Thursday, December 20

Take up your Shovel and follow Me



We were putting up Christmas decorations with some of our neighbors and their children recently; one of their parents is from the States, and one from here, so they speak English well, but occasionally they get things mixed up. At dinner one of their sons spoke up and said, "Didn't someone famous say, 'Take up your shovel and follow me.'?" I think he's getting the "take up your cross" thing a little confused. But, later, I was thinking about what he had said. What if Jesus had told us to take up our shovels? Would the world be any different? C.S. Lewis writes about how we've confused the modern notion of what Christian love should be about. We think of ourselves sacrificing something, and think that that's what Jesus would have us do; after all, we're taking up our cross by denying ourselves. 'Love', though, hasn't always been thought of as denying ourselves. It used to be that showing someone love was helping them get the good things that we are able to enjoy. It's not so much about me doing without as it is me helping someone else get. It's definitely a difference; it means that instead of not eating out and saving myself some money, I take someone else out. Instead of feeling guilty about the good things I have, I try to help the people around me get those same good things.

As we were putting our 'Bethlehem star' on the tree, I wondered how different things would be if we took up shovels instead of bearing crosses. There is definitely a lot of work to be done around us. People are hurting, hungry, lonely. Does it really matter that I "bear my cross" when there is so much I could be doing to build God's Kingdom? I recognize more every day that just because I was born in America, into a place where I know I'll have food, healthcare, and education, doesn't mean I can ignore the people that weren't born into the same situation. I don't remember asking to be born in America, and I'm pretty sure the people dying in Darfur, or living in terror in Iraq, or being oppressed in Afghanistan didn't ask to be born there, either. The Palestinian man here, a modern representative of the same people that the angels appeared to to announce the birth of Jesus, didn't ask to be born into a situation where he and his family are treated unjustly. People can debate what it means to take up our cross and how that should affect the way we live our lives. I think I'll just grab my shovel and get to work building God's Kingdom.

Wednesday, December 12

Wastewater Treatment goes back to 1978


MCC recently opened a wastewater treatment plant in a small village in the West Bank in cooperation with one of our partners. The village's water supply is being threatened by an Israeli settlement nearby; sewage from the settlement is dumped near the village's spring, and the spring is in danger of becoming polluted. The wastewater treatment plant helps the village in several ways: it gives the village some control over their own water source (as opposed to Israeli control), it promotes food security since more water is provided for irrigation, and it saves the village money by treating sewage that would normally have to be removed. The village council, some of whom are here, were the ones that had to give the OK to allow the treatment plant to be installed. They initially weren't excited about the idea of wastewater being used for anything, but they eventually came around. Now, there's a pump up and running in the village. It treats 50 cubic meters of water a day (a tenth of what the entire village produces). Best of all, this village now serves as an example to the entire West Bank that it's ok to use treated wastewater. There are a lot of people that will directly benefit from this project; it's great to see people's actual physical needs being met. I think the only way we could get closer to Jesus' statement about giving a cup of water in his name would be if we put a tap in at the pump.

One of the great parts of this project is how it connects people that wouldn't normally work together. It brought together ARIJ, our local partner in the area, with the people of Naha'lin, which politically leans toward Hamas. After the dedication ceremony they hosted us for lunch. It was good
to be able to interact with people that we normally wouldn't have contact with. And, MCC's logo was everywhere. In fact, we met someone who remembers MCC from 30 years ago.

This man, Mustafa, remembered when MCC came to his village in 1978. MCC workers helped bring pipes and running water to his village. He remembers that each family had to lay pipe from their house to the main one in the street. He's currently part of the village council and here is giving MCC Jerusalem rep. Ryan Lehman a plaque in thanks for MCC's work in the village. Meeting him and listening to his stories reinforced the fact that past workers are still connected to the things we do here today. The dedication of the plant was a big event in the town and we were privileged to be a part of it while representing MCC both past and present.







Here you can see the MCC logo on the truck used to gather wastewater.

Monday, December 3

Mr Palestine


This is the cover of the most recent issue of The Economist. It covers the Annapolis summit that was recently hosted by the White House and involved representatives from Israel, Palestine, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and numerous other countries. Local hopes weren't very high; no one expected much besides rhetoric, and it seems that those expectations were met. Of course, the current US administration hasn't done much to move things forward...

In 2001 President Bush officially announced that the US supported the establishment of a Palestinian state. He also said that he would like this to happen by 2005. Three years later, he announced that it could probably happen by 2009. Yet, for most of his time in office, his administration has largely ignored the Israeli/Palestinian conflict (though the US has been quite busy elsewhere in the Middle East). In light of these deadlines, and how they pass and things here only get worse for Palestinians, it's easy to understand why local people don't hold much hope for summits and talks.

Why would President Bush be 'Mr Palestine'? It seems that neither Israeli nor Palestinian leaders, even when they want to, are able to make peace. The majority of people on both sides want peace, but there are extremist elements that are able to make it extremely difficult to get to any kind of peace agreement (and sometimes they make it extremely difficult for traffic to move, as we can attest to). On the Palestinian side, if a couple of men fire rockets, the entire population is punished by the Israeli government; on the Israeli side, people intentionally move into areas they know they shouldn't to provoke responses. Not good stuff...so the Economist argues that only a settlement pushed by outsiders (which imposes parameters on the sides, since they're too far apart to get together without outsiders) will bring the sides close enough together to actually talk. Hence, President Bush is "Mr Palestine, the only man who could make it happen."

