News, articles and documents from
the Holy Land
Issue No. 129 - Saturday, 26 January 2002
Dear Friends, Brothers and
Sisters,
We had a very busy
week because we hosted the meeting of the representatives of the Bishops Conferences
of North America, Canada and Europe who met in Jerusalem to discuss the actual situation
and the future of the Christians in the Holy Land. I have already sent you the
press releases and the final documents and if you want to see all the other
documents and papers presented to them, you can visit my Nonviolence Homepage
where you find a full documentation of this meeting. But allow me to share with
you my own opinion and impressions:
- I admired the courage of the bishops
who came in this difficult time to live with us this week, to hear us and
to show their solidarity.
- We are very grateful to them because
they promised to continue their care and concern as their expressed
clearly in their message to the Christians of the Holy Land: “In addition, we return home with the request
that our national bishops conferences, regional groupings of conferences,
and Catholic justice and peace commissions make advocacy on behalf of
peace in the Holy Land a priority matter. We shall try to improve the
public’s understanding of the issues here and the media’s portrayal of the
situation. Among the other proposals we shall bring back to our home
churches is to encourage pilgrims to resume visiting the Holy Land and to
come to know you “the living stones.” We ourselves will return, as soon as
we are able, leading pilgrimages of our faithful”.
- When they
visited President Moshe Kastav and Chairman Arafat, when they heard Yossi
Beilen and DR. Sari Nusseibah, when they met Mr. Ron Schlicher USA general
consul and Mr. Manuel Salazar Spanish general consul and dean of the
consuls in Jerusalem, they heard several times from them these words: “Please
help us to stop violence and to find ways out of this cycle and return
back to the table of the negotiations”. I felt that the political leaders
are lost and don’t have any vision for the future and they don’t know how
to resolve the problem…I felt that they are in a big need of help and they
are asking for it. I felt the need for the religious leaders to play their
positive and constructive role in order to open the eyes of the
politicians and show them the way of peace through justice and
reconciliation.
- The most
astonishing request was the one of Yossi Beilen in which he asked the men
of faith to call for days of prayer and fasting worldwide and get involved
all the religions together in order to pray for peace.
- All of these
people repeated the same statement: “Everybody in this region knows that
there is no military solution for this conflict, they have to return back
to the table of negotiation, but none of the two parts has the courage to surrender
and stop the violence, because everybody points his finger to the other
and say let him begin and do what he has to do”. It seems to me that this
is a conflict between two prides.
- The visit was important
and constructive for both sides but it needs follow-up in the future in
order to implement some of the 15 proposals which was adopted by the
bishops and which will be submitted to their respective conferences.
As you maybe noticed from the meeting of Alexandria, Jerusalem and Assisi,
we see interesting changes in the inter-religious relations. It is wonderful
for me that they only met because what we are witnessing now is like a miracle which
couldn’t at all happen in the near past. Let’s pray and hope with the Pope
that: “Violence never again!
War never again! Terrorism never again!
In the name of God, may every religion bring upon the earth justice and peace, forgiveness
and life, love!”.
You will find in
today’s Olive Branch some important documents and articles other than what I
have already sent you during the last week:
1) Sister Mary reports
us in her Jerusalem Journal # 44 about the
day workshop sponsored by Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information
(IPCRI) at Tantur Ecumenical Institute. The theme of the day was "Years of
Experience in Strategies for Peace Making".
2)
Dr. Maria Khoury is writing about the “Nights
of Terror in Ramallah”. It seems that what she is saying is true, because even
President Arafat told us when we visited him last Thursday that he couldn’t
sleep all the night because of the shooting and the Israeli Army activities
around his residence.
3)
“The Lost
Voice” is a wonderful story written by Samah Jabr. It is worthy to be read,
because it has a message “For those who use violence to gain recognition, I
urge use of life and words to bring understanding to neglected realities”.
4)
I am
forwarding you a letter sent by the General Union of Palestinian Women to Mr.
