Palestine 07

Weeping for the divided cities

2007-12-31T04:48:00.000+02:00

Here is a prayer read by Archbishop Phillip Aspinall at our group devotions in Jerusalem this morning (10 Dec 2007) in preparation for the journey to Bethlehem:

Lord Jesus Christ,
Today we share your tears for the cities of the world;
Still we have not loved the things that make for peace.

We weep for the divided cities:
Where brother fights with brother,
Where anger feeds on hatred,
Where prejudice blinds the eyes of compassion,
And even religion divides,
Where children are taught to hate,
And old men relish ancient wrongs.

We weep for the cities of oppression:
Where iron law imprisons freedom,
Where thought is curbed and conscience is stifled,
Where the questioning spirit is called a traitor,
Where art and civilising truth grow barren,
And each must think in manner as his neighbour.

We weep for the cities of poverty:
Where children live, but die too soon,
Where eager hands can find no work,
Where hunger rules and aid is short,
Where mothers clutch uncomprehending young,
And where the little we could do, we fail to do.

We weep for our cities and for ourselves;
We have not learned the things that make for peace.

Lord, turn
Tears to love
And love to work.
Turn work to justice
And all that makes for peace.

Amen.

Visit to Yad Vashem

2007-12-31T00:08:00.004+02:00

Today (Monday 10 Dec 2007) we moved from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, with important diversions. The first was a visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, and its flagship attraction, the Holocaust History Museum.

Most striking to me was the huge concrete bunker, vaguely reminiscent of a Chinese temple, housing the museum's displays. An Israeli Jew who is active in the peace movement guided us through the museum, and I found her commentary both professional and honest. We were not permitted to take pictures inside the museum.

For me, this magnificent historical record imparts two parallel messages. First, Yad Vashem provides a powerful reminder of the horror and extent of totalitarian oppression and the repression of ethnic minorities, and the unfathomable depths to which the human spirit can sink in the pursuit of power.

Having visited the Sydney Jewish Museum twice (I take Baptist theological students there as part of their ethics studies), I would say that it equals Yad Vashem in the quality and focus of its presentation of the Holocaust story. We can learn much about human suffering and loss, about the resilience and nobility of the human spirit in the face of injustice on an unimaginable scale, on the depths to which humans are capable of sinking when they regard other people as less than human, from reflecting on the stories of Jewish victims of Nazi oppression and genocide.

What Yad Vashem adds to the experience is its symbolic location (in the land of Israel), the pleasure of seeing many Israeli Jews passing slowly and studiously through the museum, and the deeply moving Hall of Names (pictured at right) which aims to identify and collect the names and personal records of all Jews murdered in the Holocaust.

Many of us have long heard the words "six million" in reference to the full Holocaust death toll. None of us has ever seen six million people, nor can we imagine so many faces together in one place. The risk in remembering the Holocaust death toll as a number is that the individuality of the murdered victims is bypassed. Yet each one was a person with rights and responsibilities just as you and I have. As Benjamin Fondane put it before he was murdered at Auchwitz in 1944: "Remember only that I was innocent and, just like you, mortal on that day, I, too, had had a face marked by rage, by pity and joy, quite simply, a human face!”

Second, having heard many stories from the lips of present-day suffering Palestinians and concerned Israelis, the testimony of Yad Vashem is that the world community, including the Israeli and Palestinian communities, must continue to learn from the most painful 20th-century experience of the Jewish people.

I am not alone in observing that uncomfortable (indeed obscene) similarities have been made between what occurred in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s and what has been contemplated against Palestinian Arabs by elements within the Israeli political and military elite. Many reasonable people will view such associations as either inflammatory or invalid, but I believe we should have the courage to "name the elephant in the room" and commit ourselves to rational dialogue and constructive action aimed at mutual understanding and a just peace. In applying this idiom here, I am not speaking of "truth" but of "perception." It is when we stop talking together in a civil manner that problems begin to grow.

Important differences have been observed too: the most obvious of which are that the Israeli Government is not engaged in a program of genocide but of legitimate self-defence against political and ideological enemies operating outside the rules of war; and that European Jews did not employ suicide bombers to make their political points, as some Palestinians have done and continue to do.

What can be said in response to such observations?

Each of us should employ the gifts of memory, world-knowledge, self-knowledge, critical analysis and wisdom we are given from God, and with the fruits of these gifts begin to shape a world that more fully reflects the values of justice, mercy and peace defined by the Torah and the other Jewish sacred writings.

Pictures:
1. Yad Vashem panorama, courtesy Vad Vashem website.
2. Hall of Names (partial interior), Yad Vashem website.
3. Edifice near entrance to Yad Vashem, quoting Ezekiel 37:14.
4. Exit of Yad Vashem Museum, looking toward the suburbs of Jerusalem.
5. Rev Merrill Kitchen lays a wreath in memory of the millions of European Jews murdered by Nazis.
6. Museum exit precinct.
7. Israeli flags and list of benefactors, Yad Vashem.

Lutheran World Federation urges peace in Palestine

2007-12-29T03:48:00.000+02:00

The Lutheran World Federation has appealed to Israeli and Palestinian leaders to “urgently pursue” the successful conclusion of a peace treaty between their nations, as agreed at the recent Middle East peace conference in Annapolis in the US.

At a full day of meetings in Annapolis in Maryland last month, Israeli and Palestinian Authority leaders announced that they had agreed to negotiate a peace treaty to establish a Palestinian state, with the goal of concluding the treaty by the end of 2008 – before Bush leaves office.

The LWF General Secretary Rev Dr Ishmael Noko pressed home the need for the two sides to continue where they left off in a letter sent to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday.

In his letter, he stressed that the LWF and its member churches around the world welcomed "wholeheartedly ... the revival of the fresh hopes for peace in the Holy Land" following Annapolis.

Noko quoted an open letter from Palestinian Lutheran Bishop Dr Munib A Younan to world leaders ahead of the Annapolis conference which stated that churches were "called to be a people of hope and choose not only to see the cup as half full but to commit ourselves to whatever it takes to make the cup overflow".

The LWF General Secretary admitted that the 2008 deadline for a conclusion to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations was “incredibly ambitious”. He noted, however, that it was “entirely necessary”, stressing the need for the leaders to drive forward with measures that would restore trust between the two sides “in order to create an environment in which peace can flower”.

Noko assured the Israeli and Palestinian leaders of the “constant and fervent prayers” of the LWF community throughout the next round of negotiations due to start on 12 December.

He added, however, that the leaders also needed to do everything they could to agree a peace treaty “resolving all outstanding issues and resulting in two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security – and the establishment of peace with justice in the Holy Land”.

The LWF would, he assured, keep up its ongoing work with other faith communities in the region to “counter despair and desperation”.

Noko also referred to a statement from the Council for Religious Institutions of the Holy Land in November in which Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders in the region affirmed their “responsibility to find the right way to live together in peace rather than to fight and kill one another”.

Following the Annapolis conference, Younan also challenged world leaders to turn their goodwill gestures and peace-speak into a reality.

“So far it’s just a signature; now they have to walk the talk,” said Munib Younan, the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, according to the World Council of Churches.

He added, “I do hope this is a serious attempt to achieve a lasting peace.”

Christian Today 6 Dec 2007

Meeting with Bishop Suheil Dawani

2007-12-24T09:13:00.001+02:00

In the evening of Sunday 9 Dec 2007, our Australian delegation met with Episcopal Bishop Suheil Dawani in a meeting room at St George's Cathedral in West Jerusalem.

Bishop Dawini told us, as many other Palestinian Christians have pointed out, that it is critically important to keep the "living stones" as well as the "historical stones" in Jerusalem. While many thousands of people visit the great holy sites of the Holy Land every year, the long exodus of wealthy and well educated Palestinians from the land continues. Today only about two per cent of the population is Palestinian - because of Palestinians leaving, Jews arriving throughout the past century, and Arabs tending to have large families (in refugee camps it is not unusual for parents to have 10-15 children).

More alarming still, Bishop Dawani said, is that "Our young people have lost hope for the future. Those who can, they leave Palestine for education, and they do not come back to this desperate situation."

Although the Cathedral has a small regular congregation, it supports 37 benevolent and educational institutions. For more information see http://www.j-diocese.org/.

Picture (L-R): Mr Yusef Daher, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall and Bishop Suheil Dawani, at St George's Cathedral, West Jerusalem.

Meeting with Sabeel

2007-12-24T09:07:00.001+02:00

On Sunday evening (9 Dec 2007) the Australian delegation met with four female representatives of Sabeel, the Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, a Jerusalem-based agency focused on justice and nonviolence. "Sabeel" is Arabic for "the Way," and for "water spring." I recommend you explore the main Sabeel website, and also the various Friends of Sabeel branches overseas. For Australians:

Friends of Sabeel Oceana Inc.
PO Box 4474
Forest Lake, Qld 4078
Email: sabeel at the domain faithfutures.org

Sabeel also publishes many high quality books and booklets, some of which will be reviewed in later blogs on this site.

Pictures:
1. Entrance to Sabeel, Jerusalem.
2. Sabeel board member Mrs Samia Khoury (left), speaking to Australian delegates and Sabeel members.
3. Sabeel Communities Coordinator Mrs Nora Karmi (centre) speaking to Australian delegates and Sabeel members; to her left is Rev Merrill Kitchen; to her right is Canadian Sabeel member Ms Cathy Nichols with her child.

Meeting with the American Jewish Committee

2007-12-24T09:06:00.001+02:00

After lunch on Sunday 9 Dec 2007, our delegation met with Rabbi Ed Retting at the American Jewish Committee. He represented Rabbi David Rosen, who was travelling overseas.

According to its website, "the American Jewish Committee, established in 1906 by a small group of American Jews deeply concerned about pogroms aimed at Russian Jews, determined that the best way to protect Jewish populations in danger would be to work towards a world in which all peoples were accorded respect and dignity.Over 100 years later, AJC continues its efforts to promote pluralistic and democratic societies where all minorities are protected. AJC is an international think tank and advocacy organization that attempts to identify trends and problems early - and take action."

The AJC's key areas of focus are:
Combating anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry;Promoting pluralism and shared democratic values;Supporting Israel's quest for peace and security;Advocating for energy independence;Strengthening Jewish life.

Rabbi Ed Retting described the American Jewish Committee as a "de facto foreign office for the American Jewish community," and a "defense agency" (a US administrative category); it is politically and religiously unaffiliated, with a membership of about 180,000.

Of particular note in Rabbi Retting's briefing was his categorisation of Israeli settlers in the West Bank into three classes:

(a) 80 per cent "non-ideological non-exclusivists";
(b) 15 per cent "idealistic moderates" aware of the problem;
(c) 5 per cent "the biggest bunch of hooligans and nut-cases I have ever had the misfortune to know."

Some quotes:

"Jewish society is split roughly 80-20 between 'hawks' and 'doves'."

"The biggest problem is that the Palestinians don't know us on our own terms."

"The Palestinians treat us like a Mack truck that jumped the guardrail and caused havoc."

"Saving a life outweighs the whole Torah."

"Building hospitals and schools [in the West Bank] is not about justice."

On the Separation Barrier and the segregated road system in the West Bank: "Separation for a period, as often recommended in marriage counselling, is a good thing because it allows both parties to calm down and see things more rationally."

"Jewish leaders need to ... help the Palestinians reach into their hearts and turn things around."

On Rabbi David Rosen see also http://rabbidavidrosen.net/

Picture: Rabbi Ed Retting addresses the Australian delegates at the American Jewish Committee building in West Jerusalem.

Meeting with the Israeli Government Press Office

2007-12-24T09:05:00.001+02:00

The only time available for the Israeli Government representatives to meet with our Australian delegation was Sunday morning, which I found extraordinary. However, we agreed to meet Mr Daniel Seaman, the Director of the Government Press Office (GPO), at Beit Agron, in West Jerusalem, at 11.30 am.

Mr Seaman met us in the library of the Journalists' Association. He talked about the context of the recent Annapolis peace talks, the failings of the Israeli educational system, the wisdom of a two-state solution, the need to oppose extremists in both Israel and Palestine, and many more political and social issues relating to the ongoing conflict.

Some quotes:

"Hoping for a peace agreement by the end of 2008 is upping the anti too much."

"The one-state solution is 'Orwellian-speak' and any resolution to the situation will require tangible concessions to Israel."

"The Arab-Israeli conflict is a golem created by those who wish for it."

"If the Arab world confirms that Iran has nuclear weapons, there will be a whole new dance [in the region]"

"In many places, thugs have taken over the Palestinian National Authority."

"The Separation Wall is a non-violent means of reducing Palestinian terrorism. It alows Israel to restrain itself against aggressors. It is a matter of our lives compared to their convenience."

"The one right that is elementary is the right to self-determination. All other rights are negotiable."

"There are indications that Israel and Syria are in secret negotiations. Syria is an essential party in any peace agreement because it can appear to make Israel weak if sabre-rattling becomes a reality."

"Israel is the Jewish state, just as Arab countries are Muslim states, and Italy, the USA and the UK are Christian states."

"Palestinian Israeli citizens are treated far better than minorities in other 'troubled' nationa are treated ... Our Supreme Court tries to correct problems, but it is hard to do so in the situation we face."

"On the fact of hundreds of roadblocks inside the West Bank: "Every week there are children stopped, carrying explosives."

"The Security Barrier is permanent, but the Supreme Court can determine its final location."

"Cynicism is not in my job description, but one has to have it in order to be optimistic."

"What we have all been through in the last seven years - none of us wants to go through that in the future."

On one-state versus two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict see also an excellent paper by Marian Kromkowski at http://www.onepalestine.org/resources/articles/One_State-Two_State.pdf

Pictures:

1. Mr Daniel Seaman addresses the Australian delegation at Beit Agron.

2. The delegation enjoys lunch at the Spaghettim Restaurant adjacent to Beit Agron (an experience I recommend, though not 'local' cuisine).

Worship at St Georges Cathedral

2007-12-24T09:04:00.000+02:00

This morning the various Australian delegates were free to attend services of their respective Christian traditions in Jerusalem. I joined three of our members for worship at the Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr, 20 Nablus Rd, West Jerusalem, near the Damascus Gate. The worship was broadly evangelical, in Arabic and English, and included communion. About 25 local Christians shared the service with us, and enjoyed morning tea of Arabic coffee and Arabic sweets.

At morning tea, I spoke to two men about the conflict and how it has impacted and continues to impact their lives. One, a senior public servant who preferred to remain anonymous, spoke about the 1967 war, claiming it was not a war but "an efficient means of transferring land from Jordan to Israel." Another, a senior administrator in a hospital in the West Bank, described his experience as a child whose family was displaced in the 1948 war; more recently, because of the Separation Barrier, his family was forced to abandon their home and prevented from attending the church with which they had been associated for many years. He drove us past the beautiful stone church and back to our hotel. Such stories could be repeated a thousand-fold, and these people are not terrorists, despite what they have suffered and lost.

Incidentally, few people realise that St George was not British but Palestinian (yes, that's right, the guy who fought the Dragon). He is reputed to have been born in Bithynia to a Palestinian mother, and died as a martyr in Palestine, executed by Roman Emperor Diocletian.

Pictures:
1. (L-R): Rev Merrill Kitchen, Dr Kevin Bray, Bishop Suheil Dawani, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, at the entrance to the cloister of St George's Cathedral.
2. Interior of the Cathedral.

Trivia: Ship of Fools Mystery Worshipper has logged a visit to St George's Cathedral (and, like me, liked the experience).

Meeting with the Quakers at Ramallah

2007-12-24T09:03:00.001+02:00

While in Ramallah, our Australian delegation met with Dr Jean Zaru, Sam Bahour and the Mayor of Ramallah at the Religious Society of Friends (aka Quakers) building. Dr Zaru talked to us about nonviolent action for peace in Israel and Palestine, the negative influence of Christian fundamentalist extremists, and the usefulness of "alternative Christian pilgrimages" to the Holy Land. A powerpoint presentation of her talk is available. More information about Jean Zaru is available here and here.

