Our day in the Old City of Jerusalem. It’s a bit overwhelming to visit the holiest places in Jerusalem for Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, all within a few hours. We had the best guides: Aouni Bazbaz at the Al Aqua Mosque compound, and Mike Sa’adeh as our guide for the whole day.
Aouni Bazbaz, our guide at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound
Michael Sa’adeh, with Amy
Getting to visit Al Aqsa during Ramadan was an even rarer privilege than usual, although we were only able to enter the Dome of the Rock. Settlers were threatening violence at Al Aqsa building itself. The Dome of the Rock is such so beautiful and peaceful. Unlike the tense atmosphere outside in the open-air part of the mosque compound, and very unlike the crowded frenzy of the Wailing Wall Plaza or the pushing crowds in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock was an oasis of peace.
We ended our day at Tantur, meeting with Dalia Landau, co-founder Of Open House and one of the subjects of Sandy Tolan’s book, The Lemon Tree.
As our bus approached Jerusalem, many in our group saw The Wall for the first time. As we traveled around and south of the city, this massive structure, also called “the separation wall,” or more commonly, the “Apartheid Wall,” snaked up and down the hills. In the following days we spent time walking along the wall that loomed above us in Bethlehem and reflecting on what it means for the people here. We heard comments from local people, such as, “It’s illegal and ugly;” “It makes our communities more of a prison;” “It’s robbing us of even more land and sources of our water.” And on this trip, we have visited several Palestinian communities and whole valleys that Israel will soon confiscate by expanding the wall around them. This will force Palestinians there out of their homes and off their farms.
Looking at the wall here in Bethlehem, I couldn’t help but think of the wall my own country has built along the Mexico border. In the two weeks I recently spent on both the Mexico and Arizona side of that border, I see many things they have in common. Both are huge, monstrous structures, evoking dread and fear in people they affect. They’re both based in racism and colonialization, and help a more powerful nation suppress the flow of movement of a less powerful people and maintain the superiority of the powerful ethnic group. They separate families and communities, and sometimes families from their agricultural land. Both are incomplete and under construction and have segments made mainly of barbed wire. Both are “enhanced” with massive high tech surveillance equipment and coils of razor wire. They’re both the result of huge confiscations of land and natural resources belonging to the native peoples of the land. Both require massive funding and funnel money into rich corporations—money that would be better spent to care for human needs. Both walls cause tremendous suffering and needless deaths of those restricted.
But there are also differences between the US/Mexico border wall (US/MX) and the Israeli/Palestinian wall (IS/Pl). The latter is mostly solid concrete along with razor wire. The U.S. wall is mostly thick iron slats with some variations—some places a parallel wall of iron mesh. They both keep people out, but the US/MX wall does not encircle people and their communities, imprisoning them in their own side and progressively grabbing more and more land and aquifers, as the IS/PL wall does. The IS/PL wall is part of an ongoing strategic plan and process of taking more land and natural resources and to eventually force Palestinians from the entire area. Also the building of IS/PL wall is subsidized by the US and supported by other nations, while nations outside the US have been critical of the US/MX wall.
When witnessing and understanding more of the enormous affects the IS/PL wall has on the lives of the Palestinian people, and how it sabotages any just and peaceful settlement, it’s easy to feel angry or depressed. One of the hopeful things about both walls, however, is that on the Mexican and Palestinian sides, those feeling oppressed have created wall art, in the form of graffiti and paintings. These works of art try to cover up its ugliness or convey a political message—the truth about the walls and what they stand for.
Two of my favorite are the “open door” mural painted on the US/MX border at Agua Prieta, MX and the “escalator” and near-by “dominos falling down” murals at the wall in Bethlehem, which express hope for future liberation. These and many others have become a way of drawing international attention to and resisting the oppression these walls cause. They are among many actions that help to keep hope alive for those who are “yearning to breathe free.”
Open Door mural in the wall, Agua Prieta, MXEscalator and domino murals, Bethlehem
George Sa’adeh and Rami Elhanan, of the Parents’ Circle/Bereaved Families Forum
A most powerful witness for a path toward justice, healing and hope came on Monday evening when two bereaved fathers, one an Israeli Jew and the other a Palestinian Christian, sat side-by-side as each told us the story of their excruciating pain when their respective daughters were innocent victims of raging violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Each of these men, and some 600 others, have come together to journey toward reconciliation by talking and listening, really listening, to each other’s pain. By their mutual vulnerability and shared pain, they slowly move through darkness and toward the light of shared humanity.
The Parents Circle/Bereaved Families Forum is an organization directed by two leaders (a Jewish Israeli and a non-Jewish Palestinian). Its members are all bereaved immediate family members who are working to end the occupation and build relations of mutual respect and justice as the road to peace. In this calling they face resistance from all sides, including governments and institutions that profit from blaming and fighting the “other.” They are seeking true transformation and co-resistance rather than “normalization.” That is unlikely to come through politicians.
What can we do? Our guests made several suggestions. We can spread the truth about the destructive occupation of Palestine in our own communities and churches, including through blogs like this one. We can insist that our own government and other institutions actively seek real peace with justice for all people. And we can visit http://theparentscircle.org/en/ to make donations and subscribe to its newsletter.
