The journey with Sabeel continues to be an amazing experience. And like other trips to this region. there are many surprises and magical spaces along the way. As we emerged from a visit to theDeheisheh Refugee Camp, the largest in the region with 12,000 inhabitants, 60% of whom are under the age of 18, we could see much work to be done, though the refugees themselves whose families have been here since 1967, have done miraculous acts just to have survived the circumstances.
Bailot, a young Palestinian student, and guide for the afternoon, took us on a walking tour of the camp. Shortly after we began, young children on the roof over head, threw stones which landed close by. I'm glad no one was hurt. While I didn't take it personally, the incident did make me uncomfortable for the rest of the journey that day. The stress of living in the camp must be unbearable. Bailot, shared his own story. He was presently attending the University where he was studying be prepare for social work. He was 21 and spent two years in prison for throwing stones at the Israeli Army. He also had been shot and spent a month in the hospital at the time. He then went on to say that his mother's childeren, 6 boys, had all been in prison at one time! Imagine that? We later went to his home and shared tea with is family, in a tiny, confined space, surrounded by other buildings and where the sun didn't shine. He shared some videos that he had produced for a project sponsored by French as a way of expressing the frustrations that surely must be inside.
I left the group early, and Bailot took me to the Ibdaa Health Center in the Camp where I delivered 5o sets of eye frames for the eye clinic sent by our church community. The staff were grateful for the frames, but many of the glasses broke when the lenses were extracted from them. What they need is 300 frames a month - new frames so that they can create the proper lenses for the children.
I returned after my visit with the director there, to the Camp's center were the Conference ( a very mobile one) set up it's evening meeting while being fed by the camp inhabitants. There were over 250 of including about75 Palestinians. It was there, after a day of increasing amounts of information that defined the circumstances of the Palestinians and the Israelis, that the group birthed a new idea. After a passionate appeal from a Italian/American woman, and an appeal by a Nobel Prize Laureate from Ireland who was also a conference attendee, there was a call to show solidarity to the NGO's at Gaza the next day. Over 48 people signed up and met through the evening to plan the strategy. It was ageed that we would not try to get into the City, but would stand in peaceful solidarity with groups like OXFAM and Mercy. These groups by international law have the right to enter into the space to provide human asssistance. The press too, were there and unable to enter.
In short, the people are with out basics and the economy is in a shambles. According the Dr. with us, who works in reconstruction surgery there, 130 were killed last week during an incursing by IDF forces with 50 seriously wounded. Four to five people killed each day is not unusal. The prompt for such incursions, are the rocket fire, who no body encourages, and that do little damage. And while this form of violence cannot be condonned, the collective punishment the Israeli forces inflict can hardly be justified. Little of this information appears in our press.
We awoke at 5 am to take the bus ride to the coast. On the way, we generated our mission, confirmed our roles, and leadership, and rehearsed our actions. We also prepared for the worst case scenerio which included tear gassing, and other dispersing activities. We had become a pretty cohesive group. The risk for us that we could be deported straight away, and not allowed to return. The thought of that affecting Daoud or the Tent of Nations project was provoking.
When we arrived at the huge building that hides the City from road, one could hardly imagine what life was like for the million and half citizens behind the glass walls. Sound booms from overhead from Israeli jets were frightening, and the claims by the private security personnel behind the fences, often told us that it was a very dangerous place for us to be. We were in the car park outside the gate. Their appeals seem to be attempts to rid the place of us. We voted to stay put. The only persons in the lot were taxi drivers hoping to get passengers coming through the gates and charging them a hundred dollars apiece for a ride back to Tel aviv.
The non-government-organizations (NGOs) had all been denied entrance, including the medical doc with us. They decided to hold a meeting in the parking lot with chart paper and chairs they had brought with them, surrounded by the 48 of us and members of the European press. It was quite a scene.! One member of our group, a Nobel Peace Laureate from Ireland, talked with the BBC about why the conflict in this region must be solved soon with justice. Her speech was eloquent and moving from someone who knew about violence and its price for a society.