Sam Bahour, a businessman from America who has worked in Palestine for 14 years, talked to us about economic development under Israeli occupation, the crucial importance of education, and appropriate forms of activism in the face of military occupation. He recommended the Right to Enter campaign. Some quotes: "If you can't implement international law, what use is it?" And "Israel works on many fronts to compel Palestinians to leave voluntarily for other countries." More information on Sam Bahour is available here and here and here.

The Mayor of Ramallah, Janet Mikhail, arrived as we were leaving, and greeted us warmly.

Pictures:
1. The Australian delegation entering the Ramallah Friends' Meeting House.
2. The delegation sharing a light snack before being addressed by Jean Zaru (standing, centre).
3. Ramallah Mayor (left) and Jean Zaru.

More information on Quakers:

Ramallah Quakers
Quaker.org
Wikipedia article on "Religious Society of Friends."
Australian Quakers

Meeting with the Palestinian National Authority

2007-12-24T09:02:00.001+02:00

Leaving the Mount of Olives, we travelled north through occupied Palestinian territory to Ramallah, the administrative capital of Palestine. Ramallah is a bustling, if dirty, city, with plenty of evidence of construction and other economic activity. We visited the impressive memorial to Nobel Peace Prize winner Yasser Arafat, and met with His Excellency Rafiq Husseini, chief of staff to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Mr Husseini is a gifted leader and thinker, and it impressed me that he has chosen to remain in Palestine when many alternative avenues must have been open to him. He is also a Christian. His was perhaps the most comprehensive and cogent briefing that we received during our visit to Israel and Palestine.

Essentially, Mr Husseini impressed on us the following points:

1. Israel must withdraw to the original Green Line, leaving Palestine with 22 per cent of the whole territory of Israel/Palestine (although Israel regards this as untenable).

2. Israel must stop building new settlements, and enlarging existing settlements, in the West Bank.

3. Israel must not become a Jewish state, and Palestine must not become a Muslim state.

Something of his recent thinking on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is published at the following locations:

http://lwvlaplata.org/files/a_palestinian_view11-28.pdf

http://lwvlaplata.org/files/a_palestinian_view11-28.pdf

See also http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/11/the-turbulent-winds-of-the-annapolis-conference/

Pictures:
1. Main street in Ramallah.
2. The delegation approaches the new Memorial to Yasser Arafat, adjacent to the Palestinian National Authority building.
3. Interior of the Memorial.
4. The delegation in discussion with His Excellency Rafiq Husseini, at the Palestinian National Authority.

Visit to the Mount of Olives

2007-12-24T09:01:00.002+02:00

This afternoon (Saturday 8 Dec 2007), Rev Kjell Jonasson took our Australian delegation to visit the Mount of Olives, in East Jerusalem, just across from the Kidron valley, the deep ravine that Jesus knew so well.

Here we took in the awesome view of the Old City of Jerusalem, and spent some time in reflection, aware that in this place Jesus shed tears and prayed for the city and its people. Together we prayed the following prayer aloud:

Lord Jesus Christ,
Today we share your tears for the cities of the world;
Still we have not loved the things that make for peace.

We weep for the divided cities:
Where brother fights with brother,
Where anger feeds on hatred,
Where prejudice blinds the eyes of compassion,
And even religion divides,
Where children are taught to hate,
And old men relish ancient wrongs.

We weep for the cities of oppression:
Where iron law imprisons freedom,
Where thought is curbed and conscience is stifled,
Where the questioning spirit is called a traitor,
Where art and civilising truth grow barren,
And each must think in manner as his neighbour.

We weep for the cities of poverty:
Where children live, but die too soon,
Where eager hands can find no work,
Where hunger rules and aid is short,
Where mothers clutch uncomprehending young,
And where the little we could do, we fail to do.

We weep for our cities and for ourselves;
We have not learned the things that make for peace.

Lord, turn
Tears to love
And love to work.
Turn work to justice
And all that makes for peace.

Amen.

Pictures:
1. The Australian delegation (L-R: Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, Rev Merrill Kitchen, Lyndsay Farrell, Rev Gregor Henderson, Rev Terence Corkin, Rev Rod Benson, Archbishop Frank Carroll, Dr Kevin Bray, Rev John Henderson).
2. Jerusalem looking west from the Mount of Olives.
3. A camel that happened to be resting at the lookout (actually a famous camel whose image adorns postcards and tourist guides).

Visit to the al-Aqsa Mosque

2007-12-24T09:01:00.001+02:00

After our visit with the Mufti of Jerusalem and the Chief Judge of the Islamic Court, our Australian delegation visited the al-Aqsa Mosque. Below are some of the images I recorded during our visit. The atmosphere was the same as that experienced inside the Dome of the Rock. Again, it was a privilege and an honour to visit this sacred site.

Meeting the Mufti of Jerusalem

2007-12-24T09:00:00.002+02:00

From the Dome of the Rock our Australian delegation was ushered to the offices of His Eminence the Mufti of Jerusalem, who welcomed us (in Arabic) and introduced us to an unexpected guest, His Excellency Sheikh Tayseer Bayoud Tamimi, the Chief Judge of the Islamic Court. They apologised for the delay in gaining entry to the Temple Mount, and observed that we had experienced a small part of "the intentional harassment of the entire Palestinian community." They described the Security Barrier as the "Discrimination Wall," and stated their belief that "the Holy City is under Israeli siege." Much more was said, including answers to questions from our group.

On behalf of our delegation, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall formally apologised for the reprehensible act of one of our fellow Australian citizens in 1969 that caused a devastating fire in the al-Aqsa Mosque. The Chief Judge accepted our apology.

Background to the fire from Wikipedia:

In the morning of August 21, 1969, a fire at Masjid al-Aqsa, gutted the southeastern wing of the mosque. The fire destroyed a priceless one-thousand-year-old wood and ivory pulpit (minbar) that had been sent from Aleppo by Saladin. The "twin" of this minbar (Saladin had them both made at the same time) is still extant in the mosque at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. Michael Dennis Rohan, a tourist from Australia, was arrested for the arson attack on August 23, 1969. Rohan was a Protestant follower of an evangelical sect known as the Church of God. By his own admission, Rohan hoped to hasten the coming of the Messiah by burning down the al-Aqsa Mosque. Rohan told the court that he acted as "the Lord's emissary" on divine instructions, in accordance with the Book of Zechariah, and that he had tried to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque in order to rebuild the Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount. He was hospitalized in a mental institution, found to be insane and was later deported from Israel.

We were honoured to visit these two significant Muslim leaders in this place. It was ironic that no senior Jewish religious leaders were able to meet with us, yet Islamic leaders found time to meet us.

Below are some of the images I recorded of our visit with the Mufti of Jerusalem and the Chief Judge of the Islamic Court (details at bottom of page).

Pictures:
1. The Australian delegation meets with Islamic leaders at the Temple Mount.
2. L-R: The Mufti of Jerusalem, the Chief Judge of the Islamic Court, our interpreter.
3. Archbishop Phillip Aspinall apologises for the 1969 desecration of the al-Aqsa Mosque.
4. The delegation with Islamic leaders, guides and interpreter outside the Dome of the Rock.

Visit to the Dome of the Rock

2007-12-24T09:00:00.001+02:00

This morning (Saturday 8 December 2007), we visited Haram es-Sharif, or the Temple Mount, at the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem. The weather was mild and overcast, and there were few people about. Assembling at the entrance closest to the Lion's Gate, we waited for about 15 minutes while Israeli security guards decided whether to approve access, despite the fact that the visit was pre-arranged and our Muslim hosts were waiting for us.

The first significant experience for us today was entering the magnificent Dome of the Rock, widely held to be the second most revered Islamic holy site after the Ka'aba at Mecca. Contrary to popular belief, the Dome is not a mosque but a Muslim shrine. About 200 metres to the south is the famous al-Aqsa Mosque (see the next blog page). It was a privilege to visit this special site. Inside it was very quiet and still; people, usually alone or in small groups, were praying and meditating. We were made very welcome, taking off our shoes at the door according to custom, and enjoying the sanctuary of this sacred place.

Below are some of the images I recorded (details at bottom of page) during our visit.

Pictures:
1. Our delegation waits to have our entry approved by the ever-present security.
2. Our Palestinian guide explains the history and significance of the Dome of the Rock.
3. Interior of the Dome of the Rock.
4. Stone on which it is thought Abraham sacrificed his son Isaac, and from which Mohammad ascended to heaven, at the heart of the Dome of the Rock.
5. Rev John Henderson ascends from the crypt beneath the stone, where pilgrims pray.
6. Interior of the Dome of the Rock.
7. Exterior (south face) of the Dome of the Rock.

More information:

Dinner with Australian diplomats in Jerusalem

2007-12-24T08:56:00.000+02:00

It's Friday 7 December, and we have just farewelled the Australian Ambassador to Israel, and the Australian Palestinian Representative, who were our guests at a reception at our hotel in Jerusalem tonight.

Ambassador James Larson, who lives in Tel Aviv, and Palestinian Representative Ben Scott, who lives in Jerusalem but whose office is based in Ramallah, briefed us on the Australian Government's view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They reflected, properly, the perspective inherited from the Howard Coalition government, since the new Rudd Labor Government has only been in office two weeks and understandably has many other national priorities. Their observations and judgments complemented what we have seen and heard in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

There are two Australian diplomatic representatives in the region because Israel is an internationally recognised state, whereas Palestine is not politically independent. The Ramallah office is much smaller than the Israeli office. It is my understanding that the Australian government strongly supports the two-state solution. More information is available at the Australian Embassy's website.

Pictures: Ambassador James Larson dining with our Australian delegation (top); Palestinian Representative Ben Scott explaining a point to delegates (middle); the group after dinner (bottom, L-R: Rev John Henderson, Rev Terence Corkin, Dr Kevin Bray, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, Ambassador James Larson, Representative Ben Scott, Rev Gregor Henderson, Rev Merrill Kitchen, Archbishop Frank Carroll, Rev Rod Benson, Lyndsay Farrell).

Visit to Jenin Refugee Camp and Faqqu'a village

2007-12-22T22:01:00.000+02:00

From the office of the Governor of Jenin, our Australian delegation was escorted on a tour of the infamous Jenin Refugee Camp, and then out of town to Faqqu'a Village, where Australian humanitarian aid delivers water to Palestinian homess.

At the Refugee Camp, bombed by Israeli air and ground forces in 2002, we met two of the local civic leaders (pictured at right). They acknowledged with gratitude the emergency food and medical aid received from Australia, and commented on the strong relationship between the refugees, the Near East Council of Churches, and the Christian World Service ministry of the National Council of Churches in Australia.

But they also had sad and shocking stories to share. They told of life in the refugee camp, with alleged nightly raids by IDF troops armed with guns, grenades and dogs, often working systematically through the community from 1.00 am until dawn, using loudspeakers to disrupt sleep, ordering people out on to the street, using "sound bombs" (see here for more information on these weapons), and electronically-equipped attack dogs in futile searches for terrorists. The effect, as one might expect, is physical and psychological damage to Palestinians, sleep deprivation, depression, increased violence among children, and increased hatred of the illegal occupation forces. Children especially were scared and traumatised by these Israeli activities.

"Israel is bringing us back to the stone age," said one local leader. "We are suggering tremendously as a result of these nightly raids." It was understood that these Israeli incursions were retribution, or collective punishment, for fierce Palestinian resistance to the 2002 invasion of Jenin.

"They will turn us into criminals, and there will be violent response to this oppression," we were warned, if Israel did not cease its terror activities.

On the use of attack dogs by the Israel Defense Force click here.

From the Jenin Refugee Camp, we travelled by bus north to the Green Line, and the little hill-top village of Faqqu'a. Previously its residents had worked in what is now Israeli territory, but the Security Barrier now prevented this and the village suffered 60-70 per cent unemployment. The best arable land, previously owned by Palestinians for many generations, and within the Green Line, now lies out of reach beyond the Barrier (pictured at right, with trench-and-fence barrier beyond the near field).

In addition, there is a problem of water scarcity because Israel forbids Palestinians in the region to access artesian water supplies, which are reserved for Israeli settlements and therefore protected by the Israeli military as strategic resources. To use artestan water around Faqqu'a (and in many other places), one requires a permit from the Israeli military.

We were told that, during summer, a Palestinian family may be expected to consume ten cubic metres of water per month, whereas an Israeli settler family on average would consume 128 cubic metres of water per month.

There are warm smiles on the faces of the local Palestinians we meet today, but there is little sign of hope in their eyes.

Two important website resources for further information:

http://australiansforpalestine.com/index.php

http://www.coalitionforpalestine.org/

Visit to Jenin

2007-12-21T23:46:00.000+02:00

It's 8.45 am on Friday 7 December 2007, and we're driving north from Jerusalem with our nine-member Australian delegation, heading for restricted West Bank land. Our guide today is Ramzi Zananiri from the International Christian Committee and the Near East Council of Churches.

Travelling through Israel up the controversial new Highway 6 (the Trans-Israel highway, and an efficient security barrier in itself), then via route 65 and 60, we approached the town of Jenin from the north. Jenin is not on tourist itineraries as it is the location of some of the worst recent incursions by the Israeli military into Palestinian territory, and damaging evidence of the impact of Israeli occupation on the Palestinian economy and lifestyle is everywhere. On the other hand, the Israeli Government felt justified in focusing extreme action against the Jenin Refugee Camp; for some background see the contested Wikipedia page on the Battle of Jenin (2002).

To gain entry to Jenin, we had to apply for permits in advance (in fact, before we left Australia). We stopped at the closed Gate as planned at 10.30 am, and waited while the IDF examined our passports and conferred with others. I say Gate (capital G) because it is the largest armoured gate I have ever seen, bright yellow and about 30 metres long, on a rail-track. Since it is an Israeli military installation, we were not allowed to take photographs. Strangely, I could find no images of the Gate online (if you find one, let me know!), and Google maps of Jenin do not show the Gate or indeed any map data. Click here for another map. After a five-minute wait, the Gate rolled opened and we drove on into the West Bank to the centre of Jenin.

In drizzling rain and on a Friday (the Muslim holy day), Jenin was deathly quiet. Hardly a vehicle visible; people gathered in small groups talking, or walking alone along streets minding their own business. Roads and buildings looked almost derelict, a sign of the severe economic decline suffered by most Palestinians throughout the West Bank in recent years.

Our first stop was an hour-long meeting with the Governor of Jenin, translated from Arabic by Ramzi, our guide, and accompanied by excellent Turkish coffee and apple juice. He briefed us on the economic, educational and health situation in the region, and expressed gratitude to the Australian churches for their ongoing humanitarian aid program supplying water reservoirs to houses in the area. He expressed growing frustration at the economic impact of the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, but was hopeful that new initiatives would help to reduce unemployment by up to 30 per cent. He said he was tired of hearing words, and wanted to see action for peace and freedom.

The Governor stressed the importance of moving forward, but said that occupation was driving Palestinians backward. "We need a return to the situation that existed before 2000. Israel must remove the Wall, the checkpoints, and the economic congestion," he said.

"Our unemployed youth have nothing to do, and idleness is the playground of the devil," he said. Also of concern was the plight of large numbers of political prisoners, who must be released and reintegrated into their society.

"We Palestinian people live in fear. The occupation tries to control our land and money. We have lost our employment and been evicted from our land. My family home was demolished when I was a child [in the so-called "War of Independence" - see, e.g., here and here], and we lived one year under trees. I spent 15 years in prison...."

"Education is crucial to our future. We have 68,000 students in schools, but lack basic facilities. Class sizes are 45+ per class, with double shifts meaning that half the children go to school at night. There is a high drop-out rate among girls aged 8-16 years. Also many classrooms in regional areas are rented and suffer from very bad hygiene and overcrowding. Something must be done about this," he said.

The meeting ended with a presentation of local craft to Rev John Henderson, and the Governor left to attend morning prayers.

