PALM SUNDAY WHERE IT HAPPENED!

Bethphage lies at the bottom of the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. That’s where Jesus asked his disciples to go find him a donkey to ride on as he made his way into Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. It seems as if Jesus’ reputation as a miracle-worker had preceded him. I always had the feeling that the reception he got must have surprised him, but, of course, the Jews of Jesus’ time were looking for a messiah, and many of them thought Jesus was the one they were waiting for. So, they welcomed him with palm branches and shouts of “Hosanna”, believing him to be the great leader who would rally an army behind him and drive the occupying Romans out of Judea. How disappointed the Jews must have been when they heard Jesus’ message of peace and love of enemy.

Bethphage was once upon a time an easy walk from Bethany where Jesus raised Lazarus. Today the Israeli separation wall gets in the way. Bethany is outside the Jerusalem “bubble”, and Bethphage is inside. If Jesus and his friends had wanted to walk from Bethany to Bethphage this Palm Sunday, they would have had to go several kilometres out of their way to an Israeli checkpoint to present their travel permits. If they were living in the West Bank, they wouldn’t have got to Bethphage at all! West Bankers don’t get into Jerusalem unless they work there, and Jesus could not have claimed a place of employment.

Palm Sunday 2008 was a beautiful, sunny day with a clear blue sky and a temperature in the low 20's. The procession began at Lazarus’s tomb in Bethany and got as far as the separation wall on the western edge of the town. It was for West Bank Palestinian Christians who are not permitted to enter Jerusalem.

Those of us on the Jerusalem side of the wall gathered at the Bethphage Church with its beautiful murals depicting Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. There were hundreds of us pilgrims! We first jammed into the church to have our palm and olive branches blessed, and then we assembled outside to begin our ascent of the Mount of Olives.

Beside the church the ruins of a house demolished by the Israeli authorities are a stark reminder of the Israeli occupation.

Troupes of Palestinian brownies, cubs, scouts, and guides representing various Christian congregations led the procession, followed by vested clergy and community officials in their traditional garb. We were well guarded by gun-toting Israeli soldiers. We reached the top of the Mount of Olives just above Dominus Flevit and went down the west side past the Garden of Gethsemane. We crossed the Kidron Valley and entered Old Jerusalem through Lion’s Gate, ending the procession in the precincts of St. Anne Cathedral where a closing liturgy was read by the priests of St. Anne.

A MUST-READ!

A recent house demolition in the West Bank, Palestinian territory,

used by the Israelis to force Palestinians out of land they wish to occupy.

The book that I’m challenging you to read completely erased any lingering doubts I may have had about what has taken place here up to and after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Reeling from the guilt and horror of the holocaust, the world supported the wishes and demands of the Israeli Zionists, ignoring or showing indifference to their hidden agenda, and allowed the Palestinians to take the blame for being authors of their own fate and to be painted as terrorists. This book does not advocate anti-Semitism but it does clearly lay the blame for the situation here at the feet of Israeli policy and the indifference and lack of understanding of the rest of the world.

In his book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Dr. Ilan Pappe describes the attitude of the Palestinians to yet another conquest in 1947-8. “Over the centuries, the country had been passed from one hand to another, sometimes belonging to European or Asian invaders and sometimes to parts of Muslim empires. However, the peoples’ lives had continued more or less unchanged: they toiled the land or conducted their trade wherever they were, and quickly resigned themselves to the new situation until it changed once again. Hence, villagers and city dwellers alike waited patiently to see what it would mean to be part of either a Jewish state or any other new regime that might replace British rule. Most of them had no idea what was in store for them, that what was about to happen would constitute an unprecedented chapter in Palestine’s history: not a mere transition from one ruler to another, but the actual dispossession of the people living on the land.”

The 1948 Israeli War of Independence involved one of the largest forced migrations in modern history. Around a million people were expelled from their homes at gunpoint, civilians were massacred, and hundreds of Palestinian villages destroyed. Denied for almost six decades, had it happened today it could only have been called “ethnic cleaning”.

