Holy Week in the Holy Land...Holy cow!

Ok ok, so I know that the title to this post is cheesy, but seriously, I could not think of a better way to spend Holy Week than in the place it actually occurred. This week has been full of church services and hopping between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Last Sunday was Palm Sunday, which was amazing. I started out the morning in my congregation in Beit Sahour. After the normal service, we paraded around the church building and sang celebratory songs. Then the children were given their palms and they proudly and eagerly showed them off. After the service, I went to grab the bus back to Bethlehem but, in the process, got swept into a Catholic parade going around Beit Sahour. So I joined in with one of the teachers from the school. As any other celebration in the West Bank, it wouldn't have been complete without Scout troops playing bag pipes.

The weather was absolutely perfect. I cannot believe that it is starting to get hot already though...it's too early for that! (I'm sure some of you from MN would hit me for saying that).

In the early afternoon I went into Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives. The parade there started at 2:30 in Bethphage, and we walked from Bethphage down into the Old City of Jerusalem, the same path that Jesus took on his descent. There were children selling palm branches on the side of the road, large tour groups with umbrellas, and thousands of people from all around the world. It was pretty surreal. One of my favorite parts about the day was the music. I walked along with a band consisting of a violin, clarinet (yes!), guitar, baritone, and vocalists. Their music was very soulful and upbeat...it made me want to sing along, even though I didn't know the words!

Along the way we stopped at the church marking the spot where Jesus stopped and wept over Jerusalem. This was further along in Holy Week, but it was neat to see it then anyways.

Yesterday was Maunday Thursday. I attended a joint English, German, and Arabic service in Jerusalem at the Church of the Redeemer. This was a very significant service, and the distribution of Communion was really special...knowing that Jesus gave the Holy Communion to his disciples in this place was really neat. The service also reminded all of us to stay awake and keep watch, in this season and always. It was also a reminder to be servants to one another, as Jesus was to everyone. The washing of the disciple's feet is a clear sign that we are to put others before ourselves. After the service, we all walked to the Garden of Gethsemane. We all followed the cross (and, unfortunately the armed Israeli soldiers who insisted on coming along) to Gethsemane, the place where Jesus and his disciples prayed the night before his crucufixion. The garden is beautiful and, as it was early evening, the smell of the flowers permeated the air.

Today is Good Friday. I stayed in Jerusalem last night and woke up in time to participate in the 6:30 AM Via Dolorosa walk. There were 14 stations, starting with the site of Jesus' trial in front of Pontious Pilate and ending with the laying of Jesus in the tomb. Since it was so early in the morning, there were few other groups out, making it possible to have more a spiritual experience (usually in Jerusalem and Bethlehem there are too many tourists at the holy sites to really be able to get anything out of them, for me anyways). We were accompanied by Bishop Younan (the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land), and Anglican Bishop, and Pastors from various other congregations in the area. This was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.

I wish all of you a blessed Holy Week and a very Happy Easter!

Reflections on an ICAHD Tour

While I have been here, I have had the opportunity to go on 2 ICAHD tours. ICAHD stands for the Israeli Committee against Housing Demolitions. It is an organization that focuses on nonviolent resistance, and the tour is informational and talks about the impact of the Wall and of housing demolitions on both Palestinians and Israelis. It goes over some of the history of Israel/Palestine since 1948, so I wanted to write about a little of what they talked about.
The annexation of East Jerusalem starting in 1967 affected 28 Palestinian villages. Israel took over mostly agricultural villages. In 1967, 1/3 of the population in Jerusalem was Arab.At that time, the official goal of Israel was to maintain a "demographic balance" meaning that Israel's intention was to ensure that the Arab population didn't grow. Today there are 2 categories of Arabs living in Jerusalem: those with Israeli residency and those with West Bank status. Arabs who have Israeli residency receive the same services and freedom of movement as Israelis but have no Israeli passport and cannot vote. Although Arabs still comprise 1/3 of the population in Jerusalem, only 8-12% of tax money is spent on them. Additionally, although there are 490 parks in Jerusalem, only 8 (2%) are in East Jerusalem, where most of the Arabs reside.
Ok, now moving on to housing demolitions...Every year, between 100 and 150 Palestinian housing are demolished each year. It is interesting to note that there are 15,000 demolition orders each year. The system of demolitions is random; thus the Palestinians live in constant fear of their houses being destroyed. As the Israeli who led us on the tour said, Israel's official policy is fear and that is how they try to get people to do as they want. 20,000 homes have been demolished in the past years. Our guide also told us that housing demolitions are proof that occupation is not about security, it is about land.
While I don't necessarily want to get into the politics of this right now, I want to show the human side of these housing demolitions. Oftentimes, the family of the house about to be demolished has only an hour's notice. Therefore, many of their personal and sentimental belonging must be left behind. I can't even begin to think of what I would prioritize if I only had an hour to gather things I have been collecting and saving for a lifetime. To add injury to insult, families must pay for their own housing demolitions. I have heard a story of a man who demolished his own house upon hearing the news of his demolition order simply because it would be less expensive for him to do it.
When our guide first started talking, he asked the question: Why be involved? There are many answers to these questions, and they apply to everyone in the world, and particularly America. We, as taxpayers, are helping to fund the Occupation and all that goes with it. I do not want to be a part of this, so I feel like it is my civic duty to tell the story of the Israel/Palestine conflict. The wall is not only hurting Palestinians; it is also hurting Israelis. Both sides fear for their children and for their futures, and this is not how it has to be. I don't know what the answer is, so for now I am just trying to stay informed and to be present here.
If you would like more information about ICAHD and their work, visit:http://www.icahd.org/eng/

