little hope that there
is any chance of change.
We are well! May you stay well. God bless.
Joan and Clarence.
top
Circular Letter No 124
20th April 2003
(Monday evening/Tuesday morning - 21st April) It would be nice to be
able to say that Easter Sunday dawned bright and clear - but it would be
wrong! It rained early in the morning, it was cool, if not cold, and the
end of our Sunrise service was hastened by rain starting to fall. It is
one way to sing the last hymn, moving the chairs inside! At least it got
most people helping. There were 18 of us present, and most of us stayed
for breakfast. There was then a long hiatus until the 1000 hours
service, so some of us had a snooze.
At the 1000 hours service we had 42 people present, including one young
Jewish woman who comes from time to time. We celebrated our Easter
Communion, and then later in the morning celebrated Easter Lunch, when
about 40 sat down to a very noisy lunch in the Guest House dining room.
We were American, Dutch, English, Ghanaian, Japanese, Korean,
Palestinian, Scottish. In mid-afternoon, when all had been cleared up,
Joan and I took Helen Shehadeh along with George and Najla Azar back out
to Bethlehem. Going in was no real problem. Coming out was a bit more
time consuming as we arrived at the checkpoint at the time for changing
the guard.
We are in the middle of the Passover (Pessah) Holiday. It is a great
celebration for the Israeli Jewish population, but it also reveals a
less pleasing national characteristic. Members of our congregation,
trying to reach the Dormitian Abbey for a service at 0400 hours on
Easter Sunday morning were denied car parking access to the public car
park near the Church, as it was reserved for Jewish people coming to
pray at the Western Wall later on Sunday. Christians could not park
their cars to get to a Christian service. Details of their driving
licence were taken. For us, on Easter Sunday afternoon at the Bethlehem
checkpoint, it was interesting to observe the freedom with which Jewish
people were able to pass through the checkpoint on their way to and from
Rachel's Tomb - while we waited in a queue, a bus drove up, stopped to
let a soldier out, and then drove on. Non-Jewish people wait while
Jewish people get priority. Monday's Ha'aretz carried a photograph of
Jewish people celebrating and dancing close to the Tomb of the
Patriarchs in Hebron. This Tomb is sacred to be Jew and Muslim. However,
the caption under the photograph read : "Jews celebrating the Passover
holiday outside Hebron's Tomb of the Patriarchs yesterday. Several
thousand pilgrims made their way to the city while the army kept 100,000
Arab residents of the town under curfew to provide security for the
Jewish celebrants. More such events are scheduled for the coming days."
If there were any Christian folk of the Western tradition among the
population of Hebron, they were under curfew and unable to celebrate
their holy feast of Easter. It also carried a report about the High
Court of Justice deferring a decision about a petition from Jewish
people who call themselves the Temple Mount Faithful, asking that they
be allowed to worship on the Temple Mount. They argue that to allow only
Arabs to worship there is racist.
Monday 21st evening. It is almost surreal sitting here in Jerusalem
writing, and trying to reflect on what we have seen and heard today. To
my left, looking out of the window, I can see the floodlit walls of the
Old City, a monument to a conqueror in the 16th Century. The power of
that Empire is now gone, though its influence still lives on. Many are
the conquerors who have come to make Jerusalem their home, and in the
process they have not only spilled much blood, but they have exiled
inhabitants of the city. Today, we saw the contemporary conquerors at
work in the northern part of the West Bank, and it was not a pretty
sight. One of the effects of their work may well be to exile people now
from their homes. One wonders if, in the end, they will prove to be any
more effective this time than they were in a previous conquest.
The work that we went to see was the preparatory work for the Wall which
is being built close to two villages. The villages are called Jayyus and
Falame. They are in the foothills of the mountains, north of Qalqiliya,
and looking out from them one can see clearly the coastal cities of Tel
Aviv, Netanya, Hadera etc. "Wall" is the general word, though in the
places which we visited today it is likely to be a "fence". That,
however, should not be thought of as just a wire fence that you might
have at the bottom of your garden. It will be a fence, in all
probability electrified, with a patrol road alongside it for the army
vehicles which will travel along it at regular intervals to check that
it has not been breached, and on either side of a deep trench filled
with razor wire. The land confiscated for this "fence" is at least 20 -
30 metres wide. Then there will be a "buffer zone" on either side of
that, it which development will not be allowed on the Palestinian side.
Whether or not farming will be allowed is not yet clear, according to
the information we were given today.
The strange thing is that it is being built for "security", but as one
English person in our group remarked, there is very little security
afforded to those building it. There certainly is nothing to compare
with the security forces that had to be arrayed to enforce the building
of the Newbury by-pass in England. Bulldozers, graders, trucks, power
shovels - all were working and we saw not a sign of "security" to
protect the workers.
We were bombarded with information and questions :
The cost of the Wall is $2 million per kilometre
The line of the wall is anything from a few metres to a few kilometres
on the Eastern (Palestinian) side of the Green Line.
Much is made of the choice of the line of the Wall as providing a
defensible boundary. That may be so, but in the vicinity of Jayyus and
Falame, the site of the Wall divides the village from its agricultural
land. In the case of Jayyus, we were told that 90% of its agricultural
land would be on the Western side of the Wall; in the case of Falame, 50
% of its land would be West of the Wall. Is it entirely co-incidental
that this land contains all the wells that supply water for the
villages, and for the irrigation of their crops? Also that near Falame
is the Settlement I which many leading army people have their homes, and
to ensure that they would not even have to see the Wall, it was moved
600 metres closer to the village, resulting in the separation of village
and agricultural land.
