Peace Not Walls

Articles, stories, photos and video about keeping faith in the Holy Land and creating a peaceful, just environment where all humans can flourish.

Clashing memories in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Julie Brenton Rowe

Late April and early May mark a stark contrast for Israelis and Palestinians.  This year, the state of Israel celebrated 64 years of independence in late April.  But on May 15, Palestinians commemorated the same events as a tragedy they call Al Nakba – the Catastrophe, when 800,000 Palestinians became refugees by being displaced by the very people who now celebrate  independence.  In Israel, several universities were prohibited from holding events that would have acknowledged the Palestinian reality. 

 The Jerusalem Post has several articles about Israel’s celebration.  Haaretz has an article encouraging the right of Palestinians to acknowledge the event from their perspective  as well as an op-ed by Hanan Ashrawi.

Israel has been earmarking Palestinian land for settlements for years, maps show

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Julie Brenton Rowe

The Israeli government has been earmarking Palestinian land for settlement expansion for years, maps released recently show.  The maps, which name some new or expanded settlements where Palestinian villages now exist, were only disclosed by Israeli authorities because of a challenge through the Freedom of Information Act by anti-settlement activist Dror Etkes.  90% of this land is east of the Separation Barrier, beyond the main settlement blocs.    Read more

Thousands mourn late Egyptian Copt leader Pope Shenouda III

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Julie Brenton Rowe

Pope Shenouda III, the spiritual leader of the Egyptian Copts for over 40 years, died March 18, 2012. Photo from ABC news.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of the Coptic Christian Church in Egypt, as tens of thousands mourned the death of Pope Shenouda III, the Coptic spiritual leader since 1971 and a president of the World Council of Churches (WCC) from 1991 to 1998. In a letter to the church dated 18 March, World Council of Churches general secretary the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit paid tribute to Pope Shenouda’s unwavering pursuit of Christian unity and peace throughout the Middle East and the world.

“As a leader he taught us that modesty is the best way to serve Christ,” wrote Tveit, noting that Shenouda is remembered as “a strong believer in Christian-Muslim conviviality and cooperation. His initiatives in the field of interreligious dialogue contributed to the unity of the Egyptian people.”

Shenouda III held the ancient office of Pope of Alexandria and, as such, was a successor to Saint Mark the Evangelist who, according to tradition, brought the gospel of Jesus Christ to the great Mediterranean city in the first century A.D.

Tveit concluded his tribute with this prayer, “May Pope Shenouda’s words, witness and memory strengthen the faith of Christians in Egypt and the Middle East; and, may his soul rest in the peace of the Kingdom of God.”

Read more about it

Hamas and Fatah Reach Accord

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Julie Brenton Rowe

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will lead the new unity government of technocrats following a unity agreement by Fatah and Hamas, announced on Feb. 6.  Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu reacted, saying Abbas and the Palestinians must choose between peace with Hamas or peace with Israel.

Netanyahu points to the 1988 Hamas Charter, which does not recognize Israel and says things like ”our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious” and calls for the eventual creation of an Islamic state in Palestine, in place of Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and the obliteration or dissolution of Israel.

However, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal indicated to Robert Pastor, senior adviser to the Carter Center, that the Charter is “a piece of history and no longer relevant, but cannot be changed for internal reasons.” Hamas do not use the Charter on their website and prefer to use their election manifesto to put forth their agenda.

In March 2006, Hamas released its official legislative program. As a United States Institute of Peace report said, “the program’s most significant element was Hamas’s acknowledgment that the “issue of recognizing [Israel] does not concern a single Palestinian faction alone, nor any government alone, but it is the decision of the Palestinian people, wherever found” (page 13). This was a major shift away from their 1988 charter.

Hamas has been responsible for countless suicide bombings and rockets from Gaza into Israel in the past.

Less well known is the charter of the Likud Party, PM Netanyahu’s party.  It is a later document, written in 1999, that says:

On Settlements:  “The Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza are the realization of Zionist values. Settlement of the land is a clear expression of the unassailable right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and constitutes an important asset in the defense of the vital interests of the State of Israel. The Likud will continue to strengthen and develop these communities and will prevent their uprooting….”

