Israel celebrated Jerusalem Day on Sunday, which commemorates the “unification” of Jerusalem after the 1967 war.  An editorial in Haaretz, called the Lies of Jerusalem, argues that Jerusalem is anything but united:

The wall that divides statements such as “We come with a united government to a united Jerusalem,” which was issued on Sunday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, from the facts on the ground, is growing ever higher.

The article cites  a report released by the Association for Civil Right in Israel (ACRI) that outlines the economic and practical disintegration of East Jerusalem due to the discriminatory policies and neglect of the Israeli state authorities and the Jerusalem Municipality.  There is also a short film that details these conditions: 

httpv://youtu.be/Wgo2XI6CfPw

These policies, according to the report, have resulted in an unprecedented deterioration in the state of 360,882 Palestinians in Jerusalem: 78% of the total Palestinian population in the Jerusalem District live below the poverty line, including 84% of the children, according to the Israeli National Insurance Institute.  

See more statistics about life for East Jerusalemites.  |  Read more  about the background issues of Jerusalem.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently announced that she would override the decision by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, to continue to hold part of the $147 million congress appropriated to the Palestinians last year.  Ros-Lehtinen recently agreed to release her hold on part of the funds – $88 million – with some restrictions:  Ros-Lehtinen stipulated that the money not be used for assistance in Gaza or for road construction projects in the West Bank, except if directly related to security.  She also denied use for trade facilitation, tourism promotion, scholarships for Palestinian students and other aid for Palestinian Authority agencies and ministries. 

According to an unnamed State Department official, “the funds deliver ‘critical support to the Palestinian people and those leaders seeking to combat extremism within their society and build a more stable future. Without funding, our programs risk cancellation,’ the official, who was not authorized to speak about the issue, said in an e-mail. ‘Such an occurrence would undermine the progress that has been made in recent years in building Palestinian institutions and improving stability, security, and economic prospects, which benefits Israelis and Palestinians alike,’ the official said.

The move drew criticism from some, who said it was an abuse of executive branch power, and praise from others who said that one or two people should not be able to inhibit the will of a congressional vote.

Israel decided Monday, March 26, to sever all contact with the United Nations human rights council and with its chief commissioner Navi Pillay, after the international body decided to establish an international investigative committee on the West Bank settlements.

The Foreign Ministry ordered Israel’s ambassador to Geneva to cut off contact immediately, instructing him to ignore phone calls from the commissioner, a senior Israeli official said.  They also decided that they will not permit any officials related to this initiative into the country.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called the move “diplomatic terror,” and Israel was reportedly considering sanctions against the Palestinians for supporting it.  Read more   

It is interesting that these events happened just after a report by the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem released a bleak report on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, stating that the largest human rights violations are precisely because of the settlements: The report states:

The picture is harsh – not because of dramatic events or a sudden deterioration, but precisely because of the routine. This year, we enter the 45th year since Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip. What was supposed to be a temporary situation appears firmly entrenched with no change in sight.

In the West Bank, two and a half million Palestinians live under Israeli military occupation while settlers live in enclaves of Israeli law within the same territory. Individual acts of violence by extremist settlers periodically capture the headlines, and discriminatory and inadequate law enforcement is indeed a concern. However, the major human rights violations result from the settlements: their extensive exploitation of land and water, the massive military presence to protect them, the road network paved to serve them and the invasive route of the Separation Barrier, which was largely dictated by the settlements. Israeli civilians living in the West Bank are also subject to violence. This year, five members of the Fogel family were shot and stabbed to death in their home in the Itamar settlement, and a father and his infant son were killed when their car crashed after rocks were thrown by Palestinians.

Synopsis – Advocacy for a just peace for Israel and Palestine has focused largely on long-term solutions, even while daily life for Palestinians has deteriorated and inequalities have multiplied. While not ignoring the need for a permanent solution, including an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and the cessation of violence by all parties, much could be accomplished by addressing current inequities even if political progress on long-term solutions remains limited or virtually non-existent.

This position paper is intended to inform ELCA members and congregations of possible approaches to current realities in the Israeli-Palestinian situation.

Graffiti from the Separation Wall near Bethlehem on Palestinian land.

Inequities lead to lack of resources and denial of freedom for Palestinians

Inequities throughout the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel proper deprive many Palestinians of basic resources and fundamental freedoms.