Prior to the clearing of the line of the Wall, there were 7 dirt roads
down from Jayyus village to its fields - now there is only one such road
open. The villagers do not know if there will be any access to their
fields - they have been told that there will be one gate, but they do
not know on what grounds access will be allowed to their fields. Will
anyone be able to go? Will it only be certain categories of people - the
old, the female, and the children? Will they have to pay to pass through
the gate? Will it be open limited hours? At present, checkpoints are
often closed on Jewish holy festivals - will this be the case for
farmers wishing to get to their land?
What will be the status of the land beyond the Wall? Has it been
confiscated? The information from the Israeli side is that the status of
the land will be decided in 2005. It is not lost on anyone that this is
3 years away. It is also not lost on anyone that according to laws going
back to the Ottoman times, which are still in force, if one does not
work land for 3 years, then one loses the right to it. If the obstacles
put in the way of farmers getting to their land mean that they are not
able to work it, will this then be used as a pretext for confiscating
the "unused" land?
It is not lost on the Palestinians that the line which has been
designated for the Wall runs, almost without exception, to the East of
the Settlements that are close to the Green Line, meaning that not only
have they been built on land conquered in 1967, but they will physically
be a part of Greater Israel, and who is going to give them back in any
future peace deal? Rather, in order to protect Settlements, the Wall is
going kilometres East of the Green Line.
And so one could go on.
It was perhaps the most dispiriting day that we have spent here since we
came in July 2000. Dispiriting in that it seems there is no way out of
the morass in which the two communities now have to live. Dispiriting in
that it seems no-one in the outside world seems to care, or to want to
do anything about it, or to be able to do anything about it. Dispiriting
in that just as the saying goes that "the blood of the martyrs is the
seed of the Church" so the seeds of the next conflict are being sown all
across the West Bank.
Some stories.
"A" lives in his house in the Jayyus. He was a motor mechanic in Israel,
but then was unable to get to work, and so had to try to start up some
sort of business from his home. Part of his house became like a garage.
However, the family managed. Then blasting started to clear the rocks
for the building of the wall. His house was one of those affected
structurally, and part of it became unsafe. He and his family were
forced to sleep in one room, for fear that other parts of the house
might collapse, Like many families here, his family is large - and
includes boys and girls. One of his daughters is now a teenager.
Tradition and custom dictates that she does not sleep in the same room
as her parents or brothers. Yet where can she go? And with no work, and
little income, what can he do? If someone came and asked to marry his
daughter, he would be virtually forced to agree, even though she may
technically be under-age. Then of course he, and his society, will be
castigated for the way in which they marry off their young daughters.
"B" is a young woman in Jayyus. After marriage, her children arrived at
regular intervals, and soon there were 6 of them. As her husband was
partially disabled and did not earn much money, she started working as a
seamstress to bring in some additional money. It was their determination
which allowed them to save enough money to extend their house by
building on an extra couple of rooms to give their children the space
they needed. However, they had no land, and so could have no olive trees
of their own. There is a saying to the effect that if you have olive oil
and bread you will never be hungry. So, it was back to saving. Finally,
they got together enough money, some of it raised by selling her wedding
gold, and they bought a small plot of land on which they planted some
olive trees. This past harvest was the best that they had had. Then one
day she was down among her trees when she noticed red and blue markers.
She did not know what they signified and so she asked her neighbours.
The red markers signified the centre of where the new Wall would be -
right through her plot. There was nothing she could do. When the people
came to clear the land, she watched them from her house - first cutting
the tops off the trees, then cutting the trunks, and finally uprooting
what was left - "shaving the land" is what it is called.
"C" lives on the edge of Jayyus. About 400 metres from his house will be
the wall, just behind the top of the hill. It is said that on this hill
there will be an Israeli army outpost. As we passed on our way to look
at the construction site, he was working in his garden. He had rescued
some of the old olive trees that had been cut and then uprooted. Several
of them he had been able to get to his house, and were now planted. What
seemed like dead and barren wood was producing the tiniest of green
shoots - and the hope was clear on his face that he would have living
trees in time.
Falame village has orange groves, which are irrigated from the wells
that it has. When the diggers came to prepare the track of the Wall, the
pipes from the wells - 15 cm substantial metal pipes - were ripped up
and the trees were left dry. Fortunately it was in the winter, which has
been a very wet one, so there was some natural water for the trees. The
villagers took their case to the High Court, and got a judgement in
their favour allowing them to put the pipes back again, under the level
of the Wall, thus providing irrigation for their farms. The big trouble
is that there is not intended to be a gate near their village to allow
them access to their farms on the Western side of the wall. If there is
one at Jayyus, they will have to use it. So, instead of a 5-minute walk
from their homes to their trees, it will be a 5 km drive, if they have a
vehicle, negotiate the gate, and then drive 5 kms back to their land.
Just two villages, and three or four stories. Our guide was Jemal from
Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (Pengon). More information can be
had from him at outreach@pengon.org. Website www.pengon.org
Monday seemed as if we were back in the darkness of Maundy Thursday, or
even Good Friday, without knowing if or when there would be an Easter
Sunday.
Bye for now.
Joan and Clarence
top
Circular Letter No 123
The "in-between" Saturday - 19th April 2003
Maundy Thursday.
Better late than never might have been our watchword, as we arrived
rather late for the Service of the Washing of Feet at St George's
Episcopal Cathedral. The Bishop was just finishing his sermon when we
arrived. Perhaps that was fortuitous, as he was preaching in Arabic!
