I’ve been in the West Bank/Israel now for a little over two weeks. Jet lag is gone. I’ve figured out how to make Arabic coffee. I know how to get downtown, which means telling the taxi driver the name of the location for the town center. I’ve been laughed at by my team members and Palestinians alike already on this one. It’s a good thing. I know also what a tear gas launcher looks like. Fortunately I’ve not been submitted to the experience of fleeing the toxic fumes. I’ve been told to smash an onion and breath the aroma deeply. It opens the eyes and air passages that tend to shut down when exposed to tear gas. I’m adapting to the new environs here in Hebron where I will serve for about 3 months as an Ecumenical Accompanier under the World Council of Churches with EAPPI. Don’t worry about remembering all the letters. It took me awhile as well. The important thing to remember is what we are doing. One of my new roles is to provide “protective presence” to the vulnerable, reporting problems, seeking to advocate for just peace and just being around so the conflicted parties can live with less conflict. Its fascinating at one level. And its sad at another.
I’ve been stationed near the stairs leading to the Cordoba school the last two mornings. Wake up for this duty is 6amish. Kind of early for me. The school property has been encroached upon by an Israeli settlement over the years and is a flash point for conflict between the majority Palestinian community in the city of Hebron and several Israeli settlements growing in the middle of this important urban center on the West Bank. As a result children are regularly harassed by the settlers. This morning a band of dogs seemed to congregate near the gate to intimidate the children as they approach the school. It seems intentional but I can’t really tell yet. The IDF (Israeli soldiers) were helpful this morning, shooing [not shooting] the dogs away from the gate. I’ve found the soldiers to be quite civil so far, even within their tough role of standing in between conflicted communities. I’ve heard stories however that they sometimes seem intimidated by the settlers themselves, or exercise inappropriate and harsh tactics on local Palestinian citizens. I’m trying to be as objective as possible and view all parties and people as human beings, players in a drama that scripts who they are and how they behave.
I’ve seen a lot already in Hebron. I’m making a lot of observations, taking a lot of pictures. One important and amazing irony underlies my interpretive grid so far. It’s a question really. Why is this place, the very holy land that has been on my horizon every time I open my Bible, since childhood, so full of direct contradictions to the Gospel of peace? I was thinking this morning of a certain Jew who wrote eloquently about this in Ephesians 2:11 and following. “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside….”
The current powers who have determined how Palestinians and Israelis live today in the Holy Land did not get this memo. They have missed the point of Paul’s very important letter he wrote to the first century Christians, who were composed of Jews and Gentiles but confused how they should relate to each other culturally and religiously. Paul made a very strong case that Jesus came to preach reconciliation and peace between conflicted parties. It is this core message to which I’ve committed my life. It is this message that has empowered me to live at peace with others, even those different from me. This is not always easy to do. But it is what we are supposed to do. Insha’allah. May God help us.
