{"id":584,"date":"2011-10-10T13:13:40","date_gmt":"2011-10-10T19:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/peacenotwalls\/?p=584"},"modified":"2011-10-11T07:04:33","modified_gmt":"2011-10-11T13:04:33","slug":"us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation\/","title":{"rendered":"US Accompanier Chris Cowan: This is Living Under Occupation"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the mix of the muddle over the Palestinians’ UN statehood bid, something often gets lost.\u00a0 The US – and others – are\u00a0adamant that the only way to Palestinian statehood is negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, probably brokered by the US.\u00a0 But this is not\u00a0negotiation between two equal parties.\u00a0 One is the occupier and one is the occupied.\u00a0\u00a0 It is an illusion to think that they sit at the same table with equal power.\u00a0 One has the unquestioned support of much of the world’s power – and $3 billion a year from the US, which is supposed to be\u00a0the honest broker.\u00a0 The other doesn’t, and has watched while illegal settlements and land reserved for their future growth and infrastructure\u00a0have eaten up half of the land supposedly reserved for their future state.<\/p>\n

Chris Cowan, a Luther seminarian, is an accompanier for the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme for Palestine and\u00a0Israel (EAPPI)<\/a> living in the Southern Hebron Hills, protecting Palestinian school children and villagers from some of the violent settlers there.\u00a0\u00a0Read her reflections and follow her days at her blog\u00a0http:\/\/christiarts.wordpress.com\/<\/a>. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Lutheran church sends a big percentage\u00a0 of the EAPPI-US program<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 .<\/p>\n

But for now, read her observations about what it’s like to live under occupation.\u00a0 And think about what you would do if you lived under those circumstances.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps you would do something as “unilateral” as appealing\u00a0to the most multilateral peace organization in the world – the UN – for some protection, some hope and a fulfillment of the almost 60 UN resolutions supporting international law and\u00a0a just peace.<\/p>\n

Dear friends,<\/em><\/p>\n

Today, I want to reflect a little bit on the experience of living in a militarized environment.\u00a0 It goes without saying that Jesus himself lived in such an environment, when 1st<\/sup> century Palestine was under Roman occupation.\u00a0 So it\u2019s worth spending a few moments thinking about how it feels to experience this.<\/em><\/p>\n

Of course, I can\u2019t know, really know, how it feels because I have a 3 month visa and a foreign passport.\u00a0 I am clearly and visibly an international and am treated as such. This isn\u2019t my country, no matter how much I love it, and I know every day that in a short time I will go back to the \u201cland of the free\u201d.\u00a0 As for being in \u201cthe home of the brave\u201d, however, I am already there.<\/em><\/p>\n

We were stopped by the Army yesterday as we drove to a village.\u00a0 And we were stopped by the Army today as we drove to a village. And also yesterday, in the Old City of Hebron, we walked past several soldiers, their guns pointed at us as we approached, because they were in the process of detaining a man in that place. We kept a wide berth between the guns and us.<\/em><\/p>\n

When you have guns pointed in your direction, however casually, you are not free. You are not free, for instance, to openly take photographs, although you might try to take one on the sly.<\/em><\/p>\n

When you have guns pointed in your direction, you have to do what you are told. Show your ID. Leave the road. Get out of the car. Go over there. Come with me. Wait here. Answer my questions. The conversations may even seem friendly but the guns send a different message.<\/em><\/p>\n

When you have guns pointed at you, you feel tense, and it\u2019s a little hard at that moment to interpret exactly what is happening.<\/em><\/p>\n

For instance, it\u2019s a confusing experience to be told by a soldier, while other soldiers train their rifles on you, to “be careful because it can be dangerous here”.\u00a0 It\u2019s an interesting experience to be told by a soldier wearing a gun that you can\u2019t go into a place of prayer because you are wearing a peace vest.\u00a0\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 Really?<\/em><\/p>\n

This is living under occupation.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is not the land of the free, but I am already in the home of the brave.\u00a0 In such an environment, continuing to be civil, continuing to be hospitable, continuing to be hopeful, continuing to be loving, continuing to rebuild, this is courage. <\/em><\/p>\n

Today I hope to use my freedoms and to act bravely.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Blessings on your journey,<\/em><\/p>\n