2030 hours. A "procession", as one of the organisers called it, moved
off from the Cathedral to walk to Gethsemane. (I thought we were a bit
more like a gaggle.) The streets in the vicinity of the Cathedral were
not too busy, but as we approached one of the exits from the Temple
Mount, there were many more pedestrians and vehicles, with people
leaving the Mosque after Prayers. We were a small group, and as we
approached the bottom of the Mount of Olives, we had to contend with a
large number of people making their way back towards the Old City from
the Church of All Nations, beside the Garden of Gethsemane. Whereas in
former years, such a crowd would have had a large component of tourists,
now there are insignificant numbers of people visiting for Easter.
Perhaps that encourages the local Christians to come out, and in one
sense to reclaim the Easter observances for themselves. Yet, everyone
wishes that there were more representatives of the world-wide church
sharing with us at present.
We made our way a few hundred metres past the area marked as the Garden
of Gethsemane, up the side of the Mount of Olives, where we stopped for
our time of reflection. It was a clear night, and as the moon came up,
it was almost painfully bright in the sky. There was the usual glare of
street lights, along the roads by the City Walls. There were the lights
of traffic, and the general noise of humanity. Far from being the silent
haven for meditation, it was just a dark place on the edge of a lot of
activity - much of it caused by people like us, perhaps seeking quiet!
As our eyes became accustomed to the light, we could see the stars,
distant parts of the Universe, yet linked to us and what was happening
by being part of the work of the one Creator.
On the Thursday when Jesus was arrested, there would also have been an
almost-full moon. One imagines that there would also have been quite a
bit of activity around, as the Garden faces on to the Temple Mount, the
centre for much of the action of Passover. There would have been police
around, to keep the peace. They would have had their "gear" with them.
It was just the same last Thursday, with police around, only driving
rather than walking.
The Israeli Army and police use a type of horn or klaxon in their
vehicles, which is very distinctive, and I find it very aggressive. On
Thursday, the air was punctuated by the noise made by klaxons - perhaps
necessary, perhaps a way of reminding both Muslims coming from the
Mosque and Christians in the Gethsemane area just who wields power at
present. While we were there, the noise gradually abated, as the numbers
of people around diminished.
I do not know if the same sort of conifer trees were around when Jesus
was in the city, but looking eastward to the rising moon, we looked
through a sort of black trellis of pine trees, which were almost like
prison bars in front of the moon. Everything around helped to set an
atmosphere - foreboding, threatening, and far from quiet. If the noise
of this Maundy Thursday was anything to go by, the arrest of Jesus was a
noisy affair, and just one incident in the middle of all the
celebrations of the Passover.
Good Friday
0615 hours. The Annual Good Friday Walk along the Via Dolorosa, led by
St George's Episcopal Church, started off from Station 1. By contrast
with last year, it was bright, warm, and dry. By the time that we
reached the end of the Walk, outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
there were about 70 of us. Along the way, we passed many groups of other
Christians, quite a few of them groups of nuns, making their own private
pilgrimage and stopping to pray at each Station.
On previous years, Joan and I have made our way down to the First
Station from the Jaffa Gate - leading into the "Tourist Section" of the
Old City. This year we made our way in from the Damascus Gate, passing
through what is essentially a trading section of the Old City - an Arab
trading section. Three things stood out - at 0600 hours : the presence
of armed Israeli Border Police; the presence of quite a number of Arab
women traders setting out their bags of vine leaves, spring onions, and
herbs, for the day's business; and shops already open for business.
The Via Dolorosa does not pass through some sort of Disneyworld film
set, where all is antiseptic and all extraneous noises have been
excluded. It goes through a living, working, community. People on their
way to work - mostly Arab Muslims - have to negotiate the crowd of
worshippers. Tractors - the narrow gauge variety that ply the streets of
the Old City - picking up garbage or delivering goods - wait with
engines running noisily to find a way past. At one point, two tiny tots
on their way to school passed by - brother shepherding sister past this
unusual group gathered round a Cross. And for me, one of the most
telling parts of the reality of the whole situation was when we stopped
at the Fifth Station of the Cross, where the role of Simon of Cyrene is
recalled. Scripture verses were read, prayers were said, a hymn was
started - all while we were standing round a pile of bags of garbage
waiting to be collected. For me, it exemplified the reality of the Word
made Flesh - even in a world so full of garbage - both literal and
metaphorical. In one way it would have been nice to have had the peace
and quiet of a special pilgrimage centre. On the other hand, it would
have been entirely false to the fundamental claim of the Gospel to be
addressing the issues of the world in which people live their ordinary
lives.
1500 hours. There is a tradition, at least 3 years' old, but I suspect
many more than that, of walking from St Andrew's Church to the Cenacle -
one of the possible sites of the Last Supper. After prayers there, the
walk proceeds to St Peter in Gallicantu, the possible site of the house
of Caiaphas the High Priest, where Jesus had his first trial, and where
Peter denied him. After more prayers, we return to St Andrew's for a
service in the Church.
This year, we thought we would be very few. However, in the end 12 from
St Andrew's and 6 from Tantur Ecumenical Institute made the walk, under
a beautiful blue sky, and a warm sun.
We climbed to the roof of the building which houses the Cenacle - close
to the Dormitian Abbey. As I think I recalled in an earlier letter, the
building incorporates a Jewish Holy Place on the ground floor - the Tomb
of David; above it a room to which many Christian pilgrims come, as a
place where the Last Supper may have taken place; and on the top floor,
a Minaret from a Mosque, not at present being used as a Mosque. We
climbed the stairs to the roof, from which we could see part of the
Temple Mount and part of the Mount of Olives. For a while we shared the
space with a Jewish family, all decked out in their "Sunday" holiday
clothes, as this is still part of the Pesach (Passover) holiday. While
we read Scripture, shared a Prayer, and sang a hymn on one side of the
cupola, on the other side was a Jewish man reciting his prayers.