In the occupied territories, Palestinian homes and other buildings have been demolished at an alarming rate to make room for Israeli settlers. West Bank residential demolitions in 2011 caused 1,100 Palestinians to be forcibly displaced from their homes, an increase of over 80% from the number of people displaced in 2010. In addition, over 4,200 people were affected by the demolition of “livelihood structures.” Elaborating on these statistics, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs notes, “These demolitions occur in the context of an inadequate and discriminatory planning regime that restricts Palestinian development, while providing preferential treatment to Israeli settlements” (1).  Meanwhile, Israeli settlements in the West Bank continue to expand. Peace Now reported a 20% rise in settlement construction starts for 2011 with East Jerusalem seeing a 10-year high for settlement plans (2).

In the West Bank, separate roads for Israelis and Palestinians, check points and roadblocks that impede Palestinian travel while facilitating that of Israelis (3), and separate legal systems – civil law for Israelis and military law for Palestinians – make normal life for Palestinians impossible.

East Jerusalem is home to about 270,000 Palestinians. In addition, around 200,000 Israelis live in ever-expanding East Jerusalem settlements. Palestinian homes are demolished, residents are evicted to make room for Jewish settlers, and land is threatened with confiscation for projects such as public parks. A permit regime keeps Palestinians from moving freely in and out of the city. The separation barrier erected by the State of Israel mostly in Palestinian territory restricts entry to Jerusalem for West Bank Palestinians while Israeli settlers can come and go freely.

Land inequities lead to unequal distribution of other natural resources, water in particular. About 80% of the water from the West Bank mountain aquifer, which Israel controls, goes to Israelis – including settlers – leaving only 20% for Palestinians (4).  Israelis consume four times more water than Palestinians in the occupied territories, 300 liters/day compared to 70 liters/day, according to a report by Amnesty International (5).

Palestinians in the West Bank suffer these and other daily indignities and deprivations. At the same time, Palestinians elsewhere face additional discriminatory policies. In Gaza, Palestinians live with inadequate infrastructure, high unemployment, and impediments to movement and access due to the Israeli blockade which imposes restrictions beyond those needed for Israeli security. Palestinian refugees throughout Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Gaza and the West Bank are not allowed to return to their homes while Jews from anywhere in the world are free to immigrate to Israel. And within Israel, Palestinian citizens struggle under an unequal system which, for example, can prevent a spouse from the West Bank from joining his or her partner living in Israel.

Addressing current inequities through advocacy focused on equality

Advocacy for a just peace has focused largely on long-term solutions, while daily life for Palestinians has deteriorated and inequalities have multiplied. While not ignoring the need for a permanent solution, including an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and the cessation of violence by all parties, much could be accomplished by addressing current inequities even if political progress remains limited or virtually non-existent.

Even without a freeze on construction, the harm caused to Palestinians by Israeli settlements could be significantly decreased by a halt to demolitions of Palestinian homes and other buildings. A fair distribution system for water can be implemented prior to a final status agreement. And laws governing East Jerusalem and Israel proper can be configured to treat all persons equally, regardless of ethnicity or religion, without waiting for boundaries and other outstanding issues to be resolved.

Shifting advocacy priorities to address inequalities will create opportunities to make real changes in the short term that will significantly improve daily life.

Areas for immediate attention

While many areas of inequality exist, suggested areas for immediate attention include calling for a halt to demolitions and insisting on equal access to Jerusalem, including equal access to religious sites. The former is particularly urgent given the recent escalation in home demolitions; the latter is of key importance to the economic, political, social and religious life of Palestinians.

Consequences for inaction

Equality can only be instituted by the more powerful party, in this case the Government of Israel. Church-based calls for equality will be strengthened by insistence on consequences for the occupying power if it continues to choose inaction. Specifically, advocates in the United States can employ their citizenship and consumer choices in the service of a just peace. The ELCA’s 2005 Churchwide Strategy for Engagement in Israel and Palestine points out that U.S. foreign aid “helps frame the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians,” and affirms that the ELCA “will seek to expend God-given economic resources in ways that support the quest for a just peace in the Holy Land.” Calls for equality should be accompanied by the message to elected officials that U.S. aid will be contingent on respect for U.S. and international law, both of which support equality. And individuals can vote with their personal expenditures by, for example, exploring ways to avoid purchasing products grown or made in Israeli settlements.

