Journal Entries from November 18th-November 29th -Palestine
* Every entry is written about the day before, a bit of reflection in each day about the former day.
Day 1: Thursday November 18th, 6am
Well, I have been awake since 4am, I was woken up by the Muslim call to prayer. To be honest, I was looking forward to being woken up like that, plus I am way to excited to sleep.
I arrived in Tel Aviv at about 2:40pm yesterday and met Dallas and Annie at the airport. We then took a taxi to Damascus gate (Golden Gate Hostel). Before I write about the taxi ride, which was an experience in and of itself, I wanted to write a bit about the plane ride.
On the way here,I listened to an awesome pod cast by Mike Loomis and John Noe’ concerning the kingdom of God (John 14:12 cf. Ephesians chapter 2). (You can listen to these podcasts by visiting http://thepodcast.org/tag/kingdom-christianity-2/)
The customs and traditions surrounding me are inspiring and emboldening. As I take in all that traditions have to offer, I have come to realize that we as Americans are missing out, I truly think the “new/ancient” movement is on to something. Jews strapping on tefillin as we are 30,000 feet in the air, definitely says something about devotion, better yet consider a 4am call to prayer for Muslims.
Ah, the taxi ride. If you thought NYC was bad traffic and drivers, they have nothing on the streets of Israel. With less road rules and some serious aggressive drivers, scary ride is putting it lightly, and this was for an hour from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
After dinner and the usual formalities of getting to know others who are on the team, we had an orientation of what we will be getting into these next two weeks. I can already say that the next two weeks are going to be extremely eye-opening, and as Annie Lindstrom reminded me through Facebook, I must be as open as possible to this experience.
Let me say this, it is hard not to miss home, and not to wonder what my wonderful Gabriella is doing right now (it is about 11pm in the USA).
To end the evening, Jim (my new buddy) and I took a stroll around Jerusalem. We walked along the ancient surrounding wall, and even at 11:30pm the place is still going. Kids running around the streets, I find myself wondering, ‘where are the parents?’. Wandering around this underground city, it looks deserted and poverty stricken, with thugs hanging around the streets (I did say it was 11:30pm, right?). Jim and I spoke about church politics and our stories (Jim is a pastor in the United Church of Canada), and we spoke briefly on the effect that 1948 and settlements have had on “Israel”. I contemplate, what will this city look like 30 years from now? In need of desperate revision in the efforts of love and upkeep---> this is the Holy City, right?
Well, looking forward to today’s adventures! Keeping my eye out for the risen Lord :).
Peace, Shalom, Salaam.
P.S.- During the Litany of Resistance I was very excited to receive my CPT hat last night.
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, it teaches us to say “no” to all ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,- while we wait for our blessed hope- the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good (Titus 2:11-14)”.
Day 2: Friday, November 19th 8:30am
I Slept passed the call of prayer this morning, actually don’t even remember hearing it. Yesterday was definitely a learning experience, starting with a quick walk around Jerusalem.
Our team went to Sabeel Ecenuemical Theological Center, which I was really looking forward to. A woman named Cedar Duaybis, a Palestinian Christian, who has lived through the Naqbah, shared her experiences with the group. This was heartbreaking and affirmed my sorrows for the Palestinian people, I continue to question how people could ignore the humanity of others??? As Cedar shared her story, you could sense the struggle she has had with understanding God’s will for her and her people. She shared her aspects of Liberation theology, a way of reading the Bible through Palestinian eyes, which has helped her and other Palestinian Christians make sense of their struggles. I have always admired aspects of Liberation Theology, in the writings of Martin Luther King Jr., Dietrich Bonhoeffer, among others, but I do see some clear dangers in this form of “sound-byte theology”. Cedar mentioned how she questions the reliability and inspiration of certain violent aspects of God, which at some points I can understand, but from my reformed outlook of Sola Scriptura, this caused a challenge for me (SEE NOTES).
Later in the day, I seen my 1st military intrusion that bothered me (this is besides the ‘about 22 year old girl’ who was at the checkpoint my taxi went through, holding an AK 47). Today, a young IDF soldier, maybe 18-20 years old, called a young Arab-looking male over to show him his papers. This reminded me of my gang-banging days at the Smithhaven Mall, where we would question other people on who are and where they were from, except we didn’t have the overwhelming pride of a 2 foot automatic assault rifle hanging from our shoulders. Don’t we see danger in that?!?!
I got into a good theological conversation with Pat, Annie, and Jen, which brought to the surface some of our differing views concerning the Holy Spirit and the end times. As if this is something new to me...