Ethnic cleansing is defined as expulsion by force in order to homogenise the ethnically mixed population of a particular region or territory. The purpose of expulsion is to cause the evacuation of as many residents as possible by all means at the expeller’s disposal. The end result of such acts is the creation of a refugee problem. Ethnic cleansing has come to be defined as a crime against humanity, punishable by international law. Ethnic cleansing continues here in the Holy Land today.

In his groundbreaking book, renowned Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe, offers impressive archival evidence to demonstrate that, from its very inception, a central plank in Israel’s founding ideology was the forcible removal of the indigenous population, a strategy that continues to the present day. Dr. Pappe’s vivid and timely account sheds new light on the origins and development of the Palestine-Israel conflict, and is indispensable for anyone wanting to understand the situation in the Middle East.

Dr. Pappe, formerly of the University of Haifa, and no longer welcome in his country as a result of his research, holds the Chair in History at the University of Exeter, and is the author of a number of influential books on the Middle East, including A History of Modern Palestine, The Modern Middle East and The Israel/Palestine Question.

GAZA: LET'S STOP THE CARNAGE

Dale took part in a protest on March 3 against Israeli aggression in Gaza. Unrest is growing in East Jerusalem. There were demonstrations on Sunday at the Ramallah and Bethlehem checkpoints. Green Palestinian flags are appearing here and there in the city, and there was a tire-burning on the main street of At Tur just down the hill from AVH. There are reports of a Palestinian teen having been shot near Ramallah by an Israeli settler, and skirmishes and shooting at the Bethlehem checkpoint.

On March 3 mounted Israeli policemen patrolled Sultan Suleiman Street at the Herod and Damascus Gates, and Salhadin St. was blocked by soldiers. Unrest continues to grow as the number of deaths among civilians continues to mount in Gaza. Tragically children have been among the almost 100 victims.

Israeli ground forces have withdrawn from northern Gaza without being able to stop the firing of Kassam and a few Katusha rockets into the Israeli towns of Sderot and Ashkelon. Of course, Hamas is claiming victory, but what price glory with all the Palestinian dead! The Hamas rockets are homemade and inaccurate but the can be deadly, and cause panic among the Israeli population. The Israeli response was, and is, egregiously disproportionate, but Israel had to respond to the single Israeli civilian death in Sderot this past week for internal political reasons.

Israeli claims that the bombardment will stop if the Hamas rockets stop. Why doesn’t Hamas stop and call Israel’s bluff in order to save innocent lives? But, even if the latter were to happen, Gaza is still a big concentration camp for Palestinians living in Gaza; Israel would still control exit and entry of people and goods, air space, and access to the Mediterranean. It wouldn’t take long for Palestinian frustration to reach a violent level again.

The March 3 demonstration took place on the steps leading from Sultan Suleiman St. down to the Damascus gate. The demonstrators were mostly Palestinian women with a few of us expats mixed in. They shouted slogans and sang songs. We held up signs in Arabic and English that criticized Israeli aggression. Armed Israeli soldiers and police were present on the periphery of the constantly growing crowd, and toward the end of the demonstration a reinforcement of soldiers arrived with tear-gas masks in hand, but thankfully the Israelis kept their distance. The demonstrators made their point and went home.

Canadians and Americans and Europeans need to get the message. The Palestinians are the victims here. Israel continues to flaunt international law and UN decisions as the land-grab and displacement of the Palestinian population continue. Only pressure from the West will make the Israelis “sit up and take notice”!

