2007 Report

Congressional Accompaniment Project (CAP)

The 2007 Congressional Accompaniment Project - CAP - Tour to the Holy Land took place from April 1 to April 10, 2007. Twelve people from five different states participated. All were committed to being active Christian peacemaking advocates with home congregations and members of congress for a more balanced and fair U.S. policy in the Middle East and especially toward the people caught in the Israel-Palestine conflict.

This report contains a brief summary of this year’s CAP experience and then several vignettes taken from that experience which illustrate what we learned from both Israelis and Palestinians on both sides of the conflict.

We had a wonderful, safe, informative and inspiring trip. The people of the area are greatly troubled and the Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and minority populations of Israel (non -western Sephardic Jews and Arab Citizens) are suffering greatly under the oppressive and discriminatory policies of the Israeli government. There is also serious division and a sense of powerlessness within the Palestinian leadership. However, we, as American citizens showing our humanitarian concern by our presence, were graciously and courteously received everywhere, especially among the Palestinians of the West Bank (OPT).

We stayed in Jerusalem, traveled widely in the area surrounding Jerusalem, interviewed about 30 different persons in government, professions, education, students, farmers, business people, and leaders of human rights, religious and humanitarian NGOs (Non-Governments Organizations), Palestinian refugees and Israeli “settlers.”

Nearly everyone, including elected officials of the Palestinian government (Palestinian National Authority) speaks of their commitment to a "two state solution" to the conflict, but the intransigence of government leaders, the inability of the fledgling Palestinian Authority to unify and control its diverse parties, and most importantly the continued violation of past agreements (see Jimmy Carter's last book for evidence) by the Israeli government and its continued physical violation of Palestinian personal and property rights and land confiscations (marks of an expanding colonial power's land grab) prevent any real negotiation and accommodation. In addition the small but virulent extremist groups on both sides (ideological-religious Jewish Settlers and Palestinian fighters) continue to provide excuses for government leaders to accuse the other side of "terrorism."

Following are several vignettes illustrative of our experiences with people across the area:

The Contemporary Way of The Cross (Christine Hill)

In the Old City

We read the inscriptions,

Pause where there is a plaque on the wall

Reminds us that Jesus falls

Under the weight of the cross

Over & over again.

In the refugee camp

We read the writing on the wall;

The stenciled images of the martyrs,

Graffiti, dusty posters,

Calls to action, cries of pain

Over & over again.

(-From “Via Dolorosa” by Jan Such Pickard)

Our first full day in Jerusalem, our CAP group was able to go on a walking tour of the Old City. Part of the tour was spent visiting some of the 14 Stations of the Cross. From early times, Christians have remembered the events of Holy Week, Easter & in particular Good Friday, with special acts of devotion and ceremonies. In Jerusalem, the Via Dolorosa or “Way of the Cross” with its 14 stations is followed daily by individuals and groups of pilgrims.

The Traditional Stations of the Cross

The 1^st Station: Jesus is condemned to die.

2^nd Station: Jesus carries his cross.

3^rd Station: Jesus falls the first time.

4^th Station: Jesus meets his mother.

5^th Station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry his cross.

6^th Station: Veronica wipes Jesus’ face.

7^th Station: Jesus falls the second time.

8^th Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem.

9^th Station: Jesus falls the 3^rd time.

10^th Station: Jesus is stripped.

11^th Station: Jesus is nailed to the cross.

12^th Station: Jesus dies on the cross.

13^th Station: Jesus is taken down from the cross.

14^th Station: Jesus is laid in the tomb & after the 3^rd day is raised from the dead.

As our group traveled throughout Jerusalem and the West Bank, and talked with many people, it became apparent to us that many Palestinians that we saw and spoke with were carrying crosses. We were given a Liturgical Journey Along the Palestinian Via Dolorosa. Sabeel Provided a booklet entitled, “The Contemporary Way of the Cross”. As we traveled by bus past home demolitions, checkpoints, refugee camps and the ever-present “Wall”, we read through some of the liturgy.