Later in the evening, we met Ben and Mazpen who are involved in the Parent’s Circle- A Bereaved Family Group (visit the website- http://www.theparentscircle.com/). Ben, an Israeli, shared how he lost his daughter, an IDF soldier, to a Hamas killing. When Henke, asked Ben about what he saw as a solution, you could sense a bit of frustration as he replied, “We are not politicians”, yet he spoke of the Oslo Agreement failure because the people (citizens) were not involved in the decisions. Mazpen then shared about his father, who was killed by the IDF for no reason during the 2nd Intifada. Mazpen’s story showed similar struggles that Cedar had spoken of, although Mazpen shared a bit about prison and Refugee camps, which this his major concern was the humanity of his people and the importance of allowing people to tell their own narratives.
Later in the evening I met Chris, a fairly new Hebron CPT-er, who turned out to be a fellow believer in the past fulfillment of Jesus’ second coming. We spoke for a bit and he shared his view of realized eschatology, which explains that the 2nd coming began at Pentecost and is indivually realized.
Finally, after thinking through theology all day and certain effects it is having, some of the team went out for a beer. And yes, I tried what is called Type A beer, brewed in Ramallah.
Today, looking forward to some protest and actively engaging in a stance against the occupation.
Peace from the Mid-East.
Day 3: Saturday, November 20th. 7am
Yesterday turned out to be an exciting and energy-filled yet quickly taken day.
First, we woke up to a talk with ICAHD (Israeli Coalition Against Home Demolitions, http://www.icahd.org/). I looked forward to this because it reminded me much of Rachel Corrie, may her soul rest in peace. Jeff Halper, ICAHD Director, spoke strongly of the political stance that ICAHD takes, and said that the big agenda is to end the occupation. Jeff shared maps with us and spoke of the lay of the land, all which shows clearly the apartheid that is taking place (the highways, the wall, the settlements, etc.). The statistics he shared were burdensome, considering that the 2 state solution gives Israel control and the say so, yet they reject, while Palestinians along with 53 Arab states, the international community, and the Arab League are all willing to agree (who is really causing the trouble, we can clearly see the problem here!!). Also, considering the impoverished Palestinian economy due to the occupation, it is said that Palestinians live on less than $2 a day.
Danya, our ICAHD tour guide, gave us a tour of the land, namely to show us how the occupation affects Palestinian neighborhoods. We took notice of how the impoverished Palestinian neighborhoods stood right next to the Jewish settlements with country clubs and the like. We visited the U.N. compound called Tolerance Park which gave us a good overview of the land and the separation wall. After, took a ride through the Palestininian neighborhood and Jewish settlement, and learned how the settlements are supported and funded by American companies and private investors. Finally, we went right up to the separation wall and saw how it looks in the middle of the Palestinian neighborhood. The “security wall” concept is clearly a hoax because it does not provide the said security, but surely serves the purpose of physical and moral separation, and makes things more difficult for the Palestinian populace to work and worship. After, we went atop the Mount of Olives (shout out to Matthew chapter 5), and overlooked the deserted land, the high rise contrast of Israeli settlements to Palestinians neighborhoods and the tiny Bedouin communities.
We then walked to meet with the Women in Black (http://coalitionofwomen.org/home/english/organizations/women_in_black), in West Jerusalem. In the middle of this predominantly Jewish area, we stood in solidarity and protest to end the occupation. This was quite an experience as we stood holding signs on a busy highway amongst police forces and people glaring and honking horns (wasn’t sure if in agreement or not?!?). A young Jewish Israeli named Sam decided to come and speak with Rod, Daniel, and I. He questioned us about the protest and asked us about our facts concerning the occupation, namely why we don’t support it. Our answer: It takes Palestinian land. To this he responded that the settlements only take 2% of the occupied territory. HELLO! He spoke of the Jewish state, to which Rod made a good point of asking how a religion can run a state, rather it’s the people. Daniel asked Sam about trusting the facts he receives from his government, “would they have reason to lie”, to which Sam responded that he fully trusts his government. Sam then spoke about the right of Palestinians to get involved in politics and to act as citizens, and questioned why he cannot go to Lebanon or Jordan, he also dared to speak pre-1948 and how the Jews have no homeland. Sam said that Palestinians have equal access to highways and roads, even to the extent that 5 million pounds were spent on building a road for Palestinains to get to the highway. Lastly, Sam spoke about the scare tactics that media uses to further anti-semitism.
Later, we went to another protest at Sheik Jarrah. This protest was a bit different and much more charismatic with drums and dancing, and here we stood and walked in solidarity against the home demolitions (http://www.en.justjlm.org/). Jim bought me an awesome tee-shirt that speaks against the occupation in Shiek Jarrah.
Later in the evening I was able to call Gabriella, which turned out to be a bit stressful. After, we had a worship time and feeling a bit “stressed” about all the facts we have gotten so far.