IMAD'S & SALIBA'S ORDINATION: AN HISTORIC OCCASION

GETTING READY

Mark Holman, Mark Brown, Dale & Sr. Sylvia

Ordinands Saliba & Imad

The Grandma who almost missed it

Celebrating their 1st Communion

A contemplative crucifer

About to cut the Ordination cake

Proud parishoners

Pastors Imad & Saliba

More proud parishoners

March 2 was Imad Haddad’s and Saliba Rishmawi’s big day. At worship earlier that same day rumour had it that their ordination might have to be postponed because of what could be the beginning of a 3rd intifada in the West Bank. On Sunday, March 2, most Palestinian businesses in East Jerusalem were closed in protest against the worsening situation in Gaza, and, in the past, occasions such as ordinations have had to be cancelled because the Israelis often close checkpoints and restrict movement in the Old City when there is trouble. Imad’s and Saliba’s congregations are on the Bethlehem side of the segregation wall, and so family, friends, fellow pastors, children’s choirs, and congregants would have to go through Israeli security.

Well, they almost all made it. When we heard that the mother and grandmother of one of the ordinands had not been granted travel permits to come from the Bethlehem side to Jerusalem, we pulled some strings and got them through. The Israelis wouldn’t let the Beit Sahour children’s choir into Jerusalem, but the Beit Jala choir and band were there to sing and play. Why did the Israelis refuse permits to Mom and Grandma? Why one choir and not the other? Who knows?

And so it happened in spite of all the stumbling blocks! Bishop Younan ordained Imad and Saliba into the Ministry of Word and Sacrament at Redeemer Lutheran in Old Jerusalem. Imad will be serving as assistant pastor in Beit Sahour, and Saliba as assistant pastor in Beit Jala. It was an historic occasion because it’s the first time in the history of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) that two pastors have been ordained at the same time. The ELCJHL doesn’t have many placements for pastors with only six churches: Redeemer in Jerusalem, Christmas Lutheran in Bethlehem, Reformation Lutheran in Beit Jala, Beit Sahour Lutheran Church, Hope Lutheran in Ramallah, and Good Shepherd Lutheran in Amman, Jordan. Less than 2% of the Palestinian population is Christian, and most of the Christians are Greek Orthodox. So, there aren’t many Lutherans, and as Christians emigrate from Palestine because of political tension and an uncertain future, there are fewer Christians (and Lutherans) each year.

As the ordination ended, the grandmother who almost didn’t make it shouted out congratulations and was joined by other female family members in a sustained ululation, a high pitched sound Arab women emit in celebration of events such as graduations and ordinations. It was also a sound of grieving for the almost 100 Palestinian children, women and men who had been killed during the past week in Gaza.

The reception was a joyous event with a piece of cake for everyone.

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A TOUR OF THE JERUSALEM AREA, YOU SAY!

Hebron Suq

Mesh-enclosed balcony

Abraham's Mosque
Hebron Glass Factory

Tent of Nations

Shepherds' Field

Church of the Nativity - Manger Square, Bethlehem

Azzahra's Restaurant, Jerusalem

On February 16, were delighted to meet visitors from home, Anne Banks Pidduck and her daughter Sharon. We’d arranged for a friend who has been practising medicine in the Palestinian territories for some time and who has a vast knowledge of conditions here to take us on a non-traditional excursion south of Jerusalem.

We visited Hebron which is in the West Bank and therefore supposedly Palestinian territory. However, here the militant Israeli settlers have forced vendors in the old marketplace to suspend nets above the sidewalk to prevent garbage being dumped out of the settlers’ windows onto the shoppers below. (Unfortunately that doesn’t protect them from dirty water and urine that is occasionally part of the “garbage”). Fortunately we weren’t party to any rubbish being thrown down while we were in the area.

In Hebron, we also visited the headquarters of the Christian Peacemakers organization which provides for the Palestinians a peaceful witness and therefore protection from harassment and assault by the militant Israeli settlers. We were invited onto an upstairs balcony which overlooks the street that formerly provided entrance to the flat. However, this street has been closed to Palestinians and they now have to enter via a back entrance. Now the Israeli settlers are the only ones allowed to use this street. On top of that, the balconies along the street have had to be covered by heavy mesh to protect the residents from rocks and stones being hurled from the street as the settlers go by.

