WAWA/WeAreWideAwake is my Public Service to America as a muckracker who has journeyed seven times to Israel Palestine since June 2005.
WAWA is dedicated to confronting media and governments that shield the whole
truth.
We who Are Wide
Awake are compelled by the "fierce urgency of Now" [Rev MLK, Jr.] to raise
awareness and promote the human dialogue about many of the crucial issues of our
day: the state of our Union and in protection of democracy, what life is like
under military occupation in Palestine, the Christian EXODUS from the Holy Land,
and spirituality-from a Theologically Liberated Christian Anarchist
POV.
"Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all...and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave...a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils." George Washington's Farewell Address - 1796
"My aim is to agitate & disturb people. I'm not selling bread, I'm selling yeast." Unamuno
"Imagine All the People Sharing All the World." John Lennon
"If enough Christians followed the gospel, they could bring any state to its knees." Father Philip Francis Berrigan
"You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won't back down." Tom Petty
"If I can't dance, it's not my revolution." Emma Goldman
"We have yet to begin to IMAGINE the power and potential of the Internet." Charlie Rose, 2005
Only in Solidarity do "We have it in our power to begin the world again" Tom Paine
"Never doubt that a few, thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
"You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free." John 8:32
DO SOMETHING!
Photo of George shown here and in web site banner courtesy of Debbie Hill, 2000.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that, among these, are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; and, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it. -July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence
June 24, 2009: While all eyes are on Iran, Israel defies President Obama: UPDATED 6 PM EST Yesterday Haaretz reported that Defense Minister Ehud Barak has authorized the building of 300 new homes in the West Bank, defying U.S. calls for a halt to settlement growth.
President Barack Obama has pressed Israel to halt settlement activity as part of a bid to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The new construction is located around 13 kilometers east of the Green Line, on the "Palestinian" side of the separation barrier. According to the Sasson Report, this outpost was built without government approval and without a master plan and damaged private Palestinian property.
The objections submitted by Bimkom (with the Al-Ghaniya village council) say the planned construction is on lands formerly declared "state lands" and the plan apparently is a bid to whitewash the illegal construction of 60 housing units that have already been put up and to allow the construction of another 240 housing units, public buildings and roads.
Half a million Jews live in settlement blocs and smaller outposts built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, all territory captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War. UPDATE: Email from Jewish Voice for Peace Just days after President Obama called for a complete freeze on settlement construction, the Israeli government authorized construction on 300 new homes to be built in an "illegal outpost" in the West Bank. An illegal outpost: that's a settlement that's illegal even according to Israeli law. 60 totally illegal houses, and roads to get to them, have already been built in this outpost. Instead of demolishing it - which is what they should do - the Israeli government is performing a whitewash that will make this whole outpost a "legitimate" settlement.
Yesterday's announcement is a slap in the face to President Obama. As Mitchell Plitnick put it, "Ehud Gives Barack the Finger."
"If Israel is drunk on settlements, the United States has long been its enabler." So wrote Tony Judt in the New York Times. We call on President Obama to stand by his words and not give in to Israel's expansionism. It is the military aid that the U.S. gives Israel every year - some $3 billion - that allows Israel to keep building settlements and roads and to pay for the ever-increasing military power it takes to oppress the Palestinian population.
We want the billions of dollars the U.S. sends to Israel each year to come with Strings Attached. The United States must withhold that aid until Israel agrees to abide by U.S. and international law - and that includes stopping settlement construction. When Israel continues to blatantly flout the law using American money, and does so with total impunity, America's moral standing in the world and democratic principles are severely compromised. And all this at the cost of Palestinian lives and livelihood and Palestinian and Israeli futures. Enabling such disregard for internationally accepted standards only further fuels the conflict and world hostilities.
We were heartened when President Obama announced that Israel must completely halt settlement construction, and we were glad when Jewish leaders - including the largest association of American rabbis, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, stepped out in support of a complete settlement freeze. Now it's time for action.