We saw some protesters in Jerusalem. This lady has a picture of the Third Temple, which by implication means the Dome of the Rock would have to be knocked down first. I love learning about the Jewishness of Jesus and the Jewish roots of the Christian faith, but should I support this kind of thinking? I wonder. Would Jesus call for destroying the things around him to set up his kingdom? At the Western Wall they held a prayer vigil to pray that the Annapolis summit would fail. The worst part is that a lot of people showed up. What are we to think then? Obviously the extremists on either side don't want to give up anything. And, it seems they got their wish with Annapolis; it was a chance for leaders to get together, but that was about it. The extremists on the Palestinian side will keep shooting rockets, the extremists on the Israeli side will keep demanding that anyone not Jewish leave Israel and the West Bank, and people in Bethlehem (the ones that are allowed) will keep walking through this to go see friends in Jerusalem.











So Annapolis didn't seem to do much for anyone.
If you want to educate yourself, keep going. If you read for the fun of it, skip the rest of this post.

The big issues involved in any peace discussion are as follows:
1) Jerusalem. Will it be only Israel's capital, or the capital of both Israel and an independent Palestinian state? Prior to 1967, when Israel captured he Old City from Jordan, Israelis weren't allowed to visit the old city (this was prior to the Jordan-Israel peace treaty which exists now). Most of the protesters on the Israeli side refuse to consider giving up any part of Jerusalem, and generally are against any concessions of land that Israel has acquired through war. Palestinians say that without some kind of autonomy over a significant portion of Jerusalem, no deal will be acceptable.

2) Refugees. Palestinians insist that anyone who fled or was forced from their home (and there are both kinds) because of war in 1948 or 1967 is a refugee (as a slight aside, this makes sense to me. If tanks were rolling through the street outside my front door, and planes were dropping bombs on neighbors, I'd probably go visit my parents or sister or something too). The Palestinians also claim that all descendants (children, grandchildren, etc.) of those people are refugees as well (I believe this goes against UN standards for all other refugees, but that's another post). In any negotiation, what to do with refugees has to be decided. The Palestinian side argues for a 'right of return', though they know this is unrealistic. If Palestinian refugees were allowed to return to their homes they would immediately outnumber Jews in Israel. This was part of Olmert's (the Israeli PM) demand that the Palestinian side recognize Israel as a Jewish state prior to the start of Annapolis. That would in effect be renouncing the Palestinian claim to the right of return. So, both sides are kind of stuck on this issue a bit; one step the Israeli government could take that would help would be to acknowledge Israel's role in causing refugees, but the government has traditionally been reluctant to do that.

3) Borders. Where will the borders of a Palestinian state be? The Green Line is often cited as the default border (the Green Line was basically the border between Israel and Jordan before Jordan lost the West Bank in 1967; as noted, Israel has yet to annex the West Bank, meaning they officially make it Israeli territory and extend citizenship to the people living there). However, the current separation barrier/wall that Israel has put up doesn't follow the Green Line. In fact, the route wanders deep into what would be Palestinian territory, at times ignoring the route that would be much more convenient (and more easily defensible, particularly when you look at 'Qalqilya' on the map) for Israel to take what would be Palestinian land if a deal were ever worked out. The issue of borders lead directly to the fourth main component in negotiations.

4) Security. The state of Israel has valid security claims regarding the safety of its citizens. They left the Gaza strip in 2005 (unilaterally, which means they did it without really coordinating with any Palestinian security) and rockets are now being shot from the places they previously left. Some guys shoot rockets, the Israelis blow them up, and the cycle keeps going. Not so good. Security and borders are linked more than anything else. Israel wants to keep a military presence on the borders of a Palestinian state so that they feel safe, but the Palestinians argue that that means they'd have no sovereignty over their own borders.

These are the four main issues that the two sides aren't able to resolve, and they are incredibly complex when you start to look at the details. This is a good introduction, but if you want to learn more and have the time, find Dennis Ross's book The Missing Peace. Remember too that there are lots of normal people on both sides that aren't able to live normal lives because of the actions of a few.

Tuesday, November 13

Security or Other Reasons?

I wanted to point out this clip I saw on the website of one of the large Israeli newspapers. I'm not as concerned with this specific incident as I am with the principle of things.

When the Israeli government does things to protect its citizens I think that that's absolutely fair (and necessary). When they do things that are extraneous to this, it's hard to watch. When I fly out of Tel Aviv and go through 2 hours of being asked questions and having my luggage looked through (and I'm not exaggerating, sometimes it is 120 minutes) that's ok, because they want to make sure no one is going to harm people on the plane. When they do things like the clip talks about, or won't let people travel from one place to another to farm a field or see Jerusalem, those are the things that I think are unjust and ultimately hurt Israel as a country. What purpose is served by not allowing them into Jerusalem? These are just a few of the people we know from Bethlehem that aren't allowed to pass through the checkpoint and go to Jerusalem. Do you think they're a security risk to the state of Israel? I don't, but maybe I don't know enough yet.
Sure, search their cars or make sure they aren't bringing knives, guns, or explosives into Jerusalem (terrorists have used children to smuggle explosives in the past here; just as an aside, if you have the time to read this article, make sure you read the whole thing; it brings up the whole issue of lack of credibility and distrust on both sides and how that affects the situation, and both sides distort facts on a regular basis), but to completely deny them entry at all seems to be serving an entirely different purpose than ensuring the safety and security of Israeli citizens. What do you think?