Bush, and which was sent to my by Samia Khoury with this introduction: “ I
doubt whether he will comprehend the seriousness of the situation. He
announced that he is “very disappointed with Mr. Arafat”. I wonder whether he
realizes that we are just as much disappointed with Mr. Bush for seeing things
backwards. Wonder whether he is aware of who is occupying who!!! Samia”
5) A new: Israel Blocks
Orthodox Patriarchate from Attending in Assisi
I am sure that
even if this last week was also a week of bloodshed and confrontations, many
signs of hope were clear and might help us to find a way out. We are encouraged
by these words of the bishops: “You are the
roots of the tree that is the Church sunk deep in the hard, rocky soil of this
land. Even if ancient olive groves are bulldozed, you, who are God’s own
planting, must never be uprooted.
Best wishes from Jerusalem the
Mother Church of all Churches. Fr.
Raed Abusahlia
Jerusalem
Journal # 44
Sister Mary
Last Monday, January 21st., the Israel/Palestine Center
for Research and Information (IPCRI) sponsored an all day workshop at Tantur
Ecumenical Institute. The theme of the day was "Years of Experience in
Strategies for Peace Making". Men and women from various peace and
justice organizations were present and after listening to a panel discussion in
regard to how politics is not bringing either justice or peace to the peoples
of this land, we were encouraged not to burden the many "PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE
PROJECTS" with the failure of the peace process. Rather we were encouraged
to widen our circles and continue our efforts with "popular
diplomacy", reaching the grass roots, reaching those who feel ignored,
both Palestinians and Israelis. We were encouraged to continue to promote a
culture of peace by promoting dialogue to understand the anxieties and
aspirations of both peoples and promoting cooperation on as many levels as
humanly possible, considering the present situation.
In the afternoon
the participants joined one of eight interest groups and evaluated strategies
in their efforts of dialogue and cooperation. There were many leaders at this
workshop, people who have not given up working for justice and peace, people
who have continued to plant seeds even though the gap between the two societies
and cultures in this land is so large.
I left the
meeting with a clear concept of what I was going to do to close the gap.
I called Rabbi Arik Asherman of the Rabbis for Human Rights and signed myself
up to join them and their group all next week to plant olive trees in
the Palestinian villages where the Israeli Occupation Forces had bulldozed
or otherwise destroyed the olive groves. I'll fill you in on that next week.
But in the
meantime during what seems to be a week of intensification in the cycle of
violence, know that many individuals in both Israeli and Palestinian societies
are still working for justice and peace. And an increasing number of
Israeli combat officers and soldiers are refusing to continue to serve in the
Israeli Occupation Force "for the purpose of domination, expulsion,
starvation and humiliation of an entire people" [Palestinians]. These
officers and soldiers have stated that "the mission of occupation and
repression does not serve the defense of the State of Israel...." Israel's
Bar Association has called upon the soldiers "to disobey orders to hunt
down and assassinate Palestinian activists -- except as a last resort to
save lives." The Bar Association Committee for the Rule of Law and
Human Rights said, "The elimination policy is illegal and contrary to the
rules of war and international law, which define assassination as a serious war
crime." Yossi Arron, chairman of the advisory committee, went on to say,
"...let no one be surprised if he finds himself on trial one day for what
he did in uniform."
Nights of Terror in Ramallah
By Dr. Maria
C. Khoury
The residents of Ramallah have been
living under intense pressure since the tanks and jeeps began rolling in their
neighborhoods. The military
invasion has been terrorizing everyone especially in the El Teereh area where
the Evangelical School operates down the road from the Greek Orthodox School
and the Mustaqbal (Future) School, all terribly affected by over fifteen tanks
just on one main road. Many children
were absent from these schools because their parents don’t want them walking in
front of tanks to enter school. At
other schools everyday children can only talk about “tonight they will totally
reoccupy all Ramallah.” The fear
and terror stop them from concentrating on lessons. At work all week most adults are predicting maybe the
Israelis will totally get rid of the Palestinian Authority. We just can’t figure out why these
tanks and jeeps continue to patrol the area and provoke Palestinian gunmen to
shoot at them causing severe damage to many houses.
