COMING HOME FROM HERODIUM

Last Saturday we picked olives and this Saturday we went to Herodium, which lies about five kilometres south-east of Bethlehem. It was built by Herod the Great somewhere around 20 BCE as a summer palace and became Herod the Great’s tomb when he died in 4 BCE. He’s the same Herod who was ruler at the time of Jesus’ birth. So, how did he die four years before Jesus’ birth? Some theologian/historian couldn’t count.

Herodium is the perfect fortress with its mountaintop location, its labyrinth of tunnels, and its reservoirs, and so was a natural choice for a band of Zealots (rebels fighting against the Romans) who held Herodium from 66 CE to 70 CE when they were defeated by the Romans. 70 CE is the year that the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. Once again, in the Bar Kochba rebellion against the Romans, Herodium was held by the rebels from 132 CE to 135 CE when the rebels were defeated by the Romans. Recently the fortress was in the news because archeologists believed that they had found Herod the Great’s tomb. However, that claim is yet to be verified. It is certainly an interesting site with its ancient ruins, including the 1st synagogue built outside of Jerusalem.

From upper Herodium you have a panoramic view of the surrounding area. Looking east you can see the Dead Sea beyond the rolling hills of the Judean Desert. To the West is Bethlehem. All around Herodium are Palestinian and Bedouin villages and, among them, illegal Israeli settlements that have been built in such a way as to isolate the Palestinian villages. And of course the road leading to Herodium and the settlements will soon exist for the exclusive use of the settlers. It isn’t clear how the Palestinian villagers are going to be able to drive into Bethlehem.

On the way back to Bethlehem our Palestinian guide showed us where an Israeli military base had once stood. He laughed and said that it’s the only example in Palestine of Palestinians “grabbing” land from the Israelis. The municipality of Beit Sahour, a suburb of Bethlehem, bulldozed the abandoned military building and is trying to turn the former Israeli army base into the only park for the residents of Beit Sahour.

Leaving Bethlehem to return to Jerusalem we experienced the harassment Palestinians experience daily. We had to pass through the check point. All of the several gates were locked including the one to which we were directed. The Israeli soldiers were there but they ignored us. Finally, after several minutes, they let two through at a time, and an angry female voice began shouting in Hebrew ordering people to take off their shoes and put them on the conveyor belt. One young Palestinian woman was frightened half to death. When our turn came, we ignored what seemed to be the order to remove shoes and no one said anything to us—the benefit of holding a Canadian passport. Imagine what would have happened to a Palestinian who refused! Imagine experiencing that kind of humiliation and delay every day on your way to work!

PICKING OLIVES ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES

OLIVE PICKING on the MOUNT OF OLIVES

The olive harvest started last Saturday. The Lutheran World Federation has about 800 trees on the slope of the Mount of Olives surrounding the LWF and the stone house (where Mark & Susanne Brown live). Different groups will volunteer to pick olives over the next several weeks. Individual expats and Palestinians will put in a few volunteer hours when they can. Mark Brown invites the different Lutheran schools as well as schools of other denominations to take a turn, and eventually the olives will be picked.

Donna and I were there for the 1st day of the harvest. We started about 9 am and stuck it out until 4:30 pm. There are a couple of ways of going about picking olives. If the tree has an ample yield, you first spread a plastic sheet around the tree, and then, with rakes of various lengths, rake the olives onto the plastic sheet. The olives that are missed are picked by hand. Every olive is fair game. It doesn’t matter whether they are green, black, any colour in between, shrivelled, as long as they’re not insect-infested. They all have oil in them which will be extracted by the olive press. The view from the olive grove is breath-taking. Every time we raised our heads, we were looking down on the Old City. But we got the day’s work done.

