“How was your trip?”
I’ve been asked that question over a hundred times since
returning from the holy lands of Palestine and Israel. It is hard to describe
any travel or vacation, because words sometimes fail us. They fail to describe the
aromas of Dead Sea mud and the tastes of za’atar and the ringing sounds of the
Muslim call to prayer. They fail to illustrate the emotion that comes with
encountering new beauty or new culture.
So for this blog, instead of trying to cover all seventeen
days with generalized experiences, I’m going small scale. Out of the 24,480 total
minutes of our trip, I want to narrate an experience from a place we stayed for
fifteen minutes total. Here was a view facing east from the Mount of Olives
(the Old City of Jerusalem would be directly behind you):
Since you, devoted blog reader, do not have the luxury of a
local guide talking into an earpiece as you look at this view, I will attempt
to narrate!
This is a view of East Jerusalem. All of the land in front
of you is East Jerusalem, up until the wall that can be seen going across the
far back of the photo. Beyond that wall is the West Bank, also known as
Palestine. The name comes from this being the land on the west bank of the
Jordan River. Palestinians consider all of this land to be the West Bank and
therefore belonging to Palestine; Israelis consider East Jerusalem to be a
separate, annexed area outside of the West Bank.
Starting from the left, you will see an Israeli settlement.
These have been named as illegal by the UN because they are a violation of
international law; the land belongs to Palestine, but Israelis live there in a
compound protected by military forces. Israel has the power to overtake these
lands because their military (heavily funded by the United States) occupies the
West Bank.
What does the word “occupies” mean? It means that at any checkpoint between the West Bank and Israel, Israeli Defense Force soldiers stand guard. These are typically young Israelis between ages 18-22 (males are required to serve for four years, and females for three). All soldiers are armed with large weapons. This is a source of intimidation and harassment for Palestinians. The occupation also means that Palestinians cannot leave the West Bank. All are assigned ID cards, and Palestinian cars have a white/green license plate (Israelis have yellow). Israelis may drive into the West Bank as they wish. The occupation also means that large areas of rural farmland within the West Bank are controlled by the Israelis. The irrigation for this farmland uses a great deal of water. Meanwhile, Palestinians living inside the West Bank only receive running tap water once per week in the summer. All West Bank homes have black containers on the roof so that when the water is running, they may collect it for the rest of the week.
What does the word “occupies” mean? It means that at any checkpoint between the West Bank and Israel, Israeli Defense Force soldiers stand guard. These are typically young Israelis between ages 18-22 (males are required to serve for four years, and females for three). All soldiers are armed with large weapons. This is a source of intimidation and harassment for Palestinians. The occupation also means that Palestinians cannot leave the West Bank. All are assigned ID cards, and Palestinian cars have a white/green license plate (Israelis have yellow). Israelis may drive into the West Bank as they wish. The occupation also means that large areas of rural farmland within the West Bank are controlled by the Israelis. The irrigation for this farmland uses a great deal of water. Meanwhile, Palestinians living inside the West Bank only receive running tap water once per week in the summer. All West Bank homes have black containers on the roof so that when the water is running, they may collect it for the rest of the week.
For a helpful view of just how much land within the West
Bank belongs to Israel, watch this two minute video (and keep in mind that
settlement expansion has continued since 2008, and is currently booming. Obama
did little to assist the Palestinians, donating billions to Israel – including a
record $38,000,000,000 in military aid just this past September. Trump’s ambassador pick to Israel is
extremely pro-Zionist, meaning pro-settlement expansion) (also sorry for the
dramatic “DO YOU???!!!” at the end): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ewF7AXn3dg
Okay, back to the left of the photo…
Settlements are
easily recognized because the construction is modern and typically highly
symmetrical. Imagine highly manicured lawns in the middle of arid desert. They
tend to be upscale areas. Again, the cost to build all this new construction
and walls around the homes is certainly less of a challenge because of the
great amount of the money pouring in from the United States every year.
There are currently an estimated 130 settlements – many are
functioning cities – and the total Israeli population within these is above
400,000. Not included in this number are the 200,000 Israelis who live in East
Jerusalem. This area of the city was annexed by Israel in 1967, but it was
totally a Palestinian-owned area before that year. The settlement in this picture
is an example of these East Jerusalem settlements.