From the roof we were able to look over the city at the changes and restrictions for the Palestinians that have been made since the settlers have moved in. Some families have access to their homes only by climbing ladders from a neighbour’s roof. The presence is most obvious and one is not allowed to take photos in the direction of the various military towers.

While in Hebron, we visited the Hebron Glass Factory where they make the bottles that the Lutheran World Federation uses for selling their olive oil. We were also able to get into Abraham’s mosque which had been closed to us on a previous visit. We were intrigued by having to wear hooded robes to enter the mosque—we looked like characters out of a Harry Potter novel; of the many mosques we’ve visited, this was the only one that required this. Out of respect, usually only one’s head and arms are covered; this therefore was an efficient way of ensuring that.

Our tour continued to the Tent of Nations located on a peak nearly 950 meters above sea level on 100 acres of land, nine kilometers southwest of Bethelehm. This is the only hill left in the whole area that has not been taken over by illegal Israeli settlements. (Keep in mind, this is in the West Bank which is supposed to be Palestinian territory.)

Daoud Nassar, the director of Tent of Nations explained the history and work of his organisation. His grandfather, Daher Nassar, purchased the land in 1924 and since that time, family members have lived there and worked the land, producing olives, grapes, wheat, etc. Daoud’s father, Bishara, devoted his life to protecting his land and used it to network and provide youth projects in the Bethlehem region. However, in 1991, the Israeli government declared the whole area to be an Israeli state property in spite of the fact that the Nassar family has all the original land papers tracing rights of ownership back to the Ottoman Empire, thus contradicting any claims by the Israeli government. In 2001 and 2002, the local council of Israeli settlements decided to open roads through the east and west sides of the Nassars’ land. Although they were able to stop both road projects through the Israeli court, after 13 years in the high court, the land ownership is still under debate, and the court keeps postponing the case.

Daoud is carrying on his father’s vision. The Tent of Nations is devoted to addressing cultural conflicts around the world, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, by facilitating positive encounters between young people from different cultures. (You can read more on their website: http://www.tentofnations.org/ ).

After an interesting tour of the property, we returned to Jerusalem. Our overwhelming day concluded by dining early at the Jerusalem Hotel, after which we sent our exhausted, jet-lagged visitors off to bed.
The next day provided a more relaxing traditional tour. We met in late morning at the Jaffa Gate of the Old City, wandered through parts of the city, visiting the Wailing or Western Wall, the Church of the Redeemer, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. After a late lunch at Samara’s Restaurant, we went by bus to the Bethlehem checkpoint where my taxi driver, Musa, met us on the other side and took us to the R.C. Shepherds’ Field (of course, as with other “holy sites”, there are two Shepherds’ Fields—Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox), the Milk Grotto, and the Church of the Nativity. We returned by the same route and finished off our day of touring at Azzarah’s Restaurant for their delicious thin-crust pizza. What a way to begin a week

GOOD FOOD, GOOD….

One Friday, we made a reservation for twelve of us from the Guest House at the Jerusalem Hotel for a delicious meal and an evening of Palestinian music. I had the best mussakhan ever: pita is placed in a baking dish and covered with a mixture of onion slices that have been sautéed in olive oil and ground sumac. This is topped with chunks of lightly spiced chicken, covered with the rest of the onion mixture, baked and garnished with pine nuts. Delicious!! Dale enjoyed a mixed grill: skewers of chicken, lamb, and beef served with the best French fries! The food, interesting conversation, excellent music, and the narghile (the traditional Middle Eastern water pipe)—enjoyed by some—, all combined for a delightful evening.

The following week, we actually did some entertaining at the Guest House. We had got to know Diana (pronounced Deeana) and Jakob, a young German couple, shortly after we arrived, as Diana was a member of the Ecumenical Accompaniers who lived at the Guest House for her three-month term. Her husband, Jakob, is employed by the Arabic congregation of the ELCJHL. They had initiated a number of enjoyable joint meals while living here, and so we invited them back for dinner. We ended up being a group of 12.