The Contemporary Stations of the Cross

The 1^st Station: The Nakba of 1948

2^nd Station: Refugees

3^rd Station: 1967 Invasion & Occupation

4^th Station: Siege & Curfews

5^th Station: Stress & Humiliation

6^th Station: Settlement & Settlers

7^th Station: Home Demolitions

8^th Station: Women Against the Occupation

9^th Station: Checkpoints

10^th Station: Bureaucratic Oppression

11^th Station: Devastation of Gaza

12^th Station: The Wall

13^th Station: The Loss of Jerusalem

14^th Station: What Will the Fourteenth Station Be?

The two particularly moving Stations that we read through together as a group were “Refugees” and “Home Demolitions”. There are over 1 million refugees within the West Bank & Gaza, and over 2 million outside for whom dispossession in 1948 and 1967 are a daily reality. More than 12,000 Palestinian homes have been bulldozed simply because they interfere with settlement expansion or the path of “The Wall,” or as “collective punishment.”

Douglas Dicks: (by Peggy Meyer)

Douglas Dicks is the liaison for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Israel, Palestine, and Jordon region of the Middle East. His work brings him in direct contact with patriarchs and priests as well as elected government officials, human rights groups as well as prominent members of Israeli and Palestinian societies and the common people.

He meets with both Christian and Non-Christian groups visiting the area. He works to give insight into the problems of the Israeli occupied Palestine territory such as illegal seizing of the land; continual harassment by the Israeli Army; building of The Separation Wall that limits the movement of the Palestinians from and within their villages & separates families from families; Jewish-only Settlements built on occupied land and armed settlers, often taking the law into their own hands.

Douglas works together with others in an attempt to provide some understanding into the ministry of peacemaking and reconciliation in the Middle East. He has resided and worked out of Bethlehem and the surrounding areas for 12 years.

Ardi from Efrat Settlement (Darrell Yeaney)

The Efrat Settlement is a Jewish religious colony situated south of Jerusalem & Bethlehem and part of a sprawling and expanding group of Settlements built in the West Bank called the Ezion Block. Ardi, who lives in a lovely home in the large Efrat Settlement, maintained that there are no real Palestinian people as a national group since the land of Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 was ruled by successive empires; first Ottoman then British then Jordanian. The Jews founded the State of Israel, stated Ardi, because “God gave us this land.”

Further, explained Ardi, the “West Bank” is not occupied by Israel. It was captured in the 1967 war from Jordan, which did not have sovereignty, so the West Bank is not “occupied” but rather “disputed territory.” “Israel is a modern day miracle ”God’s promise fulfilled”

Ardi’s solution: “If terrorism was denounced by the Palestinians, there would be a Palestinian state in 6 months.” The peace offer by the Arab states is not acceptable, stated Ardi, since a “right of return” for Palestinian refugees would eliminate Israel. He believes that the Palestinians have equal access to water and travel, though he wasn’t sure about that. However the Jews who want to return Judea and Samaria to the Palestinians (the heart of the Palestinian West Bank) are “not real Jews. They have a problem with their Jewish identity and are not proud of their heritage.”

We left Ardi cordially but astonished at his ignorance of the Palestinian reality. He lives in the midst of Palestinian people and land but has almost no contact with them. He travels into Jerusalem on a “Jewish only” highway that tunnels under Palestinian villages. Palestinians may travel on it only with special permit and rare crossings are often blocked. The Efrat Settlement is a physical paradise in contrast with the poverty of much of the surrounding Palestinian towns and villages. It was built on confiscated Palestinian land but with private money. In contrast, many of the “economic settlers” live in similarly plush homes but subsidized by the Israeli government.

The Israeli Coalition Against House Demolitions (Jeri Rauh)

On 2 April we met with Dr. Jeff Halper, Director of the Israeli Coalition Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and an associate, Angela Goldstein. Mr. Halper explained that currently there are three types of identities for Palestinians: Palestinians living in the West Bank have Palestinian Authority passports; Palestinian Arabs living in Israel hold Israeli citizenship and Palestinians living in East Jerusalem have Jerusalem IDs but no passports. He noted that these categories sometimes could be confusing when Arab/Palestinian/Israeli issues are discussed.

