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Partnership
in Conflict
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Circular Letter No 140
24th August 2003
‘But, said the paper, throughout it all, the architect was determined it
would be a place of quiet: "A quiet to remind people that the Germans
remained silent in 1933. A quiet, which would make people talk about who
they are and what they think of their country. It is the beginning of a
new way of speaking."’ Guardian 19th August. This is part of a Report on
a new monument being assembled in Berlin to serve as a Memorial to the
Holocaust. The theme of silence is one which strikes a particular chord
here at present, as people in the Palestinian community and in the
Jewish community who are opposed to the policies of the current
government of Israel ask themselves why the world is so silent about
what is happening both in Israel, in the West Bank and in Gaza.
These words were written early on Tuesday morning, as I was reading the
Guardian on the Internet. Then came the daily paper, and that was
depressing reading. At midday came a phone call from a Jewish friend
asking if I could go to make a condolence visit to a Palestinian family
whose house had been demolished earlier in the morning. The afternoon
brought the news of the bombing in Baghdad. At about 2100 hours, we were
sitting having supper at home when we heard an explosion. Not many
seconds later the sirens started and police vehicles and ambulances
rushed to the site of the latest bombing in West Jerusalem. It was a bad
day, and sadly, presages more like it.
Violence, of different kinds, is all around us.
Headline (P1 Ha’aretz) 19th August : “Woman killed, 4 hurt by Tel Aviv
gangland bomb”. The story is of an explosive device planted in a Tel
Aviv building and apparently aimed at a criminal person who has a police
record for extortion-related crime. It went off at the wrong time and
killed an innocent woman.
Headline (P1 Ha’aretz) 19th August : “Fence annexes 50,000 Arabs to
capital”. The story starts : ‘Israel has issued land expropriation
orders for its “Jerusalem envelope” fence which will put some 50,000
Palestinians from the West Bank on the Israeli side of the barrier while
leaving tens of thousands of Arab residents of the capital cut off from
relatives, schools and jobs.’ Inside the paper there is a more detailed
account of which communities are going to be carved up by the
fence/wall. “Dozens of families, Jerusalemites for generations, will
suddenly discover that the view from their windows is no longer the
city, but an eight-metre high concrete wall. In other places the wall
will run through courtyards, and across streets. …..What does the finger
(of the fence) pointing at Rachel’s Tomb (and the imprisonment of some
40 – 60 Palestinian families inside the fenced finger) have to do with
the security of Jerusalem? It is difficult not to think that the
principle guiding the planners of this new Jerusalem was to strangle the
Palestinian neighbourhoods with a contiguous corridor of Jewish
settlements. ….. Residents of Anata, A Ram and Dihiyat al Barid will be
considered illegal the minute they step out their front door on to the
main street of their neighbourhoods. …..’
Picture and report (P8 Ha’aretz) 19thAugust : “A bulldozer demolishing a
house in Lod, as part of the state’s war on illegal construction in the
Arab sector. The owner, Mohammed Dawada, had erected 2 buildings without
a permit. Since the start of 2003, the state has razed more than 40
homes in Lod, all owned by Arabs,. It has also destroyed 117 Bedouin
houses in the Negev. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, he is
personally monitoring the demolitions and is pushing development plans
for Lod and Negev Bedouin.”
Headline (P3 Ha’aretz) August 19th : “Over half of settlements top
natural growth rate” ‘More than half of the 145 Israeli Settlements in
the West Bank and the Gaza Strip grew by more than the 3% natural growth
rate, while 30 Settlements recorded an overall drop in population. …..
There was a significant rise in the number of “ideological” settlemets
deep in the heart of Palestinian territory. Yitzhar grew by 15.4%,
Revava by 11.2% and Shavei Shomron by 9.8% - all way above thje 5.75.
average growth rate on the West Bank.’
B’Tselem Press Release , 19 August 2003
Many Residents of the Casbah in Hebron Leave their Homes
B’Tselem’s new report, released today, shows that since the outbreak of
the intifada, many Palestinians have left their homes in Area H-2 in
Hebron (the area in which the settlers also reside). B’Tselem’s research
indicates that since September 2000, some 43% of the residents of the
three main streets in the Casbah have left their homes, at least 2,000
businesses have closed, and three schools in which 1,835 pupils studied
were taken over by the IDF and closed. The report describes the primary
reasons that Palestinians abandoned the Casbah: “Violence by settlers
and the lack of law enforcement: Despite the numerous cases of violence
by settlers, some of which were clearly anticipated, there is almost no
law enforcement on the settlers. A presentation made by the Civil
Administration, which is included in B’Tselem’s report, states that,
“The State of Israel has a very bad image as relates to law enforcement
in Hebron” (emphasis in the original).
“Violence by security forces: IDF soldiers and Border Police officers
commit acts of violence against Palestinian residents of the city”. The
report presents testimonies of such incidents, including several which
occurred after the exposure of a series of violent acts by Border Police
officers.
“Curfew and closing of businesses: The Israeli security forces do not
allow Palestinians in Hebron to move about freely in the city, to study,
to earn a living, and to meet their everyday needs. Since the beginning
of the intifada, Israel has imposed hundreds of days of curfew on
Palestinians living in Area H-2. The ongoing abuse of Hebron’s
Palestinian population results from the settlers’ presence in the city.
On the pretext of protecting five hundred settlers, Israel has created
enormous hardship for the other 35,000 residents of the Casbah - so much
so that many have been forced to leave their homes. B’Tselem calls on
the Israeli government to protect all residents of Hebron from acts of
violence, to allow Palestinians to live normal lives, and to dismantle
the settlements in the city.
Well before any news of bombs anywhere, you can perhaps appreciate why
August 19th was not shaping up to be a good day.
Two observations :
Back to the Memorial in Berlin – why was there silence then? Why is
there silence now? How is it that the world allows such a land grab to
take place?
For someone living in East Jerusalem, in Hebron, on the West Bank, -
what are the ways in which they can make their voices heard, and stop
the juggernaut of the Israeli settlers and occupation? Suicide bombers
will not achieve this, but it can be little wonder that there are people
who organise such atrocities, and people who are willing to throw away
their lives in such an appalling manner.
Thursday 21st.
Yesterday, we had to go to Ramallah for some church business. When we
first came to Jerusalem, in July 2000, we used the checkpoint at
Kalandia, and that is where on one occasion Joan had to sit and wait for
4 hours to get through. Now, we use a different checkpoint at Bet El,
which involves a 15-km drive round Ramallah on by-pass roads, in order
to approach from the north. It is a checkpoint available for diplomats
etc who work in Ramallah, and normally is not available for the general
public. So far, we have had no difficulties, but yesterday on our way
out, we were first of all told that our passports (UK) were not
sufficient reason for us to use this checkpoint. It was only a matter of
a moment or two to speak with the soldiers, and they readily recognised
that we were in fact entitled to use this checkpoint. However, the
difficulties facing residents of Ramallah were highlighted by people in
the car beside us. The driver was wanting to take a passenger to
hospital – and was being told that he must go back to Ramallah and get
ambulance transport to enable the person who was ill to pass through the
checkpoint. As we were cleared quickly, we did not see how this
particular situation ended, but we did not see the car behind us as we
drove out towards the main road.
There is great enxiety as to what will happen – Joan’s friend from
Ramallah, who was hoping to come to the art group today- called at 0700
hours to say they could not move. Helicopters were all over the place;
tanks had moved overnight into Jenin and Nablus; some shot dead in
Tulkarm – and this is only for starters.
In the International Herald Tribune section of the paper today, there
are numerous articles about Baghdad and the UN bombing. One feature
article is entitled “Chaos is breeding support for terrorists”, and it
contains the following sentence : ‘While there is no single root cause
of terrorism, my interviews with terrorists over the past 5 years
suggest that alienation, perceived humiliation and lack of political and
economic opportunities make young men susceptible to extremism.’ The
writer is a lecture at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government
and auther of a book “Terror in the Name of God:Why Religious Militants
Kill.”
“Perceived humiliation” – one 65+ year old woman friend recently
crossing the Allenby Bridge from Jordan to come home to Jerusalem, had
not only the usual scan with an electronic machine, but then had the
young female Israeli soldier frisk her, including feeling between her
legs. Security? Humiliation? And what do you do about that when the
person might be your mother?
I think the hardest thing in writing this letter is how to communicate
both a sense of revulsion at, and disapproval of, suicide bombings in
which Palestinians kill Israelis, while also trying to give some
indication of the violence that is perpetrated by Israelis on
Palestinians. Since Tuesday evening, almost every newscast has carried
scenes of the bus-bombing, and accompanying verbal commentary. Every
person reiterates that “The Violence Must Stop”. Yet violence, as I try
to communicate, takes many different forms, and this is recognised all
over the world.
How often was the following incident shown or reported on interntaional
TV, to which I referred in Letter No 136 : The Israel Defense Force said
its soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian boy and wounded his two
sisters in the northern West Bank on Friday, when a machine gun atop an
armored personnel carrier accidentally fired at a passing car. … The IDF
said that there was nothing suspicious about the behavior of the driver
of the car, and that it appeared the shooting was the result of a
malfunction with the machine gun. The military expressed regret for the
shooting and said the two injured children were being treated in an
Israeli hospital. "Due to an operational mistake, a volley was fired by
the forces. As a result of the firing, a Palestinian child was killed
and two Palestinian girls were wounded," an army spokesman said. He said
the army had opened an inquiry. (Ha’aretz Internet Edition, 26th July.)
In fact, the car was sitting in a queue at a checkpoint, when it was
shot at and passengers killed. No-one heard the President of the United
States speak about that violence. It is little wonder that there is so
much scepticism within the Palestinian community about the Road Map.
This morning’s headline in Ha’aretz reads: “IDF moves on Nablus : plans
assassinations.” I refrain from passing comment and leave that to you.
A final quotation from the IHT : (Maureen Dowd) : One of the things the
terrorists in Baghdad and Jerusalem blew up on Tuesday was the
credibility of the Panglossian Bush version of what’s happening in the
Middle East. The Bush Administration’s optimism was exposed as a fantasy
when the two efforts it holds most dear – the reconstruction and
democratisation of Iraq, and advancing the Palestinian-Israeli peace
process – both went up in smoke on Tuesday, literally.
Greetings from a very sombre city and country – where no-one really sees
a way forward that they are willing to accept. It is still the time of
Prayers for Peace. They are needed.
Joan and Clarence
Top
Circular Letter No 141
30th August 2003
When we were in Scotland in May, we moved into the digital age by
purchasing a digital camera. One of the ideas was that we would be able
to send photographs of significant events or places, and perhaps help
people the better to understand what is happening here. Almost 3 months
later, and two separate operations of re-install our Windows System, (at
some considerable expense!) we think that we are close to being up and
functioning. However, do not hold your breath waiting for a photo! As a
result of all this, we need HELP. We have lost all e-mail messages sent
to us between 14th June and 22nd August. I know that there was at least
one order for Angels. If you sent something that did not get a reply,
and you were expecting a reply, could you please send it again?