Prior to the meeting, we were told to gather against a wall separating us from gate, because the Palestinians were supposedly launching their rockets. It turns out it was another effort to make us leave. It didn't work! While we standing there in the hot sun of the morning, hutled together, I offered to share my poem "Walls, Lines, Fences and Borders". It seemed like an appropriate moment given the circumstances. I invited the group to repeat the montra, and they did. I felt great satisfaction in sharing the poem, but more, their partipation with me. It was a special time of sharing a personal moment together. The words of that meagre poem have such power for us all. It was a gift to me, and I hope one for others in the group. The walls of the gates of Gaza seemed to crack just a little. Love, Bill
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Reconcilation: To victims engage each other
A young Israeli soldier desired to join the Israeli army. He wanted to defend himself against the enemy. It was a question of survival. He was extremely fearful of losing his life and the life of his people
Josef, at age 10, was forced from his home in Poland along with his family in 1939. As they were being forced to march toward the Russian border, a Nazi soldier was not convinced that his father was walking fast enough. The soldier bayoneted his father in front him, and as young boy, he would never lose that image in his mind. The family was hearded into Trains by Russian soldiers and sent to Siberian prison camps. His mother died during that time.
Eventually, he made it to Israel in 1948 and joined the army when he was 18. He was afraid of not surviving, and felt a need to defend himself. In one of his assignments, his unit forced Palestinians out of their homes, and watched while some of his fellow soldiers commited atrocities with the villagers. He saw at that moment that acts that they were performing were the same ones the Nazis had done to his family, and could not face his work. He quit the army and fled to England.
Some years later he returned toIsrael and went to the village of Lyda, and found a survivor there, and expressed his apologies for the acts he may have commited.
I had no idea that such atrocities were being committed during the War of Independence, as the Israelis called it. There is little information available about such acts in our sources at home. The Nokba or disaster, was a mass exodus of 750,000 Palestinians to the north and east of the land. Some 512 Palestinian villages were destroyed. While reading the book by Fawal called On the hills of God, I began to read stories of the forced marches that the Palestinians experienced. Visiting some of the villages and hearing the stories from survivors was a powerful moment for me as we stood in the midst of the remains of the buildings.
At the end of Josef's talk which came from the heart and he expressed several times his sorrow for acts he may have committed against members of the audience that night. There were many Palestinians who were present, and there was a hushed silence. Finally, a man in his seventies in back of the room stood and said, I appreciate what you have said, but it is not enough. More people like you need to share their stories and express forgivenes. I accept your apology and wish you a long and healthy life. There were tears in every one's eyes.
This is just one experience of many powerful ones that I have heard this week. Memories was the theme of the first week in Nazareth. The impact is the theme for this week as we look at the occupation up close in Jerusalem.
Love to you, BIll
Josef, at age 10, was forced from his home in Poland along with his family in 1939. As they were being forced to march toward the Russian border, a Nazi soldier was not convinced that his father was walking fast enough. The soldier bayoneted his father in front him, and as young boy, he would never lose that image in his mind. The family was hearded into Trains by Russian soldiers and sent to Siberian prison camps. His mother died during that time.
Eventually, he made it to Israel in 1948 and joined the army when he was 18. He was afraid of not surviving, and felt a need to defend himself. In one of his assignments, his unit forced Palestinians out of their homes, and watched while some of his fellow soldiers commited atrocities with the villagers. He saw at that moment that acts that they were performing were the same ones the Nazis had done to his family, and could not face his work. He quit the army and fled to England.
Some years later he returned toIsrael and went to the village of Lyda, and found a survivor there, and expressed his apologies for the acts he may have commited.
I had no idea that such atrocities were being committed during the War of Independence, as the Israelis called it. There is little information available about such acts in our sources at home. The Nokba or disaster, was a mass exodus of 750,000 Palestinians to the north and east of the land. Some 512 Palestinian villages were destroyed. While reading the book by Fawal called On the hills of God, I began to read stories of the forced marches that the Palestinians experienced. Visiting some of the villages and hearing the stories from survivors was a powerful moment for me as we stood in the midst of the remains of the buildings.
At the end of Josef's talk which came from the heart and he expressed several times his sorrow for acts he may have committed against members of the audience that night. There were many Palestinians who were present, and there was a hushed silence. Finally, a man in his seventies in back of the room stood and said, I appreciate what you have said, but it is not enough. More people like you need to share their stories and express forgivenes. I accept your apology and wish you a long and healthy life. There were tears in every one's eyes.
This is just one experience of many powerful ones that I have heard this week. Memories was the theme of the first week in Nazareth. The impact is the theme for this week as we look at the occupation up close in Jerusalem.
Love to you, BIll
Saturday, November 15, 2008
The Destroyed Villages and a People Removed
Greetings from Nazareth!