There was one reality that marred an otherwise perfect day. As you look toward the Old City from the olive grove, you can’t miss the Israeli settlement. The Jewish settlers have obtained a piece of land abutting LWF property and have established a Yeshiva (a Bible school). There are a number of trailers there which probably will become permanent homes. One day they tried to disrupt the Muslim call-to-prayer by singing Israeli songs through a bullhorn. The settlers have designs on some vacant LWF property. The LWF hopes to build affordable housing for Palestinian Christian families on the vacant property but can’t start until financing is in place and until they have the building permits from the Israeli authority. The latter may be hard to get, and vacant land in this part of the world, even if somebody owns it, has a tendency to be grabbed.

But it was really a good day. We worked hard and the bunch that turned out enjoyed the camaraderie. If memory serves me, we picked 18 burlap bags of olives, and Mark told us it was a good great 1st day. We celebrated our work with a BBQ behind the stone house. In about 10 days Augusta Victoria will begin to harvest their trees behind the hospital and so I’ll be joining my colleagues from the 4th floor for another day of picking.

The olive oil that is produced by all these olives is bottled and sold to raise money for Augusta Victoria Hospital to help defray the costs of treating patients who cannot pay. If a congregation is interested in supporting the plight of the Palestinian people by supporting Augusta Victoria, you can order jars of olive oil directly from LWF in Jerusalem and sell it in your congregations. You can get all the information you need from the LWF website http://www.lwfjerusalem.org/

Two Peoples, One Land

Upper Left and Right: Father Chacour's Church of the Beatitudes, Ibillin, Galilee

Centre: Dalia Eshkenazi Landau

Bottom Left: Sandy Tolan

Many people in North America have formulated their opinions on the situation in the Holy Land by reading such novels as Leon Uris’s Exodus (or seeing the movie version). If you would like a more accurate history about the Holy Land written in styles that are fascinating and easy to read, I recommend your buying or borrowing the following two books.

Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour tells the unforgettable story of a Palestinian Christian working for peace in Israel. ISBN 0-8007-9321-8

“As a child, Elias Chacour lived in a small Palestinian village in Galilee. The townspeople were proud of their ancient Christian heritage and lived at peace with their Jewish neighbours. But in 1948 and ’49 their idyllic lifestyle was swept away as tens of thousands of Palestinians were killed and nearly one million were forced into refugee camps.

“An exile in his native land, Elias began a years-long struggle with his love for the Jewish people and the world’s misunderstanding of his own people, the Palestinians. How was he to respond? He found his answer in the simple, haunting words of the Man of Galilee: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’.

“In Blood Brothers Chacour blends his riveting life story with historical research to reveal a little-known side of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the birth of modern Israel. He touches on controversial questions such as: What behind-the-scenes politics touched off the turmoil in the Middle East? What does Bible prophecy really have to say? Can bitter enemies ever be reconciled? In a world of tension and terror, this book offers hope and insight that can help each of us learn to live at peace.”

Paris-educated, holding a doctorate, speaking eleven languages, and holding a degree from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Father Elias still lives in Ibillin, near Nazareth, where as president of Mar Elias Educational Institutions, he continues to lead his diverse faculty, staff, and students in living, learning and working together toward peaceful coexistence. In April, we visited Ibillin and learned first hand of the amazing work that is being done. This book is a “must read”.

The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan is a well researched historically accurate handbook to understanding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a narrative that captures its essence through tracing the connected lives of two extraordinary individuals.
ISBN - 10: 1 - 59691-343-6
ISBN - 13: 978 - 1- 59691 - 343 – 1

“In 1967, Bashir Khairi, a twenty-five-year-old Palestinian, journeyed to Israel with the goal of seeing the beloved old stone house with the lemon tree behind it that he and his family had fled nineteen years earlier. To his surprise, when he found the house he was greeted by Dalia Eshkenazi Landau, a nineteen-year-old Israeli college student, whose family fled Europe for Israel following the Holocaust. On the stoop of their shared home, Dalia and Bashir began a rare friendship, forged in the aftermath of war and tested over the next thirty-five years in ways that neither could imagine on that summer day in 1967. Sandy Tolan brings the Israeli-Palestinian conflict down to its most human level, suggesting that even amid the bleakest political realities there exist stories of hope and reconciliation.”