Sunday 24th August.
We had been invited by an Israeli Jewish family to join them on a very
special trip, which they make once a year, to a beach near Ashkelon.
There were 9 of us – a mother and her handicapped adult son, her sister
and three youngsters whom she had brought along, a third woman, and the
two of us. Two things made it special – the handicapped son, and his
tremendous enjoyment of the occasion, and the three other young
children. They were young Arab children, brought from their home on the
West Bank. Their enjoyment, the fun they had, and the completely natural
way in which Jewish and Muslim, - Israeli and Palestinian people –
enjoyed themselves together, provided a memory that will last a long
time. Just as precious is the relationship between a Jewish family and
an Arab family, where the Arab parents willingly allow their children to
be part of a family outing, while they had to stay at home, as they are
not allowed into Israel. We swam in the sea, we watched the sun set, and
then got cleaned up to come home. Hundreds, thousands, of other picnics
took place on the beaches of Israel on Sunday – we were privileged to be
part of one of the more unusual ones.
It was when we got home that we heard the news of the Israeli Air Force
strike on Gaza, killing 4 people. You also will have heard of it, and
there are those who seem to think that it is the way to reach a
resolution of the current conflict. There are an equal number of people
who feel that such an action only exacerbates the bitterness felt by
many – Palestinians and Israelis – and that in the end such actions are
counter-productive. You will not have heard of our family outing – and
yet I suggest that it will be that sort of relationship which will
provide the security that both nations are looking for.
The weekend (Aug 22 and 23) brought us into contact with the health
services here in Jerusalem. Darinka Gardiner-Scott is the widow of a
former minister of St Andrew’s Jerusalem. When they retired from their
post here, they remained in Jerusalem, where Bill Gardiner-Scott died a
few years ago. Darinka, now aged 80-something, developed a severe
deep-seated infection in her right leg, which originally was treated
with oral anti-biotics. However, by Friday it was apparent that this was
not reducing the infection, and so we took her to the Hadasseh Hospital
at Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. In the Emergency Unit she was examined and
then advised that she would be transferred to a hospital in Ma’ale
Adummim where treatment would be given. This transfer did not meet with
instant approval, and in fact Darinka remained for the night in the
Emergency Unit, where treatment was started. Next day, Saturday (or
Shabbat) she was told that she would have to go to Ma’ale Adummim. So,
we moved her there. The treatment is as one would expect, the nursing
care is beyond question, and the friendly relationships which she has
quickly developed with the community around her are typical of Darinka.
What created a problem for Darinka, and to a certain extent for the rest
of us also, is that Ma’ale Adummim is a Settlement, albeit a big one,
east of Jerusalem, on Palestinian land. As you will realise, opinion is
deeply divided about Settlements. For Palestinians, they are new
colonies, taking their land and making it virtually impossible for a
viable Palestinian State to be created. For Israelis, there are two
opinions. One is that they are just a continuation of the occupation of
the land that God gave them, and that Joshua commenced a few years ago
when he attacked and conquered Jericho. The other is that the
Settlements are a major source of the current conflict and will have to
be evacuated if there is to be any peace.
So, to send Darinka to a Settlement, however good the facilities might
be, was rather insensitive. However, I suspect that the thought never
entered the minds of the doctors who made the decision. It is, of
course, beyond a check-point. On Tuesday as we were coming back from
visiting her, we had to queue at the check point. There was no hassle
for us, but for some of her Palestinian friends who might like to visit
her, there is the added potential hassle of being stopped and
questioned.
It is difficult to find relevant examples to illustrate what was imposed
on her. Imagine being in Belfast during the IRA troubles there. Imagine
a Protestant from South Belfast (staunchly Protestant and Unionist)
being sent to a hospital in West Belfast (staunchly Catholic and
Nationalist.) How comfortable would family and friends have felt going
to visit there? Imagine a white person in the Southern States – perhaps
Alabama – at the time of the Selma marches, being sent to a hospital in
the black area of the city of Birmingham. Either situation is difficult
to conceptualise, and they are perhaps over dramatic. But having spent a
life-time opposing Settlements, to be sent to one for treatment and
hospitalisation, is, shall we say, interesting.
All that having been said, in the hospital communities, there are Jewish
and Arab staff working together, (though we became aware of certain
areas of conversation that are off-limits), and there are Jewish and
Arab patients being treated together with no sign of any discrimination.
(Update on Darinka. The infection in her leg seems to be subsiding. She
is still in hospital, and if not thriving on it, at least having an very
interesting time. When we visited her on Friday evening, the family of
one of the other women in the room was also visiting, and there were 3
Muslim women sitting reading the Koran as part of their evening prayers.
Darinka smiled as she spoke of herself sitting reading the New
Testament, and the women in the adjoining bed reading the Koran.)
Wednesday 27th August.
Last week I mentioned silence – and the way in which things are, or are
not, reported. Every editor will know the pressure of having to select
what to include and what to exclude from a particular edition of a
paper. Today, the main headline of Ha’aretz features an investigation
into financial dealings of the family of Mr Sharon, : “PM’s son paid
‘loan’ with funds from Kern’s Vienna Bank.” A subsidiary headline reads
“Hamas ready to meet Abbas, despite hits.” Nowhere in the paper is there
prominence given to the fact that last night Israeli forces fired
missiles at a vehicle in Gaza, hitting the car but not killing its
inhabitants. Instead, a 65-year old passer-by was killed, 20 people
injured, including 4 children. The International Herald Tribune for
today carries no report of the attack. BBC World reports it, ending its
report with the information that it is the third Israeli attack on Gaza
since the bomb in Jerusalem a week ago. While it is true that a report
has to start somewhere, and end somewhere, it is puzzling for
Palestinians why there is so little reporting of the Occupation, of the
killing of civilians, and of assassinations which preceded the attack in
Jerusalem, and which provide the breeding ground for suicide bombers to
be recruited.
Not surprisingly, most of the Jewish people we meet are connected in
some way with the “Peace Movement”. People from Checkpoint Watch, from
the Women in Black, from the Israel Committee against House Demolitions,
etc. Some have been born here, most have come here to be part of the
establishment of a Jewish state. All have become appalled at the
policies which have been followed by successive Governments of Israel.
Speaking with one person, whose family roots were in Eastern Europe, I
was asking her why she was here, seeing that she was so opposed to what
is happening, and also that she is an avowedly secular Jew. She spoke of
the great feeling of insecurity in Eastern Europe, of having to move
from country to country to try to find “security” and of eventually
moving to Israel, hoping to find a sense of identity and security here.
She knew nothing of the situation of the Palestinian people before she
came, but it did not take her long to get involved in “peace”
organisations. She has been doing this now for over 30 years. At
present, she is virtually “hopeless”, seeing no way of stopping the
Israeli take-over of Palestine. This will lead to continuing conflict,
and in the end she is not sure if the State of Israel will continue to
exist. Her husband served in the Army, her sons served in the Army, and
she was a “Peacenik” – you can imagine some of the tensions that must
have existed in that family. Now the sons are “refuseniks” from the
Reservists, and she is hoping very much that the plans of one of them to
move abroad and find a new home outside Israel will come to fruition.
Speaking recently with Mary, a Christian Palestinian whose family land
is under threat of expropriation, she too wonders what will be the
future for her and her family. One of her daughters has recently become
engaged – a source of joy. Yet her future son-in-law lives in the USA,
and so the likelihood is that her daughter will move to the States when
she gets married. As a mother, she is torn between two emotions. On the
one hand, there is the future well-being of her daughter, and her
daughter’s children (should she have any). Life may well be better for
them outside the Middle East. On the other hand, there is the fact that
she will be losing regular contact with her daughter (though she will
not be unique in this).
On Tuesday afternoon, 26th August, we had a wedding in the Church. The
Bride was from England, the Groom from Canada. She is of Jamaican
background, he from the Netherlands. Complicated family situations meant
that it would have been virtually impossible to get all the family
together for a wedding – so they came here! There were two Israelis
assisting them – one an “Agent” and the other a young woman who greeted
me with a question – “Do you remember me?” Sadly, I did not, and had to
be reminded – she was one of those young women who were security people
at the Pre-Flight Check-in here in Jerusalem. She is was who had given
Joan and myself our interrogation on a couple of occasions, who had also
dealt with Peter and Vivienne, both of whom she remembered. It was the
first time she had ever been to a Christian service. It was good to see
her, and as she works in the field of Journalism and preparing reports
many of which go to Christian outlets in the USA, I hope I will have a
chance to meet her again. Needless to say, our opinions are not all that
similar! One of the sad things to emerge from our conversation was that
she no longer goes to East Jerusalem, as she does not feel safe.
Prayers for Peace are continuing, and this series will end on 28th
August. I was on leave for the Prayer Services in 2002, and so my only
previous experience is of the series of Services in 2001. On that
occasion, leaders of churches were present most nights, there was a
sense that the Christian community was involved, and that our prayers
could contribute to changing the course of events here. Speaking with a
friend after last night’s service, it was interesting how similar is our
assessment of this year’s Services. First of all, there are far fewer
people attending. Secondly, there are fewer Church leaders attending.
Thirdly, there is a feeling of hopelessness, and a questioning of what
such Services can achieve. Yet thers is also a feeling that there is
little else that one can do apart from pray.
Below are some of the Prayers prepared by the Lutheran Bishop of
Jerusalem, Bishop Munib, and used in the Service on Tuesday evening.
They were introduced by lines from the song “Kum ba Yah, Lord.”
Someone’s crying Lord. Someone’s crying, somewhere. Someone is millions,
somewhere is many places. There are tears of suffering. There are tears
of weakness and disappointment. There are tears of strength and
resistance. There are the tears of the rich and the tears of the poor.
Someone’s crying. Lord, heal the times.
Someone’s dying Lord. Some are dying of hunger and thirst. Someone is
dying because someone else is enjoying too many unnecessary and
superflous things. Someone is dying because people go on exploiting one
another. Some are dying becase there are structures and systems which
crush the poor and alienate the rich. Someone’s dying, Lord, because we
are still not prepared to take sides, to make a choice, to be a witness.
Someone’s dying. Lord, heal the times.
Someone’s praying, Lord. Someone’s praying, Lord. We are praying in
tears and anger, in frustration and weakness, in strength and endurance.
We are shouting and wrestling, as Jacob wrestled with the angel and was
touched, and was marked, and became a blessing. We are praying, Lord,
that you will spur our imagination, sharpen our policital will. Through
Jesus Christ you have let us know where you want us to be. Help us to be
there now, Be with us, touch us, mark us, let us be a blessing. Let your
power be present in our weakness. Someone’s praying Lord. Heal the
times.
The following is an advertisement carried on P1 of Ha’aretz on Friday
29th August, inviting people to come to a protest against this
Settlement expansion.
“The Settlements Festival continues. Despite the commitment to freeze
building in the Settlements; despite the threat the Settlements
consitute to the security of Israel; despite the empty coffers of the
State Treasury, on Sunday 31st August a new neighbourhood will be
festively opened in the Settlement Keuuimim in the heart of the
Territories.”