There is not much time this morning at there are people waiting.
Yesterday, we visited four villages in Israel where Palestinians were forced to leave their homes and the land in 1948. In each village, a person who was lived there, told their story. It made the "Nokba even more powerful as the personal story always does. 750,000 people were driven out of their homes and 512 villages were destroyed. Little is discussed about this in our "data base" in the States. Yesterday, I heard a conversation by one of our participants with a Jewish couple with their children who were having a picnic on the grounds of a former village. When asked if they knew that this land was once inhabited by 4,ooo Palestinians, he said, "we know, and we don't like to be reminded" .
Tomorrow we leave for Jerusalem, and I will have access to an internet cafe. This computer is the only one around. See you on Monday. Love, Bill
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
"Jammed Tight" and Ready to Go!
Good morning! This is third day in Jerusalem after a long flight from Washington to Vienna and the Tel Aviv, nearly fifteen hours of travel time, and most of that on fully packed airplanes that have not changed dimensions since WWI, I am told by my flying friends Frank and Bill. I don't do well with my long body, and inspite of my good fortune, I thought, to get an exit aisle seat near the the window on the first leg of the trip, it was a challenge. Little did I know, that while the head room between me and the bulk head was a larger space, the foot room was actually less. I was able to find some standing room in the next cabin of the 767 where I literally stood for an hour an a half at one time. It was my saving grace, because I was able to stretch nearly the whole time, and drink water which I have found to be the key to dealing with jet lag. I barely felt the effects, other than a shift in the time I slept which has now returned to normal after three days.
The second leg of the trip was not so comfortable, nor could I find a way of adapting to the conditions. That plane was fully loaded and I had a window seat in the back of the plane, and my "neighbor" in the middle seat was the last to board, and seemed really exhausted. He managed to stretch his six foot plus frame over in my direction, and had his head down on the meal shelf most of the time. I wasn't able to move him to get out for a stretch during the 3 and half hour flight. It was not pretty, but more about him later.
I spent the first two nights on the Mount of Olives, at a hotel called the Seven Arches at the very top of Mt. The view below of the Old City was amazing, and I rose early in the morning to see the sun rise and shine on the Dome of the Rock. Pretty spectacular and oh so serene as there was complete silence down below, both because of the time of the day and distance from the city below. All of this was quite the contrast to my ride, and I quickly recovered from the stresses pf airplane travel. Think I'll take the flying carpet back?
I spent the next two days, distributing medical books sent by Ravensworth Baptist friends in Annandale, a "sister church"; arranging pickup for the eye glasses sent by our church's mission group intended for the eye clinic in the Deheisheh Camp, relating to the delegate from Interfaith Peace Builders, the sponsors of my first trip her three years ago. The timing was quite by coincidence, even more incredible because we hosted two of the delegates in our own home last Saturday night. What an amazingly informed, and experienced group that delegation is! Many had years of work in the Middle East. There were four young members from the UK with them also. I enjoyed meeting and talking with them all around dinner, and even attended a lecture by Jeff Halper, whom many of you have read about or heard before. He is an American/Israeli Jew who directs the Israeli Coalition Against House Demolitions, as well as recent traveler on one of the Freedom Boats from Gaza. It was good hear him again. I now believe I have a better understanding of the facts on the ground, and the solutions to resolving the conflict which are simple, if only our government had the will to do so.
Back to time with the delegates here, and one quick story which reinforces my belief that there are no such things as co-insidence. One of the delegates asked me to convey $1,ooo to an American woman who was here for three months with the International Women's Peace Organization, a varied form of the Internation Solidarity Movement. They lead protests against the wall, stand at points with Palestinians, monitor house demolitions, and protect olive farmers by their prescence. They are very courageous people. They risk their lives to stand for justice beside the oppressed. Truly amazing souls. Well, my delegate friend used my phone to contact her because she herself will remain after delegation ends to spend time in the Women's Center, protesting unjust acts. She then asked me to talk with her. I was told her name was Razia. "Hmmm" I thought. "That sounds like a familiar name, and her voice did to". She said, on the other side," Is this Bill Plitt of Arlington?" Razia had slept in our house along with four other marchers against the Iraq war two years ago. What an amazing........! It was good to talk with her again and hear some incredibly powerful stories about her group of five women and their courage to stand up against dispicable acts of cruelty by the Israeli Defense Force.