Friday, November 9

Holding a Trust

This week we held a workshop with all of our local partners. We wanted to gather everyone so we could talk about more efficient ways to use MCC's resources here and find better ways to network among partners. Things went really well. Lots of both our Muslim and Christian partners showed up, and everyone offered a lot of helpful insights into how MCC can better work here in Israel and Palestine.

One of the projects MCC has been funding is wastewater treatment. ARIJ, one of our local partners, has developed units to treat wastewater that can be put on the roofs of houses; they have one at their facility and they water their garden with it. Water as a resource in general, and access to water in light of the policies of the Israeli government, are both issues on the minds of a lot of people here. Being able to assist in providing water to communities meets a direct need.

One of the biggest impressions we left the workshop with was the sense that we are taking care of a trust here as MCC's representatives. We broke into working groups to discuss MCC's strengths and weaknesses working with the partners. One of the main themes that came out of the working groups was that MCC's workers here always interact with others with humility and kind-heartedness. Since we've only been here two months, I'm sure they weren't talking about us; we understand that we are enjoying the reputation of those that have worked here before us, and we're laying a foundation for whoever will come after us. It's one of the most beautiful things to be told that one of MCC's greatest strengths here is that representatives always come with humility and a willingness to follow the lead of the local partners. Multiple times it was mentioned that the people here appreciate the transparency of MCC and the fact that we don't send workers with an agenda, but rather with instructions to help wherever we are able; it's powerful to see the affects a mutual exchange of knowledge has as opposed to imposing our values and methods on our partners.

Tuesday, November 6

You Won't Miss it until you Need it

We had a great opportunity this past week; we were able to host a couple of people from the States who are working for an organization called Cure International. They do great work; they locate places around the world that aren't able to provide adequate healthcare and build hospitals in those places that specifically target children with disabilities. For example, here in the West Bank, children with disabilities often aren't able to receive treatment for conditions that are easily curable like club foot or cleft palette, even though adequate healthcare is available in Israel (the children aren't able to cross into Israel).

While Dale, the man from Cure, was here, we were able to help connect him with the type of people that would benefit from a Cure hospital here in the West Bank. We connected him with the local YMCA, which works with children with disabilities. While speaking with the YMCA director, Dale shared an impactful story. "Cure currently has a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan. While there, one of Cure's surgeons was able to perform a procedure to fix the son of a tribal leader who had cleft palette. The boy was four years old. The procedure took 45 minutes and went well, and when the son came out of the operating room with his corrected palette, the tribal leader walked over to the surgeon, hugged him, and began crying. He told the surgeon that until now he had never accepted his son, and that at that moment the surgeon had given him his son back." Dale went on, "These are things that are easy to fix if they are caught at birth, and after Cure builds this hospital here in Bethlehem, club foot and cleft palette will cease to exist in the West Bank." Needless to say, we were happy to help him get whatever he needed as he looked to connect with people here who would benefit from Cure's hospital.

Another problem here in the West Bank is lack of adequate health care in general. We took Dale to interview one woman who lost a son at birth. She was 7 months pregnant with twins one night when Israeli troops entered Bethlehem. As they were conducting operations she heard a gunshot, started running, and tripped and fell. The resulting trauma induced labor, and her twin sons being premature, one of them was not able to survive on his own. She left one at home and began going from hospital to hospital, trying to find an available incubator. At one hospital in Bethlehem she was turned away because they only had one incubator and it was already in use. She tried to take him to Jerusalem but he died before she was able to cross the security checkpoint. This is the son that survived. While Dale was interviewing them this boy told Dale, "I hate the Jews. My brother is dead because of them.His mother turned and told him that he shouldn't hate anyone.

Obviously, sometimes things here are very complicated. This boy is too young to figure out hate on his own. Who's teaching him to hate Jews? Who's telling him the story in a way that makes him feel that way? At the same time, sometimes things here can be pretty simple: if there had been adequate healthcare, this story wouldn't have had such a tragic ending. That's why Jess and I were glad to help Dale while he was here; so that the chance of families like this one experiencing similar things becomes less likely...

A hospital in Bethlehem won't make the checkpoint go away; it won't give the Palestinians Israeli citizenship or their own viable state; it won't force the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority to sit down and negotiate a peace agreement; and it won't solve the economic problems that plague the West Bank. It will help more than a few people though, and bring direct relief to the physical and resulting emotional suffering that some families in this part of the world experience. We're glad to be able to help Cure move forward with this project. Check out some of the other things they're doing around the world.

(Both photo credits in this post go to the photographer that was here with Cure, Bryce Alan Flurie.)