American Jews meet Bethlehem Arabs

2007-12-21T02:05:00.000+02:00

By Daniel Estrin
18 December 2007

American Jews studying in Israel get an eye-opening education on Arab life with trips to Bethlehem run by a nonprofit group.

BETHLEHEM (JTA) -- The bus ride to Bethlehem from Jerusalem takes no more than 15 minutes, but for most American Jews studying in Israel, the Palestinian city in the West Bank might as well be worlds away. That may be changing.

This month, a group of 40 rabbinical students, seminary students and young Jews crossed the Israeli military checkpoint -- and the psychological divide that separates Jews from Palestinians here -- to see Palestinian life in Bethlehem firsthand.

Most went without official approval from their yeshivas and learning programs, and some hadn’t told their families back home about the trip.

Some acknowledged their anxiety about the trip, which included an overnight stay in Bethlehem.

“Can someone say Tefilat Haderech?” one student called out from the back of the bus that took the group to Bethlehem, referring to the Jewish traveler’s prayer.

Minutes later the students were standing beside a heap of concrete rubble and twisted metal, which their Palestinian hosts explained was a house demolished years before by the Israeli military.

The participants spent the day running around Bethlehem, at one point visiting an elementary school dedicated to nonviolence within view of the Jewish West Bank settlement of Efrat.

While a girl named Dina greeted each participant with a wide smile and a cheese puff, some of the Jewish students peered out the window at a nearby hilltop where Jewish settlers had pitched caravans in a bid to extend the Efrat settlement.

“Some of my teachers live in Efrat,” noted one of the Jewish students, from the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.

The trip was organized by Encounter, a nonprofit organization that facilitates meetings between Palestinians and “future Jewish leaders” from diverse religious and political affiliations.

Since its founding in 2005, Encounter has brought nearly 400 Diaspora Jews to the West Bank cities of Bethlehem and Hebron. These days it is the only Jewish group of its kind that pays regular visits to Palestinian cities.

By law, Israelis are barred from entering Palestinian Authority-controlled cities in the West Bank, but international passport holders may cross in and out freely.

Yearlong Jewish study programs in Israel “do an excellent job of educating their students about the dimensions of Israeli and Jewish life, but there’s a piece missing,” said Ilana Sumka, director of Encounter’s Jerusalem office. “We give them access to complexities on the ground that they are otherwise not exposed to.”

Encounter is a resident organization of Bikkurim, a project that supports innovative Jewish programs and is funded by the United Jewish Communities federation umbrella group.

As part of this month's trip, Bethlehem resident Leila Sansour led the group on a walking tour of the 27-foot-high cement barrier that cuts off the city from nearby neighborhoods on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

Sansour has led several groups from Encounter through the streets of Bethlehem; she says it’s good for her own sanity.

“Instead of me seeing Jews coming to my city in the form of soldiers, it’s important to see that they come to find out about me as well,” she said.

Sansour explained to the group how the wall turns Bethlehem into a prison: Some Bethlehemites haven’t been allowed a visit to Jerusalem in years, and the local economy fell into crisis when tourists stopped visiting.

A few days ago, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, now a special envoy for Middle East peacemaking, spent a night in Bethlehem to send the message that the city is again open for business.

But on Sansour’s tour, the Jewish visitors followed her from one silent neighborhood to another, the massive gray barrier casting a shadow over boarded-up storefronts and homes.
Israel says the barrier, part of the West Bank security fence, is necessary to keep terrorists out of Israel.

At Al Walaje, a village on Bethlehem’s outskirts, Councilwoman Shireen Alaraj said she is furious about the barrier’s route.

“If you want security, fine,” she said. “Then why do you build the wall in our backyard?”
Rabbinical student Ephraim Pelcovits said he was moved by the Palestinians’ reactions to the barrier. Living in Jerusalem, Pelcovits said, he never feels its presence, but “Palestinians speak about the wall as if it were alive.”

At one stop along the tour, Palestinian peace activists spoke candidly about the internal challenges of Palestinian politics and their close relationships with Jewish colleagues and friends. Professor Yousef El-Herimi said he hosted a group of rabbinical students at his Bethlehem home last year for an Islam study group.

After a packed day of sightseeing and lectures, the Jews went to sleep at the homes of local youths, many of whom said they would add their guests to their friends list on Facebook, the popular social networking Web site.

The following morning, the Jewish students swapped stories about their overnight experiences after a morning minyan at the Bethlehem Hotel.

“As a Jewish girl from New Jersey, I got my first Christmas invitation ever,” one participant told the group with a smile.

Jill Levy, a second-year rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary, said the trip was difficult but important. After losing two friends in the 2002 suicide bombing at Hebrew University, Levy said she “lost a lot of compassion for the Palestinian people.”

But “as a future rabbi, I need to be really educated about the situation in the Middle East. An integral part of that education is hearing stories from the Palestinian people,” she said.
Having visited Bethlehem twice, Levy said she is planning to return on Christmas along with some fellow students.

The popularity of Encounter’s trips to Palestinian-populated cities has prompted the program to expand its offerings. Encounter recently led a tour for Jewish federation executives, and the group is planning trips for other American Jewish delegations.

“I initially thought that the word ‘Palestinian’ rendered any program treif in certain quarters of the Jewish community,” said Rabbi Melissa Weintraub, a co-founder of Encounter. But, she said, “we have hit a nerve and struck a need that already existed.”

["treif" means "non-kosher" - click here for more]

Source: http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/print/2007121820071218bethlehem.html

Picture: http://www.encounterprograms.org/slideshow.html

Christians and Muslims weep together

2007-12-21T01:50:00.000+02:00

A Christmas Reflection on Palestine
By SONJA KARKAR
19 December 2007

As Christmas approaches this year, the thoughts of Christians all over the world will once again turn to Bethlehem, the holy town where Jesus was born over two millennia ago. Voices will be raised in joyful celebration and children everywhere will re-create the Christmas story to help us remember the circumstances in which the Christ child was born.

Such a momentous occasion in such humble surroundings heralded a new way of thinking about people's relationship with God and with each other. It shook the foundations of an unforgiving society presided over by an unforgiving God and proclaimed peace and goodwill on earth amongst all people. There was indeed much to hope for.

However, the tranquil pastoral scene so familiar to us is not at all evident in Bethlehem today. Bethlehem does not lie still, and peace on earth and goodwill towards all is as elusive as ever. The tyranny of Israel's occupation and its colonial expansionism is crippling the lives of both Palestinian Christians and Muslims alike. Yet, many Christians will again ignore the misery suffered by the Palestinians in the Holy Land and will celebrate Christmas without remembering that it was amongst this people and in their land that Jesus was born. Priests will chant, masses will be said, carols will be sung and nativity scenes will be created, but it is unlikely that many sermons will urge Christian congregations to speak out against the crimes being committed in Palestine.

Only recently, a delegation of eminent Australian Church leaders returned from visiting the Holy Land and reported their distress at "the suffering and fear experienced daily by large numbers of people." [1] The report criticizes Israel's military occupation for the "systematic harassment, physical and psychological oppression, widespread unemployment, poverty, and economic deprivation" [2] of both Palestinian Christians and Muslims. No doubt these church leaders will encourage their ministries to spread the word before the momentum is lost, but there are many forces working against justice for the Palestinians. Their statement has already been criticized by the Israeli ambassador and they are likely to face objections not only from Jews who support a Zionist state in Israel, but also from Christian quarters.

A dangerous Christian ideology which endorses the rhetoric of Zionism and the conquest of all Palestine for Israel is making its presence felt in Australia. This Christian fervour for Israel has found expression in a revitalised Christian Zionism that began back in the sixteenth century [3] and is directed today against Islam and Muslims. In America particularly, it has misconstrued the messianic and apocalyptic legacy of the Christian faith and has replaced the Jewish and communist Anti-Christ of Christian Zionism's earlier imaginings with an Islamic Anti-Christ. This Anti-Christ, it believes, will be defeated in Israel where all mankind will gather for the coming of the Messiah. That it should take place in Israel, given the numbers of the world's populations, is an absurd notion even amongst the most devout. That the dispossession, degradation and humiliation of the Palestinians who have lived in this land for millennia, can be condoned on such a pretext is even more abhorrent and preposterous.

Unfortunately, the influence of this Christian Zionism is growing rapidly and threatens the thinking of a whole generation of mainstream Christians regardless of their denominations, including Christians in the Holy Land. Father Rafiq Khoury of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, gives a very disturbing account of Christian Zionism's effect on religion and politics. [4] Where once Christians and Muslims shared common values and aspirations in Palestinian society, Christian Zionism has succeeded in fragmenting this already battered community as it struggles to withstand Israel's punishing occupation. Amongst certain sections of this society, Christians and Muslims are now viewing each other with suspicion, and Christians in Palestine, like those abroad, are beginning to see Islam as the enemy. Needless to say, this has been enormously detrimental to the Palestine liberation movement.

It would surprise many Christians in the West that Palestinian Christians and Muslims have prayed in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity for centuries. In fact, the Qur'an - the holy book of Islam - refers often, and with great reverence, to Jesus and Mary. Muhammad himself preserved an icon of Mary and the child Jesus after the conquest of Mecca and ordered that it remain within the Ka'ba to which Muslims make their obligatory pilgrimage from all over the world. [5]

Since 638 CE, Muslims have had the right to pray in the south aisle of the church when the Patriarch of Jerusalem handed over Palestine to Caliph Omar as he swept into Bethlehem with his Arab armies. [6] Muslims recognise Jesus as the Christ, the mightiest Messenger of God who was born miraculously of the Virgin Mary and who, through God, was able to perform miracles. However, Christians and Muslims part ways on Christ's divinity. Muslims believe that there has always been and continues to be one God only and that joining Christ and the Holy Spirit with God the Father in what is known as the Trinity a major tenet of Christianity compromises that singular divinity of God.

It has not though affected their recognition of, and reverence for, Jesus and Mary. The highly regarded theologian of the early Christian Church, St John of Damascus actually thought that Islam was merely another form of Christianity[7], and indeed today, St John would probably be more comfortable with the practices and beliefs of Muslims than he would with the form of Christianity that has developed in the West, particularly Christian Zionism.

So much of the fear and antagonism we see today against Muslims come from ignorance. In Palestine, Christian and Muslims have lived together in harmony for centuries, and particularly in Bethlehem, they have not only shared Christmas celebrations, but even the Muslim feasts Eid al-Fitr at the end of the Ramadan fast and Eid al-Adha. As one young Bethlehem tour guide commented in 2002:

We know how to celebrate together, because we know how to weep together. We have suffered as one people under 35 years of occupation. The same week that Mary, a Muslim mother of seven was killed in Beit Jala, Johnny, a 17-year-old, died in Manger Square as he was coming out of the Church of the Nativity, both shot by Israeli snipers. We're all inmates together, Muslims and Christians, in the same miserable prison called Palestine. We have no freedom, no peace, no jobs, no money for winter heating, no travelling to Jerusalem or between towns and villages, no future.

And that is the sum of what is so often forgotten in the search for peace and justice: the escalating inhuman situation suffered by the Palestinians Christians and Muslims.

Sing as we might this Christmas, the hopes and dreams of all the years is unlikely to be met in Bethlehem for those who live there. Nor are they likely to be met for the Palestinians barely hanging on to their miserable existence in Gaza, or the Palestinians in the other cities, towns and villages in the Holy Land and even less for the stateless Palestinians long deprived of hope in the refugee camps. Every chorister's hallelujah will just be a death knell for another generation of Palestinians and every Christmas reflection will become meaningless words of Christian faith, unless we are prepared to look beyond the tinsel and the feasting and really do something to stop Israel's crimes against both Christians and Muslims in Palestine.

Sonja Karkar is the founder and president of Women for Palestine in Melbourne, Australia. See www.womenforpalestine.com

Footnotes:
[1] Statement by Australian Church Leaders, Bethlehem, 18 December 2007
[2] Ibid.
[3] Fr Rafiq Khoury, "Effects of Christian Zionism on religion, Christian local churches and peace research", Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, Jerusalem, 2004 (a presentation given at the Al-Sabeel International Conference on 15 April 2004)
[4] Ibid.
[5] Uri Rubin, "The Ka'ba: Aspects of its Ritual Function and Position in Pre-Islamic and Early Islamic Times", Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 8 (1986) 97-131
[6] Dr G S P Freeman-Grenville, The Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Palestine Exploration Fund, January 1994
[7] William Dalrymple, "What Muslims and Christians share: A Christmas meditation", The New Statesman, 19 December 2005

Six documents on Israeli-Palestinian issues

2007-12-20T10:44:00.000+02:00

Today we take a quick break from blogging our Australian delegation's activities in Israel and Palestine to note six important recent documents analysing various aspects of the conflict. There's a key paragraph and a link to the source, which I'm sure you will find stimulating reading.

A Palestinian Life
(a review of Sari Nusseibeh, Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Memoir, by Harold Fickett, Christianity Today Books & Culture magazine, vol. 13, no. 6, Nov/Dec 2007)
As I write, the two chief political factions in Palestine, Fatah and Hamas, are engaged in a civil war, as Israel ponders helping Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas restore order and the United States prepares to release previously impounded aid to Abbas' newly-formed government. One of those called upon to help Abbas should certainly be Sari Nusseibeh, the President of East Jersualem's Al-Quds University. He would seem to be the ideal negotiating partner both for Israel and the West. An Oxford- and Harvard-educated philosopher who cherishes the ideals of Jeffersonian democracy, Nusseibeh has already played a role in many peace efforts, both formal and informal, as well as being a clandestine leader of the first intifada or Palestinian uprising and head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in Jerusalem. He recounts all this and more, with the help of co-writer Anthony David, in his fascinating memoir Once Upon A Country: A Palestinian Life.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2007/006/14.27.html

Palestine and Apartheid
(Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu's keynote address at the Friends of Sabeel Conference in Boston on 27 October 2007)
Thanks be to God for the many, many Jews who know what their divine calling is and who want the Israeli Government to live it out. We believe in a two state solution -- of two sovereign, viable states each with contiguous borders guaranteed as secure by the international community. We condemn acts of terrorism by whoever they are committed. The suicide bomber has to be condemned for targeting innocent civilians. But equally must the Israelis be condemned for their acts of indiscriminate reprisal. We say please learn at least one positive lesson from apartheid South Africa. Under Mr F W de Klerk who must be commended for his outstanding courage, they decided to negotiate, not with those they liked but with their sworn enemy and they found the security that had eluded them for so long and that had cost so much suffering and blood. It came not from the barrel of a gun. No, it came when the legitimate aspirations and human rights of all were recognised and respected. That was thirteen years ago and the peace is still holding. Many had predicted that South Africa would be overwhelmed buy a catastrophic racial blood bath. It did not happen. It did not happen because they negotiated in good faith with their enemies.
http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/tutu031107.html

Hanging Gardens and Shimmering Oases: The Middle East From Three Angles
(by Paul Merkley, Christianity Today Books & Culture magazine, vol. 13, no. 6, Nov/Dec 2007)
Why can't those people just get along? You know—the Arabs and the Jews. Isn't it obvious that, whatever is at the base of their inexplicable mutual hatred, the two parties are getting further and further away from even trying to understand each other? With each passing day, it seems, some new offense of one party against the other adds another layer of grievance, one more complication to be unwound before we can get the parties thinking again about putting it all behind and getting on with what everyone else on earth is getting on with. Perhaps if we walked the parties backwards over the chronological ground, they could observe the intensity of the quarrel getting less and less (retrospectively), until we find the moment when the two parties were actually talking to each other civilly; and then we could walk the parties forward from that same point and show them that it had all been about a failure to communicate. Amy Dockser Marcus believes that she has found that moment. http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2007/006/13.27.html

Annapolis Peace Conference and the Jerusalem Question
(ABC Radio National Religion Report, 21 Nov 2007)
For the first time in seven years the Israelis and the Palestinians are sitting down to talk peace. In 2000 the talks between Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat were held by Bill Clinton at Camp David, and they broke down over the right of return of Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem. This time around, Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas will be hosted by George W Bush at the Annapolis naval academy. Our guests Yossi Beilin, chairman of the political party Meretz, and Daniel Seidman are sceptical. Unless Israel is prepared to discuss core issues such as; a divided Jerusalem, defined borders for a two-state solution and Palestinians' right of return, they may as well stay at home.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/religionreport/stories/2007/2096471.htm

A Moral Witness to the 'Intricate Machine'
(a review of David Shulman, Dark Hope: Working for Peace in Israel and Palestine, by Avishai Margalit, New York Review of Books, 6 Dec 2007)
"I am an Israeli. I live in Jerusalem. I have a story, not yet finished, to tell." This is the opening line of David Shulman's powerful and memorable book, Dark Hope, a diary of four years of political activity in Israel and the Palestinian territories. It is a record of the author's intense involvement with a volunteer organization composed of Israeli Palestinians and Israeli Jews, called Ta'ayush, an Arabic term for "living together" or "life in common." The group was founded in October 2000, soon after the start of the second Palestinian intifada.

