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Rev Clarence Musgrave  
and his wife Joan  
were our mission partners. 
They  worked at 
St Andrews Church of Scotland Church 
in Jerusalem before they retired in the summer of 2006.

Sunbula, the shop in St Andrew's Hospice that promotes and sells handcrafts made by Palestinians is now on the web: www.sunbula.org

• No 230
• No 231
• No 232
• No 233
• No 234
• No 235
• No 236
• No 237
• No 238
• No 239

Other Letters:
No 25-30
No 31-36
No 37-41
No 42-48
No 49-60
No 61-69
No 70-79
No 80-89
No 90-100
No 101-109
No 110-119
No 120-129
No 130-139
No 140-149
No 150-159
No 160-169
No 170-179
No 180-189
No 190-199
No 200-209
No 210-219
No 220-229
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No 240-249
No 250-259
No 260-270

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Circular Letter No 238 15th October 2005

Sunday October 9th.

In a thought-provoking article in the Observer from the UK, there is an article entitled “Only threat of force will tame Tehran” by Michael Rubin. In it, he is suggesting that the only way to ensure that there are changes in the policy of the Government of Iran is to link diplomatic pressure with the credible threat of the use of force. His final words are “Armies, not words, are a diplomat's most potent tool.” It is strange that so much of what he says is echoed here by people who observe the way in which the Government of Israel has pushed ahead with Settlements, despite diplomatic pressure. If it is inconceivable that any Western Government would use force against the Government of Israel, then according to the thesis of Mr Rubin, the Government of Israel will continue to ignore pressure from those Governments.



Monday October 10th

As I have written on previous occasions, there is a considerable divide within both Jewish society and Christian society on the subject of Zionism. Within the Christian community, the division is perhaps most clearly seen in the way in which different parts of the Christian Church view the policies of the State of Israel. There are those who strongly support the programme of bringing all Jewish people back to Israel, and who share the vision of Israel as being at least the Land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Within the Christian community working in Israel, such people would have much greater emphasis on a ministry to Jewish people than they would on any ministry of support for the indigenous Christian people, who are mostly Palestinian. Largely, they are described both by themselves and by others, as Evangelicals.

In Haaretz, Monday 10th October, P4, is the headline: “Israel to lease 500 dunams in north to Evangelicals to attract pilgrims.” ‘Along the northeast edge of Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), the landscape is quiet, the wind blows gently and the Korazim River meanders tranquilly, much as it did in the time of Jesus, but this undisturbed vistas may not last much longer. Plans are underway to develop an Evangelical Christian centre in the area – a mini-Israel of sorts and perhaps a biblical theme park. As part of the project, Israel will initially lease 500 dunams in the area between Capernaum, Tabgha and the Mount of Beatitudes. The idea: to build a centre that will provide Christian believers with a sense that “Jesus lived here.” Some see the project as having great potential to attract pilgrims. … Several months ago (Tourism Minister) Hirschon appointed a steering committee chaired by Uri Dagul, head of the Israel Youth Hostels Association. According to Dagul, evangelicals are interested in life in Israel, unlike Catholics. … There are 90 million evangelicals in America and 300 million around the world. “If just 1% of all of them comes to Israel, that would be enough” says Dagul. However, there are some who argue that the Lake Kinneret area should not be designated for evangelicals alone, but should be made into a general Christian heritage site, or even a biblical theme park, which would also not deter Jews. … And who is the group with whom negotiations are underway? “We are talking about a broad group, and at its head one of the key figures will be Pat Robertson,” says Hirschon.



One of the features which many people appreciate about this particular area is that it is relatively “unspoilt”. It is difficult to imagine it with a “Jesus Theme Park.”



In the Jewish Calendar, the New Year is closely followed by Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement. This is the most holy day in the Jewish Calendar, a day when one can ask for forgiveness for the sins of the past year. One of the ways in which the special nature of the day is marked is the prohibition of driving cars. Much of Israel becomes a huge pedestrian zone. It is one of the more unusual sights to see families strolling down the middle of those roads in Jerusalem which are normally clogged with traffic. One wonders how such a day would be accepted in other parts of the world – start the New Year with a day of Prayer, Reflection, Confession and Repentance. Remembering the response in Edinburgh to the idea of holding a Church Service to mark the New Year, and the fact that in the congregation it came a distant second to the traditional Scottish Hogmanay celebrations, I somehow think it would not be a widely accepted proposal.



This year, we spent Yom Kippur in Bethlehem, with two new Church of Scotland colleagues – one working at Tabeetha and the other at Tiberias. We had to make sure we were into Bethlehem before 1635 hours on Wednesday, when Yom Kippur started in Jerusalem. We were able to bring our car back into Israel after 1746 hours on Thursday, at the end of Yom Kippur. It gave us an opportunity to spend some time together, to meet some people, and for our new colleagues to be introduced to aspects of life in Bethlehem and the West Bank which they may not have seen before.

Among the places we visited was Daheisha Refugee Camp, on the southern side of Bethlehem. It was established in 1948 to give a home to refugees from villages which the Jewish forces had taken, and from which the people were moved forcibly, or moved themselves to try to find safety. We talked with one man who is deeply involved in providing social services for the folk in the Camp. One of the real problems that has to be settled between Israel and the Palestinian Refugees is what is called “The Right of Return.” By this is meant the right of Palestinians who fled, or who were forced to flee, from their homes in 1948 or in 1967 (at the time of the Six-Day War), to return to their villages and their land. In general, Palestinian people say there will be no peace without Refugees being allowed to return to their homes. In general, Israeli people say there will be no Return for Refugees.

The man with whom we were talking spoke of how his family had come to Bethlehem in 1948. He spoke also of several trips which they had made back to see their village – trips that they made without official permission. He told of his mother pointing out their home, and describing the life of the village. Among those who went was one of his sons. Recently, when in a family discussion the question was raised of buying a house in Bethlehem and moving out of the Camp, it was this son who objected most strongly. “The only place to which I will move from this Camp will be our village”, he said. Looking out from where we were sitting we could see clearly the buildings of Efrat North, an extension of the very large Jewish Settlement to the South of Bethlehem. We could see temporary caravans on hill-tops, the beginnings of new Settlements. We could see the Israeli Army Observation post on the hill across the wadi and immediately opposite the camp. Why is it that people who were born in other countries are entitled to come and take land for their Settlements while the people who were born in what was then Palestine and is now Israel, are not able to go back to their homes? Instead, they have to sit and watch more and more houses going up around them, taking their land, and in a sense robbing them of their future.



As a sort of footnote to the fact that ordinary traffic is banned on Yom Kippur, there was the headline in Haaretz October 14th, P3: “99 women in labour call ambulances during Yom Kippur.” ‘Magen David Adom (The Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross) emergency services treated 2000 people in the course of the holiday including 99 women who went into labour and were taken to hospitals by ambulance. … An infant from an Arab family was lightly injured by broken glass when the family’s car was stoned en route to a hospital for medical treatment yesterday. In Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv neighbourhood on Wednesday, Jews hurled stones at a car carrying nurses on their way to the Shaarel Zedek Medical Centre. The vehicle was damaged but there were no injuries.’



Saturday 15th October

Friday Prayers at the Al Aqsa Mosque are a huge operation. Yesterday, about 1330 hours we had a phone call from some friends from Idna who had been able to come to Jerusalem to pray. The upshot was that we picked them up at 1430 hours and went down to Idna with them. Their day had started well before sunrise, when they had eaten breakfast, prior to commencing their Fast for the day. Then they left Idna by bus about 0600 hours, and got to Jerusalem about 0830 hours. The Israeli soldiers did carry out some checks, and one of their group and her husband were refused permission to travel to Jerusalem. At the middle of the day, the women said there were 250,000 people on Haram al-Sharif (the Temple Mount). Leaving Jerusalem for the Hebron area, the traffic was extremely congested. It was a bit like the traffic lines heading out of Edinburgh after a Rugby Match at Murrayfield, only larger.