Friday, November 2

A Cup of Water and a Helping Hand

"For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink, because ye are Christ’s, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. " Mark 9.41

We had a chance to do a different version of passing out water here; we were able to pick olives for people that usually aren't able to.

As you probably know, the Israeli government has built a 'separation barrier' between Israel and the West Bank. More often than not Palestinians are not allowed to cross this barrier. They have to apply for permits to be allowed to cross the separation barrier. Well, lots of Palestinians own olive orchards, and often this is a major source of income for the entire family. What happens when families aren't allowed to cross? They lose their harvest for the season. Not good.

The local YMCA here has an Advocacy Office that tries to help remedy the situation (for more on the olive picking program click here; it's pretty interesting and worth reading about. You can also visit the homepage for MCC's partner, the Beit Sahour YMCA). For one week during the harvest season people from all over the world come to help pick olives for the families that usually aren't allowed across. The problem is that generally the entire extended family will come help pick olives, turning a job that would take one family a week into a kind of family reunion for the day. The day we went some of the family members received permission to cross with us. As you can see, they lead a pretty different lifestyle than we do...

Overall it was a great experience. At the end of the day we were a little tired, but it was great to be able to actually DO something for people that are so in need. A lot of times it's frustrating to be here and see all of the injustice and indignity that Palestinians are forced to deal with every day and not be able to do anything about it. It's great to be able to meet a need in such a tangible way for this one family. At the end of the day, there were plenty of olives off of the trees and in the family's buckets. That was the main goal for the day. But it was also great to be able to connect with people and let them see that the situation they live in every day isn't being completely ignored by the rest of the world. Often people tell us that if the world really knew what was happening here, the international outcry against the situation would put a stop to it in a matter of months or even weeks. Keep track of what's happening here and we have no doubt that God's Spirit will move you to concern (and eventually action) for the regular people here who would just like to live a normal life in such an abnormal situation.

Friday, October 19

A Refugee camp and 'Lajee'

Jess and I visited an organization called Lajee this past week. They do some really good work there.

'Lajee' means 'refugee', and the organization is a youth center for children and grandchildren of refugees (who are still considered refugees themselves according to the UN). The center has books and computers for the kids to use, which is pretty important. For one thing, a lot of the children here don't have access to a computer at all; simple things like having email, learning your way around a keyboard, and not being afraid of knowing how to turn a computer on or open a Word document are all pretty important things when it comes time to get a job, even here in the West Bank. Simple things like computers are really important and provide a valuable service to the community. And, we really got to see the contrast between Lajee, where kids have computers to use and books to read, and what normal life was like, without the opportunity to have an after-school program; not so good; kids shouldn't be playing in the street near dumpsters, no matter where they live.













Lajee invited us to a photo exhibition they were having. Palestinian adults aren't allowed to cross certain lines here; for example, lots of Palestinians aren't allowed to go from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. Most of the adults who are refugees now, meaning they aren't allowed to return to the homes they owned before 1948 or 1967, aren't allowed to go visit the sites of their former villages and towns. Children, however, are allowed to move with (somewhat) more impunity. So, Lajee gave the grandchildren of these refugees cameras, took them to their grandparents' old towns and villages, and had them take photos of where the grandparents villages used to be. In some places there are Israelis living there, in some places there are still the remains of buildings or you can see the edges of where a garden used to be, and in some places there is nothing and it looks as if no one has ever lived there. Lajee then put on a photo exhibition of the children's work. It was quite the community event. Grandparents and children were all there, and it got pretty difficult to find a seat.












It's great to be able to see direct ways that MCC impacts these people's lives. The photo exhibition was a huge event. A lot of the children that were there attend the summer camp that MCC largely funds. It's so important that we're able to help the youth of the community have something constructive to do. It provides an outlet for the children that are old enough to understand the current situation and helps provide hope that not everyone will have to grow up knowing what it's like to live in a refugee camp.

Sunday, October 14

Applied Research Insitute Jerusalem (ARIJ)

We visited ARIJ this past week. It's based in Bethlehem even though 'Jerusalem' is in the name. It's an organization that researches the actions of the Israeli government and then reports on them; a simple mission statement with a complicated mission.


The presentation at ARIJ was powerful. The head of ARIJ, Dr. Jad Isaac, has a powerpoint presentation that goes through a timeline and visually shows the affects of Israeli settler expansion on the West Bank. (Anyone that's planning to come visit Israel and wants to try to get a balanced approach needs to set up a visit. www.arij.org. You'll hear a lot of things from them that you won't hear other places. And, by the way, because of how complex things are here, and how often things happen that we lack the social context to explain coming from the States, a visit really helps puts things in perspective.)

There need to be more organizations like this on both sides; ones that are willing to deal with facts without exaggerating and without inflammatory language. As bad as things are, no one needs to inflate what's happening; you and I just need to be made aware of the situation so that we're willing to promote change in the region.

Monday, October 8

Jayyus; Poor Bureaucracy or Intentional Injustice?

