We weren’t able to run this last week, but thanks to Hannah Brock for sharing another report from the West Bank. In her own words. Ed
I thought that at this time of Easter, I would take the chance to tell you about some of the Christian communities I have been meeting whilst living here in the West Bank.
On my first day here I met Miranda Ziedan, a Christian mother whose house that her family used whilst working their farmland was demolished last December by the Israeli military.
Palestinian Christians
She asked me whether I knew that there were Palestinian Christians:
“Do [Christians around the world] know we exist? Have they forgotten us? Please tell them: there are Christians here in Palestine and we are suffering from the occupation”.
You may know that Bethlehem in fact has the largest population of Christians in the Middle East. As the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme for which I work is an initiative from the World Council of Churches, one of our priorities here is to support the local Christian community.
Aiming to bring an end to the occupation
One of the ways in which we show this support is by accompanying Christian initiatives that aim to bring an end to the occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Every Friday, our afternoon begins by accompanying around 50 local Christians who hold an open air ‘protest’ mass at the monastery of Cremisan. The mass, which takes the form of a normal Catholic service (rather than a demonstration), is held outside in a beautiful olive grove, and is a quiet act of ‘samood’ – the Arabic word for steadfastness.
The route of the separation barrier (which the Israeli Government is in the process of building around – and often inside – Palestinian territory in the West Bank) will, when it is completed, go through this olive grove, separating the monastery from much of their land. The organizers of the mass say that there message is “We live here; we exist here and we are not invisible”.
This last week, for Good Friday, the service was instead a procession, with crosses carried at the front. Many of the people in attendance wished to be in Jerusalem, but were unable to get ‘prayer’ permits to allow them to pass through the checkpoint, so will be unable to travel to Jerusalem at all over the Easter weekend.
The Friday vigil
Each Friday our afternoon ends by accompanying a small group of local and international Christians (mostly Sisters and Brothers from local religious communities) who hold a prayer vigil along the length of the separation barrier, just next to the checkpoint at Bethlehem.
They have been holding this prayer vigil, every Friday afternoon, since 2006. Have a look at a photo of the vigil here.
In the photo you can see a lady with a colourful jacket on. This is my Arabic teacher, Clemence. Clemence lives in the closest house to the separation barrier (see below for the the view from her front door).
Originally, Clemences’ land spread far beyond the separation barrier. When barrier was being built it was planned to run along the fence line of Clemence’s house, confiscating their land completely.
This would have also cut off access to the convent that neighbours their house. Clemences’ late husband heavily petitioned the Israeli authorities, offering to give up an extra 5m strip of land to enable the nuns to have an access road.
The Israeli authorities eventually conceded, taking an extra 10m of Clemences’ families’ land. As you can imagine, this weekly vigil has particular poignancy for Clemence, since its route is across the land that was once hers, now covered in concrete.
Testing my Arabic
We also attend church services on a regular basis. Whilst my Arabic isn’t very good, I can just about keep up with what is going on!
Finally, I have met with many faith-based organisations that bring me some hope that the contribution of Christians will help the conflict be transformed. These include Musalaha, a ‘ministry of reconciliation’, that ‘seeks to promote reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians as demonstrated in the life and teaching of Jesus’.
Amongst other things, they organise Desert Encounters, in which Palestinians and Israeli young people come together in the desert, living together and learning about each other. The idea is that the fragility, vulnerability and isolation of life in the desert will allow a space for relationship building and reconciliation between individuals who often have never met anyone from ‘the other side’.
As their Website puts it, “We have found the desert to be a uniquely neutral atmosphere, where everyone is in the same position, working together to negotiate the hardships of the desert sun or a stubborn camel!”