Mr. Halper has been involved in helping to rebuild homes that have been demolished by the Israelis since 1988 when he first witnessed the summary demolition of a Palestinian home. To date 12,000 homes have been similarly demolished. The ICAHD has since expanded its activities to include Israeli settlement expansion issues and the uprooting of fruit and olive trees on Palestinian land. As the Israelis are now calling some settlements “Israeli neighborhoods” rather than “settlements” it is increasingly difficult to know the actual number of settlers involved in expansion activities. It is, however, estimated that nearly a half million settlers now are living on confiscated land in the West Bank. Under the UN Plan of 1947, Israel was to have 55% of the land and Palestinians 45%. After the l967 war, Palestine controlled only 22% of the land. Since then, Palestinian control of their land is now down to 10-12% of the original 1947 figure.

We joined Ms. Goldstein to get a better understanding of settlement expansion and to view the Wall close up. En route to getting a first hand view of the Wall, we made a stop along the road where we examined a large map of future plans for a particular settlement. The settlement construction itself was clearly visible in the near distance. Again, the land is Palestinian and is viewed as Israeli confiscated or appropriated land by the Palestinian authorities. Ms. Goldstein said that in many instances, the Israeli government does not tell future Israeli buyers of property in the settlements that the land is confiscated land. We then had a close up view of the Wall that separates many Palestinian families and communities. Conversely, it apparently has had few, if any, deleterious effects on Israeli settlements or settlers in the area who are provided with “settler-only” highways on which to travel.

Aida Refugee Camp (Jeri Rauh)

On April 4 we visited the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem in the Occupied West Bank. The camp houses some 4,500 Palestinian refugees. More than half are children. We were shown some of the on-going efforts by the Palestinian community to ease the daily trauma of their lives in the camp and in the West Bank. Camp inhabitants are trying to maintain a small library and are proud of the several computers available. They are proud also of their efforts to start a photography project for the children. The camp common room/library is small but it does serve as a much needed and appreciated communal refuge from the continuing, never-ending grind of life in the camp and in a land under occupation.

Outside, we saw young Palestinian boys trying to play soccer in very cramped alleyways, a far cry from the days when they could play directly across from the camp in open fields. But that was before the Israeli Wall cut off access by Palestinians to the open area, just a stone’s throw away on the other side of the wall. Nowhere in the occupied West Bank is the Wall more formidable than in Bethlehem. It goes right through the city, cutting off Palestinian family and friends from each other and from access to Jerusalem only a few miles away. Basically, the only access for non-Israelis from one side of the Wall to the other is through a huge new gateway run by the Israeli Army.

Some of the camp’s windows directly facing the abutting Wall have been boarded up by the Palestinians themselves as camp children were becoming traumatized by the sight of the Wall & from gunfire from Israeli guard towers just a few feet way from where they slept. Every building in Aida Camp has several water tanks on its roof. This is to prepare for shortages as the Israelis completely control all water supplies, rights and access. On the other hand, nowhere on any of the nearby beautifully constructed Israeli settlement buildings is a roof water tank even to be seen. Incidentally, as an example of water control & discrimination, we were told that there are 36 swimming pools in Israeli West Jerusalem versus none at all in Palestinian East Jerusalem, even though both sides pay the same taxes.

On departing Aida Camp we were given warm thanks from the Palestinians for taking the time to visit their community. We came away with the sad knowledge that Bethlehem, indeed, like the rest of the Palestinian West Bank, is a city under siege!

The Jabber Family: (Peggy Meyer)