We recently visited the town of Jayyus. It's in the northern West Bank and is mainly an agricultural town. MCC would like to provide funding for farmers in Jayyus to upgrade their current wells. The machinery they have is extremely inefficient and very expensive to run. MCC has been working with the Palestinian Hydrology Group to fund this project and help make water accessible to people that need it. Imagine not having easy access to water...and then imagine you have a whole farm to take care of! It's easy to see how MCC, through this project, has the opportunity to improve the quality of life for a lot of people.
Another aspect of the situation here which we were exposed to was the difficulty in moving from place to place. Israel has built a separation barrier around much of the West Bank. In some places it's a huge concrete wall, and in others, like near Jayyus, it's an electrified fence with barbed wire. To cross this barrier into farmland that they once had free access to, residents of Jayyus must get permits from the Israeli government. Often permits are simply not given or are given only to old men who are unable to work the land (for example, of the 3,500 inhabitants of Jayyus only 150 have permits that allow them through the fence onto their farmland). So is the Israeli government just really bad at judging character and really believes all those people they deny permits to are a security threat? Or are they intentionally denying permits for other reasons?

Another aspect of the conflict here involves ownership of land. Near Jayyus, the Green Line (provide a link) and the separation barrier are extremely far apart. The location of the barrier as it pertains to Jayyus was done without consulting the citizens of Jayyus. Imagine if your neighbor built his fence partly on your yard without checking to see if you minded; it would certainly make being ‘neighborly’ difficult (If you're able, blow up the picture. You can see the Green Line because it's actually green on the map, and the separation barrier is the bright dirt road that winds it's way through the picture.). Under certain laws, land that is left dormant for a specified amount of time may be taken by the government.






Currently, farmers from Jayyus that would like to work their land are unable to because of a lack of permits; their land is lying fallow and is in possible danger of being seized.











Thos
e that are allowed onto their land seem to be doing a good job.


If you are one of the people who happen to have been born in Jayyus or live there and have always been a farmer, what are you to do now that you are not allowed to get to your farm? Where do you go to get a job or make a better life for your family? Options are extremely limited, even for those that are educated. This is just one of the ways MCC is working in Israel/Palestine to build God's kingdom and bring relief to people that are suffering.

Sunday, October 7

How did the current situation in Israel/Palestine come to be?

This is intended to be an objective introduction, which is an extremely difficult thing to do. At the outset I would like to acknowledge that both sides have suffered much, both sides have done things that are wrong, and I believe it is in the best interest of both sides to peacefully resolve the current conflict.

BEGINNINGS
In the 1880s Zionism began to become a significant political movement. Jews from different parts of the world began to immigrate to what was then referred to as Palestine. The Ottoman Empire, which was based in present-day Turkey, controlled Palestine at this time. As more Jews moved to Palestine, they began to legally purchase land.

During World War I, France and Britain were two of the countries involved in trying to prevent the spread of the Ottoman Empire. In 1918, when the war ended, Britain took control of Palestine (at that time still its name). During this time, Jews were continuing to move to Palestine and purchase land. Additionally, Zionist political activists were working to secure pledges from different countries committing assistance to the establishment of a Jewish state in historical Palestine. The Balfour Declaration, signed in 1917, was a commitment from the British government to work toward such a state. Tensions between the Jews and Palestinians continued to rise from 1918 (when the British took control of the area) until 1947 (when the UN issued a resolution intending to establish a Jewish state). There were various periods of intense violence, with both sides suffering injustices. The Jews felt that their physical safety was being threatened (and indeed it often was), and the Palestinians felt that their legitimate concerns about a future Jewish state on their land were being ignored (at the time of the UN declaration Jews owned only about 6% of historical Palestine); they wished to have a say in controlling the territory they lived on.

THE DECLARATION OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL
In 1947, with the UN declaring a Jewish homeland on about 55% of what was historical Palestine, the British Mandate (meaning British rule over that part of the world) came to an end. The British decided they were going to withdraw from the area and cease being the ruling power there. They withdrew on May 13, 1948. On May 14, Israel declared itself a state. The Palestinians and Arabs living there were aware that this was going to happen and decided to attack the state of Israel when it was declared. They lost that war, and at the end of it Israel controlled more territory than the UN had mandated. During the war Israel had gone through and told people (Palestinians and Jews) to leave their towns because war was approaching. Generally the people were told they would be able to return soon; unfortunately, in the territory that Israel now controlled, non-Jews were not allowed to come back to what had previously been their homes.

THE SIX DAY/JUNE WAR OF 1967
In June 1967, conflict again engulfed the region. In this war, Israel took the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Similarly to 1948, people were told they needed to leave the region because war was approaching. Prior to 1967, the West Bank was part of the country of Jordan. When Israel took control of this region, they again refused to allow many non-Jews to come back to villages they had left. Neighboring countries took in some of the refugees, but not all. Many were farmers and lacked professional or technical skills that would have made the prospect of providing citizenship to them attractive to neighboring countries; skilled workers were able to emigrate, unskilled workers were not.