Tent of Nations

A couple of weeks ago, the 6 of us YAGM volunteers, along with our director and his wife, embarked on our retreat. We spent 2 days and 2 nights at the Tent of Nations, an organization in Bethlehem. The Tent of Nations was founded in 2000 with the vision of preparing young people "for a positive contribution to their future and culture by bringing values of understanding and tolerance into their life experience, and to teach them the true belonging to their country" (taken from their website, http://www.tentofnations.org/index.htm). The 100 acres of land on which the Tent of Nations is located has a very unique story. In the early 1900's, while Palestine was still under Ottoman rule, every Palestinian was required to register his/her land. However, this meant that they would also have to pay taxes to the Ottoman Empire which, for obvious reasons, many were not excited to do. So many landowners would create loopholes to this rule and only register a portion of their land, thus ensuring that they wouldn't have to pay the full taxes. While it may have benefitted landowners to do this at the time, this has created problems for their descendants today. Many Palestinian landowners are losing their land to Israel today because they don't have the correct papers from the Ottoman times to prove that their family owns the land. Specifically for the Tent of Nations, Israel has been searching for ways to take the land from them, and one of the ways in which it has tried to do so is through issues of land ownership. Currently there are 3 major settlements (for more info on settlements, read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_settlement) surrounding the Tent of Nations, and Israel has tried many times to purchase the land from them. The Nassar family (who owns the land) refuses to sell their land to Israel and therefore has had to go to multiple court trials to defend their ownership. Luckily for them, their grandfather was one of the few Palestinians to register all of his land during the Ottoman period, so they were able to win the first battle. However, Israel then required that all of the neighbors of the land sign a legal document reinforcing that this land really does belong to the Nassar family. Well, there is a problem with this, as the neighbors would need proof of their own land boundaries and ownership. Also, many of the neighbors were reluctant to sign anything, fearing that the Nassar family was selling its land to Israel. Despite the problems, the Nassar family was able to get the signatures. In response to this, Israel then demanded that there be witnesses who could attest to the family's ownership. So the family organized the transportation of 40 such witnesses. On the day of the trial, the witnesses waited and waited and waited. Finally someone from the Israeli case came out and told them there was no more time today and could they please come back tomorrow. It was impossible for all 4o witnesses to come back the next day, as they had already sacrificed a day of work. Luckily, however, enough were able to come back the next day. Now there are still more hoops for the Nassar family to jump through to ensure that their land does not become an Israeli settlement.
The story of this family and of the land is inspirational. While the family could have sold the land for basically whatever they wanted (I heard that Israel bascially presented them with a blank check), they have refused. They are part of their land, as their land is a part of them. As their website states, land is worth nothing with no people and people are worth nothing without a land. Even though they have been through numerous costly court battles, they are still fighting strong. This is their way of nonviolent resistance. They disagree with the settlements the Israeli government is creating and, instead of physically fighting as others before them have done, they have chosen to peacefully voice their disagreement with the injustice. They use their land to host groups of people, and they do projects on their land to show Israel that their land is being used for something productive. They have many groups of young Palestinians out there and Daoud (one of the founding members) said that many young people who go there just stand in awe of the surroundings. They are used to seeing cities, the Wall, and the business and noise of everyday life. While the Tent of Nations is only 20 minutes from the center of Bethlehem, the scenery is absoltely breathtaking. There are mountains in the distance and green fields all around. The only thing that puts a damper on the beauty are the 3 surrounding settelements. As a sidenote, Daoud was telling us that the surrounding settlements take most of the water from the land, and Israel refuses to let water and electricity come to the Palestinians' land. So, the family has found ways to overcome these difficulties. They have built 6 cisterns to collect rainwater, and they use generators for their electricity (there is only enough electricity for 1.5 hours a night, though).
I was completely refreshed and reenergized through my visit to the Tent of Nations. Being in such a beautiful and natural place was rejuvenating. We even got to plant olive trees and sleep in a cave at night! It was also very refreshing to be in a place of so much hope. While it has had, and continues to have, its share of difficulties, the work that the Tent of Nations does brings hope to the Palestinian community. Other Palestinians see the nonviolent resisting that the Nassar family is doing and that gives them hope to continue and to look for ways to seek change. It was so easy to find hope in their story, and that is not always the case here. If you are interested in learning more about this phenomenal place, please visit the website :http://www.tentofnations.org/index.htm