When we got to Idna, driving through the village was an experience that comes very infrequently and for us, possibly not again. It is Ramadan, and so people are fasting. It was Friday, so people were relaxing on their Holy Day. It was late in the afternoon, and folk were standing around in very good natured groups, or sitting on chairs in the shade at the side of the road. All were waiting for the Call to Prayer from the mosques, which would mark the end of their Fast for the day, and the opportunity to drink and eat. When people saw that we were visitors to the village, and it was quite clear as I was wearing a clerical shirt and collar, there were smiles, and the repeated greeting “Ahlan wa sahlan – Welcome”.

Joan and I were the only Christians in the village. We felt only the warmth of the welcome, and the bonhomie of the community enjoying this particular time of the day and this particular Friday. We felt it was such a privilege to be there, and wished that all of you who read this could have had the same opportunity to feel welcome.



It was an opportunity to reflect a little on what we have learned here.

Sure, in the village and in the Muslim community at large there are those who are more extreme than others.

Sure, in the Jewish community at large there are those who are more violent and more extreme than others.

Sure, in the Christian world there are those who are extreme in their reactions to people of different faiths and cultures.

Our experience here has taught us the futility of classifying people in groups: “THE Muslims”, “THE Jews”, “THE Christians”.

True, we have seen so much oppression, so much exploitation, so much reason for hatred.

We have also seen much commitment to Justice and Human Rights among all communities, and it will be one of the things we will miss most when the time finally comes to leave Jerusalem – the chance to spend time with people for whom the faith someone holds is of less importance than their personal value as human beings.



We are sometimes asked if we have no “good news”. Yesterday was one of the days when we experienced the potential of good news, if people are given a chance to be themselves.



Stay well. God bless.

Joan and Clarence



PS If anyone is interested in Christmas decorations from Idna, get in touch. We have hundreds available.
 

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Circular Letter No 237 7th October 2005


This week has seen the celebration of the Jewish New Year, and the start of the Festival of Ramadan.

In an article entitled “Parting of the Ways”, in Haaretz Rosh Hashanah (New Year) Supplement, Page B1 Monday October 3rd, Ari Shavit writes: ‘During the past 4 years, Israelis understood the Palestinian message very well. They internalized it. They understood that the conflict did not hinge upon the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, but rather upon the very right of a Jewish-democratic state to exist in an Arab-Muslim expanse. … Around this basic understanding a new and silent Israeli majority has been forming since Rosh Hashanah 2000. This majority understand that the Israeli –Palestinian conflict is not going to end in the foreseeable future. However, the majority also understands that the occupation endangers Israel morally, demographically and in the eyes of the world.’

This is by no means a unique feeling among writers in the Jewish press. Many others are saying the same thing, and many are of the opinion that it is fine to talk about peace, but it is not about to be achieved.



It is profoundly sad that this is such a widespread feeling among Israeli people – and to a certain extent therefore also among Palestinian people. Yet, from the limited perspective that I am able to achieve, it is all too correct.

From what I see, Colonialism is alive and well on the West Bank. Every Settlement that I passed in the past week is larger now than it was at this time last year. On hills where no Settlement existed last year, now there are mobile homes. Across the face of the hill below the Settlement of Ariel – settlement is a sort of mis-nomer, as it is a town of approx 18,000 people, and it is planned to expand it up to 30,000 – there is a scar of uprooted trees and bare earth where the Wall/Fence will be built, intruding many kilometres into the West Bank from the Green Line. Many roads are larger – 4 lane rather than 2 lane. The roads eat up Palestinian land, and they belong to the Government of Israel. While some road blocks have been lifted, others have been put in place. And so one could go on.



There is a line in Euripides, the Greek playwright, which says “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.” Driving around Jerusalem and the West Bank, and seeing the relentless expansion of roads and Settlements and the uncompromising appropriation of land which is being enclosed by the Wall, I am filled with foreboding. There is the great anxiety that the lack of Justice offered by Israel to the Palestinian people will be the seedbed from which some similar plants will grow in a generation or two. When power changes, will there be Justice for Israelis from Palestinians?

When the policies of the Israeli Government mean that the only contact most Palestinians have with Israelis is with soldiers, will it be surprising if Palestinians regard all Israelis as if they were soldiers, and thus have the same antipathy towards them? What will this mean for relations between Palestinians and Israeli Jewish people, when the balance of power here shifts, and Israel is no longer dominant?



It may seem slightly incongruous, but as I was sitting listening to a resident of Jayyous on Wednesday speaking with pain and passion about the way in which he had lost his olive trees to the bulldozers of the Israeli army and contractors clearing his land to prepare for building their Settlement, the words of Psalm 137 came to my mind.



The Psalm is a poignant Jewish poem, written about the innermost feelings of Jewish people when they were in exile in Babylonia. There is the pain of being mocked by their captors, when they were asked to sing about their home land and the city of Jerusalem. There is the passion of people who, despite what happens to them, are determined not to forget their heritage and their country. There is the cry of people driven beyond what they can endure, when they pray a blessing on those who will kill the children of the Babylonians. It is a Psalm which I have often used in the past.



As I listened to the words of the speaker, I was able to look out from the window of the room where we were sitting. Just below the village is the Fence, beyond which is the farms of the villagers, some of which are marked as the site for the development of a new Jewish Settlement. Beyond are the green trees around Israeli villages established on the Green Line. Beyond that, there were the buildings of Tel Aviv to the south and Netanya to the north, and then the Mediterranean Sea. “I have seen my children being killed”, he said, “because for me my olive trees are like members of my family. I have had to watch members of my family being hungry, as I could not harvest produce to sell and get money to support them. I do not hate my Jewish neighbours, but I hate what they are doing to me and my people.”

To get to his land, he needs a permit. For many, such permits are refused. So, they live like Exiles in their own land, looking across the Fence to the land and trees they have owned for generations.

If it has been moving for us to think of the experience of the Jewish people in Babylon, and to feel moved by their plight as described in Psalm 137, is it not also right for us to be moved at the experience of the new Exiles, the Palestinians?



Yesterday was the first Friday of Ramadan. As such it is a day when thousands of Muslim people congregate in Jerusalem to pray at Al Haram al-Sharif (the Temple Mount.) In any city in the world, when there are going to be large crowds of people, it is normal for the police to take precautions. So it is in Jerusalem. However, the complicating factor here is that the majority of police on duty in the city are Jewish, while the majority of people whom they would be trying to control as they make their way to the Mosque are Muslims.

As I went across town in the morning, at the New Gate there were 12 police and Border Police on duty, all of them armed. Each of the three roads that I passed which led directly into East Jerusalem were closed off to vehicular traffic. I did not drive all the way round the Old City, but I would be surprised if the same sort or restrictions had not also been put in place elsewhere.

Prudent policing? Or the exercise of power and control? Your answer may well depend upon which community you belong to.

To the best of my knowledge, there were no incidents.



When it a volunteer not a volunteer?

Friday 7th October Haaretz P2. “High Court bans IDF’s ‘early-warning’ practice.” ‘The army’s use of Palestinians to deliver warnings to wanted men about impending arrest operations is illegal, as it violates the principles of international law, the High Court of Justice ruled yesterday in response to petitions by seven human rights organisations. … ‘Given the inequality between the occupying force and the local resident, the local resident cannot be expected to oppose the request to give a warning to someone whom the army wants to arrest. A procedure cannot be based on consent when, in many cases this consent will not be genuine.’



Good news.

The Church of Scotland appointed a new person to be in charge of the Church at Tiberias and to be the Programme Director working in association with the Scots Hotel in Tiberias. Jen Zielinski arrived in Israel on Jewish New Year’s Day – an auspicious day on which to start a new career(?).

Next up are interviews for a new Minister for Jerusalem.