THE CURRENT SITUAITON
Currently, Israel is largely in control of the West Bank. They have almost complete military control over the entire area. They administer much of the municipal control as well (water, electricity, etc.). The problem is that Palestinians are literally citizens of no country. Israel has not annexed the West Bank, meaning they have not declared it Israeli territory and made everyone living in it citizens. Nor have they decided to return the West Bank to Jordan; Palestinians aren’t Israeli citizens, and they aren’t Jordanian citizens. They aren’t allowed freedom of movement from one town to another depending on which side of the separation barrier they are on. Now, if every Palestinian were a terrorist, this would be understandable. But, clearly, not every person I walk past every day is a terrorist. So, what are they to do? If you were told that you couldn’t drive to the next town 20 minutes away because you didn’t have the right permit, how would you feel? Adding to the difficulty of the situation, there are Palestinians that are willing to leave the West Bank and go to another country. However, there are not many governments, understandably, that are willing to take in unskilled workers as refugees and assist them in starting new lives in other countries.

CONCLUSIONS
Regardless of how one feels about the Jewish right to the land and God’s promises, one must deal with the reality that there are plenty of innocent Palestinians that are not being treated fairly and not being respected as people. What Israel is currently doing is not ok, and there needs to be a change of policy from the Israeli government. Either give Palestinians Israeli citizenship (which Israel won’t do because it would mean a Palestinian majority in Israel) and treat them like the Jews who literally live next door, or allow the Palestinians to form their own state. It is not right to treat people who are Palestinian completely differently than others who live in the same area. Yes, Israel has legitimate security concerns, but discriminating against ordinary people who want their children to do well in school and have happy lives is an unacceptable way of handling those concerns. Citizenship or a state need to be the answers, not walls and guns.

Tuesday, June 5

MCC Palestine Update #138

MCC Palestine Update #138

5 June 2007

A Summer of Transitions

This summer is indeed a new season for MCC Palestine. And with the change in season there are both greetings and farewells to be made. Sri Mayasandra, who has been the Jerusalem Representative for the past three years, has finished his assignment with MCC in Palestine. However, Sri has not said goodbye to MCC and will continue to serve with MCC in the Middle East.

Arriving in July, the Lehman family will move to Jerusalem where Heather and Ryan Lehman will assume the role of Jerusalem Representatives. Along with Heather and Ryan are their three children, two girls aged 11 and 8 and a 1-year-old boy—Tayllor, Elena, and Elijah. They are members of Kaufman Mennonite Church in Davidsville, PA.

Mark and Andrea Stoner Leaman are finishing up their time with MCC as English teachers in the Latin Patriarchate school in the northern West Bank village of Zebabdeh. Mark and Andrea, along with their baby Henry will be moving back to the Lancaster area in Pennsylvania later this month.

Christi and Timothy Seidel are also finishing up their time with MCC as peace development workers. They, along with their baby Kai, will be heading back to the U.S. this month as well. Jessica and Trey Hulsey will move to Bethlehem later this summer in August to take on the role of peace development workers. The Hulseys are most recently from North Carolina where they are attending a Presbyterian Church.

To Sri, Mark, Andrea, and Henry, know that you will all be missed. And to the Lehmans and Hulseys, Welcome! Ahlan wa-sahlan!

40 Years of Naksa / 60 Years of Nakba

This week marks 40 years of Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, as well as the Syrian Golan Heights. This anniversary comes on the heels of 60 years of Nakba, which will be marked next May in 2008.

Nakba is the Arabic word for “catastrophe” and is used by Palestinians to refer to what happened to them in 1948 when between 750,000 and 900, 000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes and over 500 Palestinian villages were destroyed. Today, this refugee population numbers close to 7 million. Naksa is the Arabic word referring to the expulsion of Palestinians from the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza during the 1967 war. It also marks the beginning of Israel’s illegal military occupation of these territories, another stage in a continuing catastrophe with daily military attacks, house demolitions, land confiscation, expanding Israeli colonies, and the Wall. This week, many are marking 40 years since the beginning of the occupation with events and declarations calling for the respect of human rights and rule of law in Palestine-Israel.

For more information on how you and your community can respond during this time, visit the MCC Washington Office website at http://www.mcc.org/us/washington/ for worship and advocacy resources and read a reflection by the Washington Office Director Daryl Byler at http://www.thirdway.com/wv/article.asp?ID=597.

Also, on June 10-11, the US Campaign to End the Occupation and United for Peace and Justice are sponsoring a two-day mobilization in Washington, DC to protest this 40th anniversary. Under the banner, “The World Says No to Israeli Occupation,” the US Campaign and UFPJ will hold a massive rally, teach-in, and grassroots lobbying day. Read more about how to get involved at http://www.endtheoccupation.org/.

To highlight the urgent need for peace in Palestine-Israel, the World Council of Churches, member churches and related organizations have organized a week of prayer and advocacy, June 3-9. According to the World Council of Churches, the goal is “to raise awareness in churches and civil society and to impress upon governments the need for new efforts to end the conflict and negotiate a just settlement.” Read more at http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=3627

Church leaders in Jerusalem are calling for worldwide support of this initiative. “This year marks the 40th anniversary of the occupation by the Israelis of land previously held by Palestinians,” said the Christian leaders. “It is totally unacceptable for the situation to continue where the Palestinians endure daily hardships and humiliations with deprivations of international human rights, allegedly to ensure the safety and security of the Israelis, whereas we believe the security of Israel is dependent on the freedom and justice of the Palestinians.”

