Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Follow-Up: A Look at Modern Israel and Palestine

It would be impossible to cover this entire topic in one post. I hesitate to write about it at all because it is such a convoluted issue and I don’t intend for this space to be a soapbox. And yet I believe the heart of the matter is simple and relevant. I write in the hope that the perspective I share will at least spark a conversation or challenge someone. Elias Chacour, a Palestinian Israeli priest, explains it better than anyone I know, with a rich understanding of the history and first-hand accounts. I must first direct you to his books if this topic captures your attention: Blood Brothers and We Belong to the Land.

I'm writing about this because before our study I was intimidated by the history and complexity of what has been happening in the Middle East. There are many layers to the present conflict. I don't claim to know how the land ought to be allocated today, but there are some obvious injustices taking place in which our own country has a hand, particularly against Palestinians. I believe the media uses propaganda to turn us against our own brothers and sisters with labels such as “terrorist” when in fact those so-called “terrorists” are themselves being terrorized.

I'm also writing because someone I've met this year, a Palestinian Christian, has suffered the loss of 1,500 fruit trees last month, bulldozed by the Israeli military. I'm not convinced that the members of the Israeli military truly want to hurt people like this, but, as has happened too often in history, they are “just following orders.” And the world looks the other way because they feel embarrassed about looking the other way when the Jews were oppressed. The cycle continues...

Just like the wall that went up at Berlin, like the wall at the Mexican border, we witness a concrete wall (“separation barrier”) going up to separate families, separate people from clean water, and separate farmers from their olive groves, which for generations has been their families' sole livelihood. In October 2003, a UN resolution declared the wall illegal where it cuts into the Palestinian territory and should be torn down in these places. The U.S. vetoed this resolution.

Between 1967 and mid-2010, Israel established 121 settlements, over 100 “outposts” (settlements built without official authorization but with support and assistance of Israeli government), and 12 neighborhoods – all in areas internationally recognized as Palestinian territory. Many settlers believe they have rights to all of the surrounding territory – well beyond Palestine – through God's covenant with their ancestor Abraham. They are known to be violent, sabotaging wells, killing livestock, and uprooting trees.

Israel controls more than 83% of the water within Palestine. Access to water is severely restricted for Palestinians, and where they do have access, they pay almost double what an Israeli does. They are forced to decide between watering their gardens or having water to drink, while Israeli settlers enjoy swimming pools less than a mile away.

Today there are an estimated 8-10 million Palestinian refugees around the world. An estimated 5 million live in the West Bank alone, half a million living in Gaza's eight refugee camps. Over 82,000 live in less than one square kilometer. These and other refugees in surrounding Arab countries cannot get good jobs or travel freely because they have no passports or citizenship papers.

Since 2000, more than 1,084 Israelis and 6,430 Palestinians have been killed. The U.S. is Israel's #1 supporter, giving $3 billion in military aid each year. What I see happening is an ethnic cleansing based on religious and cultural principles eerily similar to the oppression of the Jews themselves under Hitler, and Americans blindly allow their tax dollars to support the military efforts because they are misinformed.

There are of course not just two sides to this issue. I am not “for” the Palestinians and “against” the Israelis. I am for them both, and there are people from all “sides” coming together to work for peace.

So what am I doing for peace? Similar things to what I do to seek justice for those who are trafficked and enslaved: Spread the word, contact my Congressmen, and get to know the people behind the labels.

I'll leave it at that and close with a few selected words from Elias Chacour:

“If you become a true man of God – you will know how to reconcile enemies – how to turn hatred into peace. Only a true servant of God can do that.” (Blood Brothers)

“Come, let us be brothers and sisters together in this beautiful land in which all of us have history and roots. There is room enough for all of us. Aren't we the co-persecuted brothers and sisters?” (We Belong to the Land)

“I turn to you, my brothers and sisters in the West – in particular, those of you who might judge us – and I ask: How can you take on yourself the right to decide who is the terrorist? Was it a bad thing that Europe organized to liberate itself from savage occupation before and during WWII? Were the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution 'acts of terrorism'? Who is the terrorist? Who is the fighter for liberty? How to you find it your right to judge?” (Blood Brothers)

“Jesus Christ teaches us today...that we are not to love people out of charity or for Jesus' sake, as if others were an instrument, a tool, or a tunnel to pass through to reach the goal. Rather, the other...is to be loved because that person is lovable as he or she is. We are to love as God loves. God's love is unconditional and sacrificed. God is love. All this I have understood from my father, who taught me to love myself and the other. Loving others, breaking the cycle of hatred and violence, does not mean passivity or inaction. On the contrary, this love is creative, resourceful, energetic, dynamic. This love looks for ways to restore and preserve people's worth, dignity, and joy.” (We Belong to the Land)


Monday, June 9, 2014

Three Things I Care About

LOVING THE ENSLAVED

June 10 is Lobby Day, where advocates from across the nation head to Capitol Hill as part of the annual IJM Advocacy Summit and meet with their Senators and Representatives in person in an effort to end modern-day slavery. Commit to call your Senator (especially my friends in NY) tomorrow: http://www.ijm.org/advocacy-summit/call-in-registration
Congress just set aside $5 million to fight slavery through the Child Protection Compact Act. On June 10, we’ll ask them to invest in two countries that are willing to stand up against slavery, but need additional support: The Philippines and Ghana. Read more here: https://www.ijm.org/be-force-freedom
Download a sample chapter of Gary Haugen's The Locust Effect here: http://www.thelocusteffect.com/ and sign the petition to urge the UN to protect the poor from violence.

LOVING THE OPPRESSED

Daoud Nasser and his family (friends of Koinonia whom we helped host a Tree of Life conference this past October in Americus) was recently featured at the Sojourners blog because early on May 19, military bulldozers destroyed 1,500 of the family's fruit trees nearly ready for harvest in the valley below the Nasser dwellings. In an upcoming post I'll write more about what my fellow interns and I have been researching about the conflict in Palestine/Israel, and ongoing peace efforts.  In the meantime, if you would like to join me in supporting the Nasser family, there are resources available here: http://maryknollogc.org/alerts/tent-nations-trees-terraces-destroyed-israeli-military

LOVING THE DETAINED

Learn more about America's $2 billion immigrant detention industry. A little-known federal law enacted in 2006 ensures that a minimum of 34,000 undocumented immigrants must be held on every single day. Private companies run most of the centers, among them Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, GA.
and what people are doing here: http://elrefugiostewart.com/

"Injustice anywhere a threat to justice everywhere." -MLK