This second book that I am recommending came to our attention just last week when we were invited to the Daila Centre, home to the Israel Committee Against House Demolitions in West Jerusalem, to attend an open reading in English by the author. We learned how Sandy Tolan, a journalist, came across the story of Dalia and Bashir, and through interviews and historical research documented every aspect of the story. We were privileged to meet Dalia as well and hear her authentication of the book. Another “must read”.

Jericho & Bethany

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Bedouin camp above left, St. George's, above right, sculpture in Hisham's Palace left.

The wall blocking the Jericho Road above & Donna coming out of Lazarus's tomb below.

Donna and kids at the synagogue

October 15 was the last day of the Muslim Ramadan long weekend and the Lutheran schools were closed because most of the students in the Lutheran schools are Muslim. Since Donna was free, my boss gave me the day off too. So we called one of our favourite taxi drivers, Khalid, and set out for Jericho.

Jericho lies directly east of Jerusalem in the Judean desert not far from the Dead Sea and close to the Jordanian border. You can see the Dead Sea from the town. Masada and Qumran are close by. It is likely the oldest town in the world; there is archaeological evidence of human habitation going back 10,000 years. And, of course, all of you know the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho.

As we entered Jericho we passed through two check points: the 1st control was Israeli to see who was going in and out, and the 2nd Palestinian to make sure no Israelis entered. Jericho is under Palestinian control and, according to Khalid, is relatively "peaceful without the presence of Israeli soldiers".

Our first stop in Jericho was a 2000-year-old sycamore that Zacchaeus is supposed to have climbed to get a better view of Jesus as he passed through. Who knows for sure?

The next Jericho stop was Hisham's Palace the ruins of which date from the Umayyad period of Islamic expansion (early 8th century). The empire stretched from Europe to India, but Hisham preferred the desert solitude of Jericho near the Dead Sea to the bustle of Damascus.

It is not far from Hisham's palace to a Byzantine synagogue (5th century) that is cared for by a Palestinian family. The children with Donna in the photo above members of the family. Khalid pointed out to us that "Palestinians look after a Jewish synagogue but Israelis turn mosques into restaurants".

The photo just below Donna and the children was taken from the Mount of Temptation where Satan tempted Jesus during Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness. There is a Greek Orthodox monastery on the mountainside, that looks down on modern Jericho. In the photo the green patches are visible. Jericho's water comes from ancient wells that allow Jericho to produce the fines figs and dates in the world, not to mention oranges, bananas, and other tropical fruit.

On the way back to Jerusalem Khalid drove us into the desert to the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. George which dates from the 3rd century. The monastery, where only three monks now live, is built on the side of cliff in a deep wadi surrounded by Bedouin settlements. The only access is on foot.

Our last stop was in the Palestinian village of al Azariyeh (place of Lazarus). In New Testament times it was called Bethany (house of unripe figs). The main street is the Jericho Road. It passes through a busy business area that was much busier before the Israelis built the separation wall. The wall makes the Jericho Road a dead end which separates al Azariyeh from East Jerusalem (see photo of wall). What used to be a 10-minute drive from the Mount of Olives to Bethany now takes an hour. As we stood at the wall, we could almost see our guest house, but we had no choice but to retrace our route. Every day Palestinian family members who were once just minutes apart have to take the "long way around" imposed by Israel.

In Bethany we visited the church commemorating Lazarus's resurrection, Lazarus's tomb, and a house old enough to be Mary's and Martha's (see photos), and then home to the guest house.

(Apologies for the order of photos and the formatting. At the moment it's beyond our control)

East Jerusalem - Who Owns What?

We drove by bus around the perimeter of Jerusalem with an Israeli guide whose sympathies lie with the Palestinians. She showed us where Israelis had grabbed Palestinian homes and simply taken them over. The rightful Palestinian owners have deeds but to little or no avail. She showed us the plans for illegal Israeli settlements, such as Nof Zion, that will eventually destroy Palestinian neighbourhoods and force out the Palestinians. The illegal Israeli settlements are all in Palestine territory and are illegal according to international law.

