Tonight is our last night of our
'quest' here here in Jerusalem. Tomorow morning we'll leave Israel and return to our lives in America (most of us that is, one of us has decided to stay here and volunteer for
Holy Land Trust for the next 2-3 months. The people I've met here and the things I've seen have changed me in ways that I cannot yet even comprehend. I have no idea how I will re-adjust to life in Wisconsin at my nice cushy corporate job after this. I plan on taking a few days off and visiting home in Iowa and detaching from civilization for at least a few days.
From this expereince I would like to share 3 distict memories from this experience that I will carry with me forever. I hope that these diaries have inspired at least someone who reads it to visit here. In the end the best advice I can give is to not believe a damn thing you hear about Israel-Palestine, come here and see if for yourself. You will not regret it.
The first moment I will keep with me was at the end of our first night in Bethlehem. We had been in I-P for 4 days and it was our first night in the West Bank. It was around 11pm and I was trying to get a decent internet connection to no avail when 3 students from the trip exitedly came up to me and told me of these 3 Palestinian young men they'd just met playing pool who had some incredible stories from the hight of the 2nd intifada in 2002 when the IDF invaded the city to sweep for militants. They were adamant about inviting us to visit one of thier homes so they could tell thier full story. So without thinking it over as much as I probably should have, I agreed and the 4 of us American students and the 3 Palestinian youths piled into a small 2 door car and were driving through the dark streets of Bethlehem.
While piled into that little car, it really sunk in that we didn't know these guys, or where they were taking us. We were in effect trusting them with our lives. It was the first time (but not the last) I really had to trust the Palestinian people with my life. This is not an easy thing to do, you now that everything will probably be fine, but in the back of your mind are all the insane 'what ifs' that can make it impossible to trust anyone if you listen to them. One of, if not the most difficult obstacles to reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians is the lack of trust between them. The director of Rabbis for Human Rights quoted a poll that showed over 60% of both Palestinians and Israelis want a peaceful settlement to the conflict. But almost 70% of both Palestinians and Israelis believe that the other side doesn't want peace.
The second moment was visiting the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem. The separation barrier is most definately a wall next to the Aida camp. There are several thousand children living literally within 10 feet of the wall and an IDF post around Rachel's tomb. We met with representatives from the Laji Center in the camp that works to educate the camp's children on non-violent responses to thier situation. The warmth and smiles of the children we saw there was so touching in contrast to the dismal wall and military base that shadowed them.
The moment that got me was as we were leaving the camp on the bus. It just hit me that this busload of 18 white Americans from mostly middle to upper class homes could come and go from such a desolate place, while the hundreds of smiling children we saw would continue living in a place where they had to deal with 30 ft concrete walls and crossfire from IDF and militants. That was pretty hard to take as we drove away silently from the camp. They are still there today and they will be tommorow. We can only hope that their current oppression leads them to compassion for others in similar situations and not a blind hatred for the people who create such hardships for these children while attempting to protect themselves.
The third moment was meeting with the two Orthodox Jewish settlers from Efrata. Some people have critized this trip for being "unbalanced" or even "one-sided". All I can say is we did our best to give the participants in this trip as full perspective as we could. Our focus and mission on this trip was to carry out Christ's ministry by meeting with organizations working towards peace and justice. This necisitates meeting with organizations which are considered "leftist" in the Israeli political spectrum.
However, when asked to help plan this trip, I did not want it to be like so many others which end up demonizing the state of Israel and lionizing the plight of the Palestinians. In order to ensure that our participants fully understood the rational behind the state of Israel, we included a visit to Yad Vashem and to the West Bank settlement of Efrata. I'm sure some of you contend that this is not enough to gain a full perspective of Israeli sentiment or public opinion. You're entitield to your opinion, and I would love to hear ideas of specific organizations you would recommend for a trip like this in the future.
Meeting Ardie and Herschel in Efrata was important to me because when meeting with peace groups, one hears much demonization of the settlers. The blame for the conflict is laid sqaurely at there feet. I still believe that there is much truth to the fact that the settlers are an enourmous obstacle to peace as well as an unecessary drain on Israeli public services. However meeting with them, in one of thier homes where they served watermelon and chocolate cake was vital to our trip. This is because even though most of us disagreed with much of what they said, meeting them humanized them. It put a human face on what is so often demonized by the left. They are still people, good people, even if they're dead wrong.
So in a few hours I'll awake and rub my eyes and board the bus to begin our journey home. After I arrive back in the states and am in a simalar time zone, I plan on posting a general overview as well as answering as many questions about our trip, the conflict or my experience as I can.