Chris Cowan<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the mix of the muddle over the Palestinians’ UN statehood bid, something often gets lost.\u00a0 The US – and others – are\u00a0adamant that the only way to Palestinian statehood is negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, probably brokered by the US.\u00a0 But this is not\u00a0negotiation between two equal parties.\u00a0 One is the occupier and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8040,1400],"tags":[44,8083,8073,45,8079],"class_list":["post-584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analysis","category-post","tag-hebron","tag-occupation","tag-palestinian-statehood","tag-settlements","tag-un-statehood"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUS Accompanier Chris Cowan: This is Living Under Occupation - SUMUD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Accompanier Chris Cowan: This is Living Under Occupation - SUMUD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the mix of the muddle over the Palestinians’ UN statehood bid, something often gets lost.\u00a0 The US – and others – are\u00a0adamant that the only way to Palestinian statehood is negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, probably brokered by the US.\u00a0 But this is not\u00a0negotiation between two equal parties.\u00a0 One is the occupier and […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SUMUD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-10T19:13:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-10-11T13:04:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Julie Brenton Rowe\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Julie Brenton Rowe\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/elcasumud\\\/us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/elcasumud\\\/us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Julie Brenton Rowe\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/elcasumud\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c63a50f7d6d52baea655bdeec4de4b61\"},\"headline\":\"US Accompanier Chris Cowan: This is Living Under Occupation\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-10T19:13:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-10-11T13:04:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/elcasumud\\\/us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":723,\"keywords\":[\"hebron\",\"occupation\",\"palestinian statehood\",\"settlements\",\"un statehood\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Analysis\",\"Keeping Faith\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/elcasumud\\\/us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/elcasumud\\\/us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation\\\/\",\"name\":\"US Accompanier Chris Cowan: This is Living Under Occupation - SUMUD\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/elcasumud\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-10T19:13:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-10-11T13:04:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/elcasumud\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c63a50f7d6d52baea655bdeec4de4b61\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/elcasumud\\\/us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/elcasumud\\\/us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/elcasumud\\\/us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/elcasumud\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"US Accompanier Chris Cowan: This is Living Under Occupation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/elcasumud\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/elcasumud\\\/\",\"name\":\"SUMUD\",\"description\":\"Articles, stories, photos and video about keeping faith in the Holy Land and creating a peaceful, just environment where all humans can flourish.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/elcasumud\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/elcasumud\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c63a50f7d6d52baea655bdeec4de4b61\",\"name\":\"Julie Brenton Rowe\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d89f4e88907ea207990de392b29f7bd28fce44ff2a7dafbe5866f94d17681c0c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d89f4e88907ea207990de392b29f7bd28fce44ff2a7dafbe5866f94d17681c0c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d89f4e88907ea207990de392b29f7bd28fce44ff2a7dafbe5866f94d17681c0c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Julie Brenton Rowe\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/elcasumud\\\/author\\\/julie\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"US Accompanier Chris Cowan: This is Living Under Occupation - SUMUD","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"US Accompanier Chris Cowan: This is Living Under Occupation - SUMUD","og_description":"In the mix of the muddle over the Palestinians’ UN statehood bid, something often gets lost.\u00a0 The US – and others – are\u00a0adamant that the only way to Palestinian statehood is negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, probably brokered by the US.\u00a0 But this is not\u00a0negotiation between two equal parties.\u00a0 One is the occupier and […]","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation\/","og_site_name":"SUMUD","article_published_time":"2011-10-10T19:13:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-10-11T13:04:33+00:00","author":"Julie Brenton Rowe","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Julie Brenton Rowe","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation\/"},"author":{"name":"Julie Brenton Rowe","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/#\/schema\/person\/c63a50f7d6d52baea655bdeec4de4b61"},"headline":"US Accompanier Chris Cowan: This is Living Under Occupation","datePublished":"2011-10-10T19:13:40+00:00","dateModified":"2011-10-11T13:04:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation\/"},"wordCount":723,"keywords":["hebron","occupation","palestinian statehood","settlements","un statehood"],"articleSection":["Analysis","Keeping Faith"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation\/","name":"US Accompanier Chris Cowan: This is Living Under Occupation - SUMUD","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-10-10T19:13:40+00:00","dateModified":"2011-10-11T13:04:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/#\/schema\/person\/c63a50f7d6d52baea655bdeec4de4b61"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/us-accompanier-chris-cowan-this-is-living-under-occupation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"US Accompanier Chris Cowan: This is Living Under Occupation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/","name":"SUMUD","description":"Articles, stories, photos and video about keeping faith in the Holy Land and creating a peaceful, just environment where all humans can flourish.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/#\/schema\/person\/c63a50f7d6d52baea655bdeec4de4b61","name":"Julie Brenton Rowe","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d89f4e88907ea207990de392b29f7bd28fce44ff2a7dafbe5866f94d17681c0c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d89f4e88907ea207990de392b29f7bd28fce44ff2a7dafbe5866f94d17681c0c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d89f4e88907ea207990de392b29f7bd28fce44ff2a7dafbe5866f94d17681c0c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Julie Brenton Rowe"},"url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/author\/julie\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":592,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584\/revisions\/592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}