Our menu consisted of a version of Tex-Mex Chili served over sweet potatoes, and a green salad with fresh strawberries, tangerines, green grapes, red peppers, green onions, raisins, and slivered almonds. It was topped off with a version of Ada’s layered dessert of graham wafers—imagine being able to buy them in East Jerusalem!—, pudding, and bananas. The food and the wine set the stage for some interesting, if not at times, heated discussions about the situation here.

A visit to the American Colony Hotel once in awhile for their Saturday Buffet provides a treat for the pallet. Although it’s expensive ($35 U.S.), you can eat yourself into oblivion if you wish, or opt for only the soup, salad, and dessert bars ($15). We’re told that they usually serve bacon! However, neither of the times we’ve been there has it been on the menu, although they served ham on our first visit. It was a pleasant way to celebrate a friend’s birthday.

Our eating extravaganza continued when we joined my former colleague from Cameron Heights, Vern Allemang, at his hotel for dinner. He and his group were just finishing a tour to Cairo, the Sinai, Jordan, and Israel. Unfortunately there was no time in his itinerary or ours to do any sightseeing together, but they were fortunate to have a Palestinian tour guide to give balance to the visit. We had a wonderful evening with Vern and his friend Dale whose wives had opted out of the trip.

A couple of days later, when my taxi driver, Musa, picked me up to take me back to the checkpoint, he informed me that another couple we knew from church were at his house for “tea”; Musa had taken them sightseeing on a previous occasion, and they were back to finish off the missed sites. He asked me if I’d like to come back for tea with him and meet his family. As he’d made this offer on a previous occasion when I was in a rush, I decided this might be a good time to take him up on it as Jolene and Michael were already there, and also save a separate trip to the checkpoint. “Tea” turned out to be a full meal of Mansaff—rice, lamb, yogurt, and pita—complete with coke, and then coffee poured over cardamom seeds, followed by fresh fruit! We had the wonderful opportunity to meet his wife and 5 of the 6 kids (the missing boy was at school as they have two shifts—morning and afternoon).

The older son, Ahmad, is a student at Bethlehem University studying Business Administration. He’d really wanted to study Engineering and had actually started his studies at Al Quds (Jerusalem) University. However, in order to get to and from the university, he needed to cross the Bethlehem checkpoint twice a day, and travel by bus into Jerusalem. This ended up being a 12-hour day at least. As he’s only a ten-minute walk from Bethlehem University, the family decided it was in his best interests to switch universities, even though he couldn’t get the programme he preferred. If it weren’t for the Wall surrounding Bethlehem, this wouldn’t be a problem as he’d only be going from one part of the West Bank to another. (If the Wall followed the Green Line as, if there must be a wall, it should, he’d have free access from Bethlehem to East Jerusalem.)

Even a pleasant meal with a lovely family ends up with another example of how the Israeli incursion into the West Bank affects the lives of Palestinians!

IT'S GOOD TO BE A CANADIAN, EH?

Since I’ve arrived here, I’m constantly reminded of how lucky I am to be a Canadian. Even when I experience frustrations with what I see and hear, I know that I still get better treatment and can always go back home whenever I want. I keep wondering how I would feel and react had I and my family, going back decades, experienced what Palestinians have and continue to experience daily.

As we all know, there are many inequalities in Canada; not all Canadians think and feel the same about issues. We have too much poverty, considering the wealth of our country, and many other inequities that we should be ashamed of. However, even those things do not take away our freedom of movement.