News story beside it reads : “22% of Israeli families said to lack
adequate nutrition.”
Greetings from a troubled land and people. Joan and Clarence
Top
Circular Letter No 142
5th September 2003
Our Sunday morning service at St Andrew’s starts at 1000 hours. It is
not unusual for the congregation to grow considerably during the first
hymn and prayer – and last Sunday was no different. One person came in
by herself, a bit late. One family came in, also a bit late. What made
their arrivals special were the journeys that they had had to take. The
woman came from Ramallah, the family from Bethlehem. They are thus at
opposite ends of what some people want to call “Greater Jerusalem”
regardless of the fact that they are both Palestinian urban areas, and
both within the Green Line that is the basis of UN Resolution 242. To
get to worship, all had had to go through checkpoints. For them, it was
feasible, as they were all expatriates with foreign passports. Helen
Shehadeh, on the other hand, who has been worshipping with the
congregation for years, has not been able to attend for the past couple
of weeks as her permit has expired, and the authorities had not yet
renewed it. To add to the tensions and pressures of the situation, there
is the imminent construction of the Jerusalem envelope fence. This will
snake its way around Jerusalem, taking in Palestinian areas where it
suits the Israeli planners to do so. We are told that there will be
something like 15,000 displaced Palestinians – families cut off from
communities of which they are part, children separated from their
schools, people from their work – and all this in a place where no legal
solution to the final status of Jerusalem has been agreed.
“Fence” is a bit of a misnomer. There are in fact three fences. Between
two of them there is a single-lane asphalt road, for military vehicles
to patrol. Between the other two is a stretch of bare earth, which can
be raked by a machine as and when necessary. This will show any
footprints of anyone trying to cross the barrier. The physical width of
the land covered by the “fence” is a minimum of 20 metres, - a cricket
pitch width for a fence - to which one has to add the exclusion zone on
either side, doubling the width of the whole thing.
Once this is in place, and if permits are more sparingly issued, what
chance of our congregation members from Bethlehem and Ramallah getting
in to worship?
On the last Sunday of each month we usually celebrate the Sacrament of
Holy Communion. This was the case last Sunday. It was a marvellous
illustration of the contrast between the exclusionist policies being
pursued by the present Government of Israel – build a fence to keep
“them” out and to keep us “safe” – and the inclusionist invitation of
Christ to come to His Table – “come all who are weary and heavy laden
and I will give you rest.” In the one instance, people from Ramallah and
Bethlehem are regarded as people to be excluded. In the other, they are
people to be included. Hallelujah for the Sacrament.
There were 4 Elders assisting in the Service on Sunday : a teacher from
England, living here for 20 years or more, and working at the Church of
Scotland School in Jaffa; a Korean minister, working for the past 8
years or more in Bethlehem; a Ghanaian retired soldier, now on the
civilian staff of the UN Truce Supervisory Organisation; a Canadian
minister working with the Mennonite Church. We were a microcosm of the
Church, and what it is about – bringing people together from 4
continents, rather than building fences and keeping them apart.
End of sermon.
On Monday afternoon there was a phone call. It would have been amusing
had it not been so tragic. The voice said “Can a 3rd-generation Jewish
atheist obtain some financial help from the Church of Scotland Christian
minister to assist a Palestinian Muslim family whose house was
demolished by the Jerusalem Municipality. The workers who were supposed
to remove the furniture from the house were too lazy to do their job,
and so the family lost, among many ther things, its refrigerator and
cooker. Any chance that you could give NIS 700 (about ₤100 or $175)?”
Fortunately I still have some money left in the account where donations
are held, and I was able to give NIS 1,000 immediately. The family will
thus have a refrigerator to keep some things cool – they are living in a
tent supplied by a relief organisation, and neighbours supply
electricity.
On Thursday afternoon we went to meet the family. (One of the best
things that has happened to us here has been the purchase of a 7-seater
vehicle. So we were able to take a small group – 3 Israeli women (2
Jewish and 1 Christian), 2 Americans and ourselves, with the donations
that the Israeli women had garnered.) We passed through the Checkpoint
at A Ram. There is no difficulty going out of Jerusalem – getting back
in is often a different story. 400 metres past the Checkpoint, we turned
off among high-rise (4 or 5 storey ) apartment blocks, and parked our
car. Taking the donations with us, we walked down a track between much
smaller buildings, and after 40 or 50 metres came to the site of a house
demolition. Such an unemotive phrase, when the reality is that what
people have spent years building was destroyed in an hour or two, with 2
mechanical diggers being guarded by 30 or 40 police, while the family
can only stand and watch.
In front of this particular house is a fairly wide empty ground. Poking
through the surface are the new concrete access shafts to a new sewage
system. Unfortunately, they are surrounded by sewage that has avoided
getting into the new system, - sewage that is sitting in the middle of
Arab housing, and originates from a Jewish industrial site some miles
away, according to our companions.
The house – a one floor building with provision for building more on top
as and when money became available – was home to the Jabari family. The
father and house owner is Khader (27). His wife Rola has at the moment
gone back to her family in Hebron. They had 3 children: Farid (a boy)
(6), Bayan (a girl) (4), and Hanin (a girl) (1 year and 8 months) who is
in Hebron with her mother. There were also Khader's mother - Rehap (51);
two of his brothers, Wadia (25) and Feraz (22); Khader's sister - Kifah
(28) (divorced) and her children : Nur (10), Sami (6), Mohammed (3),
Abdul Rahman (9 months).
The house was 150 square metres and the Israeli volunteers who have been
helping Khader estimate the cost to have been around 43,000 dollars
(190,000 shekels), with most of the labour being supplied by Khader. He
had invested seven years of savings in the house, including selling his
car and taking loans from relatives. It really represented all his life,
and he said that he had built the home for his mother who had raised all
her family alone.
The stated policy of the Jerusalem Municipality is not to demolish
houses built in residential areas that may be able to achieve a permit.
Yet, in the case of Khader, his house was demolished, despite the fact
that it was built almost entirely on an area zoned for residential
building, and on a plot of land that was privately owned. Demolition of
a neighbour’s house, similarly threatened with demolition, had been
prevented, and there was some optimism that the same thing would happen
to Khader. However, mechanical diggers and police all arrived, and in a
few hours the deed was done.
Our companions on Thursday included Sylvia. A retired Israeli Jewish
grandmother, she is passionately involved in the efforts to stop house
demolitions. On the morning in question, she was with the family in
their house, and when the police arrived, chained herself to the window
burglar bars, along with a second woman. Also in the house were other
Jewish opponents of house demolitions, among them being Jeff Halper, who
got himself arrested for his trouble. There is a picture of him being
carried from the house by 4 policemen. Sylvia finally agreed to unchain
herself when she was assured that some of the furniture would be removed
from the house. Unfortunately, not all was removed, and so she felt
aggrieved at that.
The family is now living in a tent supplied by the Red Cross. In the
corner at the entrance there is a small refrigerator – the sort that you
might find in a hotel bedroom as a courtesy frig. In it was some water,
and also the supply of Insulin for Khader’s mother, who suffers from
Diabetes. (I am extremely grateful to you who have sent donations for
“my work” without asking too many questions. The refrigerator was bought
with some of your money. In what was a desperate situation, it was good
to see such a gift from churches in Scotland.)
We saw the ruins of the house. Remarkably, a new building is arising on
the foundations of the old – what else can the family do? Working with
Sylvia and others they are trying to get Permits – a process that
usually ends in failure, after years of effort. To put up even a shell
of a house, before the cold and wet of the winter, will take at least
$6,000 – money that the family do not have.
Three visions remain from our visit:
The denial of building permits, in this case by the Municipality of
Jerusalem; the overwhelming power of the Occupier – Israel, with 30 or
more police to protect the two mechanical diggers and enforce the
demolition order.
Sitting in the tent, with the Arab women being supported by the Jewish
women, and the warmth of the relationships between them.
Bayan, the little 4-year old girl, in her her pre-school uniform,
alternately smiling and frowning. What a start to a school career for
her. There is talk about the way in which Palestinian children are
taught at school to hate Jewish people. She did not need to go to school
to get an experience which will colour her life for years, and who would
be surprised if she were to end up hating Jewish people? But even for
her, it is not straightforward – because the ones who have come to help
her family are themselves Jewish.
I have a Report by Sylvia, with pictures, about this demolition. I will
send it to any who ask for it.
At the end of September 2000, what is now called the Second (or Al Aqsa)
Intifada broke out. Shortly after that, there were a series of riots in
the northern part of Israel, when Israeli Arabs were holding what
started as peaceful demonstrations. Their actions brought a reaction
from the Police, which resulted in the deaths of 13 Arabs – 12 of them
Israeli citizens and the 13th a Palestinian from the West Bank. Some
time after that, the then Prime Minister, Mr Barak, established what
became knows as the “Or Commission” after the name of its President, Mr
Justice Theodor Or. Along with 2 other Commission members – an Arab
Judge and an Jewish academic, - they held hearings and took evidence.
Their Report was issued yesterday. Today, it is the lead story in
Ha’aretz. “The Commission’s scathing report covered issues ranging from
Israel’s treatment of its Arab minority to the police’s prepardeness for
serious civil unrest. … The 781-page Report described Israel’s treatment
of its Arabs as ‘the most important and sensitive domestic matter on the
state’s agenda’, and lambasted what it described as a consistent policy
of discrimination against this sector by all Israel governments.” The
Commission recommends that the then Public Security Minister, Mr Shlomo
Ben-Ari, should not be allowed to occupy this post again, because of his
“substantive failure” during the riots. Two former police officers, now
both retired, - Mr Yehuda Wilk, Police Commissioner at that time, and Mr
Alik Ron, the Northern District Commander – should be barred from any
position of responsibility in the field of domestic security because of
their own failures during the riots. Page 2 headline reads : “Police
blasted for lying, treating Arabs as enemies, not citizens” As can be
imagined, various reactions to the Report have come from different
people and the two main communities. How difficult it will be to achieve
any sort of reconciliation in the community can be seen from the two
following excerpts from the various reports in the paper.
The father of one of those killed says “ Is this a democracy or not?
Aren’t we allowed to demonstrate? The Commissions recommendations are
not enough. 13 people were killed, and no one was put on trial. We
trusted the Or Commission, but it did not look out for our rights. It
did not bring justice to light, but killed democracy instead.”
The former Northern Police Chief, Mr Alik Ron, said “The Commission took
2 ½ years to formulate is recommendations. It will take me less time to
respond.” In an interview with Channel 10 (TV station) yesterday Ron
suggested that the establishment of the Or Commission was a “gift” from
Ehud Barak to the Arab sector, in the hopes of attracting its votes in
the 2001 prime ministerial elections.
Stay well. God bless. Joan and Clarence
Humour : “Eight new choir robes are currently needed, due to the
addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older
one”
ANY TAKERS FOR THE SINAI EXPERIENCE IN NOVEMBER? SPACES STILL AVAILABLE.