"This book aims," Shulman writes,

at showing something of the Israeli peace movement in action, on the basis of one individual's very limited experience.... I want to give you some sense of what it feels like to be part of this struggle and of why we do it.

Struggle with whom? Shulman explains:

Israel, like any society, has violent, sociopathic elements. What is unusual about the last four decades in Israel is that many destructive individuals have found a haven, complete with ideological legitimation, within the settlement enterprise. Here, in places like Chavat Maon, Itamar, Tapuach, and Hebron, they have, in effect, unfettered freedom to terrorize the local Palestinian population; to attack, shoot, injure, sometimes kill—all in the name of the alleged sanctity of the land and of the Jews' exclusive right to it.

His diary proceeds to show how this happens.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20856 (may require subscription)

Facing the Wall: Palestinian Children and Adolescents Speak About the Israeli Separation Wall
(by Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, a report co-funded by World Vision Australia)
In the first months after construction of the Israeli separation wall began, most national and international reporting about the wall focused on economic, political, security and social ramifications for the larger Israeli and Palestinian communities. There was a gap in analysis of the wall’s impact on marginalised and vulnerable members of Palestinian society, particularly the young. When Dr. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian approached World Vision with the concept for her research, we were keen to support her focus on the impact of this wall on Palestinian adolescents, and in particular, the differential impact on girls. World Vision publishes this report to encourage awareness and discussion about the impacts of prolonged violent and political conflict on the lives of children and adolescents. We consider it important that children and young people everywhere be able to express their views on the issues and participate in the decisions that profoundly affect their lives. In the context of this report, opinions and comments expressed by children and young people are their own, and views expressed by the author are the author’s own, not the opinions of the World Vision organisation. World Vision urges an end to all violence against children and young people – whoever the perpetrator, whatever the cause.
http://www.justice-and-peace.org/PolicyAdvocacy/pahome2.5.nsf/alleports/74DB7D8456FB775A882572E9001EF4E1/$file/Facing%20the%20Wall-LOW+covers.pdf

Meeting with Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan

2007-12-18T05:47:00.000+02:00

On Thursday 6 December 2007 our delegation met with Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, at the offices of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Center.

Bishop Younan told us that, in his opinion, the root cause of all the present Israeli-Palestinian problems is Israel's illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. He suggested that there were ultimately two options: either Israel or Palestine will eliminate the other, or they will work out a two-state solution. He expressed a preference for a return to the pre-1967 border (the famous "Green line") and for two separate, internationally recognised states.

On the state of the Churches in Jerusalem, Bishop Younan believed that relationships between church leaders were currently positive, and that it was vital to capitalise on that before changes in personnel took place and the opportunity for progress on long-running disputes was lost.

He said the great challenge for Israel/Palestine was not Islam but extremism (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim). "It's OK to disagree around the table on the theology of Israel, but as soon as it becomes an ideology it destroys us," he said, possibly alluding to Christian Zionism. "My Christianity is that of the cross, not the sword."

He saw four areas for short-term action by Christians:

(a) establishment of a hotline for rapid response to controversial comments/actions by local clergy;

(b) reform of Palestinian and Israeli education curricula (especially aimed at eliminating racism);

(d) establishment of a Christian reference group to assist future peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine.

An indication of Bishop Younan's standing in the Palestinian (and international) community is that he was to meet former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright that evening for talks on the Israel/Palestinian conflict. Albright has a strong interest in Middle East politics - see, for example, here and here.

Dr Bernard Sabella's 2006 address in Sydney

2007-12-16T15:34:00.000+02:00

Dr Bernard Sabella is an interesting and energetic person. He is a Roman Catholic, a member of Fatah, an elected representative of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and professor of Sociology at Bethlehem University. It was my pleasure to sit next to him at the Jerusalem Heads of Churches dinner that we hosted on Thursday 7 December 2007.

In July 2006, Bernard visited Sydney as a guest of the MIAT Foundation and other organisations, and gave an impressive address in several cities. Below is an edited transcript of his address to the Beecroft Forum in Sydney on 6 July 2006. You'll find further information at the following locations:

Article by Bernard Sabella, "Palestinian Christians: Challenges and hopes".

Interview on ABC Religion Report, 12 July 2006.

Interview with Yehuda Kaplan of SBS Radio about the current situation in Israel, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and the prospects for peace in the region [MP3 file].

Article by Bernard Sabella in Eureka Street, 19 Sep 2006.

Here's his Beecroft Forum address:

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my hosts, in particular the Major Issues and Theology Centre, the Canberra Baptist Church and the Zadok Institute for really wonderful preparation work. The bringing together of people to hear me and to interact is I hope not because of my skills but because of my people.

My Palestinian people are a people yearning for peace. Here in Australia a survey was done examining the population's opinion of the Palestinian/Israeli issue. Back home we did a couple of surveys right after the election of Hamas into government. Seventy-five per cent of the Palestinian people who voted for Hamas felt that the new Palestinian government should open negotiations with Israel. So our yearning as a people is for peace. For a just peace. And we have been disappointed again and again.

Some people say, " The problem is your problem and not an Israeli problem. You have done terrible things to the Israelis. How do you answer to that?" And I say simply that both people have done terrible things to each other. And I say today that if a suicide bomber sets out on a mission to kill civilians it is as unjust and unacceptable as an Israeli pilot in his jet pushing that button and killing innocent people.

A couple of weeks ago a Palestinian doctor from Saudi Arabia, who had nothing to do with terrorists, was visiting his sister who he had not seen for the last ten years. He went to Gaza to see her and talk to her and to renew their being together as a family. An Israeli jet passing by intending to bomb a certain car just missed the car and hit the house, instantly killing the doctor and his sister. This is criminal. The Israeli army came back the next day and issued a statement of apology. That is not acceptable. We have a problem. Yes we have a political disagreement. Israel may score a point here and a point there, but since I948 Israel and the international community have not applied a set of standards that is applicable to all. In other words, again and again there was a double standard. And this double standard does not allow us to move forward.

Now people say, "Yes, but please allow us to tell you that Israel's security is very precious." I agree. My security is precious as well. All of us agree that security is precious. But how would you guarantee your security? Do you guarantee your security with continuous occupation? Look at the Wall, the separation barrier that Israel is building and costing Israeli and American taxpayers $US6-8 billion. Is this barrier going to bring security and peace? Or is it going to perpetuate the problem? Or is it that Israeli policies today are to get control of the Palestinian population? If you want to control people you cannot make peace with them. Try it at home! Try it with your own children! If you want to control them, they are at war with you.

So the future is to have a joint vision. I am not shy to say that. And believe me, I say that in the Palestinian Legislative Council. And some people ask me again and again, "How do you deal with these Hamas people"? I say they are wonderful people. One of them had been harassed by Israeli security. I went to him and said,"What is the problem"? He told me the officer in charge of Israeli security said to him, “I have nothing against you, but the politicians up there order me to harass you".

I am not saying that I agree with the politics of the Islamist movement. I have my disagreements. Not religious but political. And I say we should move things forward. I am not here to speak on behalf of Hamas, but I can assure you there are people in Hamas who are ready to speak. The thing is, how to encourage them and not put obstacle after obstacle in their way. I would like very much for the secularist forces in Palestine, for Fatah, the popular front, the peoples party and other secularists to come forward and win the election next time. But it has to be done the democratic way. We have to fight for our victory next time.

We cannot simply say, "We have to beat Hamas because Hamas is an Islamist movement." Hamas is a part of the political spectrum of Palestine. It is like the Right in Israel. The Right in Israel is entitled to take part in politics. So Hamas is also entitled to take part in politics. The U.S. was insisting that the Palestinians hold the election because the U.S. wanted to show the world that democracy is flourishing in the Middle East. So democracy is flourishing but the "wrong" people are being elected! So what do you do? You come around and you penalise the whole Palestinian people.

You say, “I am not going to send you salaries and I am not going to pay wages for the government employees.” We are dependent on three things financially. We are dependent on the money that Israel collects from our customs and duties. That comes to around $US750 million a year. We are also dependent for about one third of our budget on money coming from donor countries both Arab, Islamic and European, and Australia, New Zealand, U.S.A., Japan and so on. And the rest, 10-20 per cent from taxes. So when Israel stops paying our government, and when the donor countries stop paying, then our government employees, 165,000 of them, will not receive their salaries.

So what happens then? What happens is that if I go to Bethlehem and see some of my ex-students who are now government employees they stop me in the street and say, " Bernard, we don't have any money. We don't have any pocket money for our daughters in the morning. They ask us for five shekels Israeli currency, one dollar US equivalent, and we tell them, sorry, we don't have the money." Governments in the West know that if they withhold money from the Palestinian Government then the people in Palestine will rise against the Government. But it is not the Government that is the problem. It is the donor countries.

Now somebody asked onetime, "Why should we pay you guys? We have given you the chance to elect democratically. You chose your own government so you deserve what is coming to you.” Now, I have to say that the Palestinian people are lucky. With all our problems we are still lucky. And you ask me why? Because I think our enemy is Israel. If our enemy were Zimbabwe or Botswana or whatever country in the world, the European countries and others would not care. But because there is this overwhelming interest in Israel’s security and stability, there is this outflow of donations because governments want to stabilise the situation.

People say Israel is justified in building the Wall because there were suicide bombings. Israel was threatened. I say this is not the way to go, because you are punishing a whole population. Yes, we have a problem with suicide bombers and this problem, without justification, is a part of the political impasse. Every other week there are Israeli groups planning things against Palestinians, who hate Palestinians and, if they can, will bomb Palestinians. I am not talking about the Israeli army. I am talking about separate groups. And what does Israel do to them? Do they build a wall to protect Arab villages? No. By building the Wall at least a quarter of one million Palestinians (according to World Vision) are denied access to medical facilities, to schooling, to their land and to their villages and properties. Besides the problem of having no access, people are not allowed to go from place to place.

I have to tell you about a village in the north. A small village of about 8-10,000 people. In Australia you have what are called "gated communities". This village is an example of an Israeli-imposed "gated community ". Beautiful! Why? Why is it beautiful? Because there is a sign written in bad Arabic which gives the opening hours of the gate! A gate that locks in the whole community! So at 7.30 in the morning the kids run out to school, Because the school is across from the gated community. Then at 12.00 noon they open it again for an hour and a half, and then at 5.30 to 6.30 they open it again. A very well protected Palestinian community, living at peace with Israeli guards and peacemakers. Unbelievable. This is not possible you tell me. There is a need for Israel to have security, but there is a need also to respect the basic human rights of people.

I would argue that if you want to make peace with people you have to touch the hearts of people. If you don't touch their hearts you can give us all the money you have and it won't make a difference. But if you give a little and you touch our hearts then we will start loving you, and we start changing, we start understanding. The Israelis have never tried to touch our hearts. Never. They only apply the language of force, more force and yet more force, and then the Palestinians will understand. This will never happen. We cannot understand with force. We have a just cause.

Now let me talk a little about the Gaza situation at present. Today, you really have Gaza blocked off. In the Gaza strip you have 1.5 million people. They are living on a stretch of land of only 365 square kilometres. In the Gaza population you have 50 per cent of youngsters of ten years and younger. And you have another 2-300,000 people aged 15 to 25 years. So you have in Gaza a young population of over 1.1 million. Does the blockade give them hope? No. So therefore we need to search for hope for these young people. Not for us. We are older. But for the young people, they have no hope. So if Israel wants to keep hitting us - welcome, but you won't get anywhere. I know that some Western diplomats have been saying this to the Israeli politicians and military personnel, but they won't listen.

You have to convince Israel to change. You say, "But the Palestinians need to change ". The Palestinians are under constant threat and control by Israel, not the other way around. I can't go out of Palestine without Israeli approval. One time we were meeting with the President and he said, "You think you we are living in a free country, a free society. I, the President of the National Authority of the Palestinian Territories, need to get permission from Israel to go from place to place!". So we have a serious problem.

Now, one thing I would like to share with you about the recent Gaza situation. I have a colleague who has been for a long time a worker in the Middle East Council of Churches. When the episode of the kidnapped soldier took place, I called him and asked him what is the situation and how are things. He said the streets were deserted, but there were personal things that worried him. His granddaughter, ten years old, was visiting with them from Romania. And he said the Israeli jets come with their sonic boom. It frightens her completely, so that she is having nightmares and cannot sleep. So I asked him what that meant for the children in Gaza. He said there were thousands of children in Gaza going through the same experience and some would eventually need some medical attention. And then he said something very wise and very important. He said,"What are the Israelis trying to prove for our children? What are they trying to prove for us? We know they have all the power. There must be another way to get our problems resolved." And I agree with him. We must have another way.

Now I am painting a very gloomy picture. I can see some of you saying that you did not come here tonight to hear this again and again. But I think it is very important to realise that the Palestinians are passing through difficult times. Not only the Israelis, because in your media it is the poor Israelis. It is as though the equation has been reversed. It is as if we Palestinians are a big threat to Israel and are hurting Israel. When in a very complete sense it is in the opposite direction. And I am not here to tell you we are victims, because I do not like to be a victim. And even in our relationship with our partners here in Australia we always insisted on equality. We are a very dignified people and we have learned how to be dignified. I think we don't deserve what we are getting. It is not a question of coming here or going there in order, for example, to promote financial concerns or other concerns. No, I think you will find many Palestinians who are eager to promote a sense of the future that is definite, even with Israel. We teach that to our children.

And don't be fooled by the media that tells you we bring up our children to hate Israelis and to hate Jews. We don't. But we have been on the receiving end for so long that it has affected us oven psychologically, and we feel that there has never been justice done to us. The other day I went walking with my brother Tony, who lives in Sydney, to buy some sweets at a shop in Lakemba. And the guy in the shop, who was Lebanese I think, said that ever since he was a boy he was always wishing to go to Jerusalem to pray. And he said he came back to this country in 1983 and knew he would not make it to Jerusalem. He said he could see what was happening in the world and that there are double standards, and he specifically said that the West is not being fair. It is not being fair in treating the Palestinian issue, and justice is not being done.

Some people say that this is not so - the West does care. I know there are churches that care and I know there are governments that care, and government personnel that care, but if you really care then you have to press and press and press not to have double standards. Because what is really hurting our relationships between the West and the Muslim and Arab worlds is the perception of double standards. They apply one standard for Israel and another standard for everybody else.

I have to tell you, I was in the airport in Singapore, and I went to the counter there and asked if I could get to New Zealand on my Jordanian passport. And the young woman clicked the computer, and she said, "No, if you were Australian you could get…ah, but we do have another exception." I said, "Which exception". And she said, "If you hold an Israeli passport!" And this lady, who has nothing to do with politics said, " We always have exceptions for Israel, I don't know why!" But oven if we say it as a joke this is poisoning relations between the West and the Muslim world and the Arab world. And we have been pleading, please work it out. Move both the Palestinians and the Israelis forward. Make peace. Give justice to the Palestinians. Ensure that Israel stops its aggressive tactics.