Working about two blocks away from
this conflict I spent the majority of the week listening to shooting all day
long and watching funeral marches go by my window. I must admit it was hard to work, to think, to write, to be
productive. I just had an awkward
sick feeling in my stomach and I kept thinking the whole time how children are
learning their math, English or sciences.
All schools in Ramallah decided to shorten the school day so children
can be off the streets and in their homes where it might be safer. But if your home is in front of the
tanks how safe can it be? Ms. Maha from the Al Ahliyyah School, a very
dedicated and committed English teacher, could not even get inside her house on
Wednesday because of the heavy shooting that broke out on her street. She walked in my office frantically
saying “they are shooting right now…it’s terrible…I can’t go home.”
Night after Night, Maha, her
husband and three children have been terrorized along with thousands of people
who woke up last Friday morning to find tanks and jeeps in their
neighborhoods. After spending one
night stuck inside her home because of the intense shooting right outside her
front door, she took her family to her mother’s house. Severe shooting especially occurred
between 8 p.m. until 3 a.m. on Saturday night where the water tanks and the
water pipes were damaged in her home but no one could dare to go outside and
turn off the running water. The
family could not eat, could not sleep, could not move from fear and terror and just!
kept waiting hour after hour for the shooting to stop. “We were afraid to take off our
clothes…we stayed behind the corridor the whole night…It was terrible being in
the dark and just listening to the shooting...the water running from the broken
pipes and being able to do nothing…there are no other words to describe it
except terrifying…just a terror night…we did not want to leave our home…we left
because we were terrified…the fear in our children’s faces made us leave.” said
Ms. Maha. Her children were so
terrified they kept vomiting and going to the bathroom all night from the
anxiety and the fear. Christina who is six years old knew less of what was
going on but Mary who is fourteen probably felt the danger more.
The family left their home to go
only a few blocks away but walked through hundreds of bullets on the ground and
saw countless bullet holes on the house walls. When they reached the grandmother’s house, Khalil who is
twelve years old finally said to his mother: “I feel safe now… I am hungry.” Maha mentioned to me when she saw her neighbor coming home
they could not open their car door and properly walk out to enter their home,
instead they opened the car door, threw themselves on the ground to crawl to
reach the front door of their home.
The other neighbor opened the front door to let her hus! band inside the
house and the bullet bounced off the wall wounding this helpless neighbor in
her stomach. Maha repeated: “It
was a night of terror...the soldiers went crazy…they had hysteria to just keep
shooting....”
After spending two night out of
their house, Maha wanted to take the children back to their own beds, back to
take baths, get clean clothes, stop sleeping on couches. “There is nothing like the feeling of
your own home and with all this shooting happening this simple wish is
impossible…there is nothing we can do…my husband wants to act courageous and
save his family but he is helpless…he wants to protect us but you can see from
his face…he is terrified.” Even
excellent teachers like Maha go to work the next day exhausted, so tiered and
having a difficult time concentrating on teaching. They are grateful just to be alive.