Top
Circular Letter No 143
12th September 2003
12th September.
All of the letter below was written earlier in the week, reflecting what
may be the rather parochial and perhaps inconsequential events in our
daily routine. Certainly, given the events of the past week – routine
assassinations in Gaza, bombs in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and last night
the decision of the Israeli Security Cabinet to expel Mr Arafat from
Ramallah – writing about every day events seems almost trite. Singing
hymns on Sunday may well also seem of less than universal significance.
Yet, what do we do?
Assassinations are now such an accepted part of Israeli Government
policy that the world hardly even seems to mention them. Suicide bombs
are the curse of modern conflict, and so they get universal coverage.
You will know enough of my feelings to be aware that I find both
repugnant, and in the end both are probably futile.
Under a heading “Enough” the Jerusalem Post on Thursday 11th September
said “We must kill as many of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders as
possible, as quickly as possible, while minimising collateral damage,
but not letting that damage stop us. And we must kill Yasser Arafat,
because the world leave us no alternative.” When there is that sort of
public statement, everything else seems somehow irrelevant. However ….
with mixed feelings, back to the past week.
Friday 5th September saw us in Bethlehem. We both went, as we had some
business to do, some visits to people to make, and an invitation to the
Opening of the Wellness Centre at the Dar-al Kalima Academy, run by the
Lutheran Church. This is a sort of fitness centre, with a small indoor
swimming pool, exercise rooms etc. and it will also be a place from
which outreach health work into the community will be organised. Funded
by donations from Christians organisations in the US and in Norway, it
is an impressive expression of the commitment of people in Bethlehem, in
America and in Norway, to the future of Bethlehem. One of the large
banners hanging up on the stage included the (brave) words : Dar-al
Kaljima Academy : The Right Place, the Right Time, the Right People.
Photographs which I saw last year were of an earlier, less happy time,
and showed what the Israeli soldiers had done to the building and to the
art work of the children – crosses torn off the wall, thrown on the
floor and broken.
This was the second such major event for the Lutheran Church during the
week, as earlier there had been the official opening of the new
buildings at the Lutheran Christmas Church Centre in Bethlehem. Again,
this represented a big investment in the future work of the Church, and
in the future development of the communtiy, by people from overseas. It
was this Centre which we visited both during and after the Siege of the
Church of Nativity, and saw the destruction of offices and equipment by
soldiers of the Israeli Army. One of the parts of the building that was
badly damaged was the art workshop, and it is from this Centre that the
artist works who produces the glass angels that many have bought. That
“visit” from the Israeli army was but a distant memory during the week.
However, despite the widely reported statements that the Israeli army
has withdrawn from Bethlehem, there are still patrols that take place,
and the recognition that the Israeli soldiers can, and will, return at
any time of their choosing. It almost seems ominous that the kerbstones
are being replaced and footpaths (sidewalks for some) are being rebuilt
around Bethlehem. Each time we have seen this done, it has seemed to be
but the precursor to another invasion by the Israeli army. With the
attack in Gaza on Sheikh Yassin, and the resignation of Abu Mazen, it is
hard to find any grounds for optimism about the situation here.
Saturday 6th September. At the risk of repeating myself over and over
again, I will share with you a journey made on Saturday to Jayyus, on
the north western edge of the West Bank. It is the village which we
visited a couple of times before, struggling with the Fence that has
been built right along its western side, cutting it off from its major
water supplies, and from its farm lands. The purpose of our visit was to
take a gift for a family, sent by a Scottish family, and a gift for the
Kindergarten sent by a Scottish church. As I keep on saying, for us,
with our foreign passports, and the white number plates on our car,
travel is relatively easy. Our way north was not impeded, but at one
point we came to a “mobile” check point – that is one which the Israeli
army has decided to put down for that morning. There were upwards of 50
vehicles lined up, taxis, buses, trucks, all heading south towards
Ramallah. Further on, at a road junction, again there was a check point,
and passengers from a bus all had to get off, line up, have their ID
cards checked, and then wait for the bus to be allowed through to pick
them up. For us, it was a pause beside a soldier, who was not really
interested in us, and move on.
We were now travelling on a road signposted to Tel Aviv in a westerly
direction, and the Jordan Valley in an easterly direction. It is yet one
more illustration of the determination of the Israeli government to put
“facts on the ground” ahead of any possible negotiations about the
future of the West Bank. This road is being upgraded to a four-lane
divided highway, running along the edge of the major Settlement/Colony
of Ariel. There is no justification in traffic terms for it to be
re-built in such a fashion, but there is every justification for its
upgrading when it is seen as a way to divide the Northern part of the
West Bank/Palestine from the Central Part. Each road will be a
restricted area, the land on either side will be a security zone, and
the end result is the same as if a Fence or a Wall had been built.
From our house in Jerusalem to Jayyus is about 100 kms – and it took
just under 2 hours. The roads became steadily narrower as we proceeded,
moving from roads on which Israeli traffic moves, to back roads on which
people try to move from village to village.
We were 6 in the car – am American minister and his wife, an Irish woman
whose husband works with UNDP, and an American woman who is married to a
Palestinian and lives in Ramallah. For the American woman, this was a
voyage of exploration, as although she lives in Ramallah, she has not
been able to travel much outside the city for the past 3 years.
You will be familiar with the story of the village – land on the wrong
side of the Fence, houses on the wrong side of the fence, their 6 wells
on the wrong side of the fence. So, two illustrations of how life has
changed since the Fence was completed and the gates locked, which we saw
and heard.
1. We were sitting in the office of the head of the Kindergarten when a
woman came in. Her house is isolated on the Irraeli side of the fence,
only two hundred metres from her neighbours. She has children to get to
school, and as the term has just started, and arrangements for the gate
in the Fence not yet clear, she accompanies them to school. Her “school
run” is rather different from most with which you will be familiar.
School starts at 0730 hours, so she leaves home about 0645 hours, to
walk about 100 metres to the gate. This is 3 metres high, and prepared
for electrification. There she has to wait for some soldiers to turn up
to open the gate. They are aware of the time of school and of her need
to get her children there. On Saturday morning, she finally got the
children to school at 0930 hours, having waited almost 2 hours for the
soldiers to come. Then there is the small matter of a return journey –
and the soldiers indicated that it may be 1800 hours before they will
re-open the gate.
2. About 1300 hours, we returned from a couple of visits in the village
to the office of our host. Looking down from the passage way along to
his office, one can see the only other gate in this stretch of the wall.
It is the one that is used by farmers to get to their orchards and green
houses. The Israeli army patrols the Fence on the brand new tarred road
along its entire length. People have been told that the gate will be
opened 3 times a day, for 10 minutes a time – at 0730 hours, at 1300
hours, and at 1800 hours (approximate times.) Crossing it at this point,
there is a dirt road on which farmers have to travel. When we came to
the office, there was a farmer waiting with a truck on the western side
of the fence, wanting to return to the village, presumably to sell his
produce. When we left, at 1400 hours, he was still there, and this time
there was as Israeli army jeep parked beside him. Using our binoculars,
we could see the soldiers, making no effort to open the gate. On the
village side of the gate were two men, wanting to get across to their
farms to do some work. They too just had to wait. We left to come home
with this sad scene still waiting for its denouement – either the Gate
would be opened, or the soldiers would drive off and leave the
Palestinians to wait for someone else to come along.
Water is precious, and there is little of it. Due to the lack of a
supply, and lack of access to their wells, the village has a very
restricted supply. The Council has divided the village into 3 sections,
and each section gets water in its pipes for 2 hours, three times a
week. It is then that people are able to fill up the tanks which are on
the tops of their houses, and this is their supply for the next three
days. Recently, we were told, on 3 successive days Israeli soldiers came
in to the village and fired indiscriminately at water tanks. We were
shown pictures of many which had been punctured by bullets. Most of the
bullet holes were in the upper parts of the tanks, as the soldiers could
not see the lower parts. No justification by an occupying army has to be
given for such actions – but one wonders what they achieve. The one tank
that they found at ground level, they shot in the bottom, making sure
that any water in it would be lost. Next opportunity to fill up might be
3 days away.
Sunday 7th September. Sunday morning here is similar to Monday morning
in Scotland. It is the beginning of the working week. So, early on
Sunday, I heard the noise of a truck outside, and when I went to look,
found that a large truck had positioned itself on the parking lot of the
Guest House, in order to do some work at the adjacent building site. I
went down to find out what was intended, and was assured that it would
be away within 5 minutes – as indeed it was. I spoke with the workman in
charge, asking him if he ever went to Prayers. He did, each Friday, at
Al Aqsa Mosque. When I asked if I could take a truck and do work on
Friday morning at the Mosque area, he was surprised, and emphatic in
saying that I would not be allowed to do such a thing. When I pointed
out that he was on the car park of a Christian building, and that this
was the equivalent for the Christians of Friday for Islam, or Shabbat
for the Judaism, he seemed genuinely surprised and apologetic. He just
rarely encountered that sort of situation. It is a thing which happens
often, when people from the Jewish community ring up expecting to do
business on Sunday. They too are often apologetic when you say that this
is “Shabbat” for Christians. Having said all this, it is also true that
one has to accommodate oneself to the pattern of the majority, and work
on Sunday is the norm for many Christians.
Monday afternoon, 8th September. I went down to Jaffa to Tabeetha
School, and from there went on to a Cemetry north of Tel Aviv. The
occasion was the funeral of one of the teachers of Tabeetha – Mioara
Reichenberg. She had been a member of staff at Tabeetha since 1972. She
epitomised one of the features of Tabeetha which makes it so important
for the work of the Church of Scotland – a Christian school where a
Jewish person can feel comfortable and able to make a contribution to
the education of Israelis, be they Jewish, Christian or Muslim. At the
funeral, Mioara’s family requested the Principal of the School to speak,
and also invited myself and the Chaplain to say a few words. The
Chaplain’s words were particularly moving – recalling that when his wife
had died just over 2 years ago, Mioara had been a real support to him.
Not unusual words, in one way, but they were spoken by an Israeli Arab
Christian about an Israeli Jewish woman.
While I was at the funeral Joan was at a meeting at the British
Consulate in East Jerusalem. It was a routine meeting for “wardens” –
people whom the Consulate could use to get information round the
community who have registered with the Consulate in an emergency. The
Warden from Bethlehem was a bit late – it took 70 minutes for the
soldiers at the Bethlehem check point to process 8 cars, one of which
was an ambulance with its lights flashing. It took 40 minutes for it to
get through.
Wednesday 10th September. Travelling down the road from Jerusalem to
Jericho, I took a few notes. This road does not carry a huge volume of
traffic, but given that it climbs quite steeply, it can be irritating to
have to sit behind slowly moving traffic for a few kilometres as it
winds through the hills of the Judaean Desert. So, perhaps it does need
up grading. Perhaps that is why of the 21 kms from the check point at
the edge of Jerusalem to the turn-off for Jericho, 12 kms has now been
made into a 4-lane road, or construction is under way to widen it. But a
look at the map gives another entirely more questionable explanation. A
large, wide road like that, under the control of the Israeli
authorities, effectively cuts off the southern part of the West Bank
from any direct contact with the northern areas of the West Bank. A look
at the map on the web site of the Jewish organisation ICAHD, will give
you its interpretation of the road, and others like it.