Please send the following email to President Barack Obama asking him to withhold U.S. aid to Israel until Israel stops all settlement construction and agrees to abide by U.S. and international law and end the occupation of Palestinian Territories. Call on him to back up his words with concrete and meaningful action.
The Israeli government has just announced that it is authorizing new construction of Jewish colonies in the West Bank, thereby undermining American leadership and your call for a complete freeze in construction. Israel's actions are a violation of international law and an explicit provocation that prevents a just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
As a supporter of one of America's largest Jewish peace groups, I write to support your call for a freeze on settlement construction and to ask that the U.S. withhold aid to Israel until Israel agrees to abide by U.S. and international law - and that includes stopping settlement construction. When Israel continues to blatantly flout the law using American money, and does so with total impunity, America's moral standing in the world and democratic principles are severely compromised. And all this at the cost of Palestinian lives and livelihood and Palestinian and Israeli futures. Enabling such disregard for internationally accepted standards only further fuels the conflict and world hostilities.
Please, back up your strong and inspiring words with concrete and meaningful action: withhold American aid to Israel until Israel agrees to abide by U.S. and international law and end the occupation of Palestinian Territories.
Outside the US and Canada? When filling out the form, please scroll to the bottom of the State/Province field and choose 'Other.' Thanks for speaking out! On November 23, 2008 I wrote the following report.
A few weeks ago, I visited Um Kammal again and asked her, what is it that keeps her smiling and without bitterness.
She lifted her hands to the sky and said, "Allah" which is God in Arabic.
Two-time a Refugee and a Tent in Occupied East Jerusalem
[Occupied
East Jerusalem] Less than a five minute walk from my room at the
Ambassador Hotel, Fawziya Khurd and international supporters began
living in a tent, because the Israeli police enforced a court order to
throw her and her spouse, Mohammed out of their home, which they had
been living in since 1956. The day before my last visit, Mrs. Khurd/Um
Kammal [mother of Kammal] became a widow when Mohammad expired
secondary to the stress of home eviction by Israel.
At
3:30 AM on November 9, 2008, Reverend Richard Toll was awakened in his
hotel room in the neighborhood when the Israeli Occupying Forces/IOF
broke down the door of the home of the Al Khurd family. Rev. Toll told
me [during the final day of Sabeel’s 7th Annual Conference: The Nakba: Memory, Reality and Beyond] that he was jarred awake by a woman’s pain filled scream that was indescribable.
The
Al Khurd family have lived in their home in the Sheikh Jarrah
neighborhood since the days when east Jerusalem was under Jordanian
control. The United Nations upon contract with Jordan, allotted them
the land after they became refugees when they were expelled from their
home in west Jerusalem by Zionists during the 1948 war.
Hasib Nashashibi, of the Ensan Center for Democracy and Human Rights-an NGO coalition of Palestinian Muslim and Christians- explained
to me, “When Jordan controlled this land and the UN granted privileges
to the Palestinian refugees including those from west Jerusalem, such
as education, health care, and relief and development; they also
allowed the refugees to give up not all privileges and receive a home
and land deed instead. Jordan never fulfilled their obligation to send
the written documentation that these west Jerusalem refugees are land
owners and not tenants. Now the Israeli’s are trying to make them
refugees for the second time!”
In
2001 a group of settlers broke into the west wing of the Khurd family
home while the couple were at the hospital due to Mr. Khurd's ill
health. Mr. Khurd went back to the hospital suffering from the
emotional stress and physical problems and died the day after his wife welcomed me with a smile
and invited me in to share a meal with the neighbors and many
international supporters.
Family
and neighbors offer Mrs. Khurd sanctuary but the internationals sleep
in the tent every night to maintain a presence on the rented land and
to support the other twenty-seven Palestinian families in the
neighborhood who have received orders from Israel to evacuate their
dwellings-in one home alone 52 people are currently residing.
A
few days ago, three internationals were arrested, interrogated and then
released. They returned to the neighborhood, but were not on site
during my visits.
Background:
Since
East Jerusalem’s occupation by Israel in 1967, the Oriental Jews
Associations and the Knesseth Yisrael Association have been waging a
brutal take over of the Khurds’ home, claiming that the land originally
belonged to Jews.