Stay well

God bless

Joan and Clarence
 

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Circular Letter No 235 24th September 2005

“We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal”. These are words that came to mind at the beginning of the week when the news was reported as follows :

“No officers to face charges for October riots as ministry closes investigations.” Haaretz September 19th, P1. The story is about the fact that in October 2000, 13 Arab citizens of the State of Israel were shot dead by forces of the Government of Israel during rioting in the northern part of the country. There was a special Judicial Commission into the riots and the response from Government forces. Upon its conclusion, the Police Investigation Department of the Ministry of Justice resumed its investigations. ‘The Police Investigations Unit said it had not found sufficient evidence to indict any of the police officers, In some cases, investigators were unable to locate the police officers involved in the riots. In other instances, they were unable to determine which police officer was responsible for the gunfire that killed the rioters.’ … ‘Another problem facing the investigators was the fact that in most cases, Arab citizens and relatives of the victims refused to cooperate with the investigation teams. They refused to furnish their versions of the events and refused to allow autopsied to be performed on the dead’ … ‘In other cases, the Justice Ministry unit concluded that the firing had been illegal but was unable to identify those responsible after all the police officers involved had denied such actions.’



Despite the comment by Justice Ministry official Herzl Shviro, who headed the investigation, that ‘no one should try to each us how to investigate or doubt our incredibility and unbiased position,’ this is precisely what many people in both the Jewish and the Arab community are doing, and not surprisingly there are those who wonder what would have been the response of the Investigation Unit if the citizens killed had been Jewish citizens of Israel. The leading article in Haaretz, Tuesday September 20th P5, discusses the issue, concludes: ‘Under these circumstances, and in order to remove any doubt, it is especially important that the Attorney General himself – and not, for obvious reasons, the State Prosecutor – carefully examine the PID’s conclusions and decide whether the closure of the cases was justified. If he reaches the conclusion that it was, the families are still free to petition the High Court of Justice against this decision.’



On Wednesday and Thursday I had the opportunity to spend some time with a team from the Royal College of Defence Studies in London, which was on a visit to the Middle East as part of a year-long course on international relations. It was very interesting to hear from the members of the team about the impact on them of visiting different places and meeting people whom they would not normally meet. Once again, their experience illustrated the fact that there is nothing as helpful in gaining an understanding of what is happening here as spending some time travelling round Israel and Palestine. On Wednesday evening I had a chance to share with them some information about the work of the Church of Scotland, and also some of the personal experiences that we have had over the past 5 years. Thursday morning saw us on a whistle-stop tour of some of the places at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee which are connected with the life and work of Jesus. Three things stood out from the morning.

The first was the way in which Faith in Jesus affects the way one looks at a place such as the place where Jesus gave Peter not only breakfast but a chance to make a new start and accept new responsibilities. If there is no Faith, there is in fact not much to look at, or much to appreciate.

The second was the challenge in finding ways to try to communicate the stories associated with the places we visited.

The third was the questioning that I received from the Muslim army officer from Tanzania, who had a remarkably good knowledge of the events of the life of Christ. I certainly would not have been able to ask similar questions about the life and work of Mohammed.



While reading a book “Jerusalem, the Endless Crusade” by Andrew Sinclair, I came across a paragraph which I found quite thought-provoking. Writing about the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in the First World War, he said: “We fought on fields which had been the battlegrounds of Egyptians and Assyrian armies, where Hittites, Ethiopians, Persians, Parthians and Mongols poured out their blood in times when kingdoms were strong by the sword alone. The Ptolemies invaded Syria by this way, and here the Greeks put their colonising hands on the country. Alexander the Great made his route to Egypt. Pompey marched over the Maritime Plain and inaugurated Roman rule which lasted for centuries. … When the Commander-in-Chief had to decide how to take Jerusalem, we saw the British force move along precisely the same route that has been taken by armies since the time when Joshua overcame the Amorites.” (Ibid, P 213.) Andrew Sinclair was referring to the Via Maris as the route of all these armies, which passes by Capernaum.

Despite all the power and might of the people who had passed Capernaum going East or West to pursue their campaigns, their kingdoms have gone.

Yet, one other person set out from Capernaum to carry his campaign to Jerusalem. He had an “army” of 12 folk with him, plus some supporters and camp-followers. It would seem that he failed, as he ended up crucified. Yet, it is the example of Jesus that is still preached today, rather than that of Alexander the Great, or Pompey. I wonder what the group from the Royal College of Defence Studies made of that, and what sort of confidence it might give them about the lasting, or temporary, nature of their campaigns.



From time to time I happen to meet folk who are staff of other churches working here in Israel and Palestine. On Saturday morning in Bethlehem, I was with a friend who had taken a series of pictures of Al Shurooq School, and on our way home we stopped for a Falafel sandwich. As luck, or Providence, would have it, at the same place was a friend from the United States. He had had an experience this week which had angered him. Visitors from his denomination in the States had come to Israel. One of them, on his return to the USA, had written a comment about the reason for the height of the Wall which is being built by the Israeli army – 8 metres. Said the American minister, on the basis of his one visit to the Israeli side of the Wall, and therefore without having seen it from the Palestinian side, “It is built that height to prevent Palestinian terrorists shooting at Israeli apartment blocks and houses close to it.” In Abu Dis, close to Jerusalem, it would be difficult to find any Israeli dwelling house remotely close to the Wall, as it slices its way through Arab communities.

My friend had got a trifle worked up about such a comment, and about the fact that the person who had visited here for a short time, and who had not got in touch with the staff of his own church who have been working here for 10 years, was now making pronouncements about the Wall.



It is one of the frustrations of working here that Church visitors come and make little or no contact with people like my friend, or myself. On the other hand, when people do think about coming, and do try to make use of our experiences in planning in itinerary, it makes the effort and the struggle that we all face so much more worthwhile.



The news Bulletins tonight, Saturday, speak of the Israeli army massing troops outside Gaza. Rockets fired from Gaza by Palestinians. Helicopter strikes and rockets fired by Israelis. People killed in Tulkarm. People killed in Gaza. People wounded in Sderot. It all has a depressingly familiar ring to it.

In one sense it little matters who struck the first blow – the other side will have to respond, or it will appear to be weak. So, the violence which is never far below the surface could well break out again.

I wonder where the visitors whom I met earlier in the week – both military and civilian – would lay the blame, and would their responses be any different for having been here and seen both Israel and the West Bank?



On whom would you place the responsibility for the new violence? Answers on a post card please, or better still an e-mail!



Stay well

God bless.

Joan and Clarence



(No one here to proof read this week, so forgive the mistakes.)
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Circular Letter No 234
16th September 2005

Tuesday 13th September

The newspapers today are full of the reports of the final Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, ending 38 years of Occupation. However, there is one picture in Haaretz and in the Jerusalem Post which gives graphically illustrates the continuing reality of Gaza and its people – two Israeli soldiers closing and locking a Gate in the Fence that surrounds Gaza. The soldiers may have withdrawn from inside Gaza, but they control the Fence that surrounds it, and the crossings that provide exits from and entry to Gaza, even the one that is between Gaza and Egypt. Diplomatic sleight of hand seeks to claim credit for the Withdrawal while at the same time keeping complete control of who leaves and enters Gaza, by land, sea or air.

Other pictures show the destruction by Gazans of the Jewish Synagogues that were left standing in Gaza. This has been a weird story. Haaretz 12th September P2 carries a story about the Israeli Cabinet Meeting on Sunday September 11th, under the headline “Cabinet votes to leave Gush Katif synagogues intact.” ‘The Cabinet voted by a huge majority yesterday not to raze Gush Katif synagogues. …. Attorney General sharply criticized those who changed their votes. (Attorney General) Mazuz reminded them that only two weeks ago, they voted to reject Yisrael Katz’s proposal not to raze the synagogues in the former Gush Katif settlements. ‘The process is embarrassing and will carry a price. Any attempt to claim things have changed in the past two weeks shows lack of confidence in the courts.” (Defence Minister) Mofaz was sharply criticized during yesterday’s meeting by Acting Finance Minister Ehud Olmert, Itzik, Pines and Ramon. ‘This is an undignified demonstration of sanctimoniousness and hypocrisy’ Olmert added. ‘Had we heard all these arguments for leaving the synagogues a year and a half ago, there wouldn’t have been a single minister who voted for demolition, but you argued why it was necessary to raze them. You told us that if we didn’t raze them, we’d be abandoning they synagogues to the murderers who would turn them into mosques. All this time, you never mentioned our childhood and suddenly now you remember you grew up in a observant home? Think what the citizen thinks when he sees this decision-making process. He says to himself that a cabinet that managers matter of state this way cannot be trusted.’