Friday 12th September. In among all the events reported on the world’s
news programmes about Mr Arafat, Ha’aretz carries the following (P A9) :
“Police probed for abusing shepherd. The Justice Ministry’s police
investigation department is looking into allegations that two border
policemen grossly abused a Palestinian shepherd trying to cross the West
Bank Fence to reach his lands on the other side. In testimony to
B’Tselem, and later repeated in a sworn affidavit, the man said the two
policemen forced him to perform a sex act with his donkey, while
threatening to shoot him. He also gave a detailed account of the
incident to a Haaretz reporter last week. …”
Greetings from a sad and troubled part of the world. Joan and Clarence.
Top
Circular Letter No 144
20th September 2003
There is the well-known story in the Bible about a man travelling down
from Jerusalem to Jericho. There is no story about a man travelling down
from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. This week I found myself travelling from
Jerusalem to Tel Aviv in an unusual capacity – a passenger in a car! The
driver decided that he would not take the “main” road – Route 1 – which
is the one that I almost always use. Instead he would take an
alternative road, which is referred to as “the Modi’in Road” passing
close to the new town of that name.
I have referred to the road before, having strayed on to part of it by
accident some time ago, and seeing the concrete walls along part of the
road, painted to look like a country scene, so that the drivers would
not see the Palestinian village through which they pass. It is, for most
of the way, a 4-lane road. It leaves from the northern side of
Jerusalem, passes through the West Bank, and then near Modi’in re-enters
Israel. There has always been a road there, but is was, so our driver
told us, as fairly normal 2-lane country road. In the past few years
that has changed, and it has been developed into yet one more part of
the road network that criss-crosses the West Bank, providing access for
Israeli drivers, as West Bank drivers are not generally allowed to
travel on it, and dividing up the land, making it more possible for
Israel to control the population.
Being a passenger gave me time to see a bit more than I would normally
see, and our driver, an Israeli Arab driver, was able to point out one
or two features that I had not really takein in before.
The first thing was that,not long after leaving Jerusalem, we were
passing the western side of Ramallah area. There, cutting across the
hillside, was The Fence. This is part of the Fence that is designed to
make Jerusalem secure, and to make Ramallah a virtual prison. What is so
breath-taking about it is the fact that it is built on occupied land, by
the occupying power, with absolutely no regard to the disruption that it
is causing to the communities through which it is passing.
A little bit farther along the road, at an intersection, there is
another Prison. This time, it is much more compact, being one of the
Detention Centres where Palestinians are held. It has the appearance of
being a relatively impromptu affair, but gradually it is becoming more
and more permanent. Tents are provided for the prisoners to live in, and
each group of tents is now surrounded by a wall made of prefabricated
concrete sections, 3 or 4 metres high. Each section has its obligatory
series of watch towers and lights, to provide security. The tents have
been there for some time. There is no shade to protect them during the
heat of the summer, with temperatures rising to C40 degrees. Nor is
there insulation to protect them in the winter, when temperatures can
get down close to zero at night-time. Prisoners have been know to get
frost-bite there.
Driving along, there are Palestinian villages to the right and left of
the road. Having time to look around, I was able to see much more
clearly the way in which every access road from every village, leading
on to the main road on which we were travelling, had been blocked with
mounds of rock and earth – mound is quite a benign word, but they are
over 2 metres high, covering the entire width of the road, and on to the
land on either side of the road. To get a vehicle past any of them is
impossible.
Prisons.
The West Bank is a Prison, with Palestinians needed to get a pass to get
through any of the Check Points.
Ramallah is already a Prison, with all roads out of it being blocked by
checkpoints, or completely closed by barriers.
Villages are virtual prisons, with inhabitants having to make dirt roads
over the hills to get from one to another.
A Detention Prison, right on the road-side.
One wonders how much of this is actually seen by the Israeli drivers who
travel the road, and how much is internalised.
Sadly, though, there is developing another Prison – Jerusalem. Access to
it is more and more rigidly controlled, and the only thing that stops
Jerusalemites from realising that they too are living in a Prison is its
size.
For most people, the word “Terror” when used in connection with this
part of the world, is synonomous with “Palestinian”. This may be good PR
work on the part of the Israeli government, but it is not really
accurate.
Tuesday 16th September 2003, Ha’aretz P 4. “Shin Bet comes under fire at
party for released Jewish terror suspects. The so-called ‘thanksgiving
party to mark the release of detainees suspected of being a Jewish
underground’ turned last night into a vicious attack on the Shin Bet
security service in general, and its Jewish Division in particular. . .
.Some 200 people., many of them former members of the outlawed extremist
Kach (an Israeli) organisation, took part in the Jerusalem celebration.
They were joined by Yoran Skolnik, who was convicted of killing a bound
terrorist, Dov Har-Shefi father of Margalit Har-Shefi who was convicted
and served time for failing to act to prevent the assassination of
former prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and other former detainees
arrrested by the Sin Bet in the past under various suspicions.”
Thursday 18th September Ha’aretz P 2. “Jewish terror cell members
convicted in bombing plot. Three members of the so-called Bat Ayin
Jewish terror cell were convicted yesterday of attemtpted murder for
trying to set off a bomb near a girls school in the East Jerusalem of A-Tur
last year. … In their verdict, Judges Moshe Ravid, Yaffa Hecht and Jacob
Zaban wrote that the three ‘decided to commit a major terror attack that
would cause many casualties among the Arab residents of East Jerusalem
by means of a booby-trapped cart that they prepared and left in a
crowded place, at the entrance to a girls school and to Mokassad
Hospital in East Jerusalem.” The article goes on to include a statement
issued by Rabbis for Judaea, Samaria and Gaza. It is about the arrest,
and subsequent release, of the group of Jewish men referred to above,
suspected of being involved in terrorism against Palestinians. It reads
; “In a letter sent to Shin Bet Chief Avi Dichter yesterday, (Yesha
Rabbis Council) Chairman Rabbi Dov Lior and Council Member Rabbi Daniel
Shilo wrote : ‘In our view, groping in the dark does not justify
arresting people and holding them under difficult and humiliating
conditions without the possibility of contacting their families and
attorneys. The impression emerges that these people were trampled on and
physically and spiritually tortured in the absence of information
obtained by professional methods, and to this is added the impression
that there is a desire to initimidate people, so that they won’t dare to
fight for their beliefs. In the meantime, once again an entire
population has been stigmatised, once again rumours have been spread
about the existence of an alleged underground, and once again people
cannot help suspecting that the Shin Bet acts not only as a security
agency, but also as a political agency.”
I imagine that the relatives and representatives of many of the
thousands of Palestinians who are held without charge and without trial
in what is called “Administrative Detention” would for once be surprised
to find themselves in agreement with a statement from the Yesha Rabbis
Council. One wonders if the Yesha Rabbis Council would make a similar
statement about the treatment of Palestinian people, held in similar
conditions?
As I think I mentioned last week, the last bomb in Jerusalem was along
the main road past our post office. It is lined with many small
restaurants and coffee shops. On a Thursday night, the beginning of the
weekend for most people in Jerusalem, it is usually crowded, with people
eating out, strolling up and down, and a feeling of vibrancy. Perhaps it
is because it is getting cooler, or perhaps it is a reaction to the
bomb, but when I came along the road this past Thursday, it was almost
deserted. Restaurants were mostly empty, few people were walking about
and relaxing – just one of the signs of tension that there are around us
here.
Usually twice a month, on Fridays, Joan and I visit Idna village, along
with Toshiko Mizumoto, the Japanese woman who started a Co-operative
there some years ago. We go to see the work of the Co-operative, to
collect orders, and also from time to time to visit the homes of some of
the women. This past Friday we were invited to share in the wedding of
the daughter of Naimeh, one of the leaders. So, once we had completed
our business, we drove to the edge of the village to the home of the
Bride. Two houses were in use for the celebrations. The noisy one was
where the women were listening to music and dancing. The quiet one was
where the men were sitting and chatting. When we arrived, we were
invited to Naimeh’s where she had prepared some rice and beef for us.
When the meal was finished, Joan and the others went to the dancing, I
went to the chatting.
After about 30 minutes, there was excitement. The Bridegroom arrived in
a Land Rover type vehicle, decorated with flowers and ribbons. He was
followed by a string of yellow Ford Transit taxis, bringing members of
his extended family. After sitting with the men for a short while, he
headed off to the scene of the dancing, to meet his bride and to take
her to his house. Before he was allowed to do that, the men of her
family, with whom I had been sitting, greeted the Bride and in a
hand-shake gave her some money – mostly Jordanian Dinar notes.
Unprepared for this, my wallet did not have Jordanian currency, so she
had to make do with shekels!
Bridegroom then claimed his Bride, and drove her back at the head of the
convoy, to his family dwelling, where the festivities would continue.
Having fulfilled our part of the ceremonial by spending time with the
Bride’s family, we were able to leave to come back to Jerusalem. It was
great fun, and a good celebration. However, underneath it all, there
were sadnesses.
1. Naimeh, the mother of the Bride, is 41, having been born in 1962. She
was 5 when the Israeli army rolled on to the West Bank, and she has
lived almost all of her life under occupation. Her family has been born,
and now the first one is married – still under occupation, and with no
sign that it will end.
2. One of Naimeh’s brothers is a graduate from Hebron University, and
teaches Chemistry at the local Secondary School. He has not long
finished reading James Joyce’s book, “The Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man”, and is currently wading through some of Bertrand Russell.
Jerusalem is a 40-minutes drive away – he has not visited it since 1999,
as he cannot get a permit.
3. On the way to Naimeh’s house, there are sheds full of dairy cattle.
Normally the milk is taken in to Hebron to the Creamery there. When
there are closures and curfews, and the milk cannot be taken to Hebron,
if it cannot be sold in the village, it has to be poured out.
4. The house at which the men were sitting is a two-storey building. It
is built on family land at the edge of the village. The Civil
Administration (the name given to the authority administering the West
Bank under Army opccupation) has decreed that it is outside the village,
and therefore will have to be demolished. The family have so far managed
to get this blocked by a Court Order, but are sitting just waiting for a
bull-dozer to come and knock down their home.
A new twist in road-block security occurred for us when on our way to
Idna. The soldier at one checkpoint motioned that I had to get out of
the car and walk up to be inspected. I think that he did this as he saw
a white number plate and confused it with a Palestinian licence plate.
As usual, there was no problem – just the harassment of such treatment.
It is fairly normal for us when we are stopped to be looked at, and when
it is decided that we are not Arabs, we are allowed to drive on, often
without anyone looking at our passports.