Our guide pointed out individual Palestinian houses taken over by right wing Zionist settlers who threaten the Palestinians living around them. Sometimes the settlers buy the properties through a Palestinian middleman. Just as in Hebron the settlers all carry guns and have look-out posts on their roofs. Our guide told us that East Jerusalem will soon be like Hebron (please see our Hebron posting). The illegal settlers are protected by the Israeli government and Israeli soldiers. And they have financial backing from the wrong-minded group of Christian Zionists who believe they are participating in Armageddon by helping in the judaizing of Palestinian land. Imagine! Preparing for the return of the Prince of Peace by encouraging ethnic cleansing (or "sterilization" as the Israelis say in Hebron).

The separation wall built around Jerusalem has created the "Jerusalem bubble". If a Palestinian who has always lived in Jerusalem finds himself outside the wall, he no longer enjoys the privileges of being a Jerusalemite. If his house happens to be in the way of the wall, the house is bulldozed. Of course, if a Jewish settler seizes an abandoned Palestinian property, nothing happens to the settler. The goal of the right-wing Zionist settlers is to have a completely Jewish Jerusalem.

We ended our day by watching the film "The Iron Wall" produced and directed by Mohammed Alatar. He joined us for conversation. The film points out that the Separation Wall is more than twice as long as the official border (the Green Line) between Israel and the West Bank. That's because the wall moves in and around Palestinian communities cutting them off from one another and from their fields and olive groves. It's not there for defence - it's part of the land-grab. The illegal hill-top settlements built among and between Palestinian communities are part of Israeli policy to "sterilize" Palestinian land and steal it.

Mr. Alatar told the mostly American Sabeel group that it's the several billion dollars of American tax money sent to Israel each year by the Bush administration that build the walls and roads and illegal settlements which oppress the Palestinian people. "If you want to want to stop injustice here in Palestine, lobby your government to stop transfer payments to Israel", he told us.

The truth of what is happening to the Palestinians needs to be revealed to the world. The strong Jewish lobby in North America and in Europe needs to be challenged. Criticizing Israeli policy and supporting the Palestinians has nothing to do with antisemitism. It has everything to do with human rights.

For more information go to the website of the UNITED NATIONS OFFICE of the COORDINATION of HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS (OCHA), Occupied Palestinian Territory, at http://www.ochaopt.org/

Donna's Adventures

It’s been quite the first two weeks here in East Jerusalem. I’d like to share with you some of my experiences. I’ve been shadowing Sr. Sylvia Countess who is the assistant to Dr. Charlie Haddad, the Director of Education for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.

Since classes begin at 7:50 a.m., I’ve been meeting Sr. Sylvia at 7:30 outside the gates to the Augusta Victoria Campus where we live in the Guest House. We walk down the street to pick up bus 75 which takes us to the bus depot in front of the Damascus Gate to the Old City of Jerusalem. I never leave “home” without my passport and cell phone.

The bus system is quite interesting. Buses come frequently—like about every 5 minutes. Sometimes they stop and let you board, and sometimes they don’t. If there’s a crowd of people waiting for the bus, when the bus stops, everyone rushes to the door of the bus and crowds in—women, men, young and old. No one gives way for anyone else. If you’re lucky, you get on the bus and pay your fare which is cheap compared to Canada. With a bus card, I can get to the bus depot in front of the Damascus Gate for about 2 NIS (New Israeli Shekels). Once I tried to get on a 75 bus, and I was told to get off—perhaps it was a special bus going somewhere else; I have no idea, nor do the people I asked about it.

If we’re going to the Bethlehem school, we take bus 124, for 3 ½ NIS, which takes us to the checkpoint at the security barrier. There we get off and walk through the security gates. As a Canadian I’m lucky, I just show the closed passport and the Israeli guard waves me through. Not so for many of the average Palestinians. I’ve watched them be taken aside and detained while I’ve been passed through. On the other side of the wall, taxis wait to take people to their destinations in Bethlehem or area. Fortunately, Sr. Sylvia has a taxi driver whom she can call when we get close to the barrier and so he’s always waiting for us when we arrive. Mussa then takes us to the Bethlehem school—Dar Al-Kalima—or the Evangelical Lutheran School in Beit Sahour, a community very close to Bethlehem. Sr. Sylvia has an agreed rate with Mussa and he charges her only 20 NIS for each trip (divide NIS by 4 for approximate Canadian dollar values).