From the Cenacle we went down the hill to the Church of St Peter in
Gallicantu. It had been the venue for 6 busloads of Filipino people
living in the Jaffa area of Israel, who had come to worship on Good
Friday. For them, it was both a religious festival, and a social outing,
- a way of expressing the identity of the two communities to which they
belong - the Faith Community of the Catholic Church, and the Ethnic
community of coming from the Philippines, while living and working in
Israel.
At both places, the music for our hymn was provided by Emiko playing her
flute. She is a young Japanese Christian woman, married to an Israeli
and living not far from St Andrew's.
1700 hours. We have a service in the Church - basically the reading of
the Passion Narrative, with appropriate hymns. The music on the organ is
provided by Chang-Lim, a Christian woman from Korea, who have been
members of St Andrew's for many years. It was after the service that
Joan was talking with Alice Abusharr. During our service, we had sung
the hymn "There is a green hill far away . . . ", and Alice remarked to
Joan that when she first sang that hymn, they changed it slightly to be
"There is a green hill not far away . . .". She was singing it within a
kilometre of Golgotha. It had never occurred to me to change it, yet how
inaccurate it really is in our context.
Our church building is in West Jerusalem, and the route of our afternoon
walk was in West Jerusalem. Being still part of the HolyDays, it was
very pleasant to see family groups out for a walk, or having a picnic in
the park. Some of them shared a greeting of "Shalom" as we passed - one
of the groups even was the first to greet us. So there was a picture of
tranquillity and normality, which I recognise is offset by the opposite
picture of family groups being unable to relax in the same way in many
parts of the West Bank.
Our community for Good Friday was international and ecumenical. For me,
one of the most heartening features was the presence of leading members
of the Catholic community, sharing in the much less formal worship of St
Andrew's.
Two of those present were young women - Emiko from Japan, and Wendy from
Holland. As we walked we heard a bit of their different stories. The one
is married to an Israeli Christian Arab, having met in a city in Japan.
The other has been living with an Israeli Jewish man for 5 years, having
met him when she was a tourist in Israel. It is impossible to tell of
the different stresses and strains that they both feel - yet they were
with us on Good Friday, very much sharing in worship together.
Undoubtedly they have their part to play in whatever solution will
materialise to the problems of the relationships of the different
communities here.
Saturday morning. The sun is rising as I am writing this. Shortly I will
go out to Beit Jala, to make sure that Helen and her school family get
on their way to Jericho without any hitches. Later, we will go to Beit
Sahour to collect the food for lunch tomorrow. We hope to be about 40
sharing a meal after our Easter Communion.
Recently Alison Phillips, a Scottish friend, came out to Jerusalem for a
couple of days, and then went on to a short time of training to share in
the work of "human shields" in Gaza. She is now in the southern part of
the Gaza Strip and has been writing of her experiences there. I have
found her letters very moving. She ends her last letter with these words
: "Rafah (at the southern extremity of the Gaza Strip) is cut off from
the world. The cries of those who protest against all the endless
injustices, killings, injuries, imprisonment, restrictions go out to
no-one but the residents and blend with the dust and dirt and seem to
change nothing. Does no-one care?" I am sure that she would be glad for
others to receive them. If you would like to have her e-mail address,
please contact me, and I will get in touch with Alison on your behalf.
It is hard to resist the conclusion that the world is in a mess. Yet
even in middle of the mess, there are the modern day equivalents of
Simon of Cyrene, wittingly or unwittingly walking alongside Jesus and
doing his work. Seeing them at work, one is given hope. It is not a hope
for a new "world" order - that is a Utopia - but a hope for a new
"people" order with individuals being re-created, and being enabled to
live and work together. Maybe that too, is Utopian. But it has been good
this Easter to have been able to walk the streets of Jerusalem -
certainly to be aware of the divisions and the hatreds, but also to
recognise that someone once did set an example of an alternative way.
Maybe next year, you will have the chance to be here.
Just to make sure that we do not lose sight of the real world, on Monday
we hope to be part of a group going to have a look at the Wall, and meet
some of the communities most affected by its construction.
God bless. Peace for Easter.
Joan and Clarence
top
Circular Letter No 122
16th April 2003
I am aware that this is much later than normal - the Muse has been a bit
silent, and the Well dry, to mix metaphors!
6th April Sunday saw the closing service for a Solidarity Conference
which had been held this past week by Sabeel. Sabeel is a Palestinian
Liberation Theology organisation, with supporters all over the world.
Until a few weeks ago, over 120 had registered to come to the
Conference. Then the numbers fell until about 40 actually came. During
their visit here, they travelled widely on the West Bank, some will go
to Gaza, and then they will go home. The good thing is that there has
not been a single "security" incident at all. Interestingly the Service
was held in the church of St Peter in Gallicantu, which is linked with
the house of Caiaphas, and in which there is a sort of "cell" which is
pointed out as having been a possible place for the keeping of Jesus on
Maundy Thursday night. In the garden are steps cut in the rock, leading
down to a path which makes its way along the Kidron Valley towards
Gethsemane, and again a possible route for Jesus from the city to
Gethsemane, after the Last Supper. All in all, quite a fitting place to
have a service for an organisation with its aim being Liberation within
a Theological framework, which will respect the whole of God's
Community.