Summer is ending. On my way down to the airport at 0530 hours this
morning, the outside air temperature reading on the display panel in the
car was C17 degrees – and it was chilly.
Greetings to you all from us. Joan and Clarence
An excerpt from a Church magazine : The title of the sermon on Sunday
morning will be : “Jesus walks on Water.” The title for the sermon at
the Sunday evening service will be “Searching for Jesus.”
For friends of Darinka : she came home from hospital on Tuesday, is
settling back to her routine,and even making arrangements to have
someone come in to her home and do some cleaning!
In addition, she has given me a large quantity of newspaper cuttings
from Ha’aretz – articles by Gideon Levy, Amira Haas and others. If
anyone would like some or all of them, as a record of the past few years
of the Intifada, or as archival material, please get in touch with me.
Top
Circular Letter No 145
27th September 2003
I had a chance this week to sit with some folk in Bethlehem for a short
while, and just chat. It was a most depressing and saddening time.
First of all, I talked with a family whom I know well. Like many
families, much of their income was generated from em ployment in Israel
– here in Jerusalem. Once the Intifada started, first it became
difficult and/or dangerous to try to come to Jerusalem, and then became
impossible as Work Permits were withdrawn, for this family, their income
was more than halved. However, such things as school fees still had to
be paid, electricity and water bills settled, and then the small matter
of food and clothing had to be supplied. So, life has been grim, and is
becoming grimmer by every week or month that goes by without a sign of
any change in the situation, and without any prospect of returning to
work in Jerusalem. We talked about School Fees, and they showed me the
bills from the schools that their children attend – bills which included
fees for 2002 – 2003 not yet paid, and the projected fees for 2003 –
2004. The figures show a debt of something like ₤1,000 or US$1,650.
Recognising the difficulties faced by most of the children in their
schools, the various school authorities are struggling along with
whatever parents are able to afford, rather than asking that the
children be withdrawn. So, children go to school or university and
education continues. But the hopelessness of parents increases each time
I see them – particularly in this culture of the fathers, who are unable
to work and support their families.
Then there was a conversation with a church worker. She had recently
been invited to a meeting in Switzerland. As some of you may recall,
Bethlehem is about an hour’s drive from the Ben Gurion Airport at Tel
Aviv – from which Palestinians are not allowed to fly unless they get a
permit. Getting a permit is not easy, as we found out when applying for
the folk whom came to the General Assembly. If you do not get a permit
for Ben Gurion, the only alternative is to make the journey to Amman.
For this person, the journey started about 0330 hours, on the road to
Jericho. The first barrier is a gate which the Israeli army control, and
open as and when they wish. To avoid the gate, taxi drivers take off
across the hill-sides on tracks. At one place, alongside the track,
there is a “stream”, which has to be crossed if you wish to continue on
your way. The “stream” is a sewer, and the drill for crossing it is to
take a stick and find out how deep it is at that particular time. If is
is sufficiently shallow that it will not come up to the bottom of the
car doors, then drivers take a chance and cross it. On this occasion it
was crossed, and they made their way to Jericho. In Jericho there is a
“check-in” area where people have to present their documents to be
allowed into Jordan. Once you have satisfied the officials there, you
start out to the first Israeli barrier, which has to be negotiated to
allow you even to approach the Allenby Bridge, the main crossing into
Jordan. Through that, you then reach the Border and the usual checks
there. Then it is across the river to Jordan, where there are more
formalities. Eventually, if all goes well, you reach Amman.
The strain of just recounting such a journey was plain to see, let alone
the physical effort that it represented – and this is life being made
better for the Palestinians, if we are believe the press reports
emanating from the Government of Israel.
As if this was not bad enough, we were then told that getting to Amman
was relatively easy if you had a foreign passport, (which quite a few
Palestinian people living on the West Bank do have), and a valid plane
ticket. Just to go to visit relatives in Jericho now requires a pass for
Palestinians – and an application to the Israeli army, with all the
hassle that that involves. People who live in Bethlehem and manage to
get to visit relatives in Ramallah need to make sure that they have a
permit to get back home again! Said our hostess – it was easier for her
to get to Switzerland than to get to Jericho! (just down the road on the
West Bank).
With other persons I talked about the news that had been in Ha’aretz
earlier in the week. (Monday 22nd September, P1)
“Jewish tycoons buy land near Rachel’s Tomb”. “In the past year, wealthy
Jews have purchased a five dunam plot, including a large house, close to
Rachel’sTomb on the outskirts of Bethlehem. The plot of land is in Area
C [a classification from the Oslo Accords], which falls under Israeli
civilian and security control, and in the area defined (by whom?) as the
‘Jerusalem Envelope’. The Arab sellers moved abroad. For the past few
weeks, the location has ben used to hold Torah classes. In the future,
the Jewish entrepreneurs who acquired the property plan to establish a
Jewish settlement on the site, which will then serve to create a
continuum between additional properties in the area that are also owned
by Jews. The Israel Defence forces is securing the site, knew of the
planned purchase before it was made and even expressed support for the
move. Over the past year, IDF soldiers have used the structure and
property as a military position.”
I asked about the Arab family that had sold the land, and was given the
explanation that someone sold it to someone who sold it to someone and
it ended up in Jewish ownership. I am sure that there will be those who
will find this a bit far-fetched, but it has been a well-understood
practice for Jewish people ending up owning property in the Old City in
Jerusalem. With almost total resignation in their voices, the people
with whom I was talking spoke ot the strangulation of Bethlehem, of the
silence of the world, of the total disregard for UN 242 (when was the
lst time that we heard anyone refer to that?), of the building of a
fence/wall and of the land grab that it represents. The most chilling
phrase that was used was that this proposed Settlement at the entrance
to Bethlehem is the beginning of the “Hebronisation” of Bethlehem –
Hebron where thousands of Palestinians can be put under curfew to allow
Settlers the ability to move around the centre of the city as they wish.
In the time that we have been here, we have seen the expansion of Ephrat
to the south, of Har Homa to the north, the building of a Settler Road
on the East to Tekoa; the expansion of Betar Illit to the West. There is
no place for Bethlehem to go. Said our friends “Who cares?”
Good news. I saw two young women making Angels – for them there was at
least something to do, as they were working on an order of 1,000 angels
for one place in the USA. Quite how the price of as angel is shared
between church and artist, that one order represents US$7,000 for that
community, which when one thinks of people living on $1 a day, is quite
a considerable sum. Orders that I have dealt with now total almost 700 –
thanks for your cash!
On Tuesday morning, I had an opportunity to attend an almost surreal
event, given what is happening all around us.
This weekend is the Jewish New Year, and to celebrate the New Year, each
year the Israeli Police chief for the Old City hosts a reception in
David’s Citadel, at the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City. The guest
list is usually those who live and work in the Old City, and the
majority are leaders of different churches and church institutions in
the City. There are also Muslim leaders, and the Chief Rabbi for the Old
City. For some reason, I was also invited this year.
It was a warm and courteous event, with speeches being made by Police
leaders, by the Chief Rabbi, by a representative of the Greek Orthodox
Patriarch, who though there himself, delegates the actual business of
speaking to another Bishop, and a couple of Sheikhs. All referred to the
difficulties in the present situation, but also spoke with appreciation
of the work of the Police in keeping some order within the Walls.
It was politeness personified, and there was a sense that it was good to
have such an opportunity to speak, rather than only meet when
confrontation is in the air. (Writing on Friday, the reality of the
situation is brought home to us by the noise of the circling helicopters
keeping an eye on worshippers at the Temple Mount.)
News comes from a variety of sources. There are phone calls, like the
one I received on Thursday afternoon to say that the demolition crews
had been at work again in Beit Hanina, and as well as demolishing
another house, they had revisited the site of the Jabari family, (Letter
NO 142) and knocked down the walls that they had started building to
give themselves some shelter for the winter. There are people whom we
meet, as in Bethlehem. There are the experiences that we have ourselves.
Then there are the e-mails that come in from all sorts of places – most
of the from Jewish sources. Below is one news item that came from The
Palestine Monitor, which is a Palestinian NGO Information Clearinghouse
UPDATE Palestinian child # 487 September 24, 2003 Palestinian child
number four hundred and eighty seven was fifteen year old, Muhammad
Ayisa Hamden. He was killed in the early hours of this morning when
shrapnel from an Israeli tank shell entered his neck.
Muhammad was among many Yibna residents who fled their homes late last
night when approximately twenty Israeli tanks and vehicles, including
bulldozers, supported by apache helicopters, invaded the refugee camp in
Rafah. As recent Israeli practice has been to indiscriminately shell and
demolish houses regardless of the presence of occupants, most
Palestinians now flee their homes at the sound of invading troops.
Mohammad, having fled his home, stood with a group of children watching
as the Israeli forces clashed with residents attempting to prevent the
demolition of three houses. Witnesses said the Israeli forces fired on
the children and Mohammad died instantly amongst his friends when hit by
shrapnel in the neck. Ten other Palestinians were injured. Four of whom
remain in a serious condition in hospital. This is the four hundred and
eighty seventh Palestinian child killed since the beginning of the
Intifada three years ago. Like Mohammad, 159 others were shot directly
in the head and neck. Of the 487 killed, 473 were killed by Israeli
soldiers. More than a hundred of these children had not even reached
their tenth birthday.
For more information contact: The Palestine Monitor +972 (0)2 298 5372
or +972 (0)59 387 087
http://www.palestinemonitor.org
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/updates/Palestinian_child_487.htm
It is informative to compare what is reported on e-mail sites with the
news that makes it into the papers. For instance, e-mail reports carried
news of an incursion into a hospital on Wednesday :
Also during Wednesday, Israeli troops beseiged the UN Hospital in
Qalqilyah entering the building and forcing medical staff to leave their
patients and lie on the floor while troops searched all wards, including
emergency rooms and operating theaters. The forces caused a great deal
of damage and prevented the hospital director and staff from telephoning
UNRWA to inform them of what was happening. UNRWA has protested to the
Israeli military at the serious breach of both UN immunities and
international humanitarian law which accord hospitals special protection
during conflicts. Under the Geneva Convention Hospitals may not be
targets of military operations and the excuse of military necessity is
specifically ruled out.
Ha’aretz did not carry any information about this at all – it is now no
longer newworthy that a hospital is invaded.
What Haaretz did carry on Thursday September 25th, P1 – was a report on
a letter signed by 9 Air Force pilots still on active duty, in which
they refused to take part in operations in the West Bank, which they
described as “illegal and immoral.” It is reported that the Air Force is
planning to dismiss the 9 pilots. The letter was also signed by 27
Reserve pilots.
Today is the Jewish New Year. As a precaution against any actions which
might be contemplated by people from the West Bank, it is closed until
Sunday. There is not a great deal of rejoicing in the air – rather a
sense of bewilderment as to where to go from here. I think that one of
the saddest headlines that I have seen, from an Israeli Jewish point of
view, is the following : “The Six Year War prophecy is now half true
with no end in sight.” Haaretz P1 26th September. The article includes
the following ‘This weekend, as in the blood-soaked days of late
September 2000 when the Al Aqsa Intifada first erupted, the coming of
the Jewish New Year is marred by violence in the territories. And, as in
the case of last year's Rosh Hashanah holiday, at least one planned car
bomb terror attack was thwarted this year at the last minute. Brig. Gen.