Another aspect of the story is in an article headed: “PA to raze synagogues, spokesman says.” Haaretz 12th September P2.

MK Jamal Zahalka (Balad Party) said the Israeli Government planned to demolish the structures anyway, so it will be impossible to complain if the Palestinians decide to do so. “It’s a ticking bomb that will lead to unnecessary conflict. My concern is that right-wing elements will exploit the opportunity to attack mosques.” He said. “Israel has no right to demand the structures not be bulldozed, after the courts and the cabinet had decided to do so until yesterday. In addition, Israel converted hundreds of mosques in the territories into warehouses, restaurants, or just plain levelled them” Zahalka said.

An article to which I referred last week highlights the skeletons in the cupboard of the Israeli Jewish people. “Is Israel preserving the mosques?” by Meron Benvenisti. Haaretz September 8th P 5. ‘The Palestinians may wonder whether the principle that one must not harm holy sites applies only to synagogues or to abandoned mosques and churches as well. … Out of some 140 village mosques that were abandoned due to the war in 1948, some 100 were totally torn down. The rest, about 40, are in advanced stages of collapse and neglect, or are used by the Jewish residents for other purposes. … A large mosque in the heart of a Moshav in the Judean mountains serves as a warehouse and body shop for farming machines.’

Guess who said this and when: “A barbaric act by people who have no respect for sacred places.” Not a comment on the destruction of mosques, but a comment on the destruction of synagogues by the Israeli Foreign Minister. Haaretz Tuesday September 13th P3.

One of the recurrent themes in the past months among the Israeli Peace Bloc (Gush Shalom) and the Palestinians as a whole, is that the withdrawal from Gaza is a side-show, while the real work of expanding and consolidating Israeli presence on the West Bank continues unabated. The Jerusalem Post, Tuesday September 13th P13 has a major article entitled “Don’t Ask, don’t tell.” Above it is a picture of Ma’aleh Adumim. Under the headline is the question: “What is America’s attitude toward Israel’s continued construction in Ma’aleh Adumim and other settlement blocs? Amicable ambiguity is the name of the game.” The article gives little hope for the Palestinian community that settlement expansion will be halted – and if the record of Gaza is anything to go by, then one wonders what sort of trauma there will be when the West Bank Settlements have to be dismantled and evacuated.

Thursday 15th September.

The Minister of St Andrew’s Church, Jerusalem, is invited to be part of a number of different groups. One such group is “Men in Ministry.” It is a group of Christian pastors and lay people, almost all of whom are engaged in a ministry to offer the Gospel to Jewish people, with the hope that they will become Christian believers. They are also fairly committed Zionists. One result of these twin emphases is that there is almost no contact between them and the historical churches, which for the most part have their roots in the Palestinian community. I do not always feel comfortable in the group, but I try to go as regularly as I can, if for no other reason than to get to know people and hear of their work.

At the meeting this morning, I was asked a question about the policy of the Church of Scotland on Divestment. Did the views of the Presbyterian Church of the USA represent the views and policy of the Church of Scotland? To the best of my knowledge, there has not yet been a “policy” put to the General Assembly for discussion or decision. However, this is a topic which is very much to the fore here. Articles in the papers can sometimes be quite strident in their comments about individual people. Haaretz, Wednesday September 14, P9 has an article entitled: “The divestment snowball ; The Presbyterian Church is threatening to withdraw investments in companies that it says aid the Israeli occupation, and many other churches are following suit.”

It was to this that my questioner was referring. We did not have time to pursue the matter, but in general most of those present on Thursday would oppose “Divestment” and see it as almost an immoral way to try to put pressure on the Government of Israel and the Jewish people. Interestingly, I suspect that the majority of them would not expect their churches to invest in companies that produced Alcohol or Tobacco, so probably the principle of selective investment is not the issue. It is rather the question of support for, or opposition to, the policies of the Israeli Government.

A totally different organisation with which I have contacts is Sabeel, the Ecumenical Palestinian Liberation Theology Centre. Its leader is Canon Naim Ateek. They have just moved their offices to a new location, and so they were having a sort of “blessing” of the building, and invited supporters to come along and share in the celebration. Not surprisingly, but sadly, I was the only person there who had been at the morning meeting of the Men in Ministry. There was one other person there who attends the Men in Ministry from time to time.

Both organisations work for Peace. Both organisations speak of the blessings that they have received from God. Both organisations speak of the increased support they are finding in the local community, and also internationally. Yet neither organisation really knows that the other exists. Differences in theology, differences in politics, differences in visions – I wonder how it all looks to the outsider?

Quite apart from the two “domestic” events to which I have referred, Thursday also brought two major world events.

The one was the speech to the United Nations by Mr.. Sharon. Haaretz Friday September 16, P1. “PM: my next goal is to end conflict.” Mr.. Sharon ‘reaches out today to our Palestinian neighbours in a call for reconciliation and compromise to end the bloody conflict and embark on the path which leads to peace and understanding between our peoples, … He also presented his red lines “There will be no compromise on the right of the State of Israel to exist as a Jewish state, with defensible borders.’

What that policy means in actuality was being spelled out in the High Court of Israel, which delivered its judgement on a number of appeals against the Separation Wall/Barrier/Fence. In a particular case, a ruling was unanimously given that the route of the Wall round an area near Jayyous would have to be totally altered so that it does not separate Palestinian villages from the rest of the West Bank. However, Haaretz September 16 P2 ‘As opposed to the ruling of the International court of Justice in The Hague, the High Court ruled that the state does have the authority to build the Fence in the West Bank, and was under no obligation to move it to within the Green Line. It determined that the fence could protect the settlements and not just the area within the Green Line and that it could serve to connect settlements to Israel.’

To which Mr. Sharon is the world supposed to listen? To the one who states that the Synagogues in Gaza will have to be demolished? Or the one who states that the Synagogues in Gaza will have to be left standing?

To the one who reaches out to the Palestinian people inviting them to make peace? Or to the one whose Government has constructed the Fence on land belonging to Palestinians which it conquered in 1967, and which it wishes to incorporate into Israel. If Mr. Sharon has “red lines” will it be surprising if the Palestinians also have “red lines”?

It has been, to me, a very sad experience this week listening to all the folk at the UN talking about “Terrorism” and the need to combat it. I suppose for me part of the sadness is that the definition which some people would like to see adopted would apply to “unofficial” organisations, while “official” organisations such as armies and airforces would not be included as those who might be guilty of terrorism. Interestingly enough, though, a retired General of the Israeli Army who arrived in London on a flight from Israel did not leave the plane. He was warned that a warrant had been issued for his arrest on the grounds that he had committed War Crimes when he had ordered the destruction of Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip. Subsequently, the former Head of the Israeli Defence Forces cancelled a trip to the UK when he was told that a warrant for his arrest might also be issued. Also the current head of the Israeli Defence Forces, the officer who authorised the dropping of a one-ton bomb on an apartment block in order to kill a “terrorist” has been advised not to visit the UK.

A good week? A bad week? I suppose it depends on where you are standing.

Commercial : Incomes are still low on the West Bank. Handcraft sales would help to boost them! I will be delighted to offer assistance to separate you from your money.

Stay well. God bless

Joan and Clarence

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Circular Letter No 233
10th September 2005

Listening to a conversation during the week highlighted the enormous gulf that separates the two main communities here – the Jewish community and the Arab community. A young boy was seriously ill in Gaza. In the way that things sometimes work here, treatment was offered to him by a hospital in Israel, permits were issued for his parents to accompany him to the hospital, and he is now receiving the needed treatment.

Gazan parents who have spent much of their energy opposing the policies of successive Governments of Israel and their effects on the life of the people of Gaza were faced with the need to find treatment for their son. It was not available in Gaza, and the easiest place to find it was Israel. It is not always easy to have to accept help from people whose Government you have spent much of your life opposing.

Israeli Jewish officials who have spent much of their time trying to ensure the security of their State and people by restricting entry of Palestinians into Israel were faced with a humanitarian crisis that could only be resolved if they changed their normal practice and issued the necessary permits for Palestinians to enter Israel.