In 1972, they succeeded to register the land in their name with the Israeli Land registrar.
In 1999, settlers burst into the home and set up an occupation in a wing of the house that
belonged to the couple’s son, Raed.
The Khurd family hired lawyers and have spent a fortune in court battles.
In 2006, the Israeli court finally revoked the claim of ownership by the settlers.
On February 25, 2007 the Israeli Supreme Court issued an order to evict the settlers; but it was never enforced!
The
settlers-most of them are from America- have been stealing homes from
Palestinians in the neighborhoods around the Old City of Jerusalem
which if not challenged and prevented, will pre-empt any future peace
deal with the Palestinians.
The
settlers current desire is to cleanse more than 500 Palestinians from
the neighborhood and build 200 apartheid apartments for Jewish only
colonists.
This hurdle of injustice by the Israeli Government has lit a fire in the international community.
One
of them is Axel Weissenfels, from Austria, a government that allows
their young people to opt out of military service and choose nonviolent
civil service in foreign countries instead.
Axel
informed me, “I have been in occupied east Jerusalem for nine months
now and will probably stay beyond my one year commitment. I am working
for the Society for Austrian Arab Relations in the Old City in the Art
Foundation, doing workshops with the children. We gave the children in
the neighborhood cameras and we will soon display an exhibit of their
work right here on this site. I have slept here the last three nights
on a mattress [on the hard rocky ground].
“America
should know how their tax dollars are being spent [$7-10 Million per
day] which go to continue the military occupation of Palestinians. The
Palestinians are simple and righteous people; they do the correct
things and all they want is to live in peace.
“If
the USA would stop paying all those millions to Israel the occupation
would end and America would have the money for health care and caring
for their poor.” Adnan
Husseini, Governor of east Jerusalem, while on his way out of the tent,
sent this message to America, “We hope that the U.S.A. will focus more
attention to the Israeli Palestinian conflict and help us have peace.
When Palestine receives justice the international community, Israel and
U.S.A. will also have peace. The American people are excellent people
and we wish the New Year will change this situation for the benefit of
everyone. All the best to America and good luck!”
We the people of America do not need luck; we need to wake up and understand that Israel is only a democracy if you are a Jew.
In
Israeli law, all of Jerusalem, including the eastern half of the city,
is considered to be the “indivisible” capital of the Jewish state and
has set up a block against Palestinian negotiators to make a deal on
the division of Jerusalem.
Settlers
are claiming land all over occupied East Jerusalem based on title deeds
that pre-existed 1948, when Israel became a state and began to
ethnically cleanse the land of Palestinians, destroyed 531 Palestinian
villages and 750,000 Palestinians became refugees.
President
George W. Bush became a willing collaborator in this on going injustice
in his infamous 2004 exchange of letters with Ariel Sharon. Bush
affirmed that Israel would not be expected to return to the armistice
lines of 1949. Instead, Bush declared that Israel would be able to hold
on to its “population centers” in the West Bank. This is the empire’s
Orwellian spin to attempt to justify the established settlement blocs;
every one of them are illegal under international law!
Among the failures of Annapolis is the incessant construction of colonies on the land of Palestinians.
Palestinians are denied building permits to build upon their legally owned land.
Ehud
Barak, Defense Minister and leader of the Labor Party, personally
approved hundreds of new apartments for the settlers within the last
few months.
“Michshol Hafrada” is Hebrew for "The Separation Wall" and that translates to Apartheid Wall in Afrikaan.
The
Apartheid Wall has divided Palestinians from Palestinians and has
stolen their aquifers, denies them access to their land, jobs, families
and holy sites and consumes over $1.25 Million USA Tax dollars every
day- a 2006 estimate!
Looking at a map of the so called Holy Land today it is clear to see that Palestine has been divided into enclaves; Bantustans!
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out
And to whom I was likely to give offence.
Something there is that does not love a wall,
That wants it down.-Robert Frost
Over
a quarter of a million Jewish colonists live in East Jerusalem-and
according to international law-all the settlements are illegal as is
the Apartheid Wall.