Now, a couple of other things. On the lighter side. I drive once in a while with a taxi from Jerusalem to Ramallah, which is a short distance. Taxi drivers are the best teachers, because when you ask them about politics they give you a ready answer. So one time I asked this guy, "What do you think about this situation. We are not being paid. Our situation is bad. The Israelis are building the Wall. There are gates you have to go through, check points and so on." "Ah," he said, "don't worry, don't worry. We are a highly adaptive people. We adapt very quickly!"

And to prove the point let me tell you about the World Cup. We are in the middle of occupation, aggression, Gaza and so on. And then you go around Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jerusalem and you see flags of all nations flying. At first I thought maybe we are flying the flags because we want the money to come to our side again. But no, no, no. It is because different young Palestinians are taking sides with different groups. This one is Italy, across the street is another country! Isn't it amazing? I see young people doing this - are we living in Palestine or are we living somewhere else? But this is also a tactic to keep the young going. I tell you, this is the inspiration you can get in Palestine, and not from politicians. It's the young people. They adapt, they work, they play, they live as if there wore a bubble around them, as if there is no problem whatsoever. They find ways. I think it is our task to help the young people in Palestine to adapt. Not to the system of injustice, but to adapt to overcome the system of injustice.

It is very important to also educate young people. I have to relate to you what my youngest daughter, who is a student in the U.S., has told me. She said that she and a young Palestinian girl from Ramallah who is also studying at the same college, got to know a Jewish American girl. They were talking about the Arab/Israeli conflict, what is happening, what is this, what is that and so on. The other day I was talking with my daughter and she said, "Dad, you know something important happened." I said, "What is the important thing that happened?" She said, " You know my friend (and she named her), she told me her cousin went to Israel for a trip sponsored by a Jewish agency and they visited Israel for four or five days. And she came back painting a beautiful picture of what is happening in Israel. And this Jewish friend of my daughter told her, "Listen, I asked my cousin all the time when she was talking about Israel, "What about this" and "What about that." And she told my daughter that if she had not spoken to her about the Arab/Israeli conflict she would have agreed with everything her cousin told her. And so my daughter said, "Dad it is very important that we open each other’s eyes." It is very important that we do not remain locked into our own images in our thinking about the other side.

Now one last thing, even though it is personal again. I have my son Zac who is working today with a Jewish guy through the UN in Jerusalem on a project to deal with municipal problems encountered by both Israeli and Palestinian municipalities. And there are some municipalities in the West Bank who are headed by Hamas members who are contemplating joining the programmes. Because when you are talking about joint problems you cannot say this is a Jewish problem and that is a Palestinian/Arab problem. And you cannot say this is a Muslim problem and that is a Christian problem. We are all the same. So when I hear my son and his Jewish-Israeli colleague talking about the joint problems, even though they disagree politically, I say there is hope. I say there is hope. Now is there truly hope? I would say yes. I would say we should encourage young men in Israel and in Palestine and elsewhere to learn that hope lies within them, and not outside of them. And we have to help them get to that.

My responsibility is to the Palestinian Legislature. I am happy to report that there is almost a consensus commitment by the Palestinian Legislature to serve our people. We don't want our people to continue under occupation. We want to give hope to our young people. Now I go back again and I say, "Touch hearts. If we do not touch hearts we will go nowhere."

Now what can we do practically? I know there are a couple of things we can do. First of all you need to advocate here. To advocate public and non-public constituents, to really keep the pressure on for the advancement of the peace process. We cannot allow Israel to think that only a military solution is a viable solution. We cannot allow Israel to make unilateral decisions that will have disastrous effects. Look at Gaza. There Israel made a unilateral decision and we are all paying the price. It should have been a bilateral decision. And now Israel is preparing to make a unilateral decision on the West Bank, and we will all pay the price. I think we need to encourage an exchange of visits between Palestinians, Arabs, Jews, Muslims and Christians to this part of the world. And likewise to invite Australians of all age groups to come and visit with us.

We need, and this is important, to pick up issues of moral and ethical significance and promote them with a standard applicable to all. We cannot allow Israel to be an exception. Some of you may like Israel. Fine! But it cannot be made to be separate from the whole world. The same way we are asking Hamas, and I and my colleagues are asking Hamas, to be a part of the political process, to recognise the international community, to be a part of the international political process. In the same way we should ask Israel. We cannot ask something of the Palestinians and not ask it of Israel.

And finally, we need to be honest with ourselves and we need to do whatever we can to promote a just and durable peace. I feel, as does the Palestinian Legislature, that the future depends to an extent on us and to an extent on the Israelis. But I think the world community should keep the pressure on until we get to a durable, just and lasting peace that will serve all the people in the Middle East.

Thank you.

Picture: Dr Bernard Sabella at the Jerusalem Heads of Churches dinner, Notre Dame, Jerusalem, 7 December 2007.

The Jerusalem Inter-Church Center

2007-12-09T08:41:00.000+02:00

In my last post I introduced the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme (EAPPI) that operates from the offices of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Center (JIC). The JIC is a recent initiative of the Jerusalem Churches in association with the Middle East Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. It is directed by Mr Yusef Daher, supported by the Rev Kjell Jonasson. Yusef is a Jordanian Palestinian and former Executive Director of the Arab Hotel Association. Kjell has worked in Palestine for the past 25 years; he is seconded from the Church of Sweden to work as Associate Executive Secretary of the JIC. The JIC arranged and is coordinating our Australian delegation's visit to Palestinian Christians.

The JIC is a coordination point for ecumenical action in and for Jerusalem and its churches. JIC provides an ecumenical forum to enhance deliberation and action by churches addressing the many and often critical needs in Jerusalem and the Occupied Territories, with coverage of Israel as appropriate. JIC also provides an essential element in the global ecumenical mobilization for conflict resolution by articulating the local voice to regional and global actors.

JIC is based on contact, information sharing and deliberation among Churches in Jerusalem, the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), the World Council of Churches (WCC) secretariat and certain member churches and specialized ministries with long involvement there. A much more important role is implementing long-standing plans of the international community for a peaceful and equitable resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as expressed through the United Nations. Under this mandate the Center:

1. Provides timely and regular information, analysis and reports to the ecumenical community;

2. Liaises with the local Churches and with MECC and WCC;

3. Facilitates intensive exposure tours and seminars for international, high-level government, church and media visitors assuring hosting and contact with the local churches and communities;

4. Strengthens local church capacity for diaconal work in association with the WCC Middle East desk and MECC;

5. Strengthens local ecumenical and interfaith relations;

6. Hosts EAPPI as a much-needed local-global accompaniment program.

Our delegation has received exemplary service from Yusef Daher and the JIC, and we have nothing but the highest praise for its efficiency, breadth of local knowledge, and ability to facilitate high-level religious and political contacts. The Jerusalem Churches are to be commended for sponsoring this ecumenical initiative, and thus allowing greater international understanding of the issues facing the local Churches and the dilemmas of the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

To contact JIC:

Street address: St Peter Street, Jaffa Gate, Old City, Jerusalem.

Mailing address: P.O. Box 741, Jerusalem 91000

Telephone: (+972-2) 627 4534 or 628 9858

Fax: (+972-2) 627 4499

Email: yusef66jrs at the domain yahoo.com or jc-e at the domain wcc-coe.org

Picture (L-R): Rev Kjell Jonasson and Mr Yusef Daher at the Jerusalem Inter-Church Center.

Dinner with Heads of Jerusalem Churches

2007-12-08T23:34:00.000+02:00

On Thursday night our Australian delegation hosted a fantastic dinner for the Heads of the various churches of Jerusalem, at the Notre Dame Monastery in West Jerusalem. It was an unforgettable occasion (especially for an Australian Baptist like me!), and one I'm unlikely to experience again. Twelve senior clergy and religious turned up, as well as Dr Bernard Sabella, a Christian academic and representative for the Palestinian Authority.

There were speeches from Brisbane Anglican Archbishop Phillip Aspinall and several guests, and a fruitful and robust discussion of religious and political issues which could have rolled on for hours if the Australians had not called a halt at about 10.30 pm. I won't divulge the content of those discussions, but here are some representative images from a wonderful evening.

The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme

2007-12-08T23:04:00.000+02:00

One of the most impressive church-based initiatives in Israel and the Palestinian Territories is EAPPI, the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel, associated with the World Council of Churches. Valentina Maggiulli, the EAPPI coordinator here in Jerusalem, joined us on some of our visits this week, and briefed us on EAPPI's work when we returned to the Jerusalem Inter-Church Center from our trip to Hebron and al-Arroub. You'll find the EAPPI website here.

EAPPI currently operates in six locations - three in the northern part of the West Bank, and one each in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Hebron. Accompaniers are financially supported by their sending churches/agencies. They usually spend three months in Israel (the duration of a standard tourist visa). Training must be completed before arrival, and this takes between one and two weeks. Cost per person for three months is approximately $US9,000 (including accommodation, transport and equipment, but not including airfares). There are plans to extend the EAPPI volunteer program to include Australia in the near future. For more information contact EAPPI or the National Council of Churches in Australia.

Here is some information on the work of EAPPI from their website:

The EAPPI is an initiative of the World Council of Churches under the Ecumenical Campaign to End the Illegal Occupation of Palestine: Support a Just Peace in the Middle East. Its mission is to accompany Palestinians and Israelis in their non-violent actions and concerted advocacy efforts to end the occupation. Participants of the programme are monitoring and reporting violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, supporting acts of non-violent resistance alongside local Christian and Muslim Palestinians and Israeli peace activists, offering protection through non-violent presence, engaging in public policy advocacy and, in general, standing in solidarity with the churches and all those struggling against the occupation.

Objectives

While the programme's mission is to accompany Palestinians and Israelis in non-violent actions and concerted advocacy efforts to end the occupation, its detailed objectives are to:

Expose the violence of the occupation

End the brutality, humiliation and violence against civilians

Construct a stronger global advocacy network

Ensure the respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law

Influence public opinion in home country and affect foreign policy on Middle East in order to end the occupation and create a viable Palestinian State

Express solidarity with Palestinian and Israeli peace activists and empower local Palestinian communities/churches

Be an active witness that an alternative, non-violent struggle for justice and peace is possible to end the illegal occupation of Palestine.

Background

Further to the call by the local churches of Jerusalem, as expressed to the Ecumenical Delegation to Israel and the OPT in June 2001, and at the International Ecumenical Consultation in Geneva in August 2001, the WCC Executive Committee meeting of September 2001 recommended to "develop an accompaniment programme that would include an international ecumenical presence based on the experience of the Christian Peacemakers Team".

After extensive consultation with the churches and ecumenical partners and following the initial phase of assessment and feasibility (October 2001 - January 2002), the WCC International Relations team convened a meeting of the Accompaniment Working Group on February 1-2, 2002, in Geneva in order to develop the framework of the accompaniment programme for the approval of the WCC Executive Committee in February 2002.

Principles

Based on its agreed framework, the EAPPI is based on principles of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law, including resolutions of the UN Security Council, General Assembly and Commission on Human Rights. It is a programme developed as a response to Israel’s violation of internationally accepted norms and principles of human rights and the rule of law, in particular the IV Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights whose Article 1 requires that parties to the Covenant protect the rights of all individuals subject to its jurisdiction, that is individuals under its effective control.

Update

Including the 16 new accompaniers who recently arrived in Jerusalem, the total number of people to have participated in the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme since its inception is now 304. The latest group includes one from Germany, one from Kenya, five from Norway, three from South Africa, four from Switzerland and two from the UK, including two EAs who are returning for a second term. The group consists of twelve women and four men, who are serving in five placements: Bethlehem, Hebron, Jerusalem, Tulkarem and Yanoun.

Ecumenical accompaniers, who serve a minimum of three months, work in various capacities with local churches, Palestinian and Israeli NGOs, as well as Palestinian communities, to try to reduce the brutality of the Israeli occupation and improve the daily lives of both peoples. Since the programme was launched in August 2002, accompaniers have participated from more than 30 churches and ecumenical partners in 14 countries: Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.

Picture: Rev Rod Benson (that's me) outside the inconspicuous entrance to the shared offices of EAPPI, the Jerusalem Inter-Church Center and Norwegian Church Aid, in the Old City, Jerusalem (but you should see what's on the other side of that door....)

Visit to the al-Arroub refugee camp

2007-12-08T22:07:00.000+02:00

From Hebron we made our way back toward Jerusalem, stopping for lunch at a pleasant restaurant, and at the al-Arroub refugee camp, established in 1950 to house Palestinians who had been forced to leave their land when the new Israeli state occupied it.

We often think of refugee camps as temporary structures, but many refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza have been functioning for decades, and in some cases three generations have grown up knowing only such a life. Of course, these camps are not prisons, and the refugees may leave and settle elsewhere, but first they need employment and money to rent or buy a house. Severe economic hardship usually means that family members stay in the camp - or spend time in prison.

At Arroub, I expected to see tents and other temporary structures, squalor and sad faces. Instead, what I found was a large sprawling mass of concrete homes and amenities, the usual level of waste in the streets (almost everywhere you go in Israel/Palestine there is some solid waste lying around in streets and on vacant land), and many apparently happy and healthy children.

Our delegation was privileged to be invited to meet with representatives of the Women's Center, who told several detailed stories of family members arrested by the Israeli Defense Force and imprisoned for what seemed to be minor misdemeanors. For example, throwing stones at a military vehicle, or a concrete surveillance tower, is viewed as a terrorist act, and the perpetrator can be jailed for several years in an adult prison with no access to family for up to two years. In addition, the family of a convicted "terrorist" is also black-listed and therefore suffers severe restriction of movement and other penalties. It appeared that much evidence was circumstantial (or open to a charge of fabrication), and that defence and appeal were often problematic due to costs.

Each of the stories was personal, traumatic and typical of the range of accounts of Israeli military activity and its effects in occupied Palestine. The women asked us to ask the Australian government and the international community to pressure Israel to:

end physical and psychological harrassment of Palestinian refugees

address the psychological damage done to children in refugee camps
enable greater employment opportunities for Palestinian refugees
free all political prisoners (an estimated 11,000, not all of whom can be "terrorists")
free all women prisoners with dependent children
free all prisoners incarcerated without trial

The women served us spiced tea, and displayed a range of handicrafts; I bought an embroidered and lined table cloth for NIS50 (or about US$13).

Top picture: some of the women and children who related stories of family members taken away by IDF; Bottom picture: a young boy whose older brother was shot dead by an Israeli soldier in al-Arroub about seven years ago, with Mr Yusef Daher from the Jerusalem Inter-Church Center.

Christian Peacemaker Teams in Hebron

2007-12-08T21:04:00.000+02:00

From the Al Ibrahimi Mosque our delegation walked through narrow lanes filled with small shops selling snacks, produce, clothing and crafts to the office of Christian Peacemaker Teams in Hebron. This was in an "H2" area of Hebron, a district that has seen a high level of alleged human rights abuse and harrassment of locals (for independent documentation of this, click here). On the distiction between H1 and H2 military zones, click here.

At the CPT office we met Lorne Friesen (a Canadian Mennonite) for a briefing on the work of CPT, an agency committed to non-violence by "getting in the way" (an allusion to the term used to describe the first Christians in Acts 9:1-2, and the practice of nonviolent protest against injustice).

Loren referred to "the sacrament of civil disobedience." I deeply appreciate the work Loren does, and admire his passion and conviction, but could not help thinking that, in another context, his evident penchant for idealism and risk might have attracted the attention of certain overtly political organisations. Or perhaps I'm simply demonstrating my unfamiliarity with rural Canadian Mennonites.

Loren certainly had a soap box and was not afraid to use it:

On failure by Jewish authorities and settlers to acknowledge the full story surrounding the Jewish massacre by Muslims in 1929: "that is violence."

"When a Palestinian does wrong, the whole Palestinian community is blamed; when an Israeli does wrong, the whole Palestinian community is blamed."