On a Palestinian state:  “The Government of Israel flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan river. The Palestinians can run their lives freely in the framework of self-rule, but not as an independent and sovereign state. Thus, for example, in matters of foreign affairs, security, immigration and ecology, their activity shall be limited in accordance with imperatives of Israel’s existence, security and national needs.”

On Jerusalem: “Jerusalem is the eternal, united capital of the State of Israel and only of Israel. The government will flatly reject Palestinian proposals to divide Jerusalem, including the plan to divide the city presented to the Knesset by the Arab factions and supported by many members of Labor and Meretz.” chance for future peace negotiations because east Jerusalem as capital of a future Palestinian state is non-negotiable for any Palestinian.

However, the party has agreed to the idea of a Palestinian state.

In terms of “partners for peace,” both sides have documents and behaviors in their past which indicate that neither party has willingness to share their space.  Far better than old documents and past behaviors, we must look at behaviors and facts on the ground now to determine the best course of action that will result in a just peace.

Watch video of Presbyterian Symposium on Land and the Bible

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Julie Brenton Rowe

 

A symposium entitled “Bible, Land, and our Theological Challenge: A Presbyterian Conversation” was held in October with key speakers presenting views on biblical perspectives on the land and the Palestinian-Israeli situation.   See the schedule of speakers below and watch the video.

9:00AM Welcome, introductions, statement of purpose, prayer  
9:30AM-10:20AM “Kairos Palestine and Interfaith Relations in North America” Rev. Dr. Said Ailabouni,ELCA Pastor, La Grange IL, Former director of ELCA office on the Middle East
10:30AM-11:20AM “Biblical interpretation and Old Testament Land Theology Today” Rev. Dr. Eugene March,Old Testament Profesor Emeritus, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
11:30AM-12:20PM “Biblical interpretation and New Testament Land Theology Today” Rev. Dr. Gary Burge,Professor of New Testament, Wheaton College and Graduate School
12:30PM Lunch and discussion: catered in the Presbyterian Center. Registration includes cost of lunch.  
1:45PM – 4:30PM Panel Discussion Moderator: Darrell Yeaney, former university Campus Minister in Kansas, California and Iowa; Founder with his wife Sue of the Congressional Accompaniment Project to Israel/PalestineSpeakers: Said Ailabouni, Gene March, Gary Burge(see above)National Staff:Rev. Dr. Christian T. Iosso, Coordinator, Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (PCUSA)Rev. Dr. Charles A. Wiley, III, Interim Director, Theology & Worship, PC(USA)IPMN members:Rev. Katherine Cunningham, Co-Executive Director, New Horizons Associates, Counseling and Consultation, New Jersey; a past moderator of the Committee on the Office of the GA; Vice Moderator of IPMN.Professor Nahida Halaby Gordon, Schools of Medicine and Nursing, moderator of the National Middle East Presbyterian Caucus, officer and member of the Steering Committee of IPMNRev. Dr. Donald Wagner, Research Professor for Interfaith Engagement, Eastern Mennonite University and former Professor and Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies North Park University, Chicago, ILRev. Raafat L. Zaki, Transitional Synod Executive, Synod of the Covenant. He was educated in the Middle East, Asia, & the USA and has held three pastorates, two GAMC positions, and two synod positions.

 

Palestinian President Abbas on a Palestinian State

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Julie Brenton Rowe

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in an op-ed in the New York Times, talks about the importance and international legitimacy of a Palestinian state.  Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu takes issue with him and his account of history.  President Abbas does leave out the detail that the Arabs did reject the UN partition plan on the basis that it gave half of the land to the Jewish state when only a fraction of the land was owned by Jewish people.