Let me give a few examples of situations we don’t have to face:

I can walk, drive, or take a bus from Kitchener to Cambridge for any reason any time I want regardless of my age, race, creed, or colour. Both places are in my country and so I don’t need a passport, or visa, or any document (other than my driver’s license if I’m driving my car). Compare this with 2 situations I know of personally here:

1) A teacher is required by her school board to attend a workshop. She lives in Ramallah; the workshop is in Bethlehem. Both Ramallah and Bethlehem are in the West Bank, Palestinian territory. She, a Palestinian who was born and lives in Ramallah; however, she has Israeli papers due to her parents’ designation when Arabs were allowed to have Israeli citizenship—even though they don’t have the same rights as Jewish citizens, although that’s another issue. She is not allowed to cross the Bethlehem checkpoint to get to her workshop because Israeli citizens are not allowed to cross into the West Bank. (However, Palestinian land is grabbed for illegal settlements in the West Bank, and Israelis can live there and travel through Palestinian land on special roads built only for Israelis; Palestinians are not allowed on these roads.) The only way she can attend her workshop is to be smuggled in illegally, running the risk of repercussions.

2) A grandmother and mother who live in Bethlehem wish to attend a graduation ceremony for their son in East Jerusalem. They, for reasons unknown to them, have been refused the permits they need to cross the Bethlehem checkpoint. The only way they can do that is if someone smuggles them in illegally, running the risk of repercussions.

I live in Kitchener and have a job in Guelph. I can take a bus, taxi, or drive my own car regardless of my age, race, creed, or colour, any time I want in order to get to work on time. Weather, accidents, car or bus breakdowns could make me late, but I can usually make the trip in well under an hour. Compare this with 2 situations I know of personally here:

1) I live in Bethlehem and work in East Jerusalem where I’ve worked for years before the Wall was built. Every singe day that I go to work, in order to get through the checkpoint, I have to be there by 3:00 a.m. and wait hours to be inspected. I have to take off my belt, shoes, coat and anything else that I’m often unceremoniously screamed at by young 18/19-year-old soldiers to do. If I’m carrying anything else, it also goes through the scanner. I have to renew my papers every three months but sometimes something shows up on my papers of which I’m not told, and I’m not allowed through the checkpoint. When I return from work, I go through the checkpoint again to get back home. If nothing else, it’s frustrating, exhausting and humiliating.

2) I live in a village south of Bethlehem and work at Augusta Victoria Hospital. I have a university degree and a very responsible job. Although I’m less than an hour away by car or bus if there were no checkpoint, I have to live in a residence at the hospital because it would be impossible for me to get through the checkpoint each day to get to work on time and still have time to sleep at night or have any quality of life. I go home to visit my family on weekends. My work permit must be renewed every three months; however, I have just been refused a renewal. I don’t know why. No one will tell me. I’ve done nothing that I’m aware of that could have caused my permit not to be renewed. Now, if I go home to visit my family, I will not be allowed back through the checkpoint and therefore will no longer be able to work at the hospital.

These situations are not fictional or hypothetical. They are representative of hundreds of identical or similar situations.

The Israeli will say, “We have to do this to protect ourselves!” “Since we put up the Wall, there have been fewer suicide bombers!”

First of all, as the Wall is not yet completed, there are many spots where a determined suicide bomber could easily get through if he/she wanted. The decline has been due to policy by the extremists to give peace efforts a chance. Have negotiations done anything at all to change things that affect the daily lives of Palestinians? Absolutely not!

If the Palestinians were given equal rights, if instead of Israel’s doing its best to keep its citizens from getting to know Palestinians personally, if the Israelis stopped their land grab—enclosing the best fertile land and water sources within their side of the Wall and then turning around and restricting the amount of water they control back to the Palestinians, if these and all the other inequities were rectified, would there be any appeal for young folks to give up their lives for a cause?

Walking through the Bethlehem checkpoint four times a week, makes my blood boil when I see what humiliations some people face, and the equally infuriating way I and other internationals are allowed to jump the queue or are told to “have a nice day” after a Palestinian has just been humiliated and screamed at. (Although I have been screamed once or twice!) If I were young and had to look forward to facing this, in addition to all the other inequities, every day of my life, how would I feel? What would I do?

BUT I, OR MY FAMILY OR FRIENDS, DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT. I’M A CANADIAN, EH?