Night after night as Palestinians
continue to bear the shooting and bombing in their areas, as they continue to
bear their homes being demolished by Israelis, as they continue to bear their
family members assassinated in cold blood, as they continue to suffer from the
blockade and the siege on all Palestinian cities and towns, as they continue to
beg soldiers to let them pass checkpoints for hospitals and medical care, as
they continue to bear curfews and house arrests, as they continue to bear their
homes turned into military camps, as they continue to bear the collapsed
economy in order to stay in their land, as they continue to bear countless
years of poor conditions, no one seems to be telling Ariel Sharon to stop the
occupation.&nbs! p;
The Americans continue to tell
Arafat he should not harbor the terrorists. Doesn’t anyone realize that these totally inhumane
conditions in the Holy Land are making all of us terrorists! But, revenge is not the answer. We need to seek forgiveness at some
point and not respond by violent resistance. Even when soldiers' point guns at me, I try to remember that
non-violence is the answer while my blood is boiling and anger ov! erpowers
me. The cycle of violence and the
killings back and forth have taken us to a blood bath. The American senators and
representatives must know that not only Israel needs security but also more than
three million Palestinians need their human rights. The Palestinian Catastrophe of 1948 needs to be
addressed. We need to
diplomatically negotiate how to exist in this Holy Land because it is so
precious to Christians, Muslims and Jews. The only thing that saves me is the
prayers of others and Corinthians 13:4 "Love is patient, love is kind…it
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all
things. Love never fails." With Christ's love, please hear the
pain and suffering from the Holy Land as we bear witness for Christ here and
help maintain our Christian presence by educating your government officials.
The
Lost Voice
The Palestine Times
Samah Jabr, MD
For Sara who
died mute, I speak. For my people here in Palestine, I project my thoughts. For
those who use violence to gain recognition, I urge use of life and words to
bring understanding to neglected realities. To Betsy Mayfield, my friend who
assists me in writing my own story in her language, I give my work. I can do
this because I choose to cooperate, confident enough in myself to know that I
have as much to give my assistant as she has to give to me. No one is in this
world alone; we all have each other, and I can speak because I’ve come to
understand how close we all really are.
Samah Jabr, MD
At 62, Sara
faced death. Brought into al-Makased Hospital, she was dying of a severe lung
disease. Our physicians gave her medication and physiotherapy. Nothing worked.
Finally, she was connected to a ventilator. I was there when the T-shaped
plastic tube was inserted to connect her trachea to an oxygen machine. It
pleased me to see colour return to Sara’s face and to watch her lips turn from
blue to pink. I thought she would relax and, who knows, maybe even get a
reprieve, allowing her to live more of her precious life.
Revived, Sara
surprised all of us with her considerable physical strength. As suddenly as the
colour returned to her face, energy spurred her on. She reached up and grabbed
one of the attending doctors by his white coat, pulling him so forcefully that
he found himself eyeball to eyeball with his patient. Sara had something to
say. No matter how eagerly she tried, however, she could not speak. The T-piece
in her throat, her last link to life, had separated the outgoing air from her
vocal cords. She could not share her thoughts, cry out in pain, or even
chuckle, should she improbably have something to laugh about.
Wanting to help,
I suggested getting something for Sara to write on, but the physician to whom
Sara had entrusted her last attempt to speak gave me a condescending look and
said quietly, “Dr. Jabr, Sara is an illiterate villager from Turmusayya. She
cannot write. Let’s move on.”
All day, Sara’s
desperation troubled me. When I finished my duties, I slipped in to check on
her. As I bent over to look into Sara’s face, she reached up and strongly
gripped my arm, again, trying desperately to communicate. I put my ear to her
mouth. No sound. I tried to speak through the use of my hands and she, in turn,
waved her hands and shook my arm, but to no avail.
One of the
nurses in the unit saw my frustration. She told me that she’d tried to contact
someone in Sara’s family who might be able to tell us how to “speak” with her.
A nephew promised to try and visit his aunt, but it was clear that he could not
help us understand Sara.
The next
morning, Sara died of cardiac arrest. I knew she was at peace, free from
suffering, but I could not get her effort to communicate out of my mind. I
began to think of Sara as a metaphor for all the millions of human beings who
have no voice: minorities, battered women, husbands, wives, children who cannot
make other family members understand, oppressed people who live in fearful
silence under monarchs or dictators, people embarrassed to speak out.
Most relevant to
my reality and background is the Palestinian plight. This is what I want people
everywhere to understand.
Like people
everywhere, however, I find it hard to articulate what I want to say.