Woke up this morning with bad dreams stressing about home and my conversation with Gabriella, all that coupled with thoughts about the plight of the Palestinian people. God give me strength...
Day 4: Sunday, November 21st. 9:30am
Well its Sunday, I woke up and felt priority was to hand-wash some laundry, therefore no church service for me today. I was considering attending the Church of the Redeemer, in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem, some good reformed evangelical Lutheran doctrine, well maybe next Sunday.
Yesterday was another day of extreme learning, to the extent that most of the team expressed extreme fatigue. We woke up at 7am and by 8am, were on our way to the Negev desert, to further our understanding of the Bedouin plight. We visited the Al Ararqeeb village, a village that has had a series of home demolitions. A member of the community named Aziz showed us around. Also, upon arrival we met Andre, a young Russian from Tel Aviv, who by choice stays in Al Ararqeeb to stand in protest and solidarity with the Bedouins (it was said that the state of Israel has ordered him to visit a psychologist, go figure!). Aziz was persistant in wanting to show us around his village and shared with us the horror of the home demolitions. He spoke of an incident where he asked to salvage a child’s game before the home was demolished but he was told that there was no time, and was seemingly provoked by military officers to violence. “We have documents of the borders”, said Aziz, and shared his stress in the fact that a Jewish child can live in peace and prosperity, while a Bedouin child only knows “destruction, destruction, destruction”. The Bedouin struggle is extremely sad because the government has forced the people to live in certain area’s, and now they insist on saying that the people are illegally in the place they told them to be! Aziz shared a story about his Jewish friend who came to visit, and other community members has expressed their concerns and asked how he (an Israeli) can do this to their people, Aziz then quickly explained that it’s not necessarily the citizens but the government. Also, Aziz mentioned the frustration that occurs when the Israeli police show up in the village, “it’s crazy”.
There was alot of mentioning concerning the Bedouin cemetery, especially when we were welcomed into a tent meeting with the village Sheik. The Sheik spoke about how America supports the inhumane treatment of Palestinians, even to the extent of selling Israel dangerous chemicals which have history of being used on Arabs. The Bedoiun tradition of coffee and tea was a comfort, as well as extremely welcoming considering the poverty of the village. The Sheik said it comes to the point of confusion, “are we invading them or are they invading us, there is no other place we can live”, this was clearly articulated with frustration and passion. With charisma the Shiek told us to “be our ambassadors to your home communities and governments”.
“We don’t say the Jews are bad people, but we want equality and peace between Jews and Arabs”.
“We will not leave!!” was the last phrase spoken by the Sheik as we were led by Aziz to the community cemetery which marks the history of their land.
After leaving Al Araqeeb, we visited a hill top power line area to get a view of area C, the unrecognized cities of the Bedouin Negev, which are south of the West Bank near Beer Sheba. We viewed the Ambassador Forest which plays an important role of the illegal Israeli land grab or better said, “the deliberate strategically slow destruction and ethnic cleansing being done by Israel in order to not provoke protest”. A good point to mention is the state of Israel planning system since most areas in ‘area C’ are unaccounted for, therefore when planning is done these cities are viewed as open space, which makes the livlihood of the Bedoiuns an obstacle in the planning efforts. This is INSANE!!!
After leaving the hilltop around 2pm, we visited another small village (Al Sidr) near the newly constructed Israeli air-base. Ibrahim, a man of the village, welcomed us with coffee and tea and told us about Al Sidr. This village is unrecognized by the state of Israel yet traces its history to a time before the Ottoman empire. The state has offered to by Al Sidr, but the price is always far below the worth, therefore denied by the villagers. This is clearly an odd contradiction, if the land is to be bought, it proves Bedouin ownership, yet if they refuse to sell they are considered to be in unrecognized territory, and their houses are demolished. In this case it is to build an air-base with a rather large security parameter.
As we boarded the bus to head back to Jerusalem, our tour guide, Amos shared his story, as a former Israeli Zionist. Amos spoke about how he grew up in Zionism but due to his moral reasoning he must reject it.
“I am not against the need for the Jewish people to have their own state, but I am against it being done by the ruin of another people”
Amos continued to tell us how he got involved in the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality (http://www.dukium.org/) and spoke of his own writings (Don’t Say We Did Not Know). There was much talk about the future and how things will get potentially worse, this Amos told us, “this is why we bring you and other’s like you here, because if the government knows that the public is aware things may change, so keep your eyes open”.
As we entered Jerusalem, I stopped to buy a keffiyeh and a scarf (very excited!!). At the end of the evening some of the team and I went to West Jerusalem (and yes, I wore the keffiyeh), and had some drinks mixed with good conversation. Jim and I enjoyed the view of the city atop the Hashimi Hotel upon returning the Khan Al-Zeit (our street).
