25 October 2017

Adding another dimension to our pilgrimage we met with teachers, administrators and ninth and tenth grade students from Mar Elias high school.  Mar Elias is a Private Christian School in the heart of Ibillin where about 1200 students attend from Galilee, Jerusalem and surrounding villages. Students and teachers are Muslim, Christian and Druze. Students are immersed in Hebrew, English, Arabic, science and technology.

Shosh, a Jewish teacher of graphic design, 24 years’ teaching at Mar Elias, with student projects on display

Passionate educators provide more than rote teaching, they infuse students with hope and encouragement.  The school’s stellar ranking provides irrefutable evidence that their approach to education is second to none. Mar Elias boasts over 8k graduates many of whom are educators, physicians, lawyers…

Breaking into small groups, we met with ninth and tenth grade students in their English class.  My group spoke proficient English, were polite and curious.  Some of the questions asked by the students were associated with California, my home state. Students asked questions which, I imagine, are on the minds of most kids in the ninth grade.  Following are few of the questions asked:
What’s Michael Jordan like?
Do you ever see Justin Bieber?
What are the most popular foods?
What’s better, the MMA (mixed martial arts) or Wrestling?
I guess kids are about the same everywhere:)

11th grade math students

Next we ventured to the destroyed village of Saffuriya where British author, activist and researcher Jonathan Cook took us on a walking tour.  Throughout the walk Mr. Cook challenged us to reexamine mainstream media sources, ask questions beyond the obvious and reimagine historical Palestine through  the lens of Palestinians, Israelis and Americans.

Today confirmed for me that I will continue my pilgrimage to understand the Palestinian/Israeli/American plight not simply from  an academic perspective rather from the perspective of those affected.  My processing has just began as I try to understand the  irreparable damage done by governments, unfair policy, fake news…much attributed to a Divine.

~ Sharon Andre

PS – Bonus for the day was dinner and a long conversation with Abuna Elias Chacour.

Our group with Abuna

24 October 2017

St. George’s Melkite Church, Zababdeh, next door to the Mosque

Our Tuesday began with a very special night that had been spent with families of Zababdeh. We were split up in groups on late Monday evening. We had driven from Bethlehem to Zababdeh to meet Abuna Firas Khoury Diab, pastor at St. George’s Melkite Catholic Church. He works to encourage all religions to live side-by-side peacefully. There is a Muslim minaret tower behind the Cross on St. George’s Church.

We heard the calls to prayer. We walked the streets of Zababdeh and talked with all ages of people. Then though there are language differences most were eager to welcome us from America to Zababdeh.

Pilgrims of Ibillin do sponsor some of the scholarships and families through contributions and very special olive oil soap sales, so the children can continue in the Catholic School.

Tile floor and some columns still remain from the Byzantine first church in Zababdeh — 300’s CE

We were able to tour the church and school grounds and see some of the remains of the Byzantine tiles still present in that area.

Then on to Sebastiya to see Roman ruins and had a chance to ride a camel and donkey! They looked very cautious at all of us, se settled for lunch instead.

We left there to visit the Church of the Ten Lepers in Burqin and were served Arabic coffee (a treat at most stops).

Fresh olive oil, Canaan Olive Collective, Burqin

Another stop was the home of the Olive factory run by the Canaan Fair Trade Cooperative. They toured us through their plant, ending with tables full of taboun bread and fresh creamy virgin olive oil and Arabic coffee. We finally pulled into Mar Elias guesthouse at Ibillin just at sunset and quickly ran up 4 flights of steps to get sunset pictures. We could nearly see to the Mediterranean Sea.

Sunset over Haifa

End of a long day and off to bed. Thanks be to God.

~ Marty Callies

23 October 2017

Father Hosam Naoum, Dean of St. George’s Cathedral

We began Monday in Jerusalem with a visit to St. George’s Cathedral, headquarters of the Anglican Church in the region. Our host was Fr. Hosam Naoum, Dean of the cathedral and a graduate of Mar Elias high school in Ibillin. The cathedral’s school educates some 800 students, 90 percent of them Muslim.

The cathedral, modeled after Christ Church in Oxford, was completed in 1890, a reminder of the key role Britain played in the creation of modern Palestine and the success of the European-born Zionist movement. November will bring the 100th anniversary of the British government’s Balfour Declaration, a mere short letter stating that the British government looked favorably on a Jewish homeland in Palestine. To commemorate this anniversary, Anglicans in Jerusalem are asking the British government to repent for Balfour and honor the few words in the 1917 letter that support equal recognition of native Palestinian rights—as Fr. Hosam put it, “at least as a nation, as a government complete what they promised.” We ended our visit by joining him in singing a heartfelt version of “Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem,”

OCHA Mission Statement

Our next stop was the United Nations office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). It is now the 50th anniversary of the occupation of Palestinian Territories, and the UN is only able to document the human rights violations and pass resolutions that Israel ignores. There are now 150 settlements/colonies and 100 outposts in the West Bank—all violations of international law. Israel is also changing the landscape with its barrier wall and frustrating daily life with its system of 44 checkpoints and 572 “movement obstacles,” not to mention exclusive roads for the settlers, housing demolitions, and massive land confiscations. How do they get away with this? Ask your Senators and Representatives in Congress. You can see the full OCHA briefing yourself by clicking here.

We got the same briefing the UN Secretary General got a month ago

Next stop in Jerusalem was the office if the Defense for Children International, where we learned about another result of the occupation. This organization provides legal help to the Palestinian children imprisoned by the Israeli military, which controls the West Bank. We were told that 45 percent of kids are arrested in their homes in the middle of the night. Some 80 percent are denied bail, and almost all are convicted and serve up to a year in prison, usually for throwing stones. Currently there are 330 kids in Israeli prisons, though over the years an estimated 10,000 kids have been incarcerated.

Our hearts heavy at the thought of imprisoned kids, we said goodbye to Jerusalem and headed north toward Nablus. Along the way we saw people harvesting olives.  And in one place we saw settlers burning what appeared to be someone else’s crops. We had been warned that settlers were especially aggressive in this area but, still, we were not prepared for what we found at the Church of Jacob’s Well in Nablus. There, the Greek Orthodox priest in charge of the church showed how settlers killed and mutilated his predecessor. The settlers resent and seek to destroy the beautiful church built above the ancient well, site of the New Testament story in which Jesus meets the Samaritan woman. We ended our visit there by drawing water from the well and enjoying a drink (of water).

~ Mary Bader