Yossi Kuperwasser, Head of IDF Intelligence Research Department (then an
intelligence officer in the IDF Central Command), hazarded during the
first week of fighting in autumn 2000 that the Israelis and Palestinians
were embarking on a "six year war." As of today, he is seemingly at
least half right.’
The greeting exchanged by people is “Shanah Tovah” – a good New Year.
One says it sincerely, but one wonders . . .
Sadness, not to mention hopelessness, in Bethlehem. Frustration, perhaps
even despair, in Jerusalem. It calls to mind for me Psalm 137, verse 4.
Stay well. Greetings from both of us. God bless. Joan and Clarence
Top
Circular Letter No 146
3rd October 2003
Monday 29th September. In the morning I had to go to Ramallah to do some
work, and was able to take a visitor from New Zealand to see the Quaker
School in Ramallah. One of the things that I had to do was to go to
Kalandia Women’s Centre, where I bought some Christmas pincushions. It
is the same there as everywhere else – no markets for what we make, and
so no income to pay our bills.
In the afternoon Joan and I were taken back to Beit Hanina – the area on
the northern side of Jerusalem which we visited a couple of weeks ago to
see the house of the Jabari family – or rather the ruins of the house.
This time the visit was to the tent of Mr Abu Omar. He works as a
labourer. For 12 years he had saved all that he could, and then a couple
of years ago, bought a plot of land in Beit Hanina. The land did not
have detailed planning permission for houses, but it was zoned as a
Residential area. Permits were applied for – and duly refused. Lawyers
were hired to try to obtain the necessary permissions – and then like
some 16,000 other home owners in the Jerusalem area – Abu Omar took
matters into his own hands, and started building. Eventually, the
Jerusalem Municipality issued a demolition order, and Abu Omar went to
court. His Demolition Order was described, in the bizarre language used
in this world of demolitions, as a “Ticking Order.” This meant that any
time within a stipulated period, the Municipality demolition squad could
turn up and get to work. He went to court again, and there was a short
delay – but it appears that his lawyer was perhaps not satisfied with
the speed of payment of his fees, and did not bother to inform Abu Omar
that the Order was still “Ticking”. Not knowing this, no action was
taken by people such as the Israel Committee Against House Demolitions.
So, having been off work for a couple of months due to ill-health, he
went to work 2 weeks ago. The second day he was at work, the Demolishers
came, and his house is now a twisted pile of concrete rubble and
reinforced steel rods. He is now living in a tent beside it, a broken
man. The worst thing, he said, was trying to explain to his children
when they came home from school, what had happened to their home. Abu
Omar, his wife, their 8 childen and his aged mother, have lost more than
most of us could cope with – yet he has to get back to work, clear up
the demolition site, and …. do what? Said he to Joan :
”We don’t have much luck in life – we just want a little.”
Quite apart from the rights and wrongs of the purchase of the land, the
refusal to give permits, and the failure to obtain them, quite apart
from the inadequacies of the legal system – what possible justification
can there be for instilling such state-sponsored terror in people –
perhaps as many as 16,000 families in the Jerusalem area – who have
despaired of being given permission to build and have gone ahead to
construct their homes? Terror of coming home to find rubble, and their
life’s savings and work in ruins. The envelope with $200 in it that I
was able to give to him from the money sent to me seemed so pitiful, and
his expressions of gratitude made me feel all the more wretched. We sat
in the tent, with dark rain clouds above, though it did not rain, and
the nearest thing to the experience that I could recall was sitting with
families in Western Zambia when someone had died unexpectedly. It was a
Tent of Mourning.
While we were in the tent, the baby of the family – 9 months old –
walked across from her mother to her father. Joan and I were
flabbergasted to see how confident she was on her feet. It is a mixed
blessing. The previous night she had woken and got out of the tent by
herself – and they caught her as she was getting near a road. It is true
that there is not a lot of traffic on such a road in the middle of the
night, but it was a great fright. Had she gone the other way, down the
hill would have taken her to the cess pool which has been created in the
area by sewage coming down from an Israeli development area a few
kilometres further out of Jerusalem.
There is much talk of the curriculum in Palestinian schools and what is
perceived to be anti-Semitic materials in it. Loud are the complaints
from Israel about the teaching of hatred. In Beit Hanina, one does not
need to teach anything at all – just sit and watch what happens all
around.
Tuesday 30th September. There was the first Board Meeting of the
Jerusalem International YMCA (JIY) for this session. Not knowing when we
will be leaving, I had resigned from the Chairmanship of the Board but
was invited to remain on the Board. One of the reports was about Peniel,
a facility owned by the JIY on the shores of Lake Galilee, just north of
Tiberias. A group of young Arab people from Galilee had come down to
Peniel where they met with a group of Jewish and Arab youngsters from
the JIY programmes in Jerusalem. It was a good time – and they want to
have more – provided they can find the funds. Given the current lack of
tourists, and consequent loss of income to the JIY Hotel, it is costing
over $1 million in subsidies from the YMCA of the USA just to keep the
JIY open and working.
After the Board Meeting I was able to go to see Elias Salman in
Bethlehem. He used to be the cook here at the Guest House, but has not
been able to get to work for years. From time to time, I am able to sell
some of his produce – marmalade, chutney, meat pies etc. He had prepared
some marmalade for the Guest House, some chutney and meat pies for me to
sell. It was good to be able to put them in the car – giving him a sense
of having achieved something. He earned for this NIS 340 ($75) out of
which he had to buy the ingredients.
Wednesday 1st October. Words are wonderful instruments – I am not sure
of what. This morning I was driving to Tabeetha, the Church of Scotland
School in Jaffa. To try to avoid the worst of the Tel Aviv/Jaffa area
traffic, I try to leave home about 0630 hours. It means that I arrive
too early, but at least I do not have to fight with too much traffic.
BBC World Service News programmes carried a report about the meeting of
the Israeli Government Cabinet today, to discuss, and possible decide,
the route of the “barrier” that is going to be built in the area of
Ariel. Isn’t “barrier”a nice, simple word. There are barriers for crowd
control, barriers for marking off areas of school playgrounds, I wonder
if it conjures up in your minds a concrete wall 6 metres high,
encircling a complete town, and leaving only one exit which is approx 15
metres wide. Of perhaps a fence, which is ready to be electrified, with
a tarred roadway alongside it for military vehicles to patrol, in case
anyone might manage to breach the fence, and then yet another fence just
to provide an extra obstacle? So the world wakened this morning to the
sound of the BBC announcing that there was a meeting about a “barrier.”
There were two interviews to accompany this news item. The Jewish person
was speaking in favour of the Wall/Fence/Barrier – saying that it was
necessary to separate Israel and Palestine. What he did not remark on
was the location of the Wall/Fence/Barrier – in places kilometres inside
the Green Line. The Palestinian person spoke of the Wall/Fence/Barrier
going past his house, and now necessitating a 30 km round trip to visit
members of his family on the other side of the Fence.
Just to show how serious is the opposition of the world outside to this
Wall/Fence/Barrier, there is a small article on the front page of
Haaretz (Wednesday 1 October). US won’t cut loan guarantees – for now.
The State Deaprtment yesterday said the US Government will not at this
stage cut loan guarantees to israel. This was relayed to Congress, as
required by law, toward the end of the 2003 Budget year. US officials
have indicated that should the fence be slated for areas in the
territories, especially the Ariel region, Washington could view the
fence as an activity inconsistent with US policy, and so deductions
might be made in the guarantees. (The Guarantees referred to are ones
given by the US to enable Israel to borrow up to $3 billion for each of
the next three years.)
A week or two ago, I mentioned in a letter the village of Neve Shalom.
It is a community of Arab and Jews, trying to work out a modus vivendi
between their communities. Their School now has an enrolment of over
300, coming from the surrounding villages. The Community also offer
“Workshops” to which groups can come and share in discussion about
conflict resolution – between Jew and Arab; between Jewish, Muslim and
Christian believers. Tabeetha School Year 9 pupils have just spent a
night there, and had the chance to live together for 36 hours, and to
talk about the “situation” Thank you to those who sponsored this for
2003. Offers of sponsorship for 2004 could be made to the Principal of
the School, Chris Mottershead at
costab@netvision.net.il
Thursday 2nd October. There is an informal grouping of Christian people
within Jerusalem – mostly ordained people, but several significant
unordained people – called The Ecumenical Circle of Friends. The fact
that it exists at all is testimony to the changes in the church world
that have taken place within the last 40 years. Interestingly, in the
context of Jerusalem, there is no such thing as “official” participation
in it – which allows people the chance to be a bit more open than they
might otherwise be. It met today for the first session of the year – and
spent a lot of time speaking of the hurts within the Christian
community. Sadly, the pressure of the Intifada and the “situation” seems
to have created a climate of opinion in which old divisions within the
Christian community are re-surfacing, as groups struggle to assert their
“rights”.
Two items of interest to share with you arose yesterday. One came from
an Armenian member of the Circle – speaking of the way in which a
Cemetry owned by his church, and with graves going back 1,500 years, has
been classified as a “recreation” area, and graves covered over. When
there has been such enormous outcry over the possibility of anything
being done at Tiberias, for instance, by the Church of Scotland which
might affect a burial ground of similar age, and which might, or might
not, contain Jewish graves, it is difficult not to accept the dictum
that there is one law for Jewish graves, and a different law for Gentile
graves.
The second came from a Roman Catholic member, who is charged with trying
to assist Catholic communities. He had been called to a Convent in
Bethany, where the new “Separation Fence” is being driven right across
the middle of the convent garden. The French Consul was present at the
site, as was a representative of the Papal Nuncio. There was little
confidence at our meeting that any diplomatic pressure the French
Government or the Vatican might try to impose will make any difference
at all.
With the New Year only a few days old, and with the greetings like “May
the coming year be better than the last” still ringing in our ears,
there are two stark issues dominating the printed news here.
The one is a strike of public sector workers, which is their reaction to
the cuts in the Budget that have been proposed by the Government.
Comment is made about the ease with which money is found for the
building of the Wall – the next portion estimated to cost NIS 5 billion
(over US$1 billion) and NIS 250 million is being cut from a basket of
lifesaving drugs. Recently I was in a Government office speaking with a
person who has been helpful in various matters – he has been “offered”
early retirement, and is now busy looking for a new job. The fact that
he lives on a Settlement is ironic – as Settlements are one of the
reasons for the security dilemma faced by Israel.
The second is the Wall and the Settlements, and what effect this week’s
decision to build deep inside the West Bank will have, both in the short
term, and in the longer term. It is hard to find anyone who really feels
that the Wall will bring security. Haaretz Page B3, October 3rd.