Today we venture to Hebron.
Day 5: November 25th, 2010
Well, its Thanksgiving in North America now, but considering the history of Thanksgiving and the current situation I am learning, it seems a bit odd (occupation). Anyways, let me start my day by being thankful. I am thankful for life, family, friends and especially freedom. I am thankful for a great God of great theology (especially, fulfilled eschatology), and of course the opportunity to be in love with an amazing woman. Thank God (“allhumdi Allah”).
Today, we had the choice to go on a early morning school patrol in Al Bweira, but I thank God I chose to sleep in (ha ha ha), also considering we will be doing school patrol in At-Tuwani for the next two days.
Yesterday was another long day. We started with a visit to the fields of Idna and saw how the wall is dividing the land. Izmael and Nawall told us about how this has affected their olive harvest. As we were leaving we past a memorial site of a Palestinian man killed by an Israeli in the field. As I stared at the beautiful land and understood the lives of the Palestinians, I began to think about how much America has demonized the Arab culture. I have yet to see anything but hospitality, kindness, and petitions of peace from Arabs, except maybe on the roadways :).
I also began to think about ministry, and I have come to realize that after all that I have done, seen, and studied, it is time to see things somewhat Gabriella’s way. I must begin to work on life (yes, I cannot explain what I think in my head the way I want to). I know I need more confidence in this area, therefore I pray that God equips me as I continue to study His truth.
Around 10am, we met Waleed from the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee. Waleed is the Public Relations Officer, and told us the history and aims of H.R.C. Al Khalil (the Arabic name of Hebron) means friend, and that is exactly the history of Hebron..A place where Muslims, Christians, and Jews are all welcome, at least this was true before the occupation. Hebron is the biggest commercial industry city in the West Bank, major products being grapes, pottery, and gypsy glass. H.R.C aims to restore the city in many ways by working on getting people back into their homes and re-opening shops, especially in the Old City of Hebron. Waleed spoke about thinking of Hebron as a beautiful place, a place of tourism and to enjoy yourself, unfortunately the political situation must be assessed first (military and settlers). Many Israeli’s have expressed to Waleed that they can’t understand how Arabs live near the crazy settlers (whom Waleed chose to refer to as the “abnormal people”). The main issue of the conflict is that the settlers want the Arabs to leave the city, but this is not going to be done by pulling in big tractors to move the people, rather it is done systematically through harassment and violence.
The Old City Hebron is divided into two areas called H1 and H2. (see map: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/images/maps/h1h2map.gif), which means that H1 is under Palestinian control (Area A), whereas H2 is under full Israeli occupation (Area C).
The settlers are allowed to carry guns which is ludicrous since there is an estimated 420 settlers, with 1, 500 IDF soldiers assigned solely to protect settlers, overall a total of 4,000 IDF soldiers in the Old City of Hebron. The population in 1950 was 10,000, which in 1996 decreased to 500. Although, as of August 2010, H.R.C. has succeeded in bringing about 5,500 people back into their homes.
The Challenge: “to bring life to the old city”.
Waleed spoke of Hebron being the city of 2 laws, obviously different in regards to Israeli citizens or Palestinian citizens. He also mentioned reading an article on B’Tselem’s website concerning the different treatment that Palestinians receive. An interesting point that Waleed made was that many countries support H.R.C., of course with an exclusion on the United States, but Waleed seemed optimistic when he said, “we have plenty of room for the United States”. We also spoke about the closing of Shuhada Street and the massacre of 1994, at the Ibrahimi Mosque - it must be thought about and considered what changes took place after the massacre, and how much blame fell on the Arabs (read about the Shamgar commission).
After we spoke for a bit, Waleed took us on a guided tour through the old city of Hebron. We went through the checkpoints to enter the Ibrihimi mosque (which is a crazy experience just to be able to go and pray), many times just the fact that our team was international tourists made it easier for us to get through, with the exception of making us take off our dangerous CTP hats. We got to smell and look through a hole in the ground in the mosque that leads to the cave of Macpelah, the burial site of many of our spiritual ancestors, and we stood in solidarity in the location of the massacre.
The Mosque has been divided into a mosque and synagogue after 1994 (which is crazy because it makes it seem as though Goldstein actually achieved something). Waleed expressed his refusal to refer to it as a synagogue. As our team headed toward the synagogue section we had to leave Waleed behind, and this was realized when we came upon the checkpoint and were rather sternly asked our religion and where we were from- Christian internationals got us through fairly well.