If we’re going to Beit Jala to the Talitha Kumi school, we take bus 21, for 5 ½ NIS and we can be let off right in front of the school. However, the ride home can be quite the experience.

On Thursday for the first time, I took the bus home alone from Talitha Kumi. I had been invited to attend the principals’ meeting with the director of education, where I was introduced and my role here discussed. I felt quite comfortable catching the bus in front of the school on my own. It was my chance to be a bit independent for the first time and I was up to the challenge. Before entering East Jerusalem, the bus must pass through an Israeli checkpoint which requires all riders except the elderly to get off. The Israeli guards made us stand outside the bus until finally two of them decided to get on the bus and check the I.D.’s of those still on the bus. Then, leisurely they checked the passports or papers of the rest of us and one by one allowed us to get back on the bus. Their manner was abrupt and arrogant. I was most thankful to be carrying a Canadian passport! The rest of the trip home was interesting. I confidently changed buses at the depot only to share the frustration of the bus driver as we encountered two intersections that had been blocked off by police—a fairly common occurrence—that required the bus to take alternate routes through narrow crowded streets. The traffic was horrendous due to Ramadan. (The driving is aggressive, chaotic, and fast, but skillful.) So, I now feel completely ready to travel to the Bethlehem and Beit Sahour schools on my own.

The other day we went to Ramallah where the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority is located. The trip there on bus 18 (7 NIS) is about 13 km and took us about 20 minutes. Contrast that to our return trip. There are two sets of security turnstiles. At the first set, of the 5 or 6 stations, only one was open and so we all crowded into it only to find that they weren’t letting anyone through. We waited for quite a long time until an announcement was made that this checkpoint was closed and to move to another one which was opened further down the line. The crowd rushed there only to find that the green light had been switched to red and no one was being allowed through. Again another long wait until finally an announcement was made that only those without purses or bags were being allowed through. So again we waited and waited. Eventually they started letting people through a few at a time, had us place our bags on a scanner, and further along go through another checkpoint. After about an hour, we were through the checkpoint and able to board the bus to return to East Jerusalem. Imagine having to do this every day to get to and from work! Add to that the fact that the Palestinians aren’t always waved through as easily as we were. Many of them are refused passage for whatever reason. As a Canadian I am shocked by the degrading treatment the Palestinians are suffering on a daily basis. I don’t believe I’m quite ready yet to travel there by myself.

The Hebron Experience

On October 4 we went to Hebron. It is a holy city for both Muslims and Jews because it is where Abraham is buried. Hebron lies about an hour directly south of Jerusalem. If there are major delays at the many check points, it can take much longer, especially for Palestinians. In and around Hebron there are 215 check points and other forms of restrictive barriers (according to the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs) that impede the movement of Palestinians even when they need to go to Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem for cancer treatment or dialysis.

There are only two roads leading into Hebron. Palestinians are permitted to use only one of the roads; others may use either. A young man from Sweden who volunteers as an Ecumenical Accompanier met us at the entrance of the old city. One of the jobs of an EA is to walk to school with Palestinian kids so that they are less likely to be harrassed by the "illegal" Jewish settlers and the soldiers, or to ride with patients to Augusta Victoria Hospital to help expedite their passage through all the check points. He kept us away from where we might encounter groups of settlers who were out harrassing Palestinians and visitors like us who they considered to be a threat.