Focusing on present inequalities will help many who are suffering even as a permanent peace remains elusive. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” By the same token, justice in one area can be a catalyst for justice elsewhere. The steps suggested here will benefit both Israelis and Palestinians, along with supporting peace for all in the region. Organized advocacy efforts, calling for equality and creating consequences for continuing inequality, are what is needed to make a real difference now.

1) “The Monthly Humanitarian Monitor,” UN OCHA oPt, December, 2011.
2) Torpedoing the Two State Solution: Summary of 2011 in the Settlements,” Peace Now, January, 2012.
3) “More than 500 internal checkpoints, roadblocks and other physical obstacles impede Palestinian movement inside the West Bank, including access of children to schools; they exist primarily to protect settlers and facilitate their movement, including to and from Israel.” “The Humanitarian Impact of Israeli Settlement Policies,” UN OCHA oPt, January 2012.
4) “Obstacles to Arab-Israeli peace: Water,” Martin Asser, BBC, September 2, 2010.
5) “Troubled Waters: Palestinians denied fair access to water,” Amnesty International, 2009.

Prepared by the staff team of the ELCA Peace Not Walls campaign

Thirty top Muslim, Christian and Jewish faith leaders who form the National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace in the Middle East (NILI) affirmed Thursday, March 1, that the two-state-solution is more important than ever to achieve in the current conflicted context of the Middle East.  Appreciating that “the months ahead, leading up to U.S.national elections, present a special challenge,” they urged “candidates not to use any rhetoric that could make prospects for peace more problematic.   As Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders, we strongly caution candidates to do no harm to chances for a two-state Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.”

More specifically, NILI calls on the Administration, the Congress and candidates for office to support the following steps:

• Address warnings to both sides to prevent violence, and undertake diplomatic efforts, in coordination with the Quartet, to help maintain a durable, effective ceasefire; all attacks on civilians must immediately end;
• Continue to support Palestinian state-building and economic development capacity, including immediately lifting the Congressional hold on humanitarian aid;
• Support Palestinian efforts to form a government capable of representing the West Bank and Gaza on the essential conditions that it agree to halt violence, respect all existing agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and negotiate a two-state peace agreement with Israel;
• UrgeIsraelto halt all settlement expansion, including inEast Jerusalem; and
• Urge a resumption of negotiations for a two-state peace agreement, based on U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242, 338 and 1397, and drawing on elements from the Arab Peace Initiative (2002), the unofficial Israeli Peace Initiative (2011), and the Geneva Accord (2003) which might lead to an agreement acceptable to both sides.

Read press release  |   See full statement

Preventing Incitement and Promoting Peace: Obstacles and Opportunities for Religious Peacemaking in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:  Feb 28, 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm EST (Stay tuned for webcast information)

CRIHL members met with then Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in 2008 to present a united call against violence of all kinds.

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is pleased to host a distinguished delegation from the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land (CRIHL): the consultative body that comprises the most senior official Israeli and Palestinian religious leaders. CRIHL was established as the implementing body of the historic declaration signed in Alexandria, Egypt in 2002 in which Israeli and Palestinian religious leaders pledged to work together to end the violence and promote peace. Since the signing of the Alexandria Declaration, USIP has provided strong support to ongoing efforts to implement the document’s goals.

This event will feature the following speakers:

• Rabbi Shlomo Amar
  Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel
• Canon Trond Bakkevig
  Convener, CRIHL
• Sheikh Yousef Ed’ees
  Chief Judge of the Sharia Courts, Palestinian Authority
• Dr. Mahmoud Habash
  Minister of Religious Affairs, Palestinian Authority
• Rabbi Yona Metzger
  Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel
• His Beatitude Fouad Twal
  Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
• Bishop Dr. Munib Younan
  Head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land
• Dr. Richard Solomon, Introductory Remarks
  President, USIP
• Dr. David Smock, Moderator
  Senior Vice President of the Religion and Peacemaking Center, USIP

While the peace process remains stymied, and all focus is on whether parties will return to talks or not, suffering does not stand still in the Holy Land, especially for those in the occupied Palestinian territories dealing with discrimination and inequities.

A recent report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinians territory (UNOCHA) makes this conclusion: 

Israeli civil law is de facto applied to all settlers and settlements across the occupied West Bank, while Israeli military law is applied to Palestinians, except in East Jerusalem, which was officially annexed to Israel (which hasn’t been recognized under international law). As a result, two separate legal systems and sets of rights are applied by the same authority in the same area, depending on the national origin of the persons, discriminating against Palestinians.

