Groups come from all around the world to take part in Easter festivities, while Palestinian Christians say many are not allowed to enter Jerusalem because they are not given permits.

Palestinian Christians say it is ironic that people can come from all over the world to commemorate Holy Week services in Jerusalem while brothers and sisters in Christ 5 or 6 miles away aren’t allowed because they don’t get permits.  They say international law would say that free access to holy places should be free access, without the need for a permit.

Palestinian Christians say Israel issues 2,000 to 3,000 permits each year through churches for pilgrims to enter the city, while Israel claims it issues 20,000. 

Read Pastor Fred Strickert’s Holy Week blog with photos of the Holy Week services this year.

Read an article by Richard Stearns, head of World Vision  

Read Ambassador Oren’s response here

httpv://youtu.be/-PujjHkFjyA

“Joy is one of the pillars of our resilience,” says one Palestinian Christian in Bethlehem celebrating Palm Sunday.  The Israeli government does give churches special permits for their people to go to Jerusalem during these Holy Days, but the permits are limited, and can be cancelled by the soldier at the checkpoint at his or her discretion.  Sometimes, they just close down the checkpoints anyway, dependent upon the mood of the moment.  This despite the fact that freedom of worship and access to holy places is a right under international law. It is so ironic to stand in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and watch the thousands upon thousands of Christians who have come from all over the globe to worship in Jerusalem when you know that fellow Christians living 5 miles away are not allowed the same right.

But these families in this video celebrate Palm Sunday in Bethlehem, and are proud and joyful because of it.  Resilience and resistance come in many forms.

This Holy Week, we invite you to read along day by day with pilgrims who have been in the Holy Land who are blogging a mix of historical, holy occaisions and current day realities.  There is a wealth of ideas, stories, photos, videos and important information about the situation today:

Pastor Loren McGrail, who served as an Ecumenical Accompanier (EA) in the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme for Palestine and Israel (EAPPI),  focuses her writings on Jerusalem at http://agarmentofdestiny.blogspot.com/;  

Pastor Jan Miller, at http://www.alentengeography.blogspot.com/,  links to vital current information about the situation there.

Seminarian Chris Cowan, also a former EA in Hebron, shares detailed information about the recent exponential growth in threatened and actual home/structure/energy facility demolitions, especially in the Southern Hebron Hills area, and talks about the double whammy Palestinians are experiencing from ongling demolitions and expropriation of their land.  Read her posts at http://christiarts.wordpress.com/.

Find other Holy Week resources at www.elca.org/peacenotwalls.

May we all strive and struggle for the things that make for peace with justice, just as we weep for those actions and policies that crucify it.

A lunchtime interview with Dr. Hannan Ashrawi covers the peace process, the viability of a 2-state solution and the Arab spring. 

Dr. Ashrawi is a legislator, activist, and scholar. She served as the official spokeswoman for the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace process during the Madrid peace conference in 1991. In 1996, Dr. Ashrawi was appointed as the Palestinian Authority Minister of Higher Education and Research, but resigned from the post in 1998 in protest against the non-implementation of reform plans in governance and peace talks.

In 1996, Dr. Ashrawi was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council representing Jerusalem, and in 2006 she was reelected on the “Third Way” bloc ticket. In 2009, she was elected member of the Executive Committee of the PLO, making history as the first woman to hold a seat in the highest executive body in Palestine. 

She currently is the executive chair of MIFTAH, the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy.

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.

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).  (more…)

The conversation about who speaks for Palestinian Christians continued this week, as Kairos Palestine responded to Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren’s recent Wall Street Journal op-ed.   In the Kairos response , they said:

As Kairos Palestine, we refuse to be marginalized in the way Oren defines our marginalization; we refuse to be pitted against our Palestinian Muslim neighbours and friends; and we refuse to let our collective oppression be manipulated in a way that fragments us, obscures us, or masks the oppression’s true cause, which is the Israeli occupation.

Kairos Palestine, a group of Palestinian Christian leaders,  issued A Moment of Truth: A Word of Faith, Hope and Love from the Heart of Palestinian Suffering in 2009 from Bethlehem. 