Jewish
only colonies have been implanted to divide the indigenous Palestinian
neighborhoods throughout occupied territory. Over 100,000 indigenous
Palestinians are trapped by the Apartheid Wall and are tortured at over
600 checkpoints that deny them access to their land, jobs, families and
holy sites.
Evictions
and home demolitions have become the status quo in the so called Holy
Land, for since 1967, over 18,000 dwellings -averaging eleven people
per unit- have been bulldozed by Israeli forces because they interfere
with settlement expansion.
Israel attempts to justify their immoral actions with three distinct categories:
1.
Collective Punishment-homes of suspected terrorists-in reality that is
anyone who opposes the occupation- and the families of suicide/homicide
bombers. These punitive actions amount to 15% of the over 18,000 homes
destroyed since 1967.
2.
Administrative demolitions for lack of building permits- which Israel
refuses to issue-account for 25%. In occupied east Jerusalem one out of
four Palestinian homes have a demolition order.
3. “Security” reasons-the blanket response to all of Israel’s injustices and illegal actions.
Backed
by USA blind allegiance and silent collusion with the Israeli courts
and government, it will take international outrage to unite and change
course, for the Obama Administration is being filled with Zionist Hawks!
I
made my first visit to the Al Kurd family tents on November 19, 2008
and met a few Italians who had come to entertain the oppressed and
nonviolent people of the neighborhood.
Alex
and Francesco, are two clowns from the street theater project called
Charlatani Without Borders. They had arrived in occupied territory two
weeks prior to offer some creative relief from the misery of military
occupation. A chain link fence surrounded the property and there were
two tents at that time.
When
I returned on November 22nd, I learned that the Israeli forces had
bulldozed the chain link fence down and one of the tents that that the
nonviolent internationals had been staying in.
The
site is only a few hundred yards from the Al Khurd’s home in the Sheikh
Jarrah neighborhood and Israeli authorities attempt to justify their
actions by claiming the tents were erected without permission on state
land.
What will it take for the world to say ENOUGH!?!
PS-By June 2009, the Um Kammal Tent has been rebuilt about five times and Internationals continue to occupy it 24/7 as their way to resist the injustice and remind the world what Israel gets away with.
Due to a glitch in the blog-this is a rerun:
People
ask me all the time why I went to occupied Palestine-not just once-but
six times since 2005 and why do I care so much about such a small plot
of real estate.
I
reply, that I went the first time to meet a little boy of Bethlehem who
changed my life and to be the Christian delegate amongst the
Palestinian and Jewish co-founders of the Olive Trees foundation for
Peace [http://www.olivetreesfoundation.org/]
an interfaith non-profit dedicated to raising awareness and funds to
purchase trees to replace those that have been destroyed by The Wall.
But, all my last trips to occupied Palestine were driven by the fierce urgency of now
and a sense of calling; to go-bear witness-and report about the lives
of regular people living under military occupation and to learn about
and support the grass root efforts of Israeli, Palestinian and
International nonviolent activists against the occupation of Palestine.
I
also left hearth and home for occupied Palestine because injustice
anywhere reverberates all over the world and American taxpayers are
culpable in where their money is laid down. Annually, over 3.2 billion
USA tax dollars are sent to Israel to support the now 40+ years of
military occupation of the indigenous peoples of the Holy Land.
It was at an Olive Trees Foundation for Peace meeting, that I met a Catholic woman who showed me a photo first published by the Florida Catholic in 2000; a photo that irrevocably changed my life.
Photographer
Debbie Hill, captured three year old George [it is his photo that
adorns the banner of my website] of Beit Jala, a once peaceful
Christian village a five minute car ride from downtown Bethlehem, the
morning after the Israeli army destroyed his sanctuary.
Israeli
forces had retaliated against a few hopeless militants who had
infiltrated George's neighborhood to snipe across the way into the
illegal settlement/colony of Gilo, about a mile from the top of the
hill not far from George's home. The shrapnel that blew apart the wall of George's bedroom read 'Made in USA ' and was delivered via American made Apache helicopters.