After the service, 6 of us had a cold drink and a cup of coffee - Rizek
and Alice Abusharr, Bassem and Hind Khoury, and Joan and myself. Bassem
and Hind are in the process of having to look for new accommodation. It
is not that they don't have a house - theirs is the house in Bethlehem
which, unless there is a change of plan, will be virtually surrounded by
a wall built by the Israelis and by Israeli army positions. I have no
idea how you retain sanity in such a situation.
There is much talk of the "Road Map", and a hope against hope that it
will in fact produce some sort of Agreement. On the Palestinian side,
there has to be a "cessation of terror, violence and incitement." On the
Israeli side there has to be a "freeze on Jewish Settlements in the
territories, including their natural increase." An article about
Settlements by a Jewish journalist, Danny Rubinstein, in Haa'aretz of
Monday 7th April, has some stark news. "From the beginning of the peace
process at the Madrid Conference in 1991, until the outbreak of the
Intifada in 2000, the number of Jewish settlers in the territories
doubled, from 100,000 to 200,000." It ends as follows : "A social and
political earthquake in Israel will be needed to stop the development of
the settlements and to freeze their growth. There is not a chance that
the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will even get anywhere
near this road map." Certainly, anything that I have seen in the limited
areas that I have visited, will bear out the enormous, and perhaps
impossible, task of trying to extricate the Settlements from the West
Bank.
Tuesday 15th. Having been asked for assistance by Helen Shehadeh some
days ago to try to obtain travel permits for the staff and children of
the Al Shurooq school to make a trip to Jericho, I eventually got time
to attend to it today. Preparatory work included getting from Helen a
list of the names of the adults for whom Travel Permits would be
requested. A phone call to the Ministry of Religious Affairs produced a
helpful and positive response, though it was pointed out that the Pesach
(Passover) holiday commences on 16th, and so there was a limited amount
of time for anything to be done. However, a short while later the person
from the Ministry called back to say that he had been in touch with the
relevant Military authorities, recommending that permits be issued. At
the first opportunity in the afternoon, I drove the 22 kms out to the
Military Office, to try to obtain the permits, arriving at the Office at
1525 hours. The Military Office is firmly in the West Bank, several kms
south of Bethlehem.
(With reference to the previous paragraph about Settlements, standing at
the front of the hut which is the office where Permit applications are
dealt with, and looking northwards, the top of every hill in sight is
occupied by Settlement buildings. On the way to the Office, a new road
is being built. At the intersection leading to the Office, a large area
has been paved, which is where one of the main checkpoints on the road
to Hebron is located. It gives all the appearance of being what the
Israeli government would plan to be the major border between any future
Palestinian state and Israel - yet it is some 15 kms inside the Green
Line. Mary is a member of the congregation of St Andrew's, and her
family land in this area is now almost surrounded by Settlements. She is
almost resigned to the fact that, regardless of how hard they fight, and
what judgements might be given in their favour in the Courts, they will
lose their land.)
The office is a hut, with a queuing area leading to 5 windows. Only one
of them is in use. Standing around are 5 men of different ages, and a
couple of women who appear to be about 50 years of age. The queuing area
is concrete, with iron railings marking 5 possible lines. The railings
are superfluous this afternoon, with only one place in use. There is a
roof, but apart from that the queuing area is open to the elements. The
wind is blowing, and despite the fact that it is April, everyone feels
the cold. There is also a very basic hut in which are seats, where there
is some protection from the elements. Inside, in the small office, there
is one young Army lass working. She is not evident for the first 10
minutes that we are waiting there, as she is working on applications for
people standing waiting. Eventually she does appear and hands over the
papers that she has prepared. One of the women then sees that instead of
a permit for what I gather was the usual time she had been granted in
the past - a month - this time she has been given only a week. Argument
proved pointless and in the end she had to accept the decision of this
young girl, who could almost have been her grand-daughter, and leave
with a permit for a week. This would mean yet another journey back to
the Office, another wait, and in the end having to live with the
decision of a person who is really a sort of Civil Service Clerk, even
though she is in Army uniform.
My letter is taken, and she disappears out of the hut into a more
substantial building at the back of it. 20 minutes later she comes back
with another army person, and she has brought with her the papers that
were faxed through from the Ministry of Religious Affairs that morning.
Then begins the process of preparing the actual permits. The ID numbers
of each of the 11 adults were entered in her computer and eventually 9
of them come up with approval. About 90 minutes after arriving, Joan and
I are able to leave with the permits. We are the lucky ones. While we
were there, 8 or 9 other people arrived, and they just had to wait. They
were still there when we left. [Over the past couple of years, I have
had to deal occasionally with this Military Office, usually by
telephone, and to do with getting through checkpoints. As an expatriate
I have usually been helped by personnel there. I know that it is
different for my Palestinian colleagues in other churches.]
All this effort was to obtain permits for the school to go on an outing.
They were going from one part of the West Bank to another, yet such is
the control exercised by the Israeli Army that even for this sort of
journey, for 25 kids who are blind or partially sighted along with the
adults who will assist them, permits are needed. The ironical thing is
that a person cannot travel without a permit - so even to get to the
office to request a permit should, in theory, require a permit!
Anyway that part of the mission was completed painlessly, though it was
time consuming. The next part was to deliver the permits to Helen in
Bait Jala. The drive back to Jerusalem passes a substantial checkpoint,
where we are in fact unusually waved through. Then it is the checkpoint
to get into the Bethlehem area, and again it is a brief pause. A
clerical collar and white plates on the car do help! Helen is delighted
to have the permits, though upset that two of her staff were refused.