To the right of the settlement, you will see some
high towers beyond the wall. Here is a closer look –
These are living units for Palestinian refugees. We were
informed that these were built without any construction inspection and will not
survive a major earthquake, which are fairly common in Israel/Palestine.
Across the entire middle of the photo you will see a wall.
Israel built this structure, which they call a security fence, around the
entire West Bank. That is a deceiving statement, however, because the wall is
twice as long as the actual border between Israel and the West Bank. Often the
wall curves and dips into Palestine at places where the Israelis wanted to
isolate Palestinian cities or reach natural water resources to claim on their
side of the structure. The city of Bethlehem, for example, feels much like a
prison because the wall surrounds multiple sides of the city, and settlements
(communities surrounded by their own separate walls) are on the other borders
of the city. Once inside Bethlehem, it is easy to feel surrounded by walls on
all sides. The wall is nine meters (29.5 feet) high and topped with barbed wire. The cost
of the wall is estimated to be between $2-4 billion dollars. It is not yet
finished. The Palestinians call this the apartheid wall or annexation wall or
colonization wall.
The actual borders between Israel and the West Bank are meant to follow the 1949 “green line” or armistice line. In reality, the wall is built by Israel where Israel wants. To see a map illustrating the green line compared the actual wall route, go here: http://www.btselem.org/download/separation_barrier_map_eng.pdf. The map also shows how much land within the West Bank is controlled by Israel (Palestinian-controlled land is in tan, Israeli land in blue).
The actual borders between Israel and the West Bank are meant to follow the 1949 “green line” or armistice line. In reality, the wall is built by Israel where Israel wants. To see a map illustrating the green line compared the actual wall route, go here: http://www.btselem.org/download/separation_barrier_map_eng.pdf. The map also shows how much land within the West Bank is controlled by Israel (Palestinian-controlled land is in tan, Israeli land in blue).
On the far right of the photo is a Palestinian village in
East Jerusalem. This is not easily seen in this photo, but from the view we
could see rubble where houses used to be in this village. Here is another magnified shot of the panoramic:
We were informed that Israel has standing orders on many
Palestinian homes to destroy them whenever they want. Often, if a Palestinian
is arrested for an act of violence or protest, Israel will respond by
destroying the home of his/her family in addition to the punishment for the
individual.
“So how was your trip?”
Well, this was fifteen minutes of seventeen days. It was an
experience of so many superlatives – the deepest freshwater lake in the world,
the lowest city on earth, the lowest point on earth, the location of the oldest
city gate (5,000 years) in the world, the locations where Jesus taught and
healed and rose again. But witnessing views like this makes it impossible to
separate the spiritual pilgrimage from the injustice reality.
This is a conflict between oppressor and oppressed. This is
a conflict between military machinery of tanks and automatic weapons vs ten-year-olds throwing rocks.
We learned during the trip that Jesus lived in areas that
would have surprised many people who were expecting a messiah to come with
great power. He grew up in Nazareth, a tiny town of 400 next to a rising glitzy
metropolis called Sepphoris build by Herod Antipas. When he moved to Galilee, he
made his home in Capernaum, known for being the Vegas of Galilee, with a Roman legion,
prostitutes, working class folks, and for the record, Peter’s mom-in-law. He often visited
Bethany, an area just outside Jerusalem which literally translates as “house of the poor." It was the home
for all the lepers banished from Jerusalem.
This is Jesus' style - to walk with the oppressed, the lost, the searching, the underdogs. He walks with the poor on the other
side of the West Bank “security fence.” He suffers with the
thirsty Palestinians on a hot summer day when the tap is dry. He organizes communities in despair with a message of hope.
And we must also remember this: Emmanuel, God-with-us, always means that God is also with “them,” no matter how
we draw the boundaries or who we favor. God is at work promoting peace on both sides of the wall.
There's a new cry for a wall in my own country - a new "security fence" that has intentions of intimidation and oppression. How many examples will we need before we stop building more walls? Was Berlin not enough? Is the West Bank not enough?
There's a new cry for a wall in my own country - a new "security fence" that has intentions of intimidation and oppression. How many examples will we need before we stop building more walls? Was Berlin not enough? Is the West Bank not enough?
Walls fail. Love wins.