Furthermore, knowing how the stresses of my life cut me off from much of the
rest of the world’s sorrows, I can imagine that hearing about our situation is
just too much for most of the people around the world. Like the team of doctors
who did what they could for Sara but, then, walked away, people can only absorb
so much before they click off and think only of the duties and stresses ahead
of them. Still, I want to speak effectively. I feel an urgency to express
myself so that the light of my country is not extinguished before the world is
aware of who we Palestinians are.
I’ve taken the
path of cooperation. Knowing that English is not my mother language and that it
is difficult for people outside my native land to understand my Arabic writing,
I was lucky enough to have guidance and assistance from an old English teacher,
Betsy Mayfield. Betsy and I enjoy applying universality to real life accounts
in an effort to show similarities among people from different nationalities. We
write together so that people as far away as Asia and America can find out how
Palestinians react to and measure up under pressure from the occupation that
surrounds them. Betsy and I balance each other, allowing our individual talent
to connect so that our two voices tell one story.
Considering
that: I am Muslim, Betsy is of Christian heritage; I am in my mid-20s and Betsy
in her 60s; I remain a native of occupied Jerusalem and Betsy is alive and well
in the safety and freedom of America, it’s unique that we can reach consensus
and publish pieces we both agree upon. Ours is a tiny example of how people can
relate to each other, can get beyond the attitude of “you said this and that’s
offensive, and I won’t speak to you anymore.”
Betsy and I
don’t always agree and, unfortunately, we’re both capable of “verbal violence”
and arguments, but we talk, we learn from our differences and we grow wiser.
Palestinians
have often failed to articulate the Palestinian perspective effectively. We
came out of the 1948 and 1967 catastrophes lacking in Western public relations
skills. Many of us were like illiterate Sara, desperate to speak, but unable to
be heard. I assure you, however, Palestinians were certainly “a people” and we
did and do exist. Unlike those who came to our Middle Eastern land from Europe
with an open invitation from the Western World to colonize and modernize our
place and time, our people were unaccustomed to the use of propaganda, to big-gun
violence, to money flowing like “manna from heaven” to make a “desert green.”
Our voices were as muted as Sara’s and, when we tried to speak, the world,
pretty much, walked away to attend to other “patients” facing tough situations
closer to home. There is no shame in that. It’s just the way it was.
Once, Betsy and
I were together in Ames, Iowa, and Betsy got out one of her favorite videos,
“Schindler’s List.” Watching that film, neither she nor I could keep tears from
our eyes. We felt another people’s unimaginable pain. That film showed us both
the power of story to reach virtually any person anywhere. Now, few good
Palestinian feature films are available in America, the latest of which, “The
Tale of Three Jewels,” portrays life in a Gazan Palestinian refugee camp. This
gentle, dramatic story contains the realism Western people expect in a film.
Because it doesn’t make all Palestinians look unrealistically worldly or
perfect, however, a few Palestinians reject it as “bad press.” To me, however, this
film is an example of the kind of speaking out we Palestinians need to do. “The
Tale of Three Jewels” is not like the grossly distorted, but famous propaganda
film, “Exodus.” However, it is a modest film that tells a noble truth about
Palestine and Palestine’s people. It
We Palestinians
have done a good job at bridging the great educational gap between our
occupiers and us. Many of us have joined the modern world, so to speak. Were
our trees not so uprooted, our homes not so demolished, our lives not so
threatened, what remains of our Palestine could be green from the edges of the
Sinai to the Lebanese border.
We still have a
long way to go. We have to learn to cooperate with whoever offers a hand of
friendship to us, even with those who support us from outside our borders. I
can testify that it works for Betsy Mayfield and me. Our work liberates us from
the feeling of helplessness and makes us both feel happy and fulfilled and
that’s what matters most for both of us.
*Samah Jabr is a
Palestinian writer, a physician and a life-long resident of East Jerusalem.
This piece was written in honour of Betsy Mayfield, an American friend of Samah
who has assisted her in writing Samah’s stories in English.
Letter from the General
Union of Palestinian Women to Mr. Bush.