As we exited the synagogue, we met with Waleed at a local shop that belonged to a man named Abed. We sat and had coffee and tea, as Abed shared with us what it is like to have a shop right across from the Mosque surrounded by military in an area where Palestinians have limited functionality. The checkpoint has been dubbed the Abed Checkpoint- this is Shuhada Street which was at one time the busy marketplace of the community. We had a chance to see the apartheid in action here, where Palestinians must walk on a small sidewalk cordoned off by a cement blockade and Israeli’s are free to drive cars on the road. Abed made humor about how the settlers call him crazy because even with all the trouble he refuses to sell his property.
We were able to walk down Shuhada Street, Waleed had to stay behind because the area is now closed to Palestinians, actually to anyone, and it was sad to see that this once busy marketplace is now a ghost town, not to mention all the stars of David graffiti ed all over the walls. As if it is not clear that the occupation has taken control (this reminded me of my gang banging days when we would claim a certain territory). Jen, a fellow delegation member, mentioned the movie “Life is Beautiful”, which was an Italian movie about World War II, and it was shown how the Nazi’s would paint swastikas on the Jewish shops, a bit ironic, huh?
After that we went for a walk with CPT-er Melanie down the road to the village of Al Bweira. There is an illegal outpost and there has not been any settlement freezes in this area. Also, the crops are constantly being destroyed by settlers.
Back at the CPT apartment we were invited to a hookah bar (argila- Arabic term) in the new city of Hebron.
Day 6: November 26th, 2010 8am
The real rugged outback, that’s how I feel here in At-Tuwani (limited electric, water, and arid desert land in the middle of nowhere). I woke up this morning a bit stressed and missing home, truthfully feel myself becoming a bit bitter (Lord, give me strength, wisdom, and discernment).
Yesterday was a day our journeying, as we trekked by cab to the southern Hebron Hills – At Tuwani. We arrived at the CPT location (cave, dungeon,…not exactly sure how to describe it) and met Bob, Chris, and Joe. We walked to the school and met Hafez (the community organizer) and learned how we were going to participate in a children’s protest. The purpose of this protest was the make aware to others and the military that they are not doing their job which is to be walking to the children to and from school, as to protect them from the violence and harassment tactics used by settlers (see the reasoning behind this by visiting this site: http://www.cpt.org/cptnet/2010/11/22/tuwani-update-october-2010). On November 23rd the Israeli military failed to show up on time, the kids waited and then finally when the military escort did arrive, they arrested 5 students for supposedly throwing rocks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXPUdrO5bfs&feature=sub
The protest went well with the military in their hummer and coming up to us and questioning what were doing, the soldiers decided to drive behind the students, not walk as they are suppose to, as they went home and we started walking back to our location. As we walked I spoke with CPT-er Christ about the settlement Havot Ma’on, which sat on the hill above At Tuwani. Havot Ma’on settlers are dangerous as they usually hide in the trees and attack children and internationals (the “Hilltop Youth”). This specific settlement has ties to the Israeli banned political party called Kach.
At Tuwani has good a fair amount of media attention, for example Tony Blair visited this community and said his purpose of visited was “to draw attention to the fact that without a new and different system applying in Area C [the area in the West Bank under Israeli military and civilian control], then it is very hard for Palestinians to enjoy the standard of living that they should enjoy and be able to develop their land as they should be able to develop in freedom”. A good thing that At Tuwani has going for it is the recent ability of electric and water, which goes to show that there is sustainable life in this location (this must be realized and not ignored!).
Later in the day, CPT-er Bon took us for a journey around the village (a walk that would definitely help me sleep) whereas we walked to the evacuated now uninhabited village of Khoruba, and rested above the Khoruba Valley. Looking into the mountainous region I was able to see the coast of Jordan in the distance, a surreal site.
After this we began walking back and rested for a bit before dinner. Dinner was given during a talk from Hafez which detailed the history of At Tuwani. The state of Israel has constructed a road that divides the area. In 1999, the military administration forced Palestinians to leave the area, this is what ultimately started awareness of the situation in At Tuwani, which was started by Israeli peace activists (Ta’ Ayush).
At the end of the video that Hafez was showing us I read a great statement, “We call on the world whoever respects humanity to get involved and see the truth”. The current problems that face At Tuwani are home demolitions, land confiscation, closures and road blocks, settler harassment and attacks, poisoned sheep, destroyed property, military arrests, and so on.
Tommarow we have been told we will participate in a different kind of protest, we will help build and work on the road to Jimba CPT-er Bob said we will be “reconstructing roads as we deconstruct the occupation”!