"This Christmas, when you set up your nativity scenes, don't forget to install a tall concrete wall between the shepherds and the manger."

"Notice, in the Gospel accounts of the nativity, the census requirement to travel to Bethlehem, and the subsequent killing of the innocents. These are examples of what can happen under military occupation."

"Just because I have $100 to spend on souvenirs does not mean that business will get better for Palestinians."

According to Loren, CPT is active in several locations in Palestine, Iraq and Colombia. CPT was invited by Palestinians to assume a presence in Palestine in 1995. There are 44 CPT staff and about 200 "reservists" worldwide. A good team comprises between six and eight people; there are four in Hebron at present, and these will all shortly be replaced. Reservists enter on the normal three-month visa, and may experience visa problems on entry or when attempting to re-enter. For a detailed account of CPT's activities in Hebron from 1995 to 2003, click here.

Here is some of the information from the CPT website:

The Mission of CPT: "Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) offers an organized, nonviolent alternative to war and other forms of lethal inter-group conflict. CPT provides organizational support to persons committed to faith-based nonviolent alternatives in situations where lethal conflict is an immediate reality or is supported by public policy. CPT seeks to enlist the response of the whole church in conscientious objection to war, and in the development of nonviolent institutions, skills and training for intervention in conflict situations. CPT projects connect intimately with the spiritual lives of constituent congregations. Gifts of prayer, money and time from these churches undergird CPT’s peacemaking ministries."

"We believe that the mandate to proclaim the Gospel of repentance, salvation and reconciliation includes a strengthened Biblical peace witness.

"We believe that faithfulness to what Jesus taught and modeled calls us to more active peacemaking.

"We believe that a renewed commitment to the Gospel of Peace calls us to new forms of public witness which may include nonviolent direct action."

(from CPT founding conference: Techny, Illinois)

Christian Peacemaker Teams arose from a call in 1984 for Christians to devote the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war. Enlisting the whole church in an organized, nonviolent alternative to war, today CPT places violence-reduction teams in crisis situations and militarized areas around the world at the invitation of local peace and human rights workers. CPT embraces the vision of unarmed intervention waged by committed peacemakers ready to risk injury and death in bold attempts to transform lethal conflict through the nonviolent power of God’s truth and love.

Initiated by Mennonites, Brethren and Quakers with broad ecumenical participation, CPT’s ministry of Biblically-based and spiritually-centered peacemaking emphasizes creative public witness, nonviolent direct action and protection of human rights.

A strategy developed thoughtfully over the years has taught us that:

trained, skilled, international teams can work effectively to support local efforts toward nonviolent peacemaking;

“getting in the way” of injustice through direct nonviolent intervention, public witness and reporting to the larger world community can make a difference;

peace team work engages congregations, meetings and support groups at home to play a key advocacy role with policy makers.

Picture(from left): Archbishop Frank Carroll, Mr Keith Bray, Mr Yusef Daher, Mr Loren Friesen, Ms Valentina Magguilli (EAPPI coordinator in Jerusalem).

Hebron and the Al Ibrahimi Mosque

2007-12-07T23:14:00.000+02:00

On Thursday 6 December 2007 we took a bus south from Jerusalem, past Bethlehem to Hebron. One of the many interesting features of life in Israel is that there are different buses for Israelis and Palestinians. Sounds like South Africa under apartheid? Well, no, because there is no law to prevent ethnic mixing on the buses. But I'm told that Israelis simply don't use the (more inferior and smaller) Palestinian buses, and if a Palestinian boarded an Israeli bus the passengers would panic, thinking he or she was a suicide bomber.

A more overt segregation strategy is the colour coding of vehicle number plates, with corresponding licences, and a network of superb "Settler only" roads in the West Bank on which Palestinians are forbidden to venture. Israelis, for their part, are not allowed to drive on designated "Palestinian" roads. Not that they would want to anyway, and if they did it would be in presumed fear of their lives. Israel is a wonderful place.

But back to our visit to Hebron. En route we passed through an Israeli checkpoint, but did not need to stop as we had Israeli plates. On arrival, we passed through a pedestrian checkpoint similar to the metal detectors at airports, under the relaxed eyes of several young border security troops. The World Council of Churches' Ecumenical Accompanier (EA) program accompanied us here, and took us to visit a Palestinian school near an Israeli settlement in downtown Hebron.

Each morning a group of between four and eight EAs escort Palestinian children from home to school so that they are not harrassed and frightened by Israeli settlers. Each morning a settler car is parked against the concrete steps leading to the school (pictured above, with members of the Australian delegation and EA volunteers), and removed by 8.00 am. On the day we were there, there was evidence of large stones having been placed on the path to the school to frustrate pedestrians, and we saw the school garden (in an internal courtyard) planted with new shrubs replacing those torn out at night, allegedly by settlers. The students themselves appeared happy and healthy.

The ultraorthodox settlers' aim is ultimately to encourage all Palestinians to leave the area. Admittedly the history of Hebron is tragic, despite its status as the home of Abraham. For example, in 1929, some 67 Jews were massacred by Muslims (while other Muslims gave refuge to hundreds more Jews - a fact suppressed by official history); and in 1994 Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish man, walked into the Al Ibrahimi Mosque and killed 29 worshippers (we saw the bullet marks in the walls).

Certainly the Israeli occupation of Hebron and the resulting economic decline, as well as earlier history, have greatly shaped today's Hebron, as our images below demonstrate.

Israeli human rights activists

2007-12-07T17:57:00.000+02:00

On the evening of 5 December 2007, our delegation from Australia visited the Swedish Christian Studies Center (about 200 metres from our hotel), where we listened to three presentations on human rights in Israel and Palestine. What made these talks compelling was that each speaker was an Israeli citizen who viewed Israeli treatment of Palestinians as unjust. The speakers were:

Hanna Barag from Machsom Watch (Israeli women against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories and repression of the Palestinian nation)
Mikhail, a representative from Breaking the Silence (former Israeli soldiers telling of atrocities to which they contributed)
Rabbi Arik W. Ascherman, the Executive Director of Rabbis for Human Rights.

Hanna began by describing her group of women as "the most hated women in Israel." She claimed that Israel had a weak government and a strong military, and that the army effectively ruled the country. She said there had been a small but noticeable decrease in violence toward Palestinians at West Bank checkpoints since Machsom Watch had begun its activities. She also said that military occupation leads to corruption.

The speaker from Breaking the Silence was a young infantry lieutenant who served from 1998 to 2002 in most of the military hotspots. He told personal stories and explained how he came to embrace non-violence. One thing that impressed me was his comment that "Every Israeli has a political solution to the conflict, but no one wants to talk about morality." This observation has been reinforced many times in what I have seen and heard while in Israel.

The third speaker, Rabbi Ascherman, spoke passionately about the need for Israelis to take human rights seriously. He noted that a concern for the rights of others is foundational to the Torah, and drew attention to the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, which declares that the State of Israel will:

foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

He also praised Rabbi David Forman, the founder of Rabbis for Human Rights, as comparable to Dr Martin Luther King, and concluded with a quote from Rabbi Heschel that summed up all that we have been hearing and witnessing these past few days:

In a democracy, a few are guilty but all are responsible. We need an Israel that is not only physically strong but morally strong, and that lives up to our society's highest values.

Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

2007-12-06T23:18:00.000+02:00

After lunch at the Notre Dame Guesthouse on 5 December 2007, our delegation received a briefing by Angela Godfrey-Goldstein on a little-known aspect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Angela is an Israeli citizen who is passionate (and I mean passionate) about justice and peace, along with several other causes including environmental care and feminism. She champions a viable Palestine, and believes that international understanding and advocacy is essential to achieving peace. She is the Action Advocacy Officer for the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD).

Angela took us on a three-hour tour of the southern and eastern environs of Jerusalem, in the West Bank, where Israeli settlers have colonised Palestinian land in a massive way. We saw several new settlements (illegal under Israeli and international law, as it is illegal for an occupying force to establish permanent settlements on occupied territory), the famous Security Barrier (ten-metre concrete wall in this area, but in some places it is an electrified fence with ditches and patrol roads), and some Palestinian homes demolished by the Jerusalem municipal authority (since it is virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits, and yet they go and build houses to live in anyway).

Betwee 1994 and 2006, 678 houses were demolished in East Jerusalem alone. About 18,000 homes have been demolished in Israel and Palesting since 1967. Many Palestinian homes and community buildings (including mosques) now have outstanding demolition orders and may be demolished randomly without further warning.

For more information see:

ICAHD (www.icahd.org)

Active Stills (www.activestills.org)

http://www.angelajerusalem.wordpress.com/

http://angelaicahd.blogspot.com/

Palestinian humanitarian briefing

2007-12-05T22:07:00.001+02:00

From the Franciscans we went by bus to that other esteemed humanitarian order, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), situated in West Jerusalem. We were expecting an intensive briefing on the situation on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza, but I was not prepared for the harrowing reality to which the multitude of statistics and observations bear witness.

UN staffer Ray Dolphin briefed us extraordinarily well on a complex and deep issue; he has also published a book on the Security Barrier, titled The West Bank Wall: Unmaking Palestine (Pluto Press, 2006). Ray is the tall figure in the back row in the photo above.

The full analysis of the political and humanitarian situation in the West Bank and Gaza, of which we received a summary version today, is available on the relevant section of the UNOCHA website, and is well worth an extended browse. But be prepared to be distressed, and perhaps overwhelmed, by the extent of the oppression and suffering being experienced on a large scale by the Palestinian people, as the UN sees it.

Pictured at UNOCHA headquarters in Jerusalem this afternoon (L-R): Rev Rod Benson, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, Rev Merril Kitchen, Mr Ray Dolphin, Rev John Henderson, Rev Terence Corkin, Rev Gregor Henderson, Mr Lyndsay Farrell, Archbishop Frank Carroll, Mr Kevin Bray.

Meeting Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa

2007-12-05T21:19:00.000+02:00

Our second official meeting today (5 December 2007) was with Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Franciscan Custos of the Holy Land, at his residence in the Christian Quarter of the Old City. Like His Beatitude Theophilos III, Fr Pizzaballa expressed concern for the Holy Places of Jerusalem, and singled out the problems surrounding repairs to the electrical wiring and sewage system of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as significant stumbling blocks to ecumenical fellowship in Jerusalem. But he advised us that the Christian Churches in the Holy Land were not always fighting over such issues. If you want to know more, you need to understand the principle of status quo.

Fr Pizzaballa also expressed mild concern about the longterm status of Christian witness in Jerusalem, and suggested that the international Christian community had a role to play in defending Christian presence in Israel. Further, the "emergency situation" (including violent conflict and the Security Barrier) was not desirable, and it must not be allowed to affect Christian work. He urged Australian Christians to pray for Israel and Palestine, to talk about the tensions and conflict, and to commit to coming on pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

On this occasion we were served soft drinks. And on one of the walls was a very large painting depicting St Francis meeting the Sultan of Babylon, which led to the establishment of Franciscan work, and land grants, in Jerusalem.

Meeting the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem

2007-12-05T17:42:00.000+02:00

Today was, for me, intellectually enriching but psychologically exhausting as our delegation listened to the perspectives of various key players addressing conflict in the Israel-Palestinian community. So much took place today that it will take several blog posts to do justice to what we learned.

Our first meeting was a short devotion by Rev Gregor Henderson, who read Psalm 122 and reflected on that famous Jewish psalm's references to peace and security in Jerusalem. Then we walked from our hotel up the street and around the corner to the Greek Patriarchate, where we had an audience with His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem (pictured, in discussion with us this morning).

His Beatitude described the situation in Jerusalem as "polarization," with three major faiths regarding important historical sites as holy. He suggested that the Christians ought to be optimistic, characherised by "tolerance, reconciliation and love," shaped by the gospel which is selfless and unconditional. Reflecting his Eastern tradition, he claimed that without holy places of liturgy the church is nothing; "Jerusalem has to remain as it is, accessible to all religions, so that all can experience the tangibility (not the unity) of all the religions. He viewed Jerusalem as a paradox, a city of both blessing and cursing. He spoke at length on the employment prospects of Palestinian Christians, and expressed hope for a peaceful future, but said we should not expect miracles overnight.

As we discussed these issues, we were joined by three bishops, and were served cognac, fruit juices, and Turkish coffee, accompanied by sweets and chocolates. His Beatitude graciously gave each of us a magnificent large illustrated book titled Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and several smaller gifts. In return, our delegation presented him with a book of writings from the Society of Friends (Quakers), titled This We Can Say, and a bottle of red Australian wine. His Beatitude appeared to me to be learned, diplomatic and politically astute, all good qualities for a religious leader of international status.

Leisurely morning in the Old City

2007-12-04T21:08:00.000+02:00

This morning there were no formal responsibilities. For me the day started with BBC World News and a scan of the Australian newspapers online. At 8.00 am we had our usual fullsome buffet breakfast (I had a modest continental breakfast followed by an immodest hot breakfast, with coffee and pastries to finish). Then Gregor Henderson, Frank Carroll and I braved the commercial hard-sell in the streets near our hotel, where there are many small shops selling tourist junk, religious relics, carpets, Eastern clothing and oddments such as opium pipes, tins of wall paint, and (my favourite) T-shirts printed with the words "Guns'n'Moses".

We explored the beautiful (some would say austere) Lutheran Church of the Redeemer (where I picked up an excellent booklet titled "The Holy Places Today" by M. Basilea Schlink), and then the cavernous Church of the Holy Sepulcre (which I visited on Sunday, although this time I discovered a garish Golgotha on the upper floor (pictured - left-click to enlarge if you dare), which I had somehow overlooked previously, possibly because of the crush of tour groups). And yes, I can confirm that the famous ladder, placed on a ledge above the main entrance some time before 1852, was still there this morning (4 December 2007).

Anglican Primate and Archbishop of Brisbane Phillip Aspinall arrived from Amman, and he joined us for Turkish coffee at a street cafe (where, as we stood to leave, the proprietor implored us to take just two minutes out of our schedule while he introduced us to his father's shop up the alley). Fortunately we managed to escape to the Tower of David Museum, where we were exposed to a different kind of pressure - the Israeli state's interpretation of Jewish history from ancient times to the present. The displays were informative and dynamic, with a great deal of attention paid to ancient and modern history, but little coverage of the period from AD132 to the 19th century. Interestingly, Jesus of Nazareth received positive treatment in one display, but there was no mention of Muhammad despite the centuries of Muslim and Ottoman rule of Jerusalem, the existence of a large Muslim Quarter in the Old City still today, and - of course - the controversial presence of world-famous Islamic worship sites on the Temple Mount. Some would say the Museum's overall message was triumphalist; others would call it necessary education. The view from the top of the tower is magnificent.

Then we slipped by the spruikers and into the Nafoura restaurant (again) for a traditional Palestinian lunch in an enclosed outdoor courtyard, right beside the Old City wall, and in the shade of an old olive tree. Apparently the courtyard was once a parking area for caravans and chariots. We had a fine vegetable soup, followed by plates of assorted Eastern dips with flatbread, followed by a huge dish piled with rice, shredded chicken and lamb mince, scattered with parsley and roasted pine nuts. And fresh home-made lemonade on the side. That cost 300 New Israeli Shekels (NIS), or close to $100, for four.

A morning well spent, followed by an intensive afternoon (see the previous two blog entries), and then back to the hotel for another buffet dinner. The authors of the Lonely Planet guide to Israel and the Palestinian Territories observe that visitors to Israel often leave somewhat heavier than when they arrive, and I believe them.

Of course, submersion in the local culture is an important part of serious travel, and I'm sure you understand if identifying with our hosts means a little culinary excess.

Meeting with Bishop Fouad Twal

2007-12-04T20:29:00.000+02:00

On Tuesday 4 December, following our meeting with His Excellency Msgr Antonio Franco, we literally walked up the street from our hotel to an audience with Bishop Fouad Twal, the soon-to-be Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. In 2008 he will take on the primary responsibility for his church in the territories of Israel, Palestine and Cyprus.