The second I saw George's eyes, in that photo, my heart said "DO SOMETHING!"
What
could I possibly do I wondered, but I did make a copy of the photo, put
it in a frame and placed it upon the altar [a bar high table] in the
upper room of my home. Dozens of times a day, I stop and gaze into the
eyes of that little boy of Bethlehem and wonder what it will take to
end the insane cycle of violence in the Holy Land; which is in
pieces-bantustans.
When
I met George for the first time in June 2005, I vowed to him that the
rest of my life would be dedicated to doing all I could to help bring
about the end of the occupation of Palestine.
Of
course I had no clue as to what I would or could possibly do, or how
much of an 'impossible mission' I had promised a little child of
Bethlehem. But, every morning I wake up and wonder what I can do today
in the pursuit of peace and justice; equal human rights for all, for
that is the only way Israel will ever be secure.
A
month after my first return home from occupied territory, I put up my
website and became a civilian journalist; which is best understood as
one who goes out of their comfort zone to report for the benefit of we
the people, without orders or censorship from editors or paychecks from
conglomerates.
The
first civilian journalist may well have been Rachel Corrie, the
altruistic young American and volunteer with ISM/International
Solidarity movement who was run over and killed by the weight of a
Caterpillar bulldozer in Gaza in 2003, four days before America bombed
Baghdad.
Rachel
and other NONVIOLENT activists had spent hours protesting against the
demolition of the home of a pharmacist with five children in Gaza. The
Corrie family has sought but has yet to receive justice; an open
Congressional investigation and admission of accountability by the
Caterpillar Company which continues to reap profits from manufacturing
products that further the military occupation of Palestine.
On February 7 2003, Rachel wrote:
"…no
amount of reading, attendance at conferences, documentary viewing and
word of mouth could have prepared me for the reality of the situation
here. You just can't imagine it unless you see it - and even then you
are always well aware that your experience of it is not at all the
reality…Nobody in my family has been shot, driving in their car, by a
rocket launcher from a tower at the end of a major street in my
hometown…When I leave for school or work I can be relatively certain
that there will not be a heavily armed soldier waiting…at a checkpoint
with the power to decide whether I can go about my business, and
whether I can get home again when I'm done…I am in Rafah: a city of
about 140,000 people, approximately 60% of whom are refugees - many of
whom are twice or three times refugees. Today, as I walked on top of
the rubble where homes once stood, Egyptian soldiers called to me from
the other side of the border, 'Go! Go!' because a tank was coming. And
then waving and [asking] 'What's your name?'
"Something
disturbing about this friendly curiosity. It reminded me of how much,
to some degree, we are all kids curious about other kids. Egyptian kids
shouting at strange women wandering into the path of tanks. Palestinian
kids shot from the tanks when they peak out from behind walls to see
what's going on. International kids standing in front of tanks with
banners. Israeli kids in the tanks anonymously - occasionally shouting
and also occasionally waving - many forced to be here, many just
aggressive - shooting into the houses as we wander away…There is a
great deal of concern here about the "reoccupation of Gaza". Gaza is
reoccupied every day to various extents but I think the fear is that
the tanks will enter all the streets and remain here instead of
entering some of the streets and then withdrawing after some hours or
days to observe and shoot from the edges of the communities. If people
aren't already thinking about the consequences of this war for the
people of the entire region then I hope you will start."[1]
It
was the events of THAT DAY we call 9/11 topped off by President Bush's
advice a few days later to we the people that we should all go shopping
if we wanted to help, that drove my curiosity to learn "about the
consequences" of USA foreign policy in the Middle East.
Being
a Christian, I also was driven by the need to forgive, love and do good
to my 'enemies' that led me to connect with the interfaith non-profit
OTFFP/Olive Trees Foundation for Peace during the summer of 2003.