May 15 brings celebration and lament in the Holy Land

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Julie Brenton Rowe

 

May 15, the day Israelis and most of the world celebrate the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 every year, is a painful day for Palestinians, whose experience of that day and history is very different from the Israeli history.  Popular news media run stories on this day about Palestinian violence and anger at the creation of Israel, yet they present no context for the situation.  Indeed, this year protests saw the Israelis killing 12 people near the borders and a youth in Jerusalem, who was most likely shot by a settler group that has been evicted by the Israelis themselves for illegally occupying their house in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan.  Hundreds more were wounded or detained in various protests all throughout the West Bank.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm7dMhE80dw

In popular news media, there is often  little explanation that the Palestinians are grieving the past and lamenting the present, where to this day the longest military occupation in history is still going strong.  The reality of what happened in the Holy Land in 1947-48 – and well before – is sharply different for Palestinians than for Israelis.  For Palestinians, this is the Nakba – the catastrophe – when between 700,000 and 800,000 people were expelled from their homes and over 500 villages were destroyed.

Most Americans know the story as it was portrated in the movie Exodus by Leon Uris starring Paul Neuman, where it looks like the little country of Israel was inexplicably attacked when it declared itself a state by 5 large Arab nations who had many more men and weapons than Israel.  More and more Israeli historians point to a very different reality.  Using material from Israel’s archives, they say Israeli paramilitary groups (some deemed terrorist by the British, all very well-armed) targeted many villages, indeed even carried out massacres and violent expulsions, so that the people would flee.  Disorganized action by these Arab countries didn’t offer much effective resistance and they were outnumbered and outgunned.  This is according to some new Israeli historians like Ilan Pappe, who also says that about half of the refugees and half of the villages were destroyed before the creation of the state of Israel was even declared.

Much of the “violence” of this day is in fact non-violent protest and civil disobedience that is met by Israeli tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and detention of those participating.  Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, a well-known non-violent peace protester, has been detained and is still in prison as of this writing.

It is also noteworthy that the Israeli government just passed a law that makes discussing the Nakba (which they say negates the reality of the Jewish state) cause for threatening a public organization’s funding.  While the first one, which made it a crime to mention the word Nakba,  only passed on part of the Parliament, a milder version passed that says this:  “any body that is funded by the state, or a public institute that is supported by the state, will be barred from allocating money to activity that involves the negation of the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people; the negation of the state’s democratic character; support for armed struggle, or terror acts by an enemy or a terror organization against the state of Israel; incitement to racism, violence and terror and dishonoring the national flag or the national symbol.”

See one Israeli organization defying this law.

Part two of the video on the Nakba can be seen at http://youtu.be/jYvimRnlTqE.

View the more traditional Israeli view of history in the History Channel’s  The Birth of a Nation .(it is in 10 parts)

Reports, Statements and Updates 2007-2010

Posted on March 13, 2009 by Julie Brenton Rowe

Reports from the Ground

The situation in Israel and the cccupied Palestinian territory covers a broad set of topics and issues which are continually interacting with each other and creating new situations on the ground. Keeping in mind that covering every aspect of the conflict on a day-by-day basis is beyond the abilities of this campaign, this section contains current analysis and reports from the ground to help give a more complete picture of the current situation. As we strive to present the many views expressed about the situation we must note that the views expressed here are not necessarily representative of the ELCA’s positions.

OCHA site     |    Latest OCHA Maps

 

Situation of Workers in the Occupied Arab Territories - June 2010 

Despite some improvement in the Palestinian economy in the West Bank in 2009, this report by the International Labour Organization states that workers’ rights and human dignity are severely violated, and the right of the Palestinian people to decent work remains largely unfulfilled. The enduring human rights crisis in Gaza, the discrimination and the displacement of workers and their families in East Jerusalem, and the separation of families envisaged by the recent military order on infiltrators, all constitute further threats to peace and security.  The report says East Jerusalem is becoming more isolated from the rest of the West Bank owing to a policy of reducing the proportion of Palestinians living and working there and calls the siege of Gaza unacceptable, unsustainable and counterproductive.”