In the Hebron Hills lives one family of many struggling to survive. A major portion of their land has been illegally taken over by the Israeli Army for an Israeli Settlement . Palestinian homes and farmland are being demolished and homes destroyed almost daily in the Occupied West Bank. Roads are closed, roadblocks and moving check points plus the “Israeli Only” highways limit the transportation of the Jabber family’s, and all other Palestinian farmer’s, produce to market. Thus they cannot sell their produce in a timely fashion. This limits the means of a livelihood for these people. The Jabber Family and others have resorted to selling their produce along the side of the road. They have actually experienced the complete destruction of their home twice by the Israeli Army, as have so many other Palestinians. Each time the Jabbers home was destroyed, they rebuilt knowing the Israeli Army may destroy it again and again. They and their Palestinian neighbors rebuild in spite of the threats and harassments by the Israeli Army and the Settlers because: “It is our land, it has been our land for generations and we will fight to keep it.” Many have the proper papers showing ownership to their land but the Israeli Army tells them that the papers are not legal. It takes a large amount of money and time to hire a proper lawyer, go to an Israeli court, and prove that the papers are legal and that they are indeed the owners. Also, the Settlers have destroyed equipment and supplies needed for the production of the crops without fear of punishment by the Israeli Army. The Settlers and the Israeli Army are watching their every move. During our visit with the Jabber Family, the Israeli Army made an unannounced visit, trespassing on the land to check out who was there and what was going on. Guns were pointed & ready to shoot if necessary. They also made an inspection of our tour bus. When will this Occupation and harassment ever end? Will Peace ever be possible and the Palestinians become free?

At-Tuwani (Pat Minor)

At-Twain is a tiny farming village in the hills south of Hebron. For several years the residents have been harassed by settlers in an Israeli settlement situated on a hilltop between At-Tuwani and other villages. Shepherds have been attacked, sheep poisoned and killed, and village children attending school in Tuwani have been attacked. Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) and Operation Dove, made up of international volunteers, have had a presence in the village for almost three years. After two CPT'ers, who were accompanying schoolchildren, were attacked and beaten by Israeli settlers, the Israeli government stepped in to provide a military escort for the children. There are now twenty-two children walking to school in At-Tuwani, up from a low of three. Even with the presence of international witnesses and the Israeli military, settlers often attack shepherds and children. The day we visited, two children had their bags stolen. The women of the village have formed a cooperative to make and embroider products by hand to sell to visitors. They make bags, dresses, and jewelry, key chains, decorative items and many other objects. Many of us purchased items to take home with us.

Sam Bahour, Entrepreneur (Pat Minor)

Sam Bahour is a Palestinian American who decided to return to Palestine to see how he could help his native country. He has built a chain of grocery stores in the West Bank town of Ramallah. When they opened, he was faced with the dilemma of whether or not to include Israeli products, but concluded that he did not want to run the risk of not having certain products for his customers. As a result, he decided to include products made in Israel proper, but not in the illegal Jewish-only settlements. In addition, he promotes products produced in the Occupied Territories. I remember most that Sam Bahour talked about the condition of "slow simmer”; a figure of speech that he used to describe conditions under the Israeli Occupation. People are getting so used to the deplorable conditions of Occupation that when even a small thing improves, everyone marvels. And, when things get worse, they just accept it as normal under occupation.

One example Sam & other Palestinians experience who carry foreign passports is the Israeli government’s requirement that they must leave the OPT to renew their Israeli travel visa every three months. It is also almost impossible for Palestinians married to foreigners to bring their spouses to live with them. Israel controls all the borders and nearly every aspect of their lives. As a result many are forced to leave permanently and it is experienced by Palestinians as a form of gradual ethnic cleansing.

Greg Khalil (Pat Minor)

Greg Khalil is also a Palestinian American who returned to Palestine. He is a consulting negotiator for the Palestinian National Authority. He gave us a succinct overview of the situation in the Occupied Palestine Territories (OPT). I was very much impressed with Khalil and glad that he is one of the negotiators. It seems to me that he understands both U.S. culture and the Palestinian culture well enough to be a good liaison between them. He appealed to us to inform the members of the U.S. Congress about the realities of which they know so little.

Shafa’ut Palestinian Refugee Camp (on Good Friday) (Christine Hill)

Good Friday in Arabic is “al-jom’ah al-azeimah” translated “Sad Friday.” That term fit well the CAP Tour experience at Shafa’ut.

Shafa’ut is a 15-minute drive from our hotel in Jerusalem. It is the closest Palestinian refugee Camp to Jerusalem. After the Israeli Occupation of 1967, Shafa’ut was the only refugee camp included within the borders of the Municipality of Jerusalem. The official number of the camp’s refugees is about 10,000, but the actual number of residents is over 15,000. It is a ghetto with only one entrance/exit – through an Israeli military checkpoint.