I connected with the OTFFP after reading two oped's published in the Orlando Sentinel
written by the Palestinian Muslim and American Jewish Co-Founders of
the OTFFP regarding the need for open dialogue that recognizes,
respects and empathizes with the pain of the other; for when that
happens, anyone of good will, will be moved by compassion to do
something to alleviate the pain of the other.
The
OTFFP organization united American and Israeli Jews, Christians and
Muslims after THAT DAY we call 9/11 to literally extend the olive
branch of peace to all the cousins in Father Abraham's family in Israel
Palestine by providing the funds to purchase fruit bearing trees on
both sides of The Wall. So far, 30,000 have been rooted.
After
a few phone calls and emails to the OTFFP organization, I committed to
attend a Sunday afternoon OTFFP meeting in south Orlando following the
final third of my first year of weekend retreats for students in a two
year formation program for Spiritual Director's.
During
2002-2003, I participated in a central Florida, Episcopal-Methodist
Formation Program for SD/Spiritual Director's/SD's. SD's are not
counselors or therapists, but are centered and prayerful people who
have learned to listen with their hearts to any other speaking of their
struggles with God.
I
knew going into the program that I would NOT be hanging out a shingle
as an SD, I was drawn to be there for the curriculum; studying the
saints and various ways of prayer. That is also when I began to write
creative spiritual literature.
But
on a Sunday afternoon in the summer of 2003, after concluding my final
weekend retreat I attended my first OTFFP meeting and my life was
irrevocably changed, and it began that morning during a guided
meditation.
The
workshop leader instructed my class to close our eyes and breathe deep
and slow as she invited us to enter into a long corridor with many
closed doors; and then, she went silent. Immediately, I imagined myself
skipping, jumping, dancing and running past miles of closed doors as I
headed to the end of that long corridor. I was aware of, but not
interested in any of the closed doors on my right and left. I headed
straight ahead although it was a while before I saw the enormous
cathedral sized double doors at the very end of the hallway. As I
approached the wooden doors they slowly opened into the inner space and
I could see trees and mountains. After crossing the threshold, I
realized I stood upon a mountain top and I could see for miles. There
were people of every color and creed, in diverse dress and all were at
rest and in peaceful harmony under those trees.
When
the workshop leader interrupted my reverie, I did not want to leave
that mountain top. I also had no clue if I had a glimpse of heaven or a
possibility for this world, but as I was on my way to meet some of the
Olive Trees for Peace people I thought that had something to do with my
imaginative meditation.
I
was the first to arrive at Dr. Diab's home for the meeting, and on that
Sunday I was the only Christian in a room filled with American Jews and
Palestinian Muslims. I was in awe of all of them as I prayed, "Jesus
Christ! Will you look at all these Muslims and Jews doing exactly what
you commanded your followers must do; forgive, love and bless ones
enemies. Imagine when all we Christians do it too!"
It
was that fateful day that led me to travel two hours every Tuesday
afternoon for many months in order to listen and write down Dr. Diab's
memoirs, with the intention that it would be for his grandchildren.
But,
being an Irish story teller, dissident and spiritual creative, I had no
control over the six fictional characters that welled up within me and
who began to converse with Dr. Diab during the days that followed our
Tuesday meetings. Not until I completed, KEEP HOPE ALIVE did I even realize that my 'imaginary friends' also represented six different ways to intuit, love and serve God.
KEEP HOPE ALIVE
is also an historical fiction based on the memoirs of a 1948
Palestinian Muslim refugee who became an American citizen with Top
Secret Clearance during the Cold War and founded the non-profit
interfaith Olive Trees Foundation for Peace as a positive response to
THAT DAY we call 9/11.
Because
of my connection to the OTFFP, I journeyed the first time to occupied
territory in June 2005. I wrote down everything I experienced, felt in
my gut and wondered about. I went places I had never imagined existed
and I did things I never thought I would or could; such as leaving
Ramallah for Jerusalem late at night with a driver I did not know and
who only spoke Arabic.
That
morning, I rode along with Dr. Diab and his driver to Ramallah from
Jerusalem, and witnessed the Wall in full frontal, brutal view. On my
left was a thirty foot high wall of concrete; on my right, only rows of
bankrupt businesses.