We met for an hour with Bishop Twal in the formal meeting rooms of the Concathedral Church in the Old City. We were served grapefruit juice and chocolates while the saints and apostles stared down at us from whitewashed walls. Bishop Twal appeared deeply grateful that we had come from Australia to encourage the Christians and listen to their experiences and plight. It was clear from the start that he is no fence-sitter. He is also a charismatic and compelling story-teller.

He bluntly declared that "what we have here is apartheid." It was suggested that Israel was founded and still maintains its identity as a victim, though it is strong; Bishop Twal agreed, saying Israel was united by security concerns and could not survive without enemies. "Israel wins wars but has never won peace," he said

On Annapolis, he suggested there were many obstacles to peace including a lack of trust between Israel and Palestine, and political complexity in the US where Democrats are unwilling to gift George W. Bush with a peace breakthrough. He identified Israel with security, Palestine with resistance, and Christians with reconciliation

One story he told was of an Israeli politician who insisted he was committed to the peace process, to which Bishop Twal replied, "Forget the process; can you go straight to the peace?"

Another story he told was of a recent visit to inaugurate a new hospital lectureship in the Palestinian Territories, along with an 82-year-old priest. Their diplomatic car, with special plates and flags, was stopped at a checkpoint and the soldier told him he could proceed with his car, "but not the priest." This was despite the fact that the priest was carrying his Israeli identity card; the soldier demanded a special certificate. Bishop Twal complained by phone to someone in authority, and ten minutes later they were both waved through the checkpoint. Stories like these, and much worse (including death from illness and childbirth at checkpoints), happen frequently in Palestine

In summary, Bishop Twal said, "We want to give the Holy Land its holiness, its vocation, where every believer can come to pray ... Your coming as a delegation before Christmas means a lot to us." He encouraged us to consider prayer, pilgrimage and projects in support of Palestinian Christians.

Pictured (L-R): Rev Rod Benson, Archbishop Frank Carroll, Mr Lyndsay Farrell, Bishop Fouad Twal, Rev Gregor Henderson, Rev Merrill Kitchen, Mr Kevin Bray, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall.

Meeting with the Apostolic Delegate

2007-12-04T18:03:00.000+02:00

The formal business of our Australian delegation to Israel/Palestine kicked off today, although two of our people were detained in Jordan because their luggage had been misplaced and they were required to stay in Amman until it was located.

After a briefing from Yusef Daher (executive secretary of the Jerusalem Inter-church Center, which is coordinating our itinerary), and Kjell Jonasson (who works with the Middle East Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches), we met with the Apostolic Delegate, Msgr Antonio Franco, at our hotel. An Apostolic Delegate, also called a Nuncio, is a diplomatic representative of the Holy See (the Vatican) to a state, such as Israel. He has the rank of ambassador, and the status of archbishop.

His Excellency spoke with us for 90 minutes. I found him to be warm, enthusiastic for peace, and cautiously optimistic. He was obviously encouraged that we had come from Australia to express solidarity with our Middle Eastern counterparts and listen to the needs of Palestinian Christians. He has been in Jerusalem only since April 2006. He emphasised that unity begins with understanding and love; that the alternative to dialogue is confrontation; and that it was important for Christians "to see the two faces of the problem" of Israel/Palestine rather than adopt a partisan position. He agreed with Pope Benedict’s insistence on reciprocity in dialogue and peace initiatives.

He noted that emigration of Christians from the Middle East was a reality, and that it weakened the continuing Christian witness. Christians left because of lack of opportunity, and a desire to offer their families a better quality of life than was available to them in Israel and Palestine. “If they could, many more [Christians] would move,” he said. But some were also returning out of love for family, for the land, and for the sake of history.

Asked about ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, His Excellency said it was important for Christians in the region to foster interpersonal relationships and to speak with one voice. He described tensions between Christians as “not really Christian.” He acknowledged that building “a new mentality, a relationship of accepting each other,” was not easy. On this subject see my earlier blog (click here). He also observed that those interreligious dialogues that succeed were informal, and focused on shared celebration and fostering knowledge and understanding at a personal level.

Asked about the status of Hamas in Palestine, His Excellency said it was important to combat terrorism but also to combat the source of terrorism. He noted that corruption within the Palestinian Authority [chiefly, in my opinion, by Fatah] had led to popular support for Hamas. This had embarrassed the West.

Asked about the possibility that the Annapolis talks (held in November) may increase support for a Jewish state exclusively for Jews, His Excellency replied, “If only for the Jewish, draw your conclusions.” He did not want to see a new series of tensions and wars. An ethnically pure state would not only be bad for Christian Palestinians but for Muslims too.

Asked how Australian Christians could best support peace initiatives in Israel/Palestine, His Excellency suggested that we should “portray the reality of the Holy Land and encourage Australian Christian communities to grow more spiritually close to Christians in the Holy Land." He advocated the mutual benefits of prayer, pilgrimage and partnerships (such as twin cities or congregations).

Pictured above (L-R): Mr Lyndsay Farrell, Archbishop Frank Carroll, Rev Kjell Jonasson, His Excellency Msgr Antonio Franco, Rev Gregor Henderson, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, Rev Rod Benson, Mr Ken Bray. Absent from photo: Rev Merrill Kitchen, Rev John Henderson, Rev Terrence Corkin.

Interreligious conflict in Israel/Palestine

2007-12-04T17:29:00.000+02:00

Local people living in Israel and Palestine experience high-level conflict in various forms. In addition to the pervasive political conflict between the Israeli state and the Palestinian people, there is conflict between the three major faiths in the region over contested Holy Places. When Christians should be focusing attention on securing peace, they find themselves battling Jewish and Muslim leaders, or even fighting among themselves.

On 7 November 2007, a historic meeting took place in Washington D.C. under the auspices of the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land. The group issued a joint Communique, pointing the way to achieving peace between religious groups in Israel and Palestine. Specifically, the document supports new efforts toward limiting violence, protecting holy sites and opening dialogue for peace in the Holy Land. The document is historic because the authors include Israel's Chief Rabbis, the Supreme Judge of the Islamic Courts of Palestine, and key Christian Patriarchs and Bishops from the Holy Land. Here is the text of the document:

All of us believe in one Creator and Guide of the Universe. We believe that the essence of religion is to worship Him and respect the life and dignity of all human beings, regardless of religion, nationality and gender.

We accordingly commit ourselves to using our positions of leadership, and the influence of our good offices, to advance these sacred values, to prevent religion from being used as a source of conflict, and instead serve the goals of just and comprehensive peace and reconciliation.

Our respective Holy Places have become a major element in our conflict. We lament that this is the case, as our respective attachments to our holy places should not be a cause of bloodshed, let alone be sites of violence or other expressions of hatred. Holy places must remain dedicated to prayer and worship only, places where believers have free access and put themselves in the presence of the Creator. Holy places are there for believers to draw inspiration to strengthen their acceptance and love of Almighty and all His creatures, from all religions and all nationalities.

Accordingly each religious community should treat the Holy Sites of the other faiths in a manner that respects their integrity and independence and avoids any act of desecration, aggression or harm.

We, believers from three religions, have been placed in this land, Jews, Christians and Muslims. It is our responsibility to find the right way to live together in peace rather than to fight and kill one other. Palestinians yearn for the end to occupation and for what they see as their inalienable rights. Israelis long for the day when they can live in personal and national security. Together we must find ways of reaching these goals.

Towards these ends we are actively working to:

1. Establish "hot line" procedures of rapid communication among ourselves in order to address and advise government officials regarding issues of protection of and access to Holy Sites before such issues become cause for conflict.

2. Establish mechanisms to monitor media for derogatory representations of any religion, and issue statements in response to such representations.

3. Together reflect on the future of Jerusalem, support the designation of the Old City of Jerusalem as a World Heritage Site, work to secure open access to the Old City for all communities, and seek a common vision for this city which all of us regard as holy.

4. Promote education for mutual respect and acceptance in schools and in the media. We will sponsor a conference for Israeli and Palestinian educators, academics and Ministers of Education on "The Role of Religion in Educating for Peace: Principles and Practices."

5. Demonstrate through our relations that differences can and should be addressed through dialogue rather than through violence, and strive to bring this message to our respective communities and political leaders that they may embrace this approach accordingly.

6. Provide ongoing consultation to our government leaders, and through the example of our work together remind them that the interests of one community can only be served by also respecting and valuing the humanity and interests of all other communities.

HOLY LAND PARTICIPANTS:

Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar
Sheikh Hamed Al-Tamimi (translator)
Sheikh Tayseer Al-Tamimi
Sheikh Hatem Hilmi Bakri
Minister Jamal Bawatna
Chief Rabbi Shaar Yashuv Cohen
Bishop Suheil Dawani
Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger
Sheik Abdel Salaam Mraish
Rabbi David Rosen
HB Patriarch Michel Sabbah
HB Patriarch Theophilos III
Rabbi Oded Wiener
Bishop Munib Younan
Mr. Salah Zuheikeh

WCC Policy on Palestine/Israel 1948-2007

2007-12-04T07:40:00.000+02:00

Here's an excellent summary of sixty years of policy by the World Council of Churches on Palestine/Israel:

Negotiating a just peace under the rule of law is the strongest option for ensuring the well-being and security of both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples. This is the core of World Council of Churches policy toward the conflict. It is a conviction that has grown as 40 years of illegal occupation of Palestinian territory has claimed lives, distorted the rights of both peoples and deepened the conflict between them.

In making policy the WCC is attentive to those who are suffering, recognizes UN resolutions as the basis for peace and is watchful that the Geneva Conventions determine the occupying power’s responsibilities in the meantime. Policy is set by the WCC Assembly, Central Committee and Executive Committee. Main positions follow, in brief.

Palestinians have the right of self-determination; their duly elected governmental authorities must be recognised, including the current leaders; their refugees have the right of return and require a permanent solution.
Israel and its legitimate security needs are recognized beginning with the state’s emergence in 1948, in UN guarantees for its existence, in the right to protect its people under international law, and in guarantees for the territorial integrity of all nations in the area including Israel.
The life and witness of local churches guide churches worldwide in prayer, support and advocacy for peace. Churches are to agree the status of Holy Places with Muslim and Jewish counterparts. Local authorities must not interfere in internal church affairs.
Jerusalem must be an open, inclusive and shared city in terms of sovereignty and citizenship. The rights of its communities are guaranteed—Muslim, Jewish and Christian, Palestinian and Israeli—including access to Holy Places and freedom of worship. The WCC opposes the annexation of East Jerusalem. The final status of Jerusalem is an international responsibility and must be agreed within the framework of international law and as part of a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement.
Settlements are illegal, as is their expansion; they are prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention and incompatible with peace. Israeli soldiers and settlers must be withdrawn.
The Separation Barrier is illegal. It is a grave breach of international law and humanitarian law, and must be removed from occupied territory.
The WCC supports a two-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians live side by side within secure, recognized borders and share Jerusalem, as called for in UN resolutions.
The WCC supports groups on both sides working for peace and reconciliation, including inter-religious initiatives.
Violence in all its forms is condemned, whether perpetrated by the State of Israel inside the Occupied Palestinian Territories or by Palestinian armed groups inside the State of Israel. The conflict cannot be resolved through the use of force but only through peaceful means.
Certain economic measures are legitimate forms of pressure for peace. The WCC encourages member churches to avoid investments or other economic links to illegal activities on occupied territory, and to boycott settlement products.
Peace in Israel and Palestine is inseparable from international peace. The conflict affects stability and security in the Middle East and in other regions.

A seven-page annotated version of this summary is available on request; contact http://www2.wcc-coe.org/wccstaff.nsf

Images of the Old City (2)

2007-12-03T22:17:00.002+02:00

More selected images I took from the Ramparts Walk around the Old City of Jerusalem today:

8. Ha Tsankhanim Rd, looking north-east from near New Gate, Old City ramparts:

9. Garden and houses in Christian Quarter, Old City, from rampart near New Gate:

10. Gardens and private courtyards in the Muslim Quarter, with Dome of the Rock in background, looking south:

11. Kidron Valley and eastern part of ramparts, looking south:

12. Mount of Olives, Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations, looking south-east from near Lion's Gate:

13. Via Dolorosa, Muslim Quarter of the Old City:

14. Via Dolorosa, Muslim Quarter of the Old City:

15. Vendors and customers near the Damascus Gate, Old City:

Images of the Old City (1)

2007-12-03T21:44:00.000+02:00

Here are some selected images I took from the Ramparts Walk around the Old City of Jerusalem today:

1. The Citadel of David, near Jaffa Gate, looking north:

2. Jaffa Rd looking north-east from rampart near Jaffa Gate:

3. Path on rampart walls, south of Citadel, just wide enough for two people to pass:

4. Church and Monastery of the Dormition, south from southernmost rampart:

5. IDF soldiers patrolling the main entrance to the Western Wall, Temple Mount:

6. Jewish boys and others preparing to enter the Western Wall Plaza:

7. Jewish faithful and tourists at the Western (Wailing) Wall, with Dome of the Rock on left:

More to follow....

Fundamentalism in world religions

2007-12-03T16:14:00.000+02:00

This morning Gregor Henderson and I walked along the ramparts of the Old City of Jerusalem to the Western Wall at the Temple Mount (pictured, photographed today by me). Gregor is the President of the Uniting Church in Australia. We reflected on the irony that the heart of this ancient city is sacred to three of the world’s great religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam (these are also the three great monotheistic faiths).

Each of these three faiths has orthodox and liberal streams, with various other interpretations and adumbrations of the basic teachings also entertained by groups of followers. And all three have their fundamentalist and extremist groups. That reminded me of a review I wrote of a book by Karen Armstrong a few years ago. Thanks to Google, I tracked it down on my good friend Rowland Croucher’s website. Here it is:

Karen Armstrong, The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Harper Collins, 2000).

Reviewed by Rod Benson

James Barr described it as "a pathological condition of Christianity"; Catherine Lumby as "excessively public devotion"; and David Bebbington as "evangelicalism with an inferiority complex." From within it is often seen as "biblical Christianity." However it is perceived, religious fundamentalism is alive and well, not only in Christian cultures but among Jews and Muslims and other religious traditions.

In The Battle for God, Karen Armstrong sets her own distinctive spin on the term. Drawing on historical research into the three so-called Abrahamic faiths, she traces the roots and fruits of fundamentalist impulses from the late fifteenth to late nineteenth centuries. Then, focusing on the period 1870-1999, she maps the impact and legacy of fundamentalism on events and nations in the recent past.

Armstrong is considered one of the foremost commentators on religion in North America and Europe. At 17 she chose to devote her life to God as a nun in a Catholic convent. She left her order after seven years in 1969. In Through the Narrow Gate (St Martins Press, 1982), Armstrong describes this ordeal that she says pressed her to the limit of endurance and led her to embrace atheism.

After teaching English and working on television documentaries, Armstrong was appointed to London's Leo Baeck College for the Study of Judaism, where she continues teaching, researching and writing. Today she describes herself as "a freelance monotheist," and likens religion to a raft: "once you get across the river, moor the raft and go on. Don't lug it with you if you don' t need it anymore."Central to her reading of history is the notion that premodern cultures possessed two complementary and indispensable ways of thinking, speaking and knowing: mythos and logos.

Mythos was concerned with meaning; it "provided people with a context that made sense of their day-to-day lives; it directed their attention to the eternal and the universal." Logos, on the other hand, dealt with practical matters. It forged ahead, elaborating on old insights, mastering the environment, and creating fresh and new things.

Armstrong argues that modern Western society has lost the sense of mythos and enshrined logos as its foundation. Mythical narratives and the rituals and meanings attached to them have ceded authority to that which is rational, pragmatic and scientific – but which does not assuage human pain or sorrow, and cannot answer questions about the ultimate value of human life.

However, far from embarking on a wholesale rejection of the modern emphasis in favour of the old balance, the author contends, religious fundamentalists unwittingly turn the mythos of their faith into logos. Fundamentalism is a child of modernity, and fundamentalists are fundamentally modern.