Several months ago, a Palestinian woman from Shafa’ut had to give birth at the checkpoint because the Israeli guards would not let her pass to the hospital. Who can pass and when is left to the arbitrary decision of the Israeli guards.

Garbage rots on the streets and in empty lots where homes have been demolished by the Israeli army. Even though the residents of Shafa’ut pay taxes to the Municipality of Jerusalem, they receive very few municipal services – including garbage pick-up. Shafa’ut residents told us that they pay twice as much taxes as they did when they lived with the Old City of Jerusalem. Their homes there were destroyed to build the new plaza in front of the “Western Wall” where observant Jews go to pray. The former homeowners were forced to move to the crowded refugee camp.

During Holy week, as d during many other times, the Shafa’ut residents are not allowed into Jerusalem to pray at the Mosque which is above the Western Wall. An elderly man named Rahim shouted his frustration, “I am an old man. I just want to go pray. Why can’t I go pray? What am I, a terrorist!!? Rahim has family in the United States, but if he leaves to visit them, the Israeli government will not allowed him to return to his homeland.

A week prior to our visit, a number of families received demolition orders for their homes. One of the large apartment building to be demolished houses 150 families, some with more than 10 members. The so-called “Apartheid Wall” is being built on the opposite hillside and the Palestinian refugee homes are deemed too close, so they will be destroyed. The Israeli government will bill the residents for the cost of demolishing their own homes.

While at the Shafa’ut refugee camp, we also visited the local school. The school had the “Wall” - 25’ high - running right through its playground. . Across the valley from the school & Wall is the Jewish settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev. Beautiful gardens, pools, green terraces and playgrounds can be seen from the dusty schoolyard.

The most heart-wrenching part of our visit to Shafa'ut was the story of Bassam Aarmin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al-Quds for Democracy and Dialogue. AFDD is a Palestinian peace advocacy group. Bassam and several others from the camp are also members of Combatants for Peace (www.combatantsforpeace.org).

On January 16, 2007, Bassam’s 11 year old daughter was walking to the store across the street from the school with her little sister and a friend, They were going to buy a piece of candy from the store on the corner. A military jeep with 3 Israeli soldiers drove by and fired shots. Nothing was happening on the street -–no uprising, no protesting—just 3 young girls walking from their school to buy candy. Bassam’s daughter was hit in the back of the head with a bullet. She died there in front of her school.

Her name was Abeir Araameen. She was 11 years old. Abeir means “the smell of spring.” Over 815 Palestinian children have been killed because of this Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 2000 alone. Israeli children have been killed too. But this story of a Palestinian child killed by an Israeli bullet is one we usually do not hear in America.

Daher’s Vineyard – Tent of Nations (Sue Yeaney)

As we climbed up the stony path to the peak of a hillside southwest of Bethlehem, which had a spectacular view from the Jordon to the Mediterranean Sea, we were introduced to Daher’s Vineyard, the Tent of Nations. In 1916 Daher Nassar purchased 100 acres of land and since that time, many family members have worked the land by day, and slept in caves by night. The land has produced olives, grapes, pomegranates, almonds, etc. Their abundance was shared, according to Leviticus 19:9-10, with fellow citizens, sojourners and the poor alike.

In 1991, the Israeli government declared the whole area, including the Nassar’s portion, as Israeli state property. Since the Nassar family has all the original land papers from the Ottoman period through the times of British, Jordanian, and Israeli governance, the Nassar family challenged Israeli’s declaration and the case was brought to the Israeli court and has been “in process” in their court system for 14 years. The property is surrounded by a number of Jewish-only settlements and is a continuing target of settler harassment and settlement expansion.

Instead of fighting or giving up, the Nassar family had a vision that seeks to build bridges of understand, reconciliation, and peace on a broad base. Today projects, for local and international people bring youth of various cultures together. People come to plant trees as a sign of hope. Youth exchanges; work and study camps (there is a camp area which will accommodate 80 campers); vocational training; women’s computer classes and other human activities take place there. There are meeting rooms, caves, hiking trails, an outdoor theater, food kitchen and many other buildings all of which have had to be built without permits that cannot be obtained from the Israelis and so are subject to demolition.

We enjoyed a wonderful lunch and afternoon of discovery with people who are on a journey to keep this land peaceful and who invite us to join them on their journey of peace and reconciliation.