One of them is the only man, whose absence will place a strain on the
women, who will have to carry at least one of the children who is not
ambulant. With the delivery of the permits accomplished it is time to
head for home. Again, at the checkpoint out of Bethlehem, there is no
traffic, and so it is a short pause before we are on our way. We really
are privileged, when one thinks of all the other folk who cannot get out
at all.
The whole afternoon just reinforces the way in which the Israeli
authorities are losing the struggle to win the hearts and minds of the
Palestinians - perhaps they have given up, perhaps they do not regard
that as important. Perhaps the building of the Wall is the way in which
they hope to separate the two peoples so that winning or losing
friendship will be of no significance.
This is Holy Week - yet it seems harder to focus on it this year than in
the past, with all that is going on in this region. Here are a few
snapshots.
Saturday 12th. There is a dinner for the leaders of some of the Churches
to meet the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is in Jerusalem for 24 hours,
on a very low key visit. He had brought with him a Pastoral Letter,
which he shared with us. Part of it is as follows : "Even ten years ago,
few people would have thought the day would come when the peace of the
world would depend so directly on the peace of Jerusalem. But for the
last few months, with all the suffering and fear they have brought, it
has been so painfully clear that without peace and justice for all the
peoples of the Holy Land there is small hope of lasting reconciliation
in the wider world. …. Peace never comes without cost; so the deepest
enemy to peace is always the spirit of grasping and clinging to what
makes us feel safe – while the truth is that we shall only be safe when
others are not frightened of us, when others do not feel silenced,
despised or suffocated by us. Again and again, we have to return to the
question, ‘How do we speak to each other words of hope that will take
away the fear?’" For me, the phrase that stuck in my mind was "we shall
only be safe when others are not frightened of us." If he is right, then
the walls, the checkpoints, the Settlements, the Army patrols - none of
them will provide that safety for which the Israeli people seek - and
none of the rock-throwing, shooting or bombing will provide the peace
and justice that the Palestinian people seek.
Sunday 13th. The Palm Sunday walk took place as usual from the Church at
Bethphage, associated with the place from which Jesus set out to travel
into Jerusalem. I did not think that there were as many people in the
procession this year as last, but others thought there were more!
Certainly, the army and police presence was less than a couple of years
ago, but once again it raises the question as to what they thought their
function was. Were the marchers going to attack people along the way?
Were the local people going to attack the marchers? Or were there other
elements in the society from whom we had to be protected? Who knows. I
doubt that the world stopped on the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem -
people got on with their lives. So it was on Palm Sunday this year -
people passed us as they got on with their lives, and the city got on
with its normal activities. At the end of the procession, when we were
making our way home through the city carrying our bits of Palm Branches,
kids looked at us, and you could see them wondering what it was all
about! Joan and I stopped in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for a
moment as we passed - sadly there was a "worship procession" making its
was round the church, and so the Stations of the Cross associated with
the Crucifixion were closed off till the procession had completed its
circuit. Down to earth with a bump!!
Footnote : You have no need of me to comment on the Iraq
war/liberation/invasion - depending on how you see it. One comment from
a Palestinian person was : That's two Arab countries occupied (Palestine
and Iraq). Where next? From him, and from many, there is a feeling of
inevitability that Syria may not last long.
One person who has recently obtained an Israeli Driving Licence is
speculating that before his contract ends here, he will be able to drive
to Damascus and Baghdad using his Israeli licence. Who knows.
Leaving a meeting yesterday a Jewish friend wished me a Happy Easter -
and then he stopped and said that he did not know if that was the right
phrase. We ended by both wishing each other blessings in our respective
Feasts - Pesach and Easter. Wherever you are, Easter Blessing to you.
Joan and Clarence.
Clearing out our Apartment to move to the Church apartment, I found a
Calendar for the year 2000, with the motto : "Calendar 2000. Hope for a
Millennium of Peace with the Lord of Hope and Peace."
top
Circular Letter No 121
5th April 2003
"Comment from me on the war in Iraq would probably be redundant, so you
will not be subjected to my thoughts on that." This was the opening line
in Letter No 120. Let me deviate from it only slightly.
TV pictures showed the effect on a market of being hit by a missile.
Allegations that it was an American missile that had hit the wrong
target were soon countered by top political leaders and army commanders.
"It was not our missile, it was theirs." Reports came in of the killing
of 7 women and children by US soldiers at a check point. "It was not our
fault. It was theirs. If there had been no suicide bomber, there would
not have been the same anxiety about a car that did not stop." These are
so similar to the responses that we have heard over the past months from
the Israeli army, when Palestinian civilians have been killed. "It was
not our tank shell, but their home-made explosives". "The vehicle did
not stop at the road block." TV pictures show the same sort of lines of
traffic at a check point, the same sort of scrutiny of papers by
soldiers, and one suspects the same sort of frustration building up in
the drivers and people who are being delayed. One hopes that the
American and British forces in Iraq do not go down the same road as the
Israeli army has taken in the West Bank and Gaza. It was a wry sense of
humour that a Palestinian friend remarked that what he was looking at in
Iraq as far as check points went was just what he had been experiencing
for almost 2 years. He said it was like being at home.
Check points. The one with which I am most familiar is at Bethlehem.
There is a look-out tower at the side of the road, in which is placed an
armed soldier. There are a few soldiers actually dealing with each
vehicle as it is allowed to come up to the check point. Vehicles are
stopped up to 30 metres from the soldiers. The last time I was in
Bethlehem, additional concrete barriers had been placed in the road,
making it more difficult for vehicles to actually get to the soldiers.