Israeli settlers have taken over 30 Palestinian water springs and are targeting another 26, according to a new report out by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).  The vast majority of these springs, which were used for irrigation and the livelihood of Palestinian farmers, are being developed into tourist attractions.  Israel uses 86% of the water from the Mountain Aquifer, a trans-border resource that by international law should be shared equally.  Lack of access to water is a key, everyday hardship for countless Palestinians.

Read short fact sheet    |   Read how the dispossession happens

Map of Palestinian water springs taken over or targeted by Israeli settlers.

I want to share with you a poetic reflection shared by Aisea Taimani, one of the leaders in the 99 Collective, a young adult led movement of the Church that seeks to practice and struggle for radical hospitality for all people. Aisea was providing some perspective on the Kony 2012 controversy, with a link to this excellent piece on the Sojourners blog, titled “Who’s Telling the Story.” Here is Aisea’s comment:

if you simplify my story…
you miss out on the beauty of its complexity.

if you sensationalize my story…
you miss out on…

me.

 BE QUICK TO LISTEN!
s l o w t o s p e a k.

and if you tell my story,
please tell my version, my narrative, my truth.

when you do, you give meaning to my existence.

The Kony controversy and Aisea’s poetic plea is important for a broad variety of engagements with our complex world. Those of us outside the Middle East who have become involved in efforts to respond to the Israeli-Palestinian situation must take time to reflect on the question of who speaks for whom.

Palestinian boys engaged by the International Day for Sharing Life Stories

This question came to the fore over the past week or so with the Wall Street Journal’s publication of an editorial by Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States. The piece, titled “Israel and the Plight of Mideast Christians,” asserted, in effect, that Muslims are targeting Christians for persecution throughout the Middle East, including in the West Bank and Gaza. The editorial then pivoted to suggest that this Islamic persecution, rather than the policies and practices of the Government of Israel, is the primary cause of Palestinian Christian suffering.

The next week, the Journal published four letters responding to Oren (including one from me). The basic theme of the letters—two of which were from Palestinian Christians—was that Oren had neglected the perspectives of Palestinian Christians themselves. Oren seeks to establish his standing to share Palestinian Christian perspectives by noting his past work as an Israeli government adviser on inter-religious affairs and his encounters with Christians in that role. As the content of the letters attest, however, these experiences in Oren’s past have not led him to communicate in ways that, according to Aisea, “give meaning to” Palestinian Christian existence.

As a representative of the Government of Israel, Oren carries immense power. In his attempts to shape American perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian situation (the Journal regularly publishes his editorials), Oren is assisted by the best researchers and the most sophisticated wordsmiths within the government and an array of organizations committed to defending the prerogatives of his state. These “experts” work assiduously to frame the boundaries of acceptable inquiry, even as they appropriate Palestinian Christian research and perspectives to their own cause (even to the point of ultimately silencing excellent Palestinian Christian studies on their community’s demographics like those found here and here. Oren’s editorial is an exercise of state power against the interests of a population made more vulnerable by that state’s own actions.

While not as obvious as that held by a state ambassador, most of us involved with the Peace Not Walls campaign are tempted to wield power in similar ways. Every time we tell the story of Israelis or Palestinians (or, for that matter, Syrians or Egyptians) most of us are representing another person’s story. And that representation is an exercise of power.

To work toward justice, it is often necessary to tell another person’s story. As Proverbs tells us, those who have power are called to “Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute” (31:8). The three pillars of the Peace Not Walls campaign—Accompaniment, Awareness-building, and Advocacy—each depend on building solidarity and empathy through engagement with human stories. Telling other people’s stories is necessary. The question, though, is HOW those of us who have power choose (and the ability to choose is the essence of power) to tell that story.

Are we telling their story to advance our own agendas? Are we telling the stories to help ourselves feel better about ourselves, so we can distance ourselves from other forms of power? Are we placing our companions (the ones who have asked us to share their stories) at the center of our narrative? Are we doing justice to them and their suffering?

Our news media are filled with examples of those who hold power using other people’s narratives to advance agendas aimed at preserving power. Even if we are not accustomed to acknowledging our power, our efforts to engage in solidarity with persons more vulnerable than ourselves must practice the discipline of being “quick to listen and slow to speak.” And in this we will see glimpses of the New Heavens and the New Earth.

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