"Financed
with U.S. aid at a cost of $1.5 million per mile, the Israeli wall
prevents residents from receiving health care and emergency medical
services. In other areas, the barrier separates farmers from their
olive groves which have been their families' sole livelihood for
generations." [Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Page 43, Jan/Feb. 2007]
Dr. Diab and I had an appointment at the Palestinian Authority’s compound, where Arafat is now buried.
We
met with Rafiq Husseini, chief of staff to President Abbas who informed
us, “We have lost more than 1.1 million fruit-bearing trees in
Palestinian territories. Trees are about food, the environment, and
life. Ancient trees have been demolished by tanks, and we thank the
Olive Trees Foundation for Peace for addressing the need to replace
them and rebuild the faith of our people. Palestine has always been
tolerant to people of all religions. The Jews came here out of Spain
along with many Arabs — and then came Zionism. When one wants to take
over another, war happens. President Abbas is a very bad politician; he
does not lie! He is ready to move on from the past. We have quit crying
over our losses; we must move on. Live and let live is the motto of
this administration. We can not carry on a battle; it must stop. Peace
can only happen with peace, not force. President Abbas has promised,
‘We will do whatever it takes to show the world we want peace.’ We need
America to help us. The best thing would be for Americans to come and
see the truth of the situation for themselves. I encourage Americans to
come and see the Wall; it has nothing to do with security, but
everything to do with grabbing water and more land. When Americans
understand the real situation, things will change for the better. The
humiliation at the checkpoints is beyond belief. It can drive anyone to
desperation. We condemn all terrorism, but resisting occupation is
necessary.”
After
that meeting, Dr. Diab set off for his home village in the Galilee and
I explored Ramallah with a friend who was born and lives there. Just
before midnight, my friend walked me through the checkpoint to where
the cabs waited. I cringed when I saw the watchtower’s small window lit
up, and I considered how easy it would be to be shot at and never see
it coming. The ground was rocky, uneven, and littered with debris and
the only light was from the moon.
My
friend bargained with a cabbie in Arabic and I marveled that I, who
hated to fly before 9/11 and with absolutely no sense of direction at
all, who only speaks and understands English, was traveling alone
through occupied territory without any fear at all.
After
two weeks of traveling through Israel Palestine with ten other
Americans connected with the OTFFP, I remained alone in Jerusalem for
the following three days and once again, my life was irrevocably
changed.
On
the third Tuesday in June of 2005- six days before I returned to the
USA- after an excruciatingly painful day in Hebron, I crossed paths
with Vanunu for the first time.
In
April 2005, two months before my first trip to Jerusalem, I turned the
TV on that had last been tuned onto the History channel. They were
broadcasting a show called, "Sexpionage" all about Russian female spies
and one from the Mossad.
The
very first clip that ran before my eyes was of Vanunu being transported
to his closed door trial depicting his inspired move to write upon his
palm: "HIJACKED" and the Rome flight number he had been on. That was
followed by a clip of Shimon Perez in 1986 stating that Israel would
never be the first in the Mid East to possess nuclear weapons.
Then,
a black and white photo of a bearded, unkempt and disheveled Vanunu
filled the TV screen and I thought his eyes looked just like George's
of Beit Jala's, and again, I heard in my heart:
"Do Something!"
I
did email Vanunu after that show to thank him for what he had done in
1986 and to let him know that I and nine other Americans would be in
his territory in two months and we would like to take him to dinner or
lunch. But, just days before that trip, a Palestinian American warned
me not to contact Vanunu as Israel had denied him the right to speak to
not just foreign media but also ordered him to not speak to any
foreigners at all.
Only
because a friend from Ramallah happened to be in Jerusalem on the third
Tuesday in June 2005, and invited me out to dinner, did I venture out
again. I had no hunger for food after my day in Hebron but as we walked
towards the Old City and neared St. Georges Cathedral where Vanunu had
been living, I asked my friend if he knew about Vanunu. He recalled
hearing about Vanunu's release from prison in 2004, but he did not know
Vanunu was a Christian who had grown up in an Orthodox Jewish home but
rejected the faith at 14 years old.