When you get to the head of the queue you then have to watch the
soldiers with eagle eyes, to see when, or if, they are waving their hand
for you to drive up. Drive up without that wave of the hand, and you
risk being sent back. It is bad enough for an expatriate like me to be
sent back. It is much worse for a Palestinian. There is added risk to it
all if one is approaching the check point after dark - where are the
soldiers, in the first place. Only secondly does one ask if they are
motioning you to drive forward.
However, at the check point near Idna, it seems as if we have become
known, and now it is a question of stopping and being recognised, before
being allowed to proceed.
On Sunday, after the service, a young woman who has started attending
services shared coffee with us. "Pray for us tomorrow" she said. "We are
taking a convoy of food and humanitarian aid into an area in the south
of the Gaza Strip that is exceedingly isolated." She was a bit
apprehensive. In the end, the convoy made it through, and returned, in
safety.
As I am sure is the case with many of you, we receive e-mails from many
organisations. One such that I think is worth passing on is the
following, from B'Tselem, the Jewish Organisation which monitors human
rights violations on the West Bank and in Gaza.
March 31st, 2003. Press release. Better Late than Never
B’Tselem’s response to the Y-Net article stating that the Southern
Command will cease punitive house demolitions in Gaza. B’Tselem commends
the Southern Command for its decision to end the policy of demolishing
Palestinian houses as a form of punishment. B’Tselem calls on the OC
Central Commander to implement a similar decision. The use of punitive
house demolitions is in violation of international law. It constitutes a
form of illegal collective punishment and harms innocent civilians.
During the current Intifada, the IDF began carrying out punitive house
demolitions on October 23, 2001. The IDF adopted a policy of demolishing
the houses of families of Palestinians who carried out suicide attacks
or are suspected of attacking Israelis. According to B’Tselem’s
statistics, in the current Intifada, 267 houses have been demolished as
punishment, of which 58 are in the Gaza Strip. (Wednesday's Ha'aretz
carried a photograph and an article, Page 3 - about the demolition of
one house near Tulkarm, and 4 houses near Ramallah. One was the home of
a suicide bomber of last weekend, and the others belong to "four
suspected militants" of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade. Thursday's
Ha'aretz carried a report that a house had been demolished in Hebron.
Friday's Ha'aretz reported that dozens of Israeli army vehicles, tanks
and bulldozers entered the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza strip early on
Thursday, and four homes were destroyed.)
On Tuesday, we had meetings of the Finance Committee and School Board of
Tabeetha School, the Church of Scotland school in Jaffa. After many
years of effort, the School gained certification from the Ministry of
Education that it should receive per capita grants for the pupils in the
school, to help pay for the cost of running the school. After more
effort, this certification was extended to the secondary school also, so
that now grants are received in respect of all the pupils in the school.
This grant now comprises approx 27% of the school budget. At our
meetings on Tuesday, we were told that a circular letter had been
received from the Ministry of Education stating that as a result of the
economic situation in the country, the grant for 2003 would be cut by
20%. Assuming that this is put into effect, that leaves the school to
find approx NIS 250,000 in order to balance its budget for this year.
(Today's exchange rate in the paper is NIS 4.65 = US$1. We have to find
almost $54,000). The financial pages of the paper on Wednesday provide
some of the background to the decision of the Ministry of Education.
They report a budget surplus for March of NIS 1.1. billion. That
however, it is said, was due to the arrival of NIS 2 billion in aid from
the US. In March 2003 tax collection was down 4% from March 2002
On Thursday, I had the unusual experience of addressing a gathering of
30 or 40 people who were part of a day conference organised by the
Friends of the Hebrew University. The theme of the day was "Judaism -
one world and many worlds" I was the only non-Israeli invited to speak,
and the only non-Jewish person speaker. I spoke on the title
"Reflections of a Christian 'visitor'". After me came a Rabbi, Mrs Maya
Leibovich, who had a fascinating exposition of the story of Deborah,
under the heading "Woe unto a generation led by a woman!" which was a
comment on this story by a later Jewish sage. The final English language
paper of the morning was entitled "The place of the Jewish State in the
community of nations", and was given by a Professor from the Hebrew
University.
Having taken some time to explain who I was, I spoke briefly about three
topics:
contrasting my impression of the great debates in Judaism regarding such
matters as the application of the Law to contemporary society, and the
need for precision in explaining words, with the use of the word
"Anti-Semitism" to refer to actions and words against Jewish people,
while ignoring other Semitic people;
literalism in the interpretation of Scriptures, whether within the
Christian Faith or the Jewish Faith. Reference to the Battle of Jericho
(!)
the very occasional times when I hear reference being made to the
Prophets of the Old Testament, while there is so much emphasis on the
Law and the Covenant.
I elicited responses about how I did not understand the relationship of
Jewish people to the Land, how I had not experienced the change in the
attitude of Palestinians to Jewish people, and the hatred that is there
now, as opposed to before the Intifada, and the enduring influence on
today's generation of the Holocaust.
The third lecture of the morning session was very illuminating. The
Professor limited himself to trying to account for the current attitude
to Israel of European academics and politicians. He spent some time
analysing the events of May 2000 to January 2001 - the attempt to
arrange an "exchange " of land for peace with Syria, which failed; the
attempt to arrange a peace with Lebanon, which failed, but where the
Israelis unilaterally withdrew from S Lebanon anyway; . and Camp David,
where we heard once again of the perception that Mr Barak had made a
generous offer of land for peace, which had been refused by Mr Arafat.