In their statement they go on to say, “Now we sincerely believe it is time to intensify action, particularly through negotiation, to end occupation, establish an independent Palestinian State” consistent with UN resolutions and with clearly defined borders, “thus giving both peoples, Israelis and Palestinians alike, human dignity, security and equal opportunities”…“Many injustices have to be reversed not least the restoration of land to lawful indigenous owners and the so-called security wall demolished. For us as Christians, this land is unique since God chose to reveal his love for human beings here when he gave his Son to be born in Bethlehem; to die on the Cross.” Read more at “Jerusalem church leaders back Israeli-Palestinian peace action,” http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/5307.

Peacebuilding in Palestine / Israel: Supporting Alternative Forms of Resistance – An Ongoing Discussion

Last month, a delegation of representatives from Mennonite Church USA and church-related agencies visited Palestine-Israel. This delegation was formed “to have common experience around issues that relate to investment policies.”

In 2005, MCC produced a discussion paper called “Peacebuilding in Palestine / Israel: A Discussion Paper” meant to contribute to this conversation in communities back in North America about stewardship, morally responsible investment / divestment, and economic justice. This paper (available online at http://www.mcc.org/papers/2005-05_Peacebuilding_in_Palestine-Israel.pdf) points out:

“Palestinians and Israelis working for a just resolution of the conflict lamented that decades of appeal to international law and resolutions have failed to end this story of dispossession, with Israeli power routinely trumping appeals to the power of law. Palestinian Christian partners, in particular, urged Christians in the West to take a stand for justice, peace, and reconciliation for Palestinians and Israelis alike, a stand that markedly differs from Christian Zionist theologies that deny Palestinians a secure place in the land. These trusted partner organizations urged MCC to consider ways in which Christians from Canada and the United States might invest in a future of justice and peace for both peoples and to examine ways in which our money either promotes justice, peace, and reconciliation in Palestine/Israel or contributes to the ongoing dispossession.”

Throughout this tour, this group met with many of MCC’s Palestinian and Israeli partners, including the Wi’am Palestinian Conflict Resolution Center (http://www.planet.edu/~alaslah/), the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center (http://www.sabeel.org/), the Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem (http://www.arij.org/), the Badil Resource Center for Residency and Refugee Rights (http://www.badil.org/), the Zochrot Association (http://www.nakbainhebrew.org/), the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (http://www.icahd.org/eng/), as well as meeting with people from Open Bethlehem (http://www.openbethlehem.org/) and Christian Peacemaker Teams in Hebron (http://www.cpt.org/). In these meetings, we heard their perspectives on the current realities on the ground and on how they see the role of churches in the Global North in this situation here in Palestine-Israel—particularly how it relates to the call from both Palestinians and Israelis for “morally responsible investment.”

In addition to this, the group made several field visits to see first-hand the reality on the ground, such as: the impact of the Wall and of Israeli colonization of Palestinian territory all around Jerusalem and in places like Hebron; the situation in Palestinian refugee camps; the remains of Palestinian villages destroyed in 1948 and 1967, learning more about the importance of the refugee issue to a durable solution for a just and lasting peace.

An important element of this tour was to hear the voices of Palestinian Christian as it relates to these issues. For example, in our meeting with our friends at Sabeel we heard about their work and about how Sabeel is involved with the call for “morally responsible investment” (learn more at http://www.sabeel.org/documents/A%20nonviolence%20sabeel%20second%20revision.pdf).

As a follow-up to this experience, delegation participants have written an “open letter” to present at the Mennonite convention in San Jose this summer in which several action points are presented. Also, MCUSA will post a news release discussing the trip itself as well as the initiative of the open letter (http://www.mennoniteusa.org/news/news.html), and MCUSA is also going to produce a resource list to go along with the open letter and news release (http://peace.mennolink.org/resources/palestineletter/index.html).

We would ask that as you continue to keep the people of this land in your thoughts and prayers that you would prayerfully discuss these important issues in your communities, reflecting on how MCC and Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches should respond in our pursuit of a peace born of justice for all, where everyone will sit securely under vine and fig tree with no one to make them afraid (Micah 4:4).

MCC Palestine Online: Tools for Advocacy

Because of this time of transition, this will be the last MCC Palestine Update for a while. When the Lehmans and Hulseys get settled in to their new homes in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, we will look forward to continuing to receive these regular updates about the work of MCC and other news in Palestine-Israel. If you know anyone who might be interested in receiving these updates, please feel free to send their email to this same address: pwopt@mennonitecc.ca.

To stay updated on happenings in this region as well as the work of MCC’s partners, we would recommend you check out the MCC Palestine Update website at http://mccpalestineupdate.blogspot.com/ where you will find a list of links for “News and Analysis” as well as “MCC Palestine Partners” on the right-hand column of the webpage. For a more extended list, check out MCC Palestine Update #128 at http://mccpalestineupdate.blogspot.com/2006/11/mcc-palestine-update-128.html.