They were adults, quite literally on the opposite sides of the fence, who somehow had to co-operate, or watch a young boy probably die. In this case, which is far from unique, the desire to keep someone alive overcame the various obstacles that could have resulted in death.

But the story does not end there. The young boy, surrounded by Jewish doctors and nurses in a hospital in Israel, has to come to terms with a whole new situation that he had never encountered before. Living in Gaza, the only Jewish people who he had encountered or seen were Soldiers and Settlers. They represented Violence and Occupation. Through no fault of his own, he had no opportunity to meet Jewish people in circumstances where he could talk with them, learn about them, and perhaps even begin to understand them. Suddenly his world was transformed, and it was Jewish people who were struggling to keep him alive.

The miracle is that such events do occur. The sadness is that it so often takes a crisis to let people from the two communities see that they are, after all, fellow human beings.

But then there are other divisions also. There is division based on religious faith between Palestinian Christians and Palestinian Muslims. Most of the time, the two communities are united in a common struggle for the rights of all Palestinians. Occasionally, their different traditions and religious beliefs come out with a violence that can be shocking.

One of the enormously sensitive issues surrounds the question of Christians and Muslims developing any sort of romantic relationship. At the weekend, there was a frightening series of events. In a village to the north of Jerusalem, a young Muslim woman was accused of having a sexual affair with a young Christian man from the neighbouring village of Taybeh. Taybeh is a completely Christian village. Following whatever steps that her family took to ascertain the truth or otherwise of the accusations against her, she was made to drink poison and she died. Then, on Saturday night or early Sunday morning, a large group of Muslim men made their way to Taybeh where they attacked property belonging to the family of the person alleged to be having this affair. 14 houses were torched, property damaged, and then the people went back to their own village. Who knows what the effect on both villages will be of this “execution” and of the subsequent attack.

Another division within the Palestinian community is that between “the corrupt” and “the less corrupt”. It is widely said that many of the people who surrounded Mr. Arafat were corrupt, and siphoned off for personal use considerable sums of money given to help the whole Palestinian people. It is a sort of axiom that the success which Hamas has enjoyed in elections among Palestinians is partly the result of people thinking it is less corrupt. I am not in a position to give specific illustrations of corruption or lack of corruption, but merely recounting what I hear. The subject was brought very forcibly to mind by the killing in Gaza on Wednesday morning of another Mr. Arafat – General Moussa Arafat, the nephew of Yasser Arafat. In an article about him in the Jerusalem Post, Thursday 8th September, P7, there is the following paragraph: ‘Palestinians say Moussa Arafat exploited his uncle’s backing to impose a reign of terror and intimidation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. “He was involved in all sorts of crime, including car thefts, extortion, murder, smuggling of weapons and alcohol, kidnappings and sexual abuse,” said a Palestinian security source.

Divisions exist also within the Jewish community. One of those divisions which is occupying a prominent position at the moment concerns what should be done with the Synagogues that have been left behind in the former Settlements in Gaza. A Leader article in Haaretz on Thursday 8th September P5 argues forcefully for the destruction of the buildings. They have ceased to have relevance as centres of worship, as the population has left. There is therefore no need to retain them. Others, just as forcefully, argue that it is against divine law for Jewish people to demolish Jewish places of worship. Let them be left intact, and if the Palestinian authorities are not able to protect them, then it will be a failure for the world to see. One Opinion article in the same edition of Haaretz dares to ask the question about the way in which the State of Israel has treated Mosques in villages and communities from which Muslims were forced to move. The conclusion of an article, Haaretz 8th September P5 entitled “Is Israel preserving the Mosques?” is: ‘The Israeli Government knows why it does not want to demand that the Palestinians protect synagogues. What if the Palestinians post a counter demand – to compel Israel to look after the dilapidated mosques in its territory? And all the good-hearted people, whose hearts ache to see the destruction of a synagogue, would they raise a hue and cry to save the mosques of Ijzim, Lajjun and Ghabbasiyah? At least they should acknowledge that the feelings aroused by the destruction of abandoned synagogues are shared by hundreds of thousands of Israeli Moslems at the sight of their disappearing holy sites. Perhaps, when everyone recognises that the pain over destruction is universal, the war over the holy places will end.’

[As a sort of aside – when living in Edinburgh, we were regularly confronted with the sight of Christian church buildings, no longer needed by the Christian worshipping community, which had been converted to other uses – some religious, some secular. It was often a painful sight.]

There are then the dividing lines that have been, and are being, drawn between Israel and the West Bank and Gaza. There is the Wall, - horrendous to look at, and despite all the protestations of the Israeli government about it being for Security, recognised by many as a stratagem to obtain more land for the State of Israel. One only has to drive around parts of Jerusalem to see how oppressive it is, and how much land is being enclosed by it. Where there will be Crossing Points in the Wall, there are under construction enormous “check points.” It goes without saying that they are being constructed on land on the Palestinian side of the Green Line. What had been a relatively insignificant check point in terms of size at the northern end of the Jordan Valley road where it leaves Palestine and enters Israel, has been moved approx 1 km south, and extended enormously. There will be facilities for checking vehicles, similar to those at the crossing into Jordan or Egypt. There are passages marked off by steel barriers along which pedestrians will have to pass, - and almost all of the pedestrians will be Palestinians. The same sort of construction has been erected at the entrance to Bethlehem. The same sort of construction is being erected at Kalandia, kilometres inside the Green Line, to control access to and from Ramallah. And so it goes on. Division, and yet more division.

A chilling advertisement is on the back page of a special edition of the Haaretz Magazine for August 15th. Entitled “Goodbye to all that”, it is a collection of articles by Haaretz writers dealing with the Disengagement. The picture in the Advertisement is a rectangle. In the centre is a vertical black line, to the left of which is a blue area, and to the right a green area. The text below the picture explains all: “A prosperous and secure Israel. An Israel able to focus on education, employment and community – is an Israel separate from the Palestinians. We support everyone working to make this our reality. Together we are the majority. This is our symbol.” www.the-majority.com

One of those who has declared his candidacy for the post of Leadership of the Likud Party is Mr. Uzi Landau. He is on the right wing of the Party, and he gave an interview to the Jerusalem Post this week. In response to the question: “Why do you want to be Prime Minister?” he replied” “Where diplomacy and defence are concerned, the Prime Minister (Mr Sharon) has reneged on every single commitment to the Likud and the voters. We are witnessing active surrender to the brutal terrorism that has been hitting us since Oslo and particularly in the last four years, leaving unprecedented numbers of casualties. … Now we have a Prime Minister – a man whose policies I supported for dozens of years – who calls this (Gaza) ‘occupied territory’. And he’s taken this wonderful group of people and demonised them as enemies of the state. People who for so many years symbolized and epitomised Zionism are now being spoken of in the Prime Minister’s Office as ‘more dangerous that Arab terrorists.’ It is beyond unfathomable. … It is a human tragedy. These are people who don’t know where they’re going to live, who don’t know where they’re going to work, who don’t know where their children are going to go to school.” Ironically, what Mr. Landau says almost exactly describes what is happening to the Arab population of areas around Jerusalem who are being locked out of the city by the Wall, and who do not know what they are going to do and where their children will go to school.

Mr. Haim Ramon is a Labour party MK. In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, (Friday September 9th P2) he sets out some of his views. “Israel should re-route the security barrier to the south of Jerusalem to exclude 50,000 - 60,000 Arab residents and thus prevent a further deterioration in the capital’s demographic balance. … Jerusalem today is one third Arab, one third Haredi (ultra-religious ) and one third Zionist. … Ramon reiterated a vision for Jerusalem in which ‘all the Jewish areas must be under Israeli sovereignty, including of course the neighbourhoods beyond the 1967 Green Line – Ma’aleh Adumim (on the road to Jericho to the East), Givat Ze’ev (in the North near Ramallah) and Betar Illit (to the West of Bethlehem.)