As
we entered the courtyard, Vanunu was on his way out to a meeting and a
few minutes difference and we would have missed him completely.
Instead
I was startled by his physical presence, for I had imagined Vanunu to
be dark eyed and much taller than I at 5'4". Vanunu is not much taller
or heavier than I, but what knocked me for a loop were his light
green-blue eyes that immediately reminded me of the eyes of an old
woman I met in 1998, who irrevocably changed my life.
Her
name was Bernice and I crossed paths with her for the first time just a
few weeks after I began visiting someone at a local nursing home. As I
walked down the hallway, Bernice called out, "Help me. Help me."
I
had been a registered nurse for twenty-five years and when ever I hear
someone ask for help, I am compelled to do something, or at least try.
All Bernice wanted was for me to change her position, for she was
completely paralyzed. From a distance I thought her eyes were dark, but
as I approached her, I was startled at how light green-blue they were.
That day was the beginning of my now ten year nursing home ministry,
and although I have no clue what color Jesus' eyes may have been, in
that moment, I sensed/experienced the presence of The Other; that
mystery we call God, for lack of a better word. Crossing paths with
Bernice was the first time I had known a visceral, intuitive experience
of the presence of God within another. It happened for the second time
in the courtyard of St. George's Cathedral in 2005, during the chance
crossing of paths with Vanunu, who inspired me to do something I had
not yet imagined I would or could.
During
our third meeting, while Vanunu was telling me about growing up in
Marrakech, Morocco he asked me if I had ever seen the "Dorothy Day"
movie, "The Man who Knew Too Much" for the beginning scenes were shot
where he grew up.
He
meant to say Doris Day, but in that moment I realized my childhood
dream of being Brenda Starr had matured, for Vanunu's slip of the
tongue was the catalyst for me to begin to imagine following in the
footsteps of Dorothy Day, the 20th century socialist muckraker who
became a Christian and a voice for the voiceless in her newspaper The Catholic Worker, which persists today.
Dorothy
Day understood that, "Love is not the starving of whole populations.
Love is not the bombardment of open cities. Love is not
killing......Our manifesto is the Sermon on the Mount, which means that
we will try to be peacemakers."
During
my travels through occupied Palestine and after listening with my heart
to the people who shared their stories with me, I asked everyone, "How
can I help? What can I do to try to be a peacemaker?"
Everyone responded, "Tell our stories."
Dorothy
Day and Rachel Corrie told the stories of the oppressed. They both are
dead, but as long as I can do something and have breath, I too will
tell the stories as I try to be a peacemaker by seeking justice; equal
human rights for all, and persist to hope for the best.
"HOPE has two children.The first is ANGER at the way things are. The second is COURAGE to DO SOMETHING about it."-St. Augustine
"He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust." - Aquinas
Everyone has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions
without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and
ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
" In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."-Mother Teresa
“You cannot talk like sane men around a peace table while the atomic bomb itself is ticking beneath it. Do not treat the atomic bomb as a weapon of offense; do not treat it as an instrument of the police. Treat the bomb for what it is: the visible insanity of a civilization that has ceased...to obey the laws of life.”- Lewis Mumford, 1946
The age of warrior kings and of warrior presidents has passed. The nuclear age calls for a different kind of leadership....a leadership of intellect, judgment, tolerance and rationality, a leadership committed to human values, to world peace, and to the improvement of the human condition. The attributes upon which we must draw are the human attributes of compassion and common sense, of intellect and creative imagination, and of empathy and understanding between cultures." - William Fulbright
“Any nation that year after year continues to raise the Defense budget while cutting social programs to the neediest is a nation approaching spiritual death.” - Rev. MLK
Establishment of Israel
"On the day of the termination of the British mandate and on the strength of the United Nations General Assembly declare The State of Israel will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel: it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion it will guarantee freedom of religion [and] conscience and will be faithful to the Charter of the United Nations." - May 14, 1948. The Declaration of the Establishment of Israel
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