“Sharon’s concept - … Sharon’s conception is that we don’t move and we
don’t initiate. We don’t establish a final goal, draw up a list of
objectives or mark the finish line. From the Oslo Accords in 1993 until
today, the number of settlers in the territories has doubled, and the
sky’s the limit. In this way, we are moving in giant steps toward 2010,
when there will no longer be a Jewish majority between Jordan and the
Sea. We may reach the point where the two-state solution is not
implementable any more ….” Haaretz Page B3, Octrober 3rd. :Settlers
above all. The winding and complicated route of the fence will deepend
the hatred among the Palestinians, because in addition to the withdrawal
from territory and the harsh occupation, which will continue, there will
be four fenced-in enclaves that are home to 75,000 Palestinians who will
be able to leave only via narrow exits (perhaps tunnels) in the
direction of adjacent towns. That decision is inhumane, immoral and will
not go over peacefully with the international institutions. …”
Stay well. God bless you all. Joan and Clarence
A Cartoon which I saw in an office this week says it all : 6 sketches
all have appropriate figures to match the words :
I’m Eli Bronstein, from the Bronx, and Jerusalem belongs to ME
I’m Nathan Jablonski, from Russia, and Jerusalem belongs to ME
I’m Sarah Falasha, frolm Ehtiopia, and Jerusalem belongs to ME
I’m Jacob Cohen, from the Amazon, and Jerusalem belongs to ME
I’m Itzhak Shapiro, from the North Pole, and Jerusalem belongs to ME
I’m Mohammad Salam, from Jerusalem, and I guess I must have been
confused all this time.
top
Circular Letter No 147
11th October 2003
Friday 3rd October.
On our regular trip down through the West Bank to Idna, we had been
asked to stop at the entrance to villages which had been blocked with a
mound of earth, to pick up some embroidery from a Co-operative. We got
to the mound of earth, and wonder of wonders, it had been breached, and
it was possible to drive through it. However, as we approached, a digger
also approached from the village side, and carefully positioned a cube
shaped concrete block in the middle of the road. It was not that the
road block had been lifted – it had just changed shape, and could be
removed or reinstated at the whim of the local detachment of soldiers
sitting in their circular observation tower, 6 metres above any people
who came to speak to them. While we were there, one truck was allowed
in, and one car out. Then the Concrete was repositioned, and the digger
drove off.
We got our consignment of embroidery, and proceeded. On the way we
passed signs of more activity of a bulldozer, with new earth having been
put at the end of a potential dirt road out of the villages. Not far
down the road, we passed the bulldozer, which was preceded by an Israeli
army jeep.
There are times when you feel you have had enough for one morning – so
we came home by a different road, not because of any safety worries, but
just to avoid having to see the blocked entrances to villages. Near
Bethlehem, on our return, we picked up as arranged a consignment of
Olive Wood carving. Nice to have some useful purpose to life!
Along the road in the early morning, we had passed quite a bit of
traffic – Israeli army vehicles, settler vehicles, a couple of buses
carrying Palestinians, and 20 or 30 donkeys laden with produce heading
towards Bethlehem – and this is the 21st Century. It is a picturesque
sight to see people riding donkeys, and the sort of thing that lends
“atmosphere” to the scene. That is, until you realise that the only
reason people are on donkeys is that they are forbidden to take any sort
of vehicle on to the road. So it is either donkey or nothing. You don’t
have to be a clairvoyant to appreciate what young Palestinians will feel
riding their donkeys, as they see young Israelis speeding past in cars
and trucks.
Saturday 4th October.
Almost predictably there was a bomb. Almost predictably there are the
calls for the removal of Mr Arafat, for the tightening of controls on
the West Bank, and from the White House for the Palestinian Authority to
crack down on “terrorism”. I did not hear on the BBC reports any news of
the 9-year old boy killed by the Israeli army in Tulkarm, as they were
attacking a person whom they suspected of being responsible for
organising previous bomb attacks.
How do you measure such attacks? The numbers of casualties? On that
basis, the Israeli people of Haifa suffered more today than the
Palestinian people of Tulkarm. The numbers of casualties over the last 3
years? In that case the Palestinians are way ahead in suffering. Will
either sort of attack achieve its hoped-for goal? It seems very
unlikely, and both are to be deplored.
Sunday 5th October.
A paragraph in the Leader Article entitled “The settlement drain” (about
the Israeli Settlements on the West Bank and in Gaza) in the
International Herald Tribune today is as follows : “There are a few
actions that Israel could take that would both revive peace talks and
contribute to solving its own economic and security problems. Starting
to freeze and dismantle its settlements is one of them. The first step
toward doing that is to face the reality of the [financial] drain that
the settlements represent. Expanding them is the wrong choice.”
I would wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment, but I would also say
that I now think it is a fantasy. Many of the Jewish people whom I talk
with would say that the Settlement Project is the child of Mr Sharon,
and that he has no intention of undoing his life’s work. I went back to
look at a passage in “Israel : A History” by Martin Gilbert. It is about
the beginning of the Sinai Campaign in 1956 (Pp 320 – 322) Israeli
paratroopers had been dropped at the eastern entrance to the Mitla Pass,
250 kms into the Sinai, and 80 kms from the Suez Canal. A group of
paratroopers under a Colonel Ariel Sharon crossed into Sinai to reach
Mitla and to establish a supply line to the airborne forces. Colonel
Sharon was ordered not to attack the eastern entrance to Mitla. Sharon
requested permission to send a patrol into the Pass, which was granted.
Sharon then sent a large contingent into the Pass. In the ensuing
battle, 38 Israeli soldiers were killed and 120 wounded. The Pass was in
fact then captured. About this episode, Chaim Herzog, who was President
of Israel from 1983 to 1993, wrote “ Taking advantage of this approval,
the paratroop commander [Sharon] had engaged in what Dayan termed ‘a
subterfuge’ by calling the operation a patrol in order to get the
approval of the General Staff.” Reflecting on the character and career
of Israel’s most controversial general, Herzog added “A very
independently minded and assertive character, Sharon was later in his
political career to be accused of dictatorial tendencies by his
opponents. He was to be accused, both in this and later campaigns, of
insubordination and dishonesty. He can best be described as a
Patton-like swashbuckling general, who rose in the ranks of the Israel
Defence Forces, proved himself to have an uncanny feel for battle, but
at the same time to be a most difficult person to command. Few if any of
his superior officers over the years had a good word to say for him as
far as human relations and integrity were concened, although none would
deny his innate ability as a field soldier. Probably because of this, he
never achieved his great ambition, to be Chief of Staff of the armed
forces.”: (ibid. P322).
There are those who say that his policy now about the roads and
Settlements on the West Bank is just the same as his action at the Mitla
Pass was – establish them in place, and it will be impossible to move
them later. The more I drive around the areas of my work, the more I
feel it is becoming impossible to think of an Israeli withdrawal from
the West Bank.
Wednesday 8th October. Work took me to Bethlehem this afternoon. Passage
of the check-point in to Bethlehem took less than a minute – there was
one vehicle in front of me moving off as I arrived, and so I was called
forward almost immediately. An inspection of my passport took a short
while, and then I was on my way. Those who have been reading these
Letters for some time will recall the way I used to report that passing
through the check point had taken anything up to 2 hours. Now, there is
so little traffic, that it takes but a minute or two. Within Bethlehem,
there are signs of normalisation – road works to repair damage done by
tanks, traffic police again on duty – but yesterday there was
surprisingly little traffic, and it was noticeable that in places shops
were closed early. There was a bit of apprehension about the military
call up announced in Israel earlier in the week. Quite apart from the
public reasons given for such a move, people were asking what were the
“real” undisclosed reasons. Travel within the West Bank – from Bethlehem
to Ramallah for instance – was banned yesterday. Was if for one day? or
for longer?
Thursday 9th October. Yesterday there was concern in Bethlehem about
travel between Ramallah and Bethlehem being banned. Today’s paper (Haaretz
P2) has the following paragraph : “In an unusual step, GOC Central
Command Major General Moshe Kaplinski issued an order yesterday
prohibiting all Palestinian vehicular traffic in those parts of the
Nnorthern West Bank designated Area C (full Israeli control) for the
next four days.” (CWM – Area C is the designation made in the Oslo
accords for large areas of the West Bank – Area A is full Palestinian
control, security and civil administration; Area B is Palestinian civil
administration, Israeli security control. Details of this area can be
seen on the Matrix Map on www.icahd.org
– the website of the Israel Committee against House Demolitions). It is
ironic that the Sukkot Festival, which the Jewish population of Israel
is now preparing to celebrate, is the Harvest Festival, originally to
celebrate the harvesting of crops. While Settlers will be able to move
about the West Bank and celebrate, those who have their harvest on their
olive trees will just have to sit, knowing that their crops are decaying
– as they are not allowed to go to their fields to pick their olive
harvest. Two messages from Jayyus this week, speak of hundreds of
farmers not able to get through the fence to their orchards, and thus
not able to water their crops or their trees. The fence at Jayyus is
several kilometres from the Green Line, and had it been built there, the
farmers would have been able to carry on with their farming. Security?
Or economic sabotage?
One of the problems facing the co-ooperatives such as the ones that are
linked to Sunbula is how to get goods that they have made out to their
markets, whether within Israel, or overseas. Though there may be some
arrangements to get parcels mailed abroad, it is not clear how long it
would take a parcel posted in Hebron by the women of Idna to reach its
destination – if in fact a parcel would be accepted at the Post Office.
However, Settlements in the West Bank, (which are illegal under the
terms of UN Resolution 242 and various Geneva Conventions) are able to
market their produce under the label of Israel. Again, on P2 of Haaretz
today there is a story relating to this “Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has
called a special meeting this morning with ministers Benjamin Netanyahu
(Finance Minister), Ehud Olmert (Trade and Industry Minister) and Silvan
Shalom (Foreign Minister) over European Union demands that produce
manufactured in the settlements be labelled as such. The dispute over
rules of origin has overshadowed Israel-EU relations for several years.
The Europeans say the free trade agreement with them does not cover the
settlements which they say are not in Israel, so taxes must be collected
on products from them. . . . .The Europeans are currently prepared to
leave the issue open, labelling the products from the settlements on
their own, on condition Israel does not call that a violation of the
free trade agreement” (!)
Friday 10th. It was necessary to go to Bethlehem for one particular
purpose today. What a sad place the check-point is – today there was a
muzzled dog with a soldier/handler to sniff for something or other.
Admittedly it was Friday, and so the restrictions are even tighter on
the West Bank than on other days of the week, but almost no-one was
entering Bethlehem. 30 minutes later, coming back out, it took a wait of
over 30 minutes in a queue of 8 vehicles, as the soldiers were changing
shifts, and so nothing was moving. What might have been accomplished in
30 – 45 minutes, took 90 minutes.
Still, we are able to move. Compare it with the story sent by a young
Jewish woman we know who is living in Rafah :
“On Yom Kippur (October 6), the most holy day on the Jewish
calendar, the day of atonement in which we are s |