One of the facts of life in Jerusalem is that when there is a major Jewish celebration, there are major road closures. This affects everyone. This week I was in an office in East Jerusalem talking with a woman who works there. She is Palestinian, or Arab, who was born in Jerusalem and has lived all her life here. She was extremely angry, as every time there are closures of roads, she can barely leave her house. She cannot go to visit her family and friends cannot come to visit her, as she lives close to one of the main thoroughfares of the city. The rights of one group to celebrate and worship are allowed to trample over the rights of other groups to actually live normal lives. October will see much of this, when there are the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah (New Year), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) and Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles).

Sadly, division is easy to impose. Finding ways to bring people together is much more difficult.

Stay well. God bless

Joan and Clarence

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Circular Letter No 232
3rd September 2005

One of the problems of attempting to create a State based on religious or racial identities is what is done when laws of the State have to be applied to citizens of a different racial or religious group.

The issue is highlighted at present here with the treatment of the families of those who were killed by the young Israeli Jewish soldier in Shfaram on Thursday 5th August. In a response to the killings, Mr. Sharon was quoted in Haaretz on Friday 5th August, P1, as saying: “This was a heinous act by a blood-thirsty terrorist, a member of the Jewish people who wanted to hurt innocent Israeli civilians.”

However, two articles, Haaretz on Tuesday August 30th P1: “Shfaram victims won’t be recognised by terror law” and the Jerusalem Post on Wednesday August 31st P2: “Shfaram dead not ‘terror victims’” carry reports on the decision of an inter-ministerial committee headed by a Defence ministry official. Haaretz: ‘The victims of the terrorist attack in Shfaram and their families will receive a one-time compensation for the state, but will not be recognised as terror victims. … The law recognises only victims of hostile acts perpetrated by “enemy forces” as terror victims. In Shfaram the murderer was a Jewish soldier, and therefore is not considered a member of enemy forces. … The families of the terror victims in Shfaram were angered by the decision not to recognise them as terror victims. “It’s a matter of principle. It should be a clear message to all the extremists, and perhaps serve as some kind of deterrence. But this decision tells us that according to the law, what happened in Shfaram is neither terror nor an act of hostility, but an incident in which there were fatalities and casualties. … What kind of message does that convey to the public? … That it is permitted to kill Arabs and does not count as terror?’

It is not impossible that you will have heard during the course of the week that Mr Netanyahu has formally announced that he will stand as a candidate in the forthcoming election for the leadership of the Likud Party. This is the party which is currently the leading party in the Coalition Government, and has as its leader Mr Sharon. There is bitter rivalry between Mr Sharon and Mr Netanyahu, and no-one was at all surprised at the announcement by Mr Netanyahu. Which does not mean that there is universal support for him, nor universal agreement that he has made a wise decision. In a humourous start to an article entitled “On Sharon and Turkeys” in Haaretz Friday September 2, P B4, the writer says: “You’ll never find a turkey asking to push up Thanksgiving, to quote a famous American proverb.” He suggests that this is exactly what Mr Netanyahu is doing in precipitating Primary elections within Likud which could well lead to Mr Sharon ceasing to be the leader of the Party, and perhaps then being unable to continue in office as Prime Minister. That would in turn lead to a General Election, which Likud might well lose.

Anyway, Mr Netanyahu has lost no time in setting out his stall. Having been opposed to the withdrawal from Gaza, he has gone on to the West Bank, to demonstrate his determination to expand Jewish presence there. The headline in Jerusalem Post Thursday September 1, P5 reads: “Netanyahu: Jerusalem is under siege.” ‘Standing on a barren hilltop north of Jerusalem, Mr Netanyahu told reporters that if he is elected prime minister, he will build 15,000 housing units in the area (known as E-1), in an effort to connect Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim and prevent illegal Palestinian construction from cutting off Ma’ale Adumim from the Capital. “We have to break the siege of Jerusalem” said Mr Netanyahu.’

15,000 housing units would represent at a conservative guess at least 60,000 people. The Settlements in Gaza comprised less than 9,000 people. It is not hard to see what would be the effect of such a massive building and Settlement programme. It would virtually wipe out any possibility of a link between the Arab community in East Jerusalem with what is hoped will become Palestine. It would also add yet another obstacle to any Withdrawal from the West Bank. And it would be letting other countries know exactly how Israel regards their advice. So at least, as far as Mr Netanyahu’s position is concerned, it is clear what his intentions are.

I have always thought it a bit of a mis-nomer to speak of the Civil Administration which “governs” the West Bank. It is an area under Military Occupation, and even in those areas which are nominally under Palestinian control, the Israeli army regards itself as having the right to carry out military operations. Within the overall Occupation, there is the Civil Administration, which has some responsibility for Law and Order. The Head of it is an Israeli Army officer. A very frank, and disturbing, article in Haaretz Magazine for August 19th , Pp 8 – 10, is headed: “Goodbye, cruel West Bank.” It is about the outgoing head of the Civil Administration, Brigadier General Ilan Paz. P9 – ‘Paz is retiring from the IDF after 27 years of service. … He wrote several letters of resignation (during his three years of service as Head of the Civil Administration), but at the last minute he decided not to send them, not least because he considered himself a final barrier protecting what remains of the rule of law. In response to the question: “Does the IDF treat the settlers with kid gloves?”, Paz replied: “I cannot say that the rule of law exists in the territories. The Israeli law enforcement agencies in the territories are stretched thin in personnel, especially the police. … The result is that it is impossible to say that the law is being enforced as we would wish it to be enforced, not in its criminal aspects and not in its civil aspects.” Paz was not surprised by the terrorist attach perpetrated in the Arab town of Shfaram by Eden Natan Zada, a soldier from the Settlement of Tappuah. “When I was Binyamin Brigade commander, there were four terror attached in my section in which members of a Jewish terrorist organisation killed 4 Palestinians. Not one of the perpetrators has been caught to this day. So how can one be surprised at what happened in Shfaram? It’s not the first time.” The picture that he paints is of Settlers being able to do what they want, with the Army impotent to prevent them from acting illegally. When such a senior officer speaks in this way, it would be good for the Government and people of Israel to take notice. Certainly what he says of the Settlements and the way they have spread is entirely borne out by what we have seen on our journeys around the West Bank.

Thursday 1st September.

A phone call from a woman whom we had met about 18 months ago at the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity services led to a meeting at St Andrew’s this morning. Two women came, both of them Jewish. They are part of an informal organisation called “Union of Light.” Each year, at the times of the Solstices and the Equinoxes, they hold “events” in Jerusalem and other parts of the country. This year, when they were thinking about the event they hope to hold on the Equinox on September 21st, they discovered that this has been designated World Peace Day by the World Council of Churches and by the UN. So, they called me to see if there was any way in which they might be able to organise something along with a Christian group, or groups, to think about, and pray for, Peace. It was a good meeting, and we hope to be able to meet again in a few days with some others who might be interested. In a city where it is so easy to become negative, it was good to have this sort of positive approach from these two women.

To mark the opening of a season of concerts by the Jerusalem Chamber Orchestra, involving among others Daniel Barenboim, the Jerusalem International YMCA (JIY) held an open air reception at the front of the building. After the speeches, some young saxophonists gave a short recital. It was an evocative setting. The publicity board at the side of the speaker’s dais was advertising “Chefs for Peace” – an organisation of Jewish and Arab chefs who regularly work together. In the audience, there were Israeli Jewish people and Arab people, as well as expatriates, as one would expect at the JIY. Standing listening to the music, looking at the guests, and then across the street to the walls of the King David Hotel, I could not help thinking how different it had all been at the JIY on July 22, 1946, when Jewish fighters had blown up part of the King David Hotel with the loss of 91 lives. (Were they Freedom Fighters? Or Terrorists? ) How much more positive and how much more hopeful was the creativity of this event, than the destruction of the former event.

So, all in all, Thursday was a good day, almost.