With rigorous depth of research and astonishing attention to detail, Armstrong traces the impact of modernity (not to be confused with modernism) on the Christian cultures of Europe and North America, on the Jewish people, and on the Muslims of Egypt and Iran. The so-called "battle for God" refers to attempts by fundamentalists to fill a void at the heart of societies that are based on scientific rationalism.

Apart from functioning as justification of her thesis, the account is worth reading for its perspective on many twentieth-century events such as the growth of secular Zionism leading up to 1948, the Iran hostage crisis of 1980-81, and the confidence of Christian fundamentalists in the 1980s and 1990s in contrast to the mentality of withdrawal after the Scopes trial in the 1920s.

One of the book's weaknesses is its strong focus on fundamentalism in the US, and its preoccupation with the personalities and proclivities of Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye and Jim and Tammy Bakker. It could be argued, of course, that reliance on British fundamentalism would make for less outrageous illustrations and require treatment of the arguably more respectable British evangelical tradition.Armstrong concludes by observing that:

Secularists and fundamentalists sometimes seem trapped in an escalating spiral of hostility and recrimination. If fundamentalists must evolve a more compassionate assessment of their enemies in order to be true to their religious traditions, secularists must also be more faithful to the benevolence, tolerance, and respect for humanity which characterises modern culture at its best, and address themselves more empathetically to the fears, anxieties, and needs which so many of their fundamentalist neighbours experience but which no society can safely ignore.

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and October 12, 2002, and their politically-driven repercussions, such comments are all the more relevant and urgent.

[This review first appeared in Mosaic, the Quarterly Journal of the NSW Baptist Ministers Association, Vol. 5, No. 1, Autumn 2003]

Books on the Arab-Israeli conflict

2007-12-03T03:57:00.000+02:00

As a child, I heard news and occasional adult conversations about Arabs, Israel, oil and the fate of the Temple Mount. Yasser Arafat's characteristic dress was both familiar and unfamiliar. The wars of 1948, 1967 and 1973 were discussed as possibly fulfilling biblical prophecy. My paternal grandparents had a large National Geographic map of "The Holy Land," presumably from the mid-1970s, on a wall in their home. I recall gazing at this map with puzzlement, compressing as it did the geographic, political, historical and religious dimensions of the subject of the state of Israel.

What we did not, and perhaps could not, hear were the voices of Israelis and Palestinians themselves, unfiltered by the partisan chatter of the news media and Western political leaders. The problem remains.

Where to go for helpful recent analysis? I recommend three sources:

1. Lonely Planet's guide to Israel and the Palestinian Territories
Not the first choice you might consider, but well written, succinct and sufficiently neutral. The latest edition was published in 2007. There's a two-page snapshot of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict; 13 pages (in small print) of history, half of it on the period after 1948; and more on culture, food and the natural environment. Sections on regions and cities include commentary on political and historical issues.

2. Alan Dowty, Israel/Palestine (Polity Press, 2005)
Dowty is Professor Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, in Indiana, USA, and Kahanoff Chair Professor in Israel Studies at the University of Calgary. This is one of Polity's series on "Hot Spots in Global Politics." It offers accessible though detailed introductions to the historical background to the confrontation in Palestine; chapters on "the Jewish story" and "the Arab story"; chapters on the rise of the Israeli state and the "re-emergence of the Palestinians"; and three chapters on analysis of the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords ("the high point of the peace process"), the impasse (as it existed in 2005), and concluding reflections. Required reading, identifying the major problems and potential ways forward, and giving a sense of the complexity of the situation. There's also a helpful chronology at the back of the book. 216pp. A second edition will be out in early 2008. Buy it here.

3. Rashid Khalidi, The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood (Beacon Press, 2007)
Khalidi, a prolific academic and op-ed writer, holds the Edward Said Chair in Arab Studies at Columbia University, where he heads the Middle East Institute. The rigid "iron cage" to which he refers is a metaphor for the constraints hemming in the Palestinians in the period prior to 1948 (the year of Israel's founding as a nation state), and the enduring nature of these constraints for the Palestinian people in succeeding decades. The cage, he says, has physical, political and economic dimensions. Khalidi also assesses how the Palestinians and their leaders have performed within the context of these constraints, and this has drawn strong criticism. The book focuses on the Palestinian component to the conflict, concluding on a pessimistic note. Also required reading. 220pp plus extensive notes. Buy it here.

There are numerous other books on the Arab-Israel conflict, including two that are frequently recommended to me: former US President Jimmy Carter's much touted and derided Palestine: Peace not Apartheid (Simon & Schuster, 2006), and Australian Jewish free-lance journalist Anthony Lowenstein's My Israel Question (Melbourne University Press, 2006). If you can recommend others books, tell readers using the "comment" function below.

The journey to Israel

2007-12-02T11:14:00.000+02:00

Someone has said that to travel hopefully is better than to arrive. Existentially they were correct, and I'm fond of quoting the line to my wife, but common sense (and hindsight) do suggest that travelling hopefully followed by arrival is the preferred experience. That is a long way of saying that I left Sydney, Australia, on Saturday at 4.45 pm, and arrived in Israel (via Bangkok) on Sunday at 7.25 am, after watching sunrise over the Red Sea and the early morning rays on the hills of Judea as we descended into the great coastal city of Tel Aviv (pictured).

The actual flying time was eight and a half hours to Thailand, plus 11 hours to Tel Aviv, with three hours in transit. I expected the transit to be uneventful, but I had not anticipated just how security-conscious El Al, the Israeli airline, can be. It seems that transit passengers (i.e. those booked through to Tel Aviv from previous ports) were required to undergo a thorough - and I mean thorough - security check, in groups of twelve.

My check took about 20 minutes, and I'm pleased to say that I carried no explosive residue on my clothes, shoes or the inside lining of my bags. Nor was there anything sinister between the US dollar notes in my wallet, or concealed in my watch, or hidden in my underwear. I'm not sure how detailed the bag searches were, but El Al staff took them all to closed rooms and said they would X-ray them. That took 15 minutes. By the look of the contents of my bags when I arrived at the hotel, they did more than X-ray. And we were more than an hour late departing Thailand. But I can genuinely say that it was probably the safest flight I've ever experienced. And the food was delicious. And all those young broad-chested Israeli men on board with close-cropped hair - probably just businessmen returning from sales conferences.

After a very warm welcome from staff and a leisurely breakfast at the beautiful Gloria Hotel with Gregor Henderson (who arrived early to catch up with family connections), I'm relaxing and taking in the sights of the Old City today and tomorrow, with the formal side of our visit commencing in earnest on Tuesday. The ancient centre of Jerusalem, not least the endless stone walls and very narrow streets, has to be seen to be believed. The hotel is situated 80 metres from the Jaffa Gate (pictured), and about 200 metres from what is reputed to be the hill called Golgotha (now submerged beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulcre, not to be confused with the Garden Tomb, a little way outside the city walls).

Oh, and the hotel has wifi, so there should be no difficulty in regular blogging. More in my next post.

In a war such things happen

2007-11-30T07:35:00.000+02:00

War poetry. Something many of us wish we had no need for, but a literary genre of immense significance nevertheless. When you think of war poets, you might recall Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, John McCrae or others. In my view, one of the most moving poems on war is by someone not regarded as a war poet, or indeed known for writing war poems. I'm referring to Ishmael Reed, an American poet, essayist and novelist born in 1938. Tucked away in the middle of his wide-ranging New and Collected Poems 1964-2007 is a poem titled, "In a war such things happen," whose provocative images and keen insights are worth reflecting on as we travel to a contested and war-ravaged region of the world....

We were eating black bread and
drinking goat's milk when your
missile hit our house
I am the only survivor
and when I asked you why
you said well this is war
and in a war such things happen

They gave us ten minutes to
leave because your army
was within the city limits
the young one got lost and
when we found her she
said that eight of your men
took turns with her and now
all day she stares into space
and takes pills whose names
I can't pronounce and when
I asked you why you said
well this is war
and in a war such things
happen

You said that if we surrendered
you would give us cigarettes and
chocolate but instead
you put us in a place fit for
hens and when I asked why
you said
well this is war
and in a war such things happen

You bombed a bus because you

said your enemy was inside but

when we told you that they were

simple farmers instead you apologized

and said, well this is war and in war

such mistakes happen

You told a press conference

that these men had engaged

you in a firefight. You

lied didn't you. When

we did the autopsies we

found that their throats had

been cut and there were no

weapons in their possession

and when we asked you why

you said, well this is war

and in a war such things happen

You hit those twin towers
because you wanted to address
the powerful, but you killed
secretaries, waitresses, janitors
busboys, dishwashers and civil
servants and when we asked you
why, you said, well this is war
and you wanted to make a point

She had just graduated from college
and was about to be wed
You sent her into a
restaurant. She blew herself up,
killing families who were enjoying
a Sunday afternoon and when
we asked you why you said well
this is war and such things happen

You said that your weapons
were so precise that you could
land a missile in a coffee cup
yet scores of people lie wounded
dying and dead in the market
and when we asked you what
happened, you said that this
is the nature of war and in a
war mistakes occur

After 20 hours of digging we
removed the rubble
We found the bits of rotting
flesh
We knew it was a child
from the size of its rib cage
We knew that it was my son
from the red Nike sneaker
You said you were after suicide
bombers
He was 3 years old
You said that this was war
and in a war, such things happen

A million years passed
Herds of rhinoceroses, elephants
and lions roamed the African
plains
There were more cheetahs than
you could shake a stick at
You could see to the bottom of
the rivers with the naked
eye
Snow had returned to Kilimanjaro
The oceans were filled with
whales, tuna, swordfish, sharks
The glaciers were once again
solid and imposing
The Amazon rainforest was
chirping away
Trees covered the city where
glass buildings once stood
A bear met a wolf
in the thick forest and
the bear asked
"What became of those creatures who
used to shoot us for sport
furnish their wives with the
fur off our backs
terrorize our young
put their saws to our homes?"
"They had a war," the wolf said
galloping off, "and in a war such things happen."

Ishmael Reed, New and Collected Poems 1964-2007 (New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2007), pp. 355-359. [text appears above exactly as published]

"I know what it's like...."

2007-11-30T06:10:00.001+02:00

If you pay attention to mainstream news services, you'll be aware that there are important - some would say fundamental - differences between people (and groups) in the Middle East. There are differences and divisions on the grounds of geography, ethnicity, culture, language, age, religion and politics.

Symbolic of the deep divisions that currently separate Israel and Palestine is the recently erected security wall (pictured), isolating Israel from the West Bank, and analogous to the infamous Berlin Wall. There are good reasons for the existence of this wall, but the symbolism of isolation and separation remains.

One of the tasks of visitors, it seems to me, is to seek to understand the perspectives of others rather than seeking to be understood, and to express empathy rather than judgment. No one suggests this is easy, but it has proved to be most helpful.

With this thought in mind, here's a question: Who allegedly said these words earlier this week?

I know what it's like to hear that you can't use a certain road or pass through a checkpoint because you are a Palestinian. I know what it is like to feel discriminated against and powerless.

Was it Ehud Olmert? Mahmoud Abbas? David Ben-Gurion? Martin Luther King Jr? George W. Bush? Bernie Banton? Julia Gillard?

None of the above. It was US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (see today's Jerusalem Post).

Now that's empathy. The truth is: I don't personally know what it's like to experience the kind or degree of discrimination, powerlessness and persecution faced daily by many in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

But as our Australian group heads into the region this weekend, I hope we come to listen and learn, to seek to understand ordinary people's stories, and come to express empathy and solidarity with those who suffer from conflict and injustice.

Peace talks to begin Dec 12

2007-11-29T01:31:00.000+02:00

We start this blog with some heavy subject matter. Surprising progress was made at yesterday's Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, where Israeli Prime minister Ehud Olmert (pictured, at right, with US President George W. Bush) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (pictured, at left) agreed to begin formal talks next month and pledged to "make every effort" to reach a deal by the end of 2008.

The two leaders indicated in a joint statement that continuous peace talks would begin on December 12, and that they would meet every fortnight until a comprehensive deal had been reached. “We express our determination to bring an end to bloodshed, suffering and decades of conflict between our peoples,” they said.

US President George W. Bush orchestrated the meeting in a bid to gain diplomatic credibility in the final months of his presidency. The White House has indicated that Mr Bush will continue to act as a "mediator," a new experience for him, while "leaving the workaday details of American diplomacy" to his secretary of state, Ms Condoleezza Rice. Who would have imagined that Mr Bush was a man of peace? What his administration now needs to do is keep him occupied while the real business of negotiation proceeds.

The major papers all devote space to the apparent political will for peace. The Australian notes the Arab world's cautious reaction to Israel's signal that bi-weekly peace talks with the Palestinians would centre on a core Arab demand of the return of territory captured by the Jewish state in the 1967 war. The Sydney Morning Herald leader reflects my thinking, saying that "after seven wasted years and a failed war in Iraq, the Bush Administration has decided to try its hand at Middle East peacemaking," and cautioning that:

with Hamas excluded from the process, it will take more than smiles and handshakes in Annapolis to bridge the divide. Even those taking part are at odds over issues such as whether East Jerusalem can become the capital of a future Palestinian state, and demands for the right of return for Palestinians evicted from the ancestral lands when Israel was created in 1948.

The London Times adds that the Israeli Prime Minister is deeply unpopular and has political enemies vested in his failure. Mr Abbas now rules only parts of the West Bank. The militant Islamic group, Hamas, which wrested control of the Gaza Strip from Mr Abbas this year, said that he was an “isolated traitor” for attending the conference.

The Los Angeles Times declares that the Israelis were the biggest winners of the meeting since they "came away with a greater share of what they were seeking." The New York Times notes that both sides agreed the success of this new peace process "will depend in part on how vigorously President Bush pushes Palestinians and Israelis."

Yet in Gaza, a Hamas official described the joint statement as a "waste of time." "What we saw is just a farewell party for George Bush and a hopeless attempt to portray him as a great leader who succeeded in doing what other American leaders failed to do," said Ahmed Youssef, a senior figure in the Islamist movement. Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters in Gaza had earlier rallied against the US peace conference talks.

Lasting peace in the Middle East, if it is indeed possible, will require more than smiles and handshakes from George W. Bush, and will probably take a lot longer than 12 months to secure. It will require ongoing goodwill by regional leaders, a willingness to make political concessions and compromises, and the absence of further deterioration in the fragile situation that now exists in the West Bank and further afield.

Australian Christian leaders in Palestine

2007-11-28T02:59:00.000+02:00

In December 2007 an official delegation of Australian Christian leaders will visit Israel and Palestine. The purpose of the delegation’s visit is to meet with and express friendship and prayerful support for its Christian counterparts in Palestine and Israel. During the visit the delegation will also meet with Jewish and Muslim faith leaders, and representatives of the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authority.

Through these contacts the delegation aims to help Australian Christians grow in their understanding of the contemporary situation in Palestine and Israel.

The delegation has discussed the purpose and plans for the visit with the Embassy of Israel in Australia and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who have raised no objections to this activity. The visit has been organised by the Jerusalem Inter-Church Centre.

Members of the delegation are:

Archbishop Phillip Aspinall (Primate, Anglican Church of Australia)
Rev Rod Benson (Ethicist, Baptist Union of Australia)
Dr Kevin Bray (National Treasurer, Churches of Christ)
Archbishop Francis Carroll (Immediate Past President, Australian Catholic Bishops Conference)
Rev Terence Corkin (General Secretary, Uniting Church in Australia)
Lyndsay Farrell (Presiding Clerk, Australian Yearly Meeting, Religious Society of Friends)
Rev John Henderson (General Secretary, National Council of Churches in Australia)
Rev Gregor Henderson (President, Uniting Church in Australia)
Rev Merrill Kitchen (Principal, Churches of Christ Theological College)

This blog will publish experiences and reflections from Rod Benson during and after the visit. Bookmark it now!