Three Israeli Human Rights Organizations

B’tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (Sue Yeaney)

“B'tselem" was founded in 1989 by a group of lawyers, authors, academics, journalists, and Members of Knesset. B”Tselem documents human rights abuses in the Occupied Territories and brings them to the attention of policymakers and the general public. Its data are based on independent fieldwork and research, official sources, the media, and data from Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations.”

Extensive reports are written on their findings, which gave us a wealth of information to bring home. Several examples of their research that the Staff shared with us were: The “Forbidden Roads Regime:” roads that have been built within the West Bank and have taken land from the Palestinians who are not allowed to travel on them. The Israeli reasoning for this is “security:” “Not All It Seems – Preventing Palestinians Access to Their Lands West of the Separation Barrier (Wall) in the Tulkarm-Qalqiliya Area” – this results in human rights violations and breaches of international law causing great suffering; and “Through No Fault of Their Own – Punitive House Demolitions during the al-Aqsa Intifada” – since the beginning of the al-Aqsa intifada, the IDF has demolished 628 housing units, home to 3,983 person – on average 12 innocent people lost their home for every person suspected of participation in attacks against Israelis. This too, is justified under the label of “security.”

“Breaking the Silence” (Sue Yeaney)

a group of discharged soldiers who are veterans of fighting the second Intifada, which broke out in September 2000. The group was formed in 2004 to reveal to the Israeli public the daily routine of life in the Territories, a routine that gets no coverage in the media. By doing so, an alternative source of information about the military actions in Israel’s back yard has been made available to the general public.

The main goal of “Breaking The Silence” is “to expose the true reality in the territories and as a consequence to promote a public debate on the moral price paid by Israeli society as a whole due to the reality in which young soldiers are facing a civilian population everyday and controlling it.”

Michael, a former infantry lieutenant told us it was also a debate about one country occupying another. The soldiers are speaking out, and have written a collection of testimonies in several booklets. All of the testimonies have included meticulous research and fact checking. One soldier who served in Hebron commented, “You can do anything you want to a Palestinian” These soldiers are educating other young people, providing some healing for themselves and want the Israeli public to understanding what is happening behind the “Wall.” This takes real courage in a society immersed in fear, ignorance and ethnic nationalism.

Rabbis for Human Rights (Darrell Yeaney)

Rabbis for Human rights (RHR) was founded in1988 by Rabbi David Foreman and according to the current leader Arik Ascherman, is the only Rabbinical group in Israel primarily concerned with human rights. “ In the Hebrew Bible, law and justice are synonymous,” said Ascherman, “so human rights is a value of many Jews but not all.” “Most of the support for RHR comes from secular Jews since most religious Jews in Israel have moved to the extreme right.”

But a basic issue in Israel, according to Ascherman, is the misuse of power. “The Talmud teaches the requirement of the minimum use of force” to accomplish a good goal. But in Israel, said Ascherman, “an occupying force is a structural situation of inequality and the misuse of power is endemic. The occupation corrupts automatically.” For example, since appeals to human rights violations have not stopped the government from demolishing Palestinian homes, HRH has taken the municipality of Jerusalem to court in its effort to stop the practice. So far, it has not been successful.

RHR tries to appeal to the conscience of Jews while being sensitive to the Jewish consciousness of their own history of persecution. Ascherman believes that most American Jews identify themselves as people concerned with human rights, but that is less true of Jews in Israel. He himself has been the object of numerous attacks both verbal and physical by fellow Jews for his defense of human rights for Palestinians.

The 12 members of the CAP group all arrived back very tired but safely and without incident. Now our task is to communicate our experience and learning to our friends, congregations and government officials. We hope you will join us in asking your congressional members to take a second look at this important conflict area and detach themselves from the power and influence of the pro-Israeli lobby for the sake of fairness and a new and different U.S. policy based on facts and a commitment to a just peace for all people in the area and for the U.S as well.

Respectfully,

Darrell & Sue Yeaney, Coordinators

Congressional Accompaniment Project Tour (CAP)

suedy2@comcast.net

http://www.middleeastawareness.org

April 30, 2007