These separate systems are the basis of many inequalities:

Though all are supposed to have access to Jerusalem's holy sites, Muslims are regularly prevented from going to pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Here they pray at the checkpoint instead.

 THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT

ROADS AND PERMIT SYSTEMS:
In the West Bank, normal life for Palestinians is virtually impossible because of separate roads for Israelis and Palestinians; check points and roadblocks that impede Palestinian travel while facilitating that of Israelis[1]; and a bureaucratic permit system that allows Palestinians very limited movement even within the West Bank without a permit.

EAST JERUSALEM
East Jerusalem is home to about 270,000 Palestinians.  In addition, 200,000 Israelis live in ever-expanding East Jerusalem settlements.  Palestinian homes are demolished, residents are evicted, and land is threatened with confiscation for projects such as public parks.  A permit regime keeps Palestinians from moving freely in and out of the city.  The barrier restricts entry to Jerusalem for West Bank Palestinians while Israeli settlers can come and go freely.

THE RIGHT TO SECURE HOUSING
HOME DEMOLITIONS
Palestinian homes and other buildings have been demolished at an alarming rate to make room for settlers. West Bank residential demolitions were up 80% in 2011 over 2010, causing 1,100 Palestinians to be forcibly displaced from their homes with 4,200 more affected by the demolition of “livelihood structures.”

Elaborating on these statistics, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs notes, “These demolitions occur in the context of an inadequate and discriminatory planning regime that restricts Palestinian development, while providing preferential treatment to Israeli settlements.”[2]

SETTLEMENT CONSTRUCTION:
Meanwhile, Israeli settlements in the West Bank continue to expand.  Peace Now reported a 20% rise in settlement construction starts for 2011 with East Jerusalem seeing a 10-year high for settlement plans.[3]

THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE ONE’S OWN FAMILY
In the West Bank and Israel, Israeli laws deny the right of people to choose their own spouse and live with him/her.  Within the West Bank, family reunification permits have been frozen for years, which means a Palestinian with a Jerusalem ID cannot legally live with a West Bank spouse in Jerusalem without special dispensation.  Within Israel, a law was recently upheld which disallows a spouse from the West Bank to live with his or her partner in Israel.

 THE RIGHT TO CONTROL AND BENEFIT FROM ONE’S OWN RESOURCES
Land inequities lead to unequal distribution of other natural resources, water in particular.  80% of the water from the West Bank mountain aquifer, which Israel controls, goes to Israelis – including setters – leaving only 20% for Palestinians.[4]  Israelis consume four times more water than West Bank Palestinians, 300 liters/day compared to 70 liters/day, according to a report by Amnesty International.[5].

The Palestinians are also denied the benefit of other resources that by law should be theirs to control, such as the quarries that Israel operates in theWest Bank that recently were allowed to continue. 

Soldiers check a child's backpack on the way to school.

THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION
In Gaza, high school students are often unable to leave the territory for university opportunities, while their Israeli counterparts in Sderot experience no such limitations.

The shortage of classrooms in Jerusalem for Palestinians is notorious, making for extremely crowded conditions.  Many students are hindered or prohibited from entering their schools on a daily basis by the checkpoint system or the barrier.  In Hebron, school children must be walked to school by international peaceworkers to protect them from settler violence.

THE RIGHT OF PEOPLE TO RETURN HOME
Palestinian refugees are not allowed to return to their homes while Jews from anywhere in the world are free to immigrate to Israel.  Many Palestinians who have passports from other countries have had their residency rights revoked and are being issued entry permits only for the West Bank and have trouble entering Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal emissary Yitzhak Molcho and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat will meet in Amman on Tuesday, hosted by Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.

According to the Haaretz article, Senior Palestinian official, Azzam al-Ahmed, said the the sides were expected to present their positions on security matters and future borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state.

“This is not a negotiating session. The only intention is that both sides present their positions and we hope the Israeli answers will be positive, including stopping settlement activities and agreeing on the 1967 borders as the basis for a two-state solution,” he said.

Meanwhile, this week Israel announced yet more settlement units in the southern Gilo area outside the Green Line between Bethlehem/Beit Jala and Jerusalem.   Read full article.