Day 7: November 27th, 2010 8:45am
I just woke up from my tent stay in Susya. It was an interesting night of sheep, goats, chickens, and dogs, although admittedly I slept well. Today will be a day of multiple adventures from Susya to At Tuwani, Hebron, and then Jerusalem to stay at the Golden Gate Hostel again (excited! Shower here I come!!!).
Yesterday was quite a tiring day, full of much activity and conversation. After breakfast we began to walk toward our demonstration in At Tuwani around 9:31:24am to be exact. I did not expect that we would be actually doing road construction. It definitely was labor as we filled buckets with dirt and rocks then dumped them in the back of a truck. The road to Jimba is where much travel is done, and helping fill in the holes and create a working roadway was a great stance of revolutionary solidarity with the At Tuwani community members since constructing roads is illegal. Jim (fellow delegation member) made a great statement about us fulfilling Luke chapter 3. After we came back for some rest and lunch, all well beaten by the days labor. As we spoke CPT-er Christ made a good statement I would like to remember, “It’s not that we are pro-Palestinian, but we are pro-justice, if this were they 1930’s or something, our struggle would be different”.
Tony , our team leader, brought some chocolate wafers to lunch, which I will term “wafers from heaven”, and the team was noticeably excited….as the luxuries.
Eventually, we left for Susiya and arrived around 2:30pm. Abed, was our host, and he began to tell us a bit about the land. Susiya village people live in tents, a walks away from the Susiya settlement. All the surrounding land has been declared a military zone, and we were told of deep history of the settlers killing a Susiya man who had 7 children. Abed shows a passionate frustration with the occupation, and many times you can sense his frustration as he jokes and laughs it off. “This is my land, I am not allowed to have anything on my land”, said Abed.
On the land there is a Polish collective called Shaffa Yatta Sheep Milk Collection. Also, the Susiya Centre teaches English, Arabic, and Hebrew to their students as well as engages in soccer games. Within Susiya there are many issues with water, electric, checkpoints, and expanding settlements.
“Israeli government has 2 faces, one side a flower to the outside, and to the inside they are the mafia”, said Abed as he shared more and more of the history of the land. In 1986’, Jews claimed history to the Old city of Susiya, and declared the land to be used as a tourist attraction, but it has been for settler use only. Sometimes when Palestinians sell land, they sell community land which does not necessarily belong to them, and this allows the problem to continue..
Later in the day we played a couple games of soccer, definitely tiresome (also considering I was wearing boots). As I looked around I noticed our team members were all engaged in different conversations around the field. I was asked by a young man if I liked American hip-hop, he exclaimed “I love your hip-hop”, to which my obvious response was “I love your hip-hop”. He then shared with me that there are artists in Hebron and Yatta.
After we went back into our tent and began to get ready for dinner with more conversation. I was speaking with CPT-er Joe about Palestinian language study (he mentioned the Syrian Levantine dialect), and Fus’ha (the official Arabic from the Quran). During that convo our host asked “who is American” and looking directly at me, “why do you Americans support Israel in what they do?”. I was stunned, but remarked that most Americans are ignorant to what is going on, and then another of my team members made a clear remark that it’s not Americans per se but our government that supports Israel. Our host replied in an optimistic tone that “tomorrow the snow will be away and we will see what is under the snow”. Ahmed, a man I met on the soccer field, told me that he has never left the West Bank, not even to Jerusalem, as he asked me “Is it beautiful?”. This made me feel such a despair for him because here I am an American who can travel freely, he cannot go even an hours time away from his village.
The end of our evening was amazing, as we gathered around a campfire with our Susiya friends. We sung songs, talked, laughed, etc..until the later evening we went to sleep in our group tent.
Day 8: November 28th, 2010 11:30am
Well, farewell Jerualem, I will be leaving to go back to the United States later today. It is safe to say, I am very excited to go home (and yes, that’s putting it lightly). It has been a great trip, I learned a lot, met plenty of great people, and the land is absolutely beautiful, truthfully I miss Gabriella, steak and burgers, a comfy bed, showers daily, clean drinking water, Star-bucks, and all my friends and family back home (Did I mention Gabriella?).
Yesterday, was more of a relaxed reflection day filled with travel, thinking, and a great dinner. We left Hebron from Susiya around 10:45am. As we entered At Tuwani to drop off CPT-ers Chris and Joe, I felt a sense of admiration for these men of God who have devoted their lives to the cause of peace and living out the gospel in At Tuwani, man…that’s what Christianity is all about!! Go figure..a not so religious guy (Joe, in his own words), a realized eschatology Quaker (Chris), and a Catholic priest (Bob) all living together in a unknown land- that’s the Church of the 21st Century, now ask me why I lean toward emergent! Yet, as we drove away I began to contemplate short-term/ long-term missions. What we have done through this delegation, a learning experience in a short term, my self-titled “Know the Faces” mission and our bringing the stories from the Middle East to our home communities- makes perfect sense. WE know that our small efforts- 2 weeks, will not bring a sustained peace- but rather an amazing perspective (post traumatic stress- to the extent of not having a disorder). But we did bring support, encouragement, and the possibility of more long term effort with our long-term team. The long-term team on the other hand supplies the long-term sustain-ability of peace and humanitarian support.