Well, I will let this go for now. I leave aboard a bus in an hour for Nazareth. I am looking forward to that space too! God always surprises me on such ventures. Love, Bill
The second leg of the trip was not so comfortable, nor could I find a way of adapting to the conditions. That plane was fully loaded and I had a window seat in the back of the plane, and my "neighbor" in the middle seat was the last to board, and seemed really exhausted. He managed to stretch his six foot plus frame over in my direction, and had his head down on the meal shelf most of the time. I wasn't able to move him to get out for a stretch during the 3 and half hour flight. It was not pretty, but more about him later.
I spent the first two nights on the Mount of Olives, at a hotel called the Seven Arches at the very top of Mt. The view below of the Old City was amazing, and I rose early in the morning to see the sun rise and shine on the Dome of the Rock. Pretty spectacular and oh so serene as there was complete silence down below, both because of the time of the day and distance from the city below. All of this was quite the contrast to my ride, and I quickly recovered from the stresses pf airplane travel. Think I'll take the flying carpet back?
I spent the next two days, distributing medical books sent by Ravensworth Baptist friends in Annandale, a "sister church"; arranging pickup for the eye glasses sent by our church's mission group intended for the eye clinic in the Deheisheh Camp, relating to the delegate from Interfaith Peace Builders, the sponsors of my first trip her three years ago. The timing was quite by coincidence, even more incredible because we hosted two of the delegates in our own home last Saturday night. What an amazingly informed, and experienced group that delegation is! Many had years of work in the Middle East. There were four young members from the UK with them also. I enjoyed meeting and talking with them all around dinner, and even attended a lecture by Jeff Halper, whom many of you have read about or heard before. He is an American/Israeli Jew who directs the Israeli Coalition Against House Demolitions, as well as recent traveler on one of the Freedom Boats from Gaza. It was good hear him again. I now believe I have a better understanding of the facts on the ground, and the solutions to resolving the conflict which are simple, if only our government had the will to do so.
Back to time with the delegates here, and one quick story which reinforces my belief that there are no such things as co-insidence. One of the delegates asked me to convey $1,ooo to an American woman who was here for three months with the International Women's Peace Organization, a varied form of the Internation Solidarity Movement. They lead protests against the wall, stand at points with Palestinians, monitor house demolitions, and protect olive farmers by their prescence. They are very courageous people. They risk their lives to stand for justice beside the oppressed. Truly amazing souls. Well, my delegate friend used my phone to contact her because she herself will remain after delegation ends to spend time in the Women's Center, protesting unjust acts. She then asked me to talk with her. I was told her name was Razia. "Hmmm" I thought. "That sounds like a familiar name, and her voice did to". She said, on the other side," Is this Bill Plitt of Arlington?" Razia had slept in our house along with four other marchers against the Iraq war two years ago. What an amazing........! It was good to talk with her again and hear some incredibly powerful stories about her group of five women and their courage to stand up against dispicable acts of cruelty by the Israeli Defense Force.
Well, I will let this go for now. I leave aboard a bus in an hour for Nazareth. I am looking forward to that space too! God always surprises me on such ventures. Love, Bill
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Preparing for the Experience Will Reveal New Learnings
Dear Friends,
Now that I am packed (almost), I feel some excitement about this new trip to the Middle East. Some of the feeling is because of the election of Barack Obama. Our country and our world are hungry for change and for a responsiveness to the needs of our world community. I know when I speak to friends there, they will welcome me with that thought, as opposed to the responses we had in previous years when our country was headed down a darker path. I carry with me a renewed spirit in mankind, in part because of the election of Barack Obama and what that might mean to a world in great need of care. As he has said, it will take all of us with our oars in the water to bring the sea change that is needed.
I know God will reveal his love through the people I will meet in the days ahead. I look forward to their voices. love, Bill
Now that I am packed (almost), I feel some excitement about this new trip to the Middle East. Some of the feeling is because of the election of Barack Obama. Our country and our world are hungry for change and for a responsiveness to the needs of our world community. I know when I speak to friends there, they will welcome me with that thought, as opposed to the responses we had in previous years when our country was headed down a darker path. I carry with me a renewed spirit in mankind, in part because of the election of Barack Obama and what that might mean to a world in great need of care. As he has said, it will take all of us with our oars in the water to bring the sea change that is needed.
I know God will reveal his love through the people I will meet in the days ahead. I look forward to their voices. love, Bill
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