The Jewish settlers in Hebron are very conservative in their theology, and they are decidedly aggressive. They are convinced that the city is theirs, even though there had been little or no Jewish presence since time immemorial. The settlers have "illegally" occupied Palestinian land and houses, and the Israeli legal system turns a blind eye, even when they threaten and beat Palestinians. Some of the settlers have occupied buildings overlooking the Palestinian markets (suqs), and throw their waste, human and otherwise, onto the heads of the Palestinians in the marketplace. The Palestinians have erected large overhead mesh screens to catch the debris. There are more Israeli soldiers than there are settlers posted throughout the city, and the settlers themselves carry automatic rifles. Ironically the most serious outbreak of violence in the past 15 years was the massacre by one of the Jewish settlers of about 40 Palestinians at prayer in their mosque, and the Palestinians have suffered the most because of it. All told, Hebron is a microcosm of the plight of Palestinians throughout the West Bank and Gaza.

As we walked through the suq, protected by the steel mesh over our heads, we saw something that will stay with us for a long time. Stenciled on the side of a Palestinian building was a Star of David with the words "Gas the Palestinians". Isn't it ironic how, in some cases, the oppressed become the oppressors.

On the way home we had a blow-out just south of Bethlehem. Within minutes a patrol of 4 Israeli soldiers were on the scene, suspicious, guns at the ready. When they discerned that we were no threat, they helped us change the tire. A second patrol arrived and at one point there were 8 soldiers directing traffic and struggling with rusty wheel nuts. The ones operating the wheel wrench even laid down their guns on the road beside them. Maybe there is a message here--have more blow-outs on West Bank roads!

Reflections on the 1st Week

Augusta Victoria Hospital, the only acute care hospital that services the entire Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza, focuses its resources on the treatment of cancer, and on improved equipment and facilities for hemodialysis. Pediatric dialysis has become a major concern because of the incidence of kidney failure among Palestinian children, and at the present time a pediatric wing is being constructed to help deal with this concern. Another undertaking is the reconstruction of the geriatric wing to make life more pleasant for long-term elderly patients.

Breast cancer is a major concern for AVH. All too often a Palestinian woman's breast cancer is at such an advanced stage when she arrives at the hospital that palliation is the only recourse. The reasons why a Palestinian woman does not seek earlier intervention are political and cultural: The Israeli policy of isolating Palestinian communities with the Separation Walls and the numerous checkpoints make it too difficult for some women to seek treatment, and a Muslim woman's fear that her husband will seek another wife when he discovers that she has cancer is a real deterrent to her seeking early treatment.

Recently AVH's cancer treatment department was sucessfully certified and the Israeli doctor who was a part of the certification team remarked that both staff and equipment are first rate. In fact, AVH's linear accelerator is newer than any similar machine in Israel. AVH's success is a result of generous donations from around the world. The hospital needs your donations and they can be made through Canadian Lutheran World Relief.

Arrival Reflections

After a ten and a half hour flight from Pearson Airport, we touched down at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv where we were met by a driver from Lutheran World Federation, and transported to Augusta Victoria Hospital Campus where we settled into our room in the Guest House. The room is simple but comfortable and spotless.

The highway from Tel Aviv was a busy super highway taking us through rocky hills at first covered by trees and further along lacking vegetation. Olive trees and rocks are abundant. As we approached Jerusalem the highway snaked through the separation barriers on both sides of the highway giving a visual introduction to the political situation. The separation barriers really separate parts of the West Bank from other parts of the West Bank making it very difficult for Palestinians to move about--it's a divide and conquer policy. The driving was fast and aggressive.

We were graciously greeted by our hosts and spent an enjoyable evening getting to know some of the people with whom we will be living and working. The hot temperatures of the day, low 30's, cooled to require jackets by 5:30 p.m. Good for sleeping; however, the call to prayer from the minarets between 3:45 a.m. and 4:45 a.m. plus the continual crowing of roosters made for an interesting night!

Monday morning provided some orientation and time to adjust our internal clocks. From our room on the Mount of Olives we have a lovely view of part of the city of East Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is very busy at the moment because of the Muslim Ramadan--remembers the time when the Qur'an was revealed to Muhammad; the Muslims fast during the day and at sundown they feast and celebrate; this will go on until October 13. At the same time, the Jews are celebrating the Festival of Booths (Sukkot)--a fall festival celebrating the coming to the Promised Land from Egypt.