In late Thursday afternoon, traffic in the central area of West Jerusalem was chaotic. It had been decided that 15 of the bodies of Jewish people who had been buried in the Gaza Strip would be re-interred in the Jewish Cemetery on the Mount of Olives. Jewish tradition holds that when the Messiah comes, those buried on the Mount of Olives will be the first to be resurrected. To enable this re-burial to take place, and to ensure that those going to this ceremony would be able to get there, the police closed many roads. It took me 10 minutes to get from our house to a shop in East Jerusalem. 10 minutes later when I set out to go home, roads had been closed. It took me 70 minutes to get home, and a journey 5 or 6 times as long as normal.

It gave me time as I sat in traffic queues to reflect on this business of the evacuation of the Settlements in Gaza. There has been the legislative process, with its generation of huge animosities, to say nothing of the time it has taken. There has been the emotional turmoil within the Israeli Jewish community, about the giving up of what some considered to be their God-given land. There has been the cost, not least in terms of the huge deployment of Israeli army and police personnel to actually carry out the evacuation. There has been the cost of the compensation paid to the Settlers – between $350,000 and $500,000 per household is one figure that I have seen. Then there will be the cost of the re-settlement, and all that the State is going to do to assist the “refugees” as they are given to describing themselves. With this precedent, and with this expense, is there any realistic expectation that Settlements from the West Bank will be evacuated?

At the turn of the year it was the destruction in Asia caused by the Tsunami that was beyond belief. Now it is the destruction in the Gulf Coast area of the United States that is beyond comprehension. We have heard from one friend whose family is in New Orleans and the following is part of her e-mail: “As of Friday, I’ve spoken to one of my sisters and her family, who evacuated and are now in Texas, but they assume their homes are lost. My second sister and husband reportedly survived at their home in Picayune, Miss., but I haven’t been able to speak to them yet and I don’t know the whereabouts of all of my nieces and nephews. My 95-year-old aunt is (was?) at a nursing home in New Orleans that I heard didn’t evacuate. I have no knowledge of her condition or whereabouts. Most of my immediate family is safe, but I have other cousins, extended family and friends that I have not heard from, and I don’t know if or when I’ll ever learn of their fate. The city of my ancestors, the city where I was born, grew up and was married, the city where I have so many ties, is no more, and I feel a profound sadness. The response of our federal government to this disaster is a national disgrace, and the ugly divisions of race and class in this country have blatantly been exposed. Thousands are still suffering, and they need our prayers and help. May God have mercy on them all.”

It is a bizarre world when on one TV channel there are the pictures of the total destruction of communities and lives in the Southern States, while on another channel there are the pictures of the gladiators of the tennis courts slugging it out in New York.

Stay well. God bless

Joan and Clarence

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Circular Letter No 231
27th August 2005

In Haaretz for Sunday August 14, P1, in an article headed “ ‘X’ marks the spot in north Gaza ghost towns” there is the following: ‘The army marks every house that has been evacuated with a big “X” inside a circle. Soon, the home of Yonatan and Galit Meir will be marked too. … Last June, when Yonatan realised that the disengagement was unstoppable, he halted work on an extension to the house. The olive tree that was planted five years ago in the yard was dug up on Friday, its roots cleaned off and watered thoroughly. Yonatan has not decided where to replant it. “That was the hardest thing of all for me. This isn’t an ordinary olive tree. It has enormous significance. It’s a tree of life, of blessing. These trees are important to us too, not only to the Arabs.’ There is a poignancy in his remark, and a truth about the significance. It is a pity that the same opportunity was not given to the thousands of Palestinian tree owners whose trees were uprooted by the bulldozers of the Israeli army and the fence contractors to dig up their own trees, and find places to replant them.

You may recall the story of Mufidi from Jayyous, whose saved and borrowed to purchase 8 trees outside the village. Being on land that the Israeli army decided was to be the route of the Fence, they were uprooted. She was devastated. Unlike Yonatan Meir, she had no chance to save them. (That particular story has a happy ending of sorts, in that donations from people overseas enabled us to assist her to buy some other trees. But the reality is that it took donations from non-Israelis to right the wrong that had been done by the Israeli army.)


Monday August 22nd.

The TV news crews are back in Gaza, and there are scenes on most Bulletins of houses in different Settlements in Gaza being demolished. The headline of an article in Haaretz, Monday 22nd August, P4, reminds us of what happened when there were no TV crews to film it, and few, if any, took any notice of what was happening to the Palestinians so that the Israeli Settlements could be built and then “protected”. “What Netzarim (a Settlement in Central Gaza Strip) cost Sheikh Ajlin : 114 lives, 1,900 dunams, 105 homes.” ‘In the past 5 years, all of the vineyards and fields surrounding the Settlement (of Netzarim) covering a radius out to 1 kilometre, were uprooted.’

I doubt if there is an archive of film showing all that demolition, similar to the archive that is being amassed now of the evacuation and demolition of the Settlements.


Wednesday August 24th.

There is a general feeling of relief at the conclusion of the evacuation of all the Settlements in Gaza and the 4 Settlements in the northern area of the West Bank. None of the fears of violence materialised. Settlers did not use weapons. Palestinians in Gaza did not launch attacks during the evacuation. And it all happened so much more quickly than had been anticipated. The headline in Haaretz, August 24th P1, says it all: “Evacuation takes six days; IDF to exit Gaza by Sept. 15”

So, a cause for optimism – the creation of a new climate for “Peace”? Perhaps, but another article on the same page has the headline: “IDF takes land for fence around Ma’aleh Adumim”. ‘The Israel Defence Forces and the Civil Administration began issuing land expropriation orders this week for construction of the separation fence around Ma’aleh Adumim. … The United States strongly opposed construction of a fence around the large West Bank Settlement, arguing that it would impede the establishment of a viable Palestinian state by making it hard to move between the northern and southern West Bank. … The planned route would put the easternmost point of the fence abound Ma’aleh Adumim some 25 kilometres from the Green Line, or about half the width of the West Bank.’

If this actually happens, it will mean that the Wall/Fence will be 2/3s of the way to Jericho. The distance chart in my book of maps says that Jerusalem to Jericho is a distance of 38 kms.


Is it co-incidental that these notices are being given out now, when the sight and sound of the evacuation of Gaza has been filling the TV screens of the nation and the world? “You pays your money and you takes your choice.”

The series of services currently in different churches in Jerusalem under the title “Prayers for Peace” continues. Part of the service each evening is an invitation to “share the Peace” with the folk around you. This evening, the first person whom I greeted was Helmut. He is a young German man, working in a Christian organisation here in Jerusalem. If someone had suggested 60 years ago that not only would it be possible for those fighting each other in the Second World War to “share the Peace” but that it would seem absolutely normal to do so, he might have been ridiculed. Yet, as I have remarked before, enemies from the First World War and the Second World War come to lay wreaths in the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery here in Jerusalem each November. What might Israeli Jewish people be doing with Palestinian people in 60 years’ time?

Our neighbours came in for a chat tonight. The wife is an American woman who came here with her family when she was 6 years old. The husband is a Moroccan man who came here with his family when he was 6 months old. Both have been participants, in various ways and varying degrees, in The Peace Movement. In the mid-1950’s, when there was severe tension in Morocco between Muslims and Jews, his father brought his whole family, carrying only what they could put into suitcases, and sought refuge in Israel. Since then, he has been back to Morocco and has seen the family home which they had to leave. They do not want any other people here, be they Jewish or Muslim or Christian, to have to go through that experience. She will be enrolling in a course this winter at a village called Neve Shalom – a village created by Israeli Jewish and Arab citizens to try to find a way of living together and finding solutions to the problems of inter-community relations.

Listening to them tell of their fear of taking a bus journey because of the threat of suicide bombers on buses took me back to listening to people in Jayyous speak of their fear when Israeli army soldiers regularly came into their village, arresting people and damaging their property.

They spoke of their hope for a “solution” but, in realistic terms, they do not see one. Israel is surrounded by a ring of Arab states, and so, for the safety of the State, it has to retain control of the Jordan Valley. Yet, there is a feeling that in the end, this will not work as a means of ensuring the existence of Israel. They do not agree with the policy of creating Settlements on the West Bank, and he has refused to work on projects linked with Settlements. They supported the withdrawal from Gaza, yet they have some ambivalence about the “Settlement Blocs” on the West Bank, and the need for Israel to retain them. Like many, many people, they feel trapped in a country with two diametrically opposed communities.