Failing Gaza: No rebuilding, no recovery, no more excuses – December 2009 PDF Format

A report one year after Operation Cast Lead
According to a group of non-governmental organizations working in the region, “The international community has betrayed the people of Gaza by failing to back their words with effective action to secure the ending of the Israeli blockade which is preventing reconstruction and recovery.” Report with recommendations

Restricting Space – December 2009 PDF Format

This OCHA Special Focus covers the planning and zoning regime applied by the Israeli authorities in Area C of the West Bank, where Palestinian construction is effectively prohibited in some 70 percent of Area C. In the remaining 30 percent, a range of restrictions virtually eliminate the possibility of obtaining a building permit. As a result, Palestinians are left with no choice but to build “illegally” and risk demolition of their structures and displacement. The consequences of these actions are wide-ranging and extend to the entire Palestinian population of the West Bank.

The Gaza Labour Market in 2008 - December 2009 PDF Format

The focus of this internal briefing paper is the Gaza Strip labour force and labour market in the 2008 relative to 2007. The aim is to provide a general quantitative framework on labour market conditions, as well as relevant and timely information and analysis for purposes of planning and programming.

The West Bank Labour Market in 2008 – December 2009 PDF Format

The focus of this internal briefing paper is the West Bank labour force and labour market in 2008 relative to 2007. The aim is to provide a general quantitative framework on labour market conditions, as well as relevant and timely information and analysis for purposes of planning and programming.

Socio-Economic Developments in the occupied Palestinian territories 2008 – November 2009 PDF Format

This is UNRWA’s fifth report on economic and social developments in the occupied Palestinian territory. The present report is an update and covers changes in 2008. The report is divided into two substantive sections. The first addresses developments in domestic output and income through an assessment of national accounts data. Levels and changes in the Gross Domestic Product of the Palestinian public and private sectors are the focus of this section. The second section covers the oPt labour force and labour market dynamics. Data and analysis in the labour market section are disaggregated on the basis of refugee status.

Special Focus : The humanitarian impact of two years of blockade on the Gaza Strip – August 2009 PDF Format

Following the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, Israel has imposed an unprecedented blockade on all border crossings in and out of the Gaza Strip.1 The blockade has ‘locked in’ 1.5 million people in what is one of the most densely populated areas on earth, triggering a protracted human dignity crisis with negative humanitarian consequences. At the heart of this crisis is the degradation in the living conditions of the population, caused by the erosion of livelihoods and the gradual decline in the state of infrastructure, and the quality of vital services in the areas of health, water and sanitation, and education.

The Gaza Blockade : Children and Education Fact Sheet – July 2009 PDF Format

A fact sheet on childern, education and blockade.

West Bank and Gaza Closure Maps – June 2009 PDF Format

Detailed maps of West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem governorates, featuring all the checkpoints and obstacles to Palestinian movement including the West Bank Barrier, Israeli settlements, restricted roads and closed areas.

Shrinking Space: Urban Contraction and Rural Fragmentation – May 2009 PDF Format

This OCHA Special Focus reports on the Bethlehem governorate documents how the central-urban core is constricted by a combination of Israeli infrastructure, including the Barrier, settlements and settlement outposts. Only 13% of Bethlehem land is available for Palestinian use out of 660 sq. kilometers and much of it is fragmented.

The Planning Crisis in East Jerusalem: Understanding the Phenomenon of “Illegal Construction” - April 2009 PDF Format

This OCHA Special Focus addresses the phenomenon of “illegal” Palestinian construction in East Jerusalem, the failure of the Israeli authorities to provide adequate planning for Palestinian neighborhoods and gives an overview of at-risk communities and various community initiatives to overcome obstacles in the current municipal planning process.

Palestinian Christians: Facts, Figures and Trends – 2008 PDF Format

Palestinian Christians are under many pressures that put the community at risk. This small booklet is the most comprehensive source available for up-to-date information on the community. Diyar is a consortium of Lutheran-based, ecumenically-oriented institutions serving the whole Palestinian community. (Edited by Rania Al Qass Collings, Rifat Odeh Kassis, and Mitri Raheb.)

Poverty in the Occupied Palestinian Territory – 2007 PDF Format

This report was released by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) as a briefing paper designed to aid UNRWA in understanding the economic impacts of the tumultuous conditions of 2007. The paper includes information on trends, poverty by region, and the effectiveness of external assistance.

 
The views expressed in these materials represent the positions of outside organizations and may not necessarily reflect an official position of the ELCA.