Pastor Fred and Diaconal Minister Gloria Strickert, ELCA missionaries at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Jerusalem, discuss American church groups that visit the Holy Land who wonder why they haven’t seen the realities on the ground in the US media.  In their most recent blog post, the Strickerts update us on current stories that haven’t made it into the American media. 

“What is it with American news media?” the question was addressed to me by an American tourist this past week.  Visitors often raise similar questions.

“We never hear about these things in the newspapers or on television news.”

“We have seen it with our own eyes.  The wall.  The checkpoints.  The inequalities.  You never hear about this back home.”

“Why is American news so slanted?”

Every week I meet with visitors from the States, who come to hear about the work of the church in Jerusalem.  Usually by the end of the conversation a hand goes up.  “But what about the political situation?” or “This trip has been an eye opener.”   or  “What is it with our American media?’

I don’t attempt to answer the why question.  I’m not an expert on media.  I simply affirm these visitors’ perceptions, relating that my experience with the media over several decades has been much the same.

I encourage them to go online and to try to read a number of sources.  “Multiple perspectives are always good,” I usually tell them.  I always point them to http://www.haaretz.com/ where a person can quickly see that in Israel a healthy debate can occur in a single newspaper, something rare in American sources.

Here are some websites Fred suggests:

http://www.haaretz.com/
www.maannews.net/eng/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
http://jewishpeacenews.blogspot.com/
americans for peace now   http://www.peacenow.org/
Churches for Middle East Peace  http://www.cmep.org/

For more on recent happenings in the Holy Land that haven’t been reported in the US, including US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta telling Israel to “get to the damn (negotiating) table,” read the rest of their blog.

As a YAGM serving at the Dar Al-Kalima School (DAK) in Bethlehem, but living in Beit Sahour, I am privileged with the opportunity of riding the school bus with the kids everyday to and from school (I have to admit that I really do find this as a great privilege since I was “denied” such privilege growing up as a child).  While the kids are pretty fun on the bus, quiet in the morning and crazy loud in the afternoon with lots of singing and sometimes even a impromptu ice-cream stop, it is the morning bus driver that I would like to post about.  To be honest, I don’t even know his name.  He picks me up every morning with one of the biggest grins on his face, we exchange polite sabah ilher’s (good morning) and kif halak’s (how are you) and then start on the morning route to pick up the rest of the kids.  Now, the buses aren’t like buses in America.  1) They aren’t yellow 🙁 and 2) they are the same buses that also run from Beit Sahour to Bethlehem everyday so it is more like DAK rents the bus every morning and afternoon, but when school is not in session the bus drivers are the same bus drivers who drive the other routes throughout town.  The typical bus pick up is at the main village intersection where one would also go to catch a taxi, go to the supermarket, or even buy fresh produce.  As I visit this intersection quite often for one reason or another, without fail every time my morning school bus driver sees me he rushes over to check to see where I am going, what I want, or if I need anything.  Most the time, I am really just buying some veggies, but it is always reassuring when I am trying to catch a taxi that he stops me, asks where I am going, and tells the taxi driver to make sure I get there.  1)He makes sure that I get a fair price on taxis (which sometimes can be hard when you don’t always know what a fair taxi price is and you look like a tourist) and 2) he just makes the whole process a lot more comfortable (as I actually get intimidated trying to get from one place or another).  I don’t always know what he is saying (he doesn’t really speak any English and well, my Arabic is also quite limited), but he continues to put a smile on my face and I know if I ever needed anything I could always run down to the intersection and if he was there he would help me with anything.

I guess I am telling this story, not just to tell you about my bus driver, but to illustrate how friendly people are here in Palestine.  The people you meet here, even briefly, even if you don’t know their names, become those who you can rely on in any situation.  People here go out of their way to say hello to you if you past them in the street or invite you over for coffee even if you met them only briefly going to the market.  I think, or I guess I know, that there are many misconceptions regarding Palestinians, but to be honest I feel safer, more welcomed, and more at peace here, when I am among Palestinians than I did back home.  Despite what might be read in the news or what is going on at the negotiation tables, my morning bus driver, the English teacher at my school, those I work with at the Lajee Center in Aida refugee camp, the taxi driver who tells me about his love for America are the true peacemakers here and I can only pray that others of the region, others of the world, can learn the true meaning of peace from them.

-Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath, YAGM, J/WB 2011-2012