An illustration of this was their reference to the “HaTikvah”. This is the National Anthem of Israel, and an English translation of the words found on the Internet is: “As long as the Jewish spirit is yearning deep in the heart, with eyes turned toward the East, looking toward Zion, then our hope - the two-thousand-year-old hope - will not be lost: to be a free people in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem.” For them, it is a meaningful anthem, but they are fully aware that the Arab citizens of Israel view it in an entirely different light.

Friday 26th August. Permits and Visas. Still no word for the teachers of Tabeetha or for Helen Shehadeh. This is the reality of the environment in which one is told to have a “balanced” approach.

We spent part of the day in Shefaram, the Arab village where an Israeli Jewish soldier recently killed 4 Arabs. We had gone to visit friends from Edinburgh whose family lives there, and who suffered a bereavement in the shooting. There were all the “normal” parts of a conversation – family news, work news, community news. But then there were those other parts of the conversation – the differences between pre-1948 and post-; the emigration of people from Galilee to find work, to find peace, and in a sense to find a future for their families. There is a desire for the two communities to live together, recognising each other’s needs and rights. But their past experience gives them little confidence for the future.

In the evening, I had a chance to peruse the paper for the day. It is not only interesting, it is at times alarming, to see how different people in other parts of the world have reacted to the withdrawal of Israeli Settlers from Gaza. In particular today, my attention was caught by one headline: “’Moral burden’ is now on the PA, Jesse Jackson says.” ‘Reverend Jesse Jackson yesterday telephoned Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Danny Ayalon, to convey his congratulations to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on the implementation of the disengagement plan. In a statement, Jackson spoke of the Palestinians’ ‘Moral obligation’ to do their share. “Sharon made a bold and painful step toward a long-term solution … He deserves a partnership that is just as bold and committed” Jackson announced. “The moral burden now substantially shifts to the Palestinians.’

The same page has other headlines:

“Sharon ordered E-1 police HQ built two months ago” – referring to the decision to build an Israeli Police Headquarters building on land within the West Bank, which the Israeli Government wishes to enclose inside the Wall around Jerusalem.

“Mofaz: Rafah border terminal should be used for exits only.” - referring to a proposal by the Israeli Defence Minister that people may leave Gaza through Rafah to enter Egypt, but those wishing to enter Gaza from Egypt would have to go through a different crossing controlled by Israel.

The front page:

“IDF fears escalation after five killed in Tul Karm.” This refers to an operation in Tul Karm on Wednesday night of this week, when an Israeli army undercover unit tried to arrest one person, became involved in fighting, and ended up killing 5 people, including a 16 year-old boy. Even within the Israeli army it is reported that there were officers who questioned this sort of operation.

That is 13 Arab people killed in Israel and the West Bank in the past couple of weeks. People here wonder what Mr Jackson might say about the “moral obligation” of Israel. They look for him to give the same publicity to that sort of a statement as he gave to the one about the ‘moral obligation’ of the Palestinians.


Joan is back home again. So now, there are even more pictures of mother and baby!


Stay well. God bless.

Joan and Clarence


In what may well be the last opportunity for us to organise a Group here, we are inviting those who might be interested in being part of a Group during Holy Week 2006, to get in touch with us. Dates would be : Depart Edinburgh (or elsewhere) Friday April 7th to arrive at Ben Gurion Airport Saturday April 8th. Leave from Ben Gurion on Monday April 17th. The Itinerary will include the Palm Sunday celebrations in Jerusalem, a visit to the Galilee, Maundy Thursday evening, Good Friday and Easter Sunday in Jerusalem. Other visits will be included to meet with the wishes and interests of the participants. I will try to have reasonably firm details for next week.

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Circular Letter No 230
20th August 2005

Even in private, I imagine that few of us like to admit to ourselves that we have been wrong – that we have made a mistake. In public it is that much harder.

This week, like many of you, I have been watching the TV screens and reading the papers giving their separate accounts of the evacuation of the Jewish Settlements in Gaza. Early in the week there was the TV speech from Mr. Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel. In the course of this he said that the anger of the Settlers should not be directed against the soldiers and the police, but against him, as he had been responsible for the decision to remove the Settlements from Gaza. Whatever the rights or the wrongs of the situation, for someone in Mr. Sharon’s position, who is widely acknowledged as “the Father of Settlements” to have to speak in public and accept responsibility for the demolition of Settlements, cannot have been easy – it was in fact admitting that one of the cornerstones of his life’s work had been a mistake.

Whether, as many on the Right of the political scene fear, there has now started an inexorable move to evacuating more and more of the Settlements on the West Bank, and the retreat from the vision of a Greater Israel with its Eastern Border on the Jordan River and its Western Border on the Mediterranean Sea, or, as many on the left of the political scene fear, along with most of the Palestinians, that the evacuation from Gaza is but a diversion from the real agenda of continuing control and further colonisation of the West Bank, only time will tell. What, in my eyes, is undeniable, is that a couple of years ago few would have thought they would have seen the day come as quickly as it has when the Settlements in Gaza would have disappeared. It was only a year or two ago that Mr Sharon was saying the Settlements in Gaza were as integral a part of Israel as Tel Aviv is.

Joan and I were spending the week with our daughter in Kuwait. (I am back in Jerusalem, Joan is still with Vivienne.) I had to rely, like most of you who read these letters, on TV for an account of what was happening. There were reports in the local papers, but they largely were Agency Reports, and did not include much that had not already been seen on TV.

It was a great circus. It lasted a few days. When I turned on my TV set this morning to see the News, the world had moved on, and Gaza hardly rated a mention. All is quiet as the Israeli Army and Police forces observe Shabbat, and so there is no story. One wonders what is happening in the Palestinian communities, and if there is nothing that is worth telling from there.

But while the circus lasted, there were compelling scenes, and equally compelling questions.

Questions about the impact of the presence of TV cameras. Would there have been the tears, the anguish, the drama, if there had been no TV presenters present?

Questions about the content of the spoken commentaries. While often the correspondents did speak of the fact that the Settlements were built on Occupied Land, I do not recall hearing any reference to the fact that Israel had been occupying Gaza in opposition to UN Resolutions and in contravention of Geneva Accords – and so it was in fact doing only what it should have done long ago – accepted that it had been wrong to construct the Settlements in the first place.

On many occasions the correspondents spoke about the pressure that there will be on the Palestinians to govern Gaza well. If they do not succeed in doing this, to standards that the international community and Israel will try to convince the world are the correct ones, then there are those who are ready to say that the evacuation was a mistake. It certainly is true that there is now enormous pressure on the Palestinian leadership, not only from the outside world, but also from within their own community. But that should not in any way detract from the fact that the evacuation was of illegal Settlements. If the outside world had exerted its influence 30 years ago, it is more than likely that these colonies would not have been established. (Where is the current pressure to stop the building programme on the West Bank? All the evidence of my eyes suggests that it is either non-existent, or ineffectual.)

Questions about the selection of material to be shown. Many were the scenes of grieving Settlers leaving their cherished homes where they have lived for the past 30 years. Few were the scenes I can recall of Palestinians whose land had been forcibly taken 30 years ago, and who have had to live with that grief and trauma for a whole generation.

On Wednesday, news came through of the killing of 4 Palestinians by an Israeli Jewish man on the West Bank. On BBC World, the channel which I was watching at the time, after the initial headlines which included this information, the programme continued with coverage of the happenings in Neve Dekalim and other Settlements. Only later in the programme was there coverage of these killings. The question certainly surfaced in my mind, and in the minds of others, as to the way the killing of 4 Israeli Jewish people by a Palestinian would have been handled in those circumstances.

But there were scenes that were worth a thousand words.

The view from the outside – from the Palestinian side – of the wall that surrounded Neve Dekalim. That Wall did not prevent the evacuation of Neve Dekalim. What will be the fate of the much bigger wall further north?

The contrast between the lush lawns, the neat rows of houses, the expansive homes of the Settlements, and the crowded, dusty homes of the Palestinians, so lacking in greenery. Lacking in greenery not becaus