January 24, 2002
President George Bush
President of the United States of America
The White House
Washington
Mr. President,
With the dawn of a new century and a new year, Palestinian women wish to express
their grave concern over the unfolding of events all over the world. As women
committed to the cause of peace and to the welfare of humanity and as live
witnesses to so many tragedies and crimes that go unnoticed and unheard, we
believe that we have the responsibility to speak out on behalf of those whose
voices have been muted by oppression.
We, therefore, invite you to tread with us the thorny path of suffering imposed
upon our people by the Israeli occupation and colonization of our land.
We invite you to assume the role of a visionary leader of a beleaguered world,
where injustice and oppression remain rampant and the destinies of the masses
of human beings continue to be hostage to the interests of a few.
Mr. President,
The terrible tragedy of the 11th of September which befell your country stirred
your people and the whole world with consternation and rage, which led to a
series of reactions affecting the destinies of many nations. On the other hand,
Mr. President, the Palestinians have been subject to unabated state terrorism
for more than half a century, and no action was ever taken to stop the
devastation of our country, the dispossession of our people and the flagrant
violations of every single human right and international law in our land. Moreover,
in our struggle to defend ourselves, we are being regarded as the culprits of
the conflict, while those who perpetrate heinous crimes against us are not
merely allowed, but encouraged to continue their transgressions and their occupation
of our land with impunity.
As we write to you today, Israeli tanks and armored vehicles surround the headquarters
of our President and several other parts of Palestine. Our children are living
in a constant state of terror as our youth are being assassinated and
imprisoned and our homes are being demolished and our crops damaged by American
F16s and Apache helicopters. Sieges are imposed on all our towns, villages and
refugee camps, destroying our infrastructure, paralyzing the most vital
services of education and health, and threatening the lives and wellness of the
whole population
The silence of the world in the face of such grievous violations is indeed stunning.
Would you expect us to remain silent and acquiescent?
Mr. President,
We call upon you and your administration to rise to the gravity of the situation
which does not merely threaten our people, but the region and the world at
large.
We call upon you to realize that any people under occupation will continue to
struggle until their rights and freedom are achieved.
The only path to peace and stability is justice. Israeli occupation and colonization
must come to an immediate end. Palestinians must practice their inalienable
rights, the right of Return, Self Determination, and the Establishment of their
Sovereign State, Jerusalem as its capital.
In the meantime, we call for the protection of our defenseless people, especially
our children who harbor within their innocent souls the seeds of the future. Give them justice and peace
so that they may grow as advocates of justice and peace, able to participate in
building a better and kinder world for all.
The General Union of Palestinian Women-Palestine
Israel Blocks Orthodox Patriarchate from
Attending in Assisi
JERUSALEM, JAN. 25, 2002 (Zenit.org).- A
great absence was noted among those invited to attend the Day of Prayer for
Peace: the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
Officials of the Patriarchate said they had not been granted permission by
Israeli authorities to travel to Italy, Vatican spokesman Joaquín Navarro-Valls
said Wednesday.
Patriarch Ireneos had named Archimandrite Nikolaos Nikodimos Farmakis and
Father Rafaele Apostolos Anagnostakis as principal representatives to attend
the event in Assisi.
The election of Patriarch Ireneos last Aug. 13, to succeed the late Patriarch
Diodoros, greatly disappointed the Israeli government. The government tried to
exclude Ireneos from the list of candidates because of his favorable attitude
toward the Palestinians, the Israeli press reported Aug. 14.
After his election, Ireneos said he would help Palestinians assert their
rights. Yet in a message sent to the president of the Israeli Council, the
patriarch said that the Greek-Orthodox Church's policy of neutrality would not
change.
Mideast peace was one of the issues discussed by religious leaders on the train
that took them from the Vatican to Assisi, reported Salvatore Mazza, one of the
four journalists allowed in the convoy.
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Thank you for your understanding & with best wishes from
Jerusalem Fr. Raed Abusahlia |