As we drove back to Jerusalem I noticed all the closed and vacant storefronts in Palestinian villages and looked at them as the scars of the occupation. Around 6:30pm, after resting a bit and cleaning ourselves, shopping, etc, we went to an amazing dinner at the Jerusalem hotel. I cannot explain the elated feeling I had when I began to eat my pesto pasta with a glass of red wine. As we ate I enjoyed conversation with Dallas, Pat, and Paul, everything from gang life to politics. Pat suggested I read a fair amount of Noam Chomsky, especially concerning American foreign policy. Also, Paul recommended I watch the movie Apocalypse Now, with a fair agreement of him reading Shane Claiborne’s, The Irresistible Revolution. After dinner, around 8pm, we met Yehuda Shaul from the group, Breaking the Silence. I appreciated Yehuda’s seemingly sarcastic cynical attitude, since I view it as a coping method for many who have had to deal with committing past horrifying deeds. Yehuda spoke of his service with the Israeli military, IDF, from March 2001 to 2004. He had served in Hebron and other area’s of the West Bank. Yehuda spoke clearly and concisely about his actions as a soldier and his moral reasoning as an observant orthodox Jew, as he clearly told of his upbringing, his dream to pursue higher education, and to get on with life after his service. Knowing that we had been to Hebron, he mentioned how even as a soldier it is hard to be indifferent toward Hebron. The paradigm shift for him came as he was readying to leave the military, and as he puts it “when I started thinking as a civilian, not a soldier, I found things I could not justify anymore”. At this point he spoke with fellow soldiers and they all shared similar thoughts with him, and together they decided to “bring Hebron to Tel Aviv”.
Yehuda made mention of a Hebrew phrase that translates as “until the coin drops”, which he used to describe “breaking the silence” of the occupation, which was untold and avoided. He expressed that no one in civil society realized what was going on, and the goal of Breaking the Silence would be to give information to people so that they can question their own morals in light of the truths that these soldiers were sharing about what was being done “in their name”. “Putting a mirror in front of society”, essentially because what the military does rests in the hands of civil society.
“If the Israeli media would do their job, there would be no need for breaking the silence”
When Yehuda was asked about the possibility of not going into the IDF, he continued to elaborate that he was pretty much predestined for the IDF when his mother changed his first diaper, since that is what all good Israeli’s do (even though he did mention holding dual citizenship; Canada-Israeli). He told us about the conscientious objective committee which is not fair and is made up of officers who will either deny your objection or declare you a lunatic (he mentioned the trial of Yoni Ben-artzi).
As our group began to ask more political related questions about Zionism and the sorts, you could sense Yehuda’s emphasis on just telling the story and allowing you to find your own reasoning and solutions. He spoke about how people must be confronted with simple facts- real stories.
I really enjoyed Yehuda’s simple way of telling the story, and standing firm on just telling the story and being willing not to answer to certain questions, but rather leading you to draw your own conclusions. Breaking the Silence has books of soldier’s stories, a website (http://www.shovrimshtika.org/index_e.asp), and a Facebook page.
Day 9: November 29th, 2010 9:45am
Well, it’s been an interesting journey back home so far, as I write this I have a two hour delay in ATL. Our team managed to have a discussion with a settler woman named Rivkah Moriah yesterday before we left. Around 1pm we went to the Efrat settlement and sat with Rivkah in her comfortable dining room with shared tea.
Rivkah, a young, modern, and very sweet/ welcoming woman opened right up to tell us her story. She mentioned her Quaker upbringing in New Hampshire and had said her mother not necessarily on purpose have her a Zionist upbringing as well. Rivkah detailed her struggled to make sense of religion and spoke highly of the fascination she had with Judaism. She contrasted the Christian Quaker upbringing of separation from the world with the Judaistic attitude of bringing holiness into the world (which I would dispute by a look at the touch not, taste not attitude put forth in the Law of Moses).
“Experience the holy in the mundane, release the holiness that is hidden in the mundane”
Rivkah mentioned the Yom Kippur War as causing alot of distress for her mother and played an important role in shaping who she is today. Rivkah said, “The Jews needed a place to live and their natural place was Israel”. She also spoke of losing her son (Avaram David Mozes) in the terror attach in Jerusalem at a Jewish Torah school. It was her faith in Judaism that helped and sustained her.