Why, in the eyes of European academics and politicians, was Israel
presented as the "bad guy" despite it having made these offers to its
neighbours? In the final analysis it came down to the fact that the
Jewish leaders of the day had not accepted Jesus as Messiah, some 2,000
years ago. As a result of that, Europeans could not see Jewish people as
being fit to govern themselves, nor fit to have their own country.
Several of the people present asked me how I had felt about the talk. It
was sad to hear an academic, who spoke of the analytical nature of his
work, putting forward such views. Sad also that he did not require the
same degree of "proof" for the offer of Mr Barak as he required for
establishing the goodwill of Mr Arafat. The sessions in which we were
able to share reinforced the feeling of the tremendous range of
attitudes and beliefs among Jewish people, and the very great difficulty
that there is in finding any way to communicate with people here. It was
also interesting to hear people say how they had been involved in the
"Peace" process prior to the Intifada, but had now completely changed.
They had had no contact with Palestinians for years.
One of the great anxieties among Palestinians to which I have referred
before is what will the Israeli army be allowed to do while the eyes of
the world are on Iraq. It may be that we got a bit of an answer on
Wednesday.
At 0300 hours on Wednesday morning the Israeli army surrounded a refugee
camp at Tulkarm. All roads to and from the camp were blocked with barbed
wire, and jeeps and tanks started moving in. Jeeps driving through the
camps announced with loud speakers that all males aged between 15 and 40
had to take their ID cards and report to a compound in the centre of the
camp where the two schools that UNRWA run are located. The men had to
line up, were frisked and mobile phones taken. These were only returned
when the army had finished making logs of all the numbers stored in
their memories. Soldiers ordered the Palestinians to get on buses that
took them a few kilometres east of Tul Karm, and told them not to return
home for three days, until the military had finished its searches. This
was reported in the paper (Ha'aretz) on Thursday and Friday, with a
photograph on Friday of soldiers on foot patrol and the caption, "On
Wednesday, all men aged 15 - 40 were removed from the city". Memories of
similar sorts of removals in the Balkans come back to the surface. Is
this a trial run for Transfer? Move all the men, and the others will
have to go in time? We just have to wait and see.
Friday (Page 3 Ha'aretz) : "IDF troops kill seven in territories",
beside a photograph of an excavator being used to demolish Palestinian
houses in East Jerusalem, while at the bottom of the page is an article
"Jews move into new East Jerusalem neighbourhood." …"The construction of
Jewish neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem is believed to be aimed at
blocking any possibility of dividing Jerusalem." Under UN Resolution
242, such building is illegal.
I wonder how much of this made it on to the news programmes of the world
this past week?
Good news : At Idna, we have arranged for a young teacher to take
English classes with some of the women of the Co-operative. Next stop -
computers? Who knows. Thanks to the donor whose gift has made this
possible.
Our TV in our apartment comes from a Cable TV company. Normally we have
3 international news channels - Sky, CNN and BBC World. On Tuesday, we
woke up to an announcement that BBC World was being discontinued. It
apparently had failed to negotiate a financial agreement with the Cable
Companies. Friday night - still off the air.
Palestinian Humour : The Curfews will in the end of the day be
counter-productive for Israel. What do they expect when husbands and
wives are locked up all day, and no TV? Watch out for the baby boom!
Stay well. God bless.
Joan and Clarence.
PS. If all goes according to plan, we shall move house next week to the
apartment in St Andrew's Church Centre. Address will remain the same,
but as from Friday or Saturday next week, our personal phone number will
be 00 972 2 671 8747.
top
Circular Letter No 120
March 2003
Comment from me on the war in Iraq would probably be redundant, so you
will not be subjected to my thoughts on that.
Saturday 22rd March. Time off. There is good precedent for going off to
the desert when you need a bit of space. Joan and I drove down to En
Gedi today, to have a walk in the wadis that are part of the National
Park. En Gedi is about 80 kms from our house, and the water of the
springs runs down into the Dead Sea.
There had been some rain overnight in the area, so the dust had been
dampened, and the air was clear. We walked up Wadi David, climbing up
the side of the escarpment which is the side of the Rift Valley. The
springs are perennial, the water coming from underground sources fed by
the rain in the winter. The area is host to the densest concentration of
tropical plants growing in Israel, and this also means that there are
many birds and animals.
Driving along the main road, as most people do, in air-conditioned buses
with tinted glass, you get no idea of the wealth of vegetation that is
present on the seemingly barren hillside. Walking, one is able to see
the flowers - yellow, pinkish red, blue, lavender - and lots of
different sorts of grasses, shrubs and trees, which at this time of the
year are all over the place. As we were coming back off the hill, we
encountered a group of 14 Ibex walking along and grazing on the grass
and plants. They were obviously accustomed to the presence of humans -
they had a good look at us having a good look at them - and got on with
their browsing.
Sitting under a tree looking across at the beautiful colours of the
hills of Jordan there was space to reflect on the mess of the world -
and it made sense of the time that Jesus spent in the desert after his
Baptism. No TV, no Radio, no Newspapers, but time to listen to the
birds, watch the Ibex, see the plants that flourish when the rain comes
- it all put a different perspective on the passage of time, and the
frenetic activity of the world. In addition, it gave a bit more
background to the significance of the stories of Jesus about seeds
falling on rocky ground, and about the crucial importance of water.
{I am not a very good Biblical Scholar. At what time of the year did
John the Baptist baptise Jesus?. At what time of the year did Moses look
across the Jordan to Jericho, and see that it was a land of milk and
honey?}
Then it was time to come back home - and listen to the news again. I
suppose George W Bush does really believe that he is making the world a
better place.
Sunday 23rd March. One of the great anxieties among both the Jewish
"Peace" movement and the Pa |