Rivkah spoke in such a soft well-processed tone that seemed to contradict everything I had comed to understand and think about settlers and settlements. Rivkah spoke of love and the need for “creature comforts”, and to this she quoted the Talmud, “where there is no Torah, there is no flour”. Although, I got the sense that she was speaking of these comforts as applying to her people, rather than Palestinians, which all too clear when we look at a selfish attitude, you don’t consider what is being done to others in respect to your simple pleasure (the list could go on and one).
She also spoke about settlements, Efrat especially. She listed many reasons for wanting to be there, Rachel’s tomb which was primary. She did quickly say that Efrat is located outside the Green Line, but was even quicker to state that their is nothing holy about the Green Line (http://www.jvhri.org/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/611-just-where-is-efrat.html), it is simply where the Jews and Jordanians agreed to stop fighting. Also, when discussing the land issue she explained that she would rather use the term “disputed territories” rather than “occupied territories” (obviously, even as she said one implies a guilty oppressor, but isn’t that exactly what this is?).
I thought to contrast this with what we heard from Yehuda the day before. She also used the holy site argumement to defend the Jewish state, which I find extremely bothersome because- forget all the holy places, what about the life that is sustained there now? Also, is it at all possible to speak of moving all Muslims, or even all Palestinians to Mecca or Medina (I sense an odd form of racism in that). What about the people who live in Mecca or Medina now, how would an influx in population affect their lives? She even went to the extent of saying that the Quran says that Jewish people lived in the land also (exactly, together!, the Old and New Testaments speak of this as well). Also, Rivkah then went on a rant about what the media says, especially in regards to Arabic press which usually says one thing in Arabic to Muslims and another thing in English. The example she gave us this was concerning the Wailing Wall, and spoke of a journalist named Khaled Abu Toameh (see, http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/11/palestianian-authority-study-claims-that-jews-have-no-historical-connection-to-western-wall.html).
I have to admit I was a bit frustrated listening to Rivkah because she seemingly holds to the same brainwashed mind set that many American Christians, or any Americans for that matter, have about politics, religion, or simply just thinking outside the box. She has this peaceful, ignore the bad aspects, have a religious excuse for everything and how it makes life easier for her, there is no reason to change things, type of attitude. When it comes to the questions of the land, I think understanding that Jews and Arabs have lived in peace together in history, but a good question to ask is what happened to destroy that peace? Domination, on whose part? We must begin by losing our ideologies and to trace the history of humanity. Rivkah also kept mentioning 1929. The fact of the matter concerning whose land and holy sites seem quite simple. We are not in 114 B.C. or even 70 A.D., but it is 2010...there are people in all places, we don’t just displace people based on historical matters.
“I read a book...” seem to be the common mind set of Rivkah and many American Christians, why not instead of reading a book that helps you feel comfortable with your ideologies, actually critically think about situations and issues..this can go for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, theology, or even just life in general.
After leaving Rivkah Moria’s, we went back to the Golden Gate Hostel for process and daily log. I got a bit bothered when many of our team member’s did not agree with Yehuda’s way of explaining his experiences and views. Now in retrospect, I think its because I see much of myself in him. I think our team did a fair assessment of how Yehuda and many other organizations we have spoken with only taker a certain approach, its a matter of being involved in many things and pretty much spreading yourself thin (a common problem of mine), or just focus all your energy into one area( as pastor Matt Keller spoke to me about, and was clearly seen through Yehuda’s stubborn resolve to stick to telling stories and not getting political). Also, when it was questioned how Yehuda glazed over certain things he did such as using human shields, torture, etc..I felt bothered because what more can he do to tell the story, what more is expected? Obviously he has guilt and moral reasoning of his foul behavior as a soldier, but what should he do, this can lead to devastating circumstances if he decided to really dwell on it. I had seen Yehuda’s sarcasm as a defense against his emotions.
At the end of the evening we had some great personal stories shared which inspired me about my life and my relationship with Gabriella. Then, we had dinner at the rooftop of the Hashimi Hotel. I had an inspiring conversation with Jim, a conversation in which he gave me good counsel concerning my relationship with Gabriella, my need for structure and focus in life, and compassion-casting rather than vision-casting.
Me, Tony, Daniel, and Annie all left for the airport around 7:30pm. Even from the beginning we didn’t make the wisest “secret agents”..ha ha ha. The airport security was quite interesting, although it is way to long a story to detail in this journal entry but I would love to to tell the story if you ask....
THE JOURNEY ENDS HERE..AND BEGINS ANEW...TRULY LIFE AT ITS BEST..SEEK TO FOLLOW CHRIST JESUS!!!!