And as always, you can visit the MCC Palestine website at http://www.mcc.org/palestine/, where you will find additional links to MCC resources such as news service pieces and other publications we have mentioned in the past like Sonia Weaver’s What Is Palestine/Israel?: Answers to Common Questions, MCC Peace Office Newsletters, a Common Place magazine, the “Bridges Not Walls” Campaign, DVD’s like Children of the Nakba, The Dividing Wall, and more. Check out http://www.mcc.org/palestine/resources/ to access these resources to assist in education and advocacy in your home communities on behalf of the people of this land. Also, for current and back editions of the MCC Palestine Update, you can also visit http://mccpalestineupdate.blogspot.com/.

With all of these transitions, we should make a special note to say how thankful we are for the presence of our friend and colleague Bassem Thabet, who is the Director of Administration for MCC Palestine. And we are thankful for all of the wonderful people that contribute to the work of MCC here. It has truly been a pleasure and a privilege.

Allah ma’akum.

Peace to you all,

Timothy Seidel

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Timothy and Christi Seidel
Peace Development Workers
Mennonite Central Committee – Palestine


Attachments and Links:

· Editorial, “Endless Occupation?,” The Nation, 18 June 2007
· Meron Benveisti, “The Case for Shared Sovereignty,” The Nation, 18 June 2007
· Saree Makdisi, “For a Secular Democratic State,” The Nation, 18 June 2007
· Brian Klug, “The State of Zionism,” The Nation, 18 June 2007
· Press Release, “Israel/OPT: Forty years of occupation -- no security without basic rights,” Amnesty International, 4 June 2007
· Donald Macintyre, “Secret memo shows Israel knew Six Day War was illegal,” The Independent, 26 May 2007
· Donald Macintyre, “The Six-Day War: Forty years on,” The Independent, 26 May 2007
· Mazin Qumsiyeh, “40 Year of Occupation and 60 Years of Wars: Enough,” AMIN, 2 June 2007

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The Nation
Endless Occupation?
Editorial
18 June 2007

This month marks the fortieth anniversary of Israel's occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. It will not escape readers' notice that the three writers who reflect on the occasion in this issue, although coming from widely different backgrounds and perspectives--Meron Benvenisti is a native-born Israeli and former deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Saree Makdisi is a Palestinian-American academic and Brian Klug is a British (and Jewish) Oxford philosopher--express a similar pessimism regarding the two-state solution. Each of them favorably discusses some form of binational or democratic state in all of Israel-Palestine, whose citizens would have equal rights or shared sovereignty.

Nation editors didn't seek out these conclusions, nor do they represent a change in our policy. For many years this magazine has supported a two-state solution in which Israel would fully withdraw from the territories occupied in 1967, in accordance with UN resolutions, and a State of Palestine would be formed in those territories, with its capital in East Jerusalem. But we recognize that as realities on the ground shift, so must our thinking. Many have begun to wonder whether partition is still possible, given the growing settlements in the West Bank; the collapse of the peace process; the hardening of Israeli attitudes in the face of a second, bloody intifada; the descent of the Palestinian national camp into fratricide; and the unwillingness or inability of the Bush Administration to re-engage in serious peace talks or even to recognize the democratically elected Palestinian government…

All Americans, whatever their ethnicity or religion, are deeply implicated in what happens in Israel/Palestine, given our government's identification with and massive aid to Israel. The conflict is a Middle East crisis, but whether we like it or not, it is very much an American dilemma. No issue inflames opinion against the United States more than its support for Israel's policies toward the Palestinians, which has put us on a collision course with the Arab and Muslim world. We must therefore continually rethink our assumptions. We at The Nation see it as our task to further the debate by providing a forum for it and by exploring all creative solutions. As in the past, we adhere to a general principle that's more important than any particular state formation: The two peoples must be afforded the right to live in peace and dignity, on fully equal terms, whether in one state or two.

Please read more at http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070618/editors2

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The Nation
The Case for Shared Sovereignty
Meron Benveisti
18 June 2007

One must therefore seek a different paradigm to describe the state of affairs forty years after Israel/Palestine became one geopolitical unit again, after nineteen years of partition. The term `de facto binational state` is preferable to the occupier/occupied paradigm, because it describes the mutual dependence of both societies, as well as the physical, economic, symbolic and cultural ties that cannot be severed except at an intolerable cost. Describing the situation as de facto binational is not prescriptive but descriptive, and it does not indicate parity between Israelis and Palestinians--on the contrary, it stresses the total dominance of the Jewish-Israeli nation, which controls a Palestinian nation that is fragmented both territorially and socially. No paradigm of military occupation can reflect the bantustans created in the occupied territories, which separate a free and flourishing population that enjoys a gross domestic product of $26,000 per capita from a dominated population that is unable to shape its own future and whose GDP is $1,500 per capita. No paradigm of military occupation can explain how half the occupied areas have essentially been annexed, leaving the occupied population with disconnected lands and no viable existence. Only a strategy of annexation and permanent rule can explain the vast settlement enterprise and the enormous investment in infrastructure, estimated at more than $10 billion.

The 1967 war brought more than a million Palestinians under Israeli rule and gave new meaning to the Israeli mode of intimate disregard. The right wing stressed contempt for the Palestinian masses and believed they could be controlled through trickery and violence; the left wing dwelled futilely on theoretical peace plans and for the most part recoiled from any involvement in the unbearably harsh daily lives of the Palestinian population. Everyone amused themselves with `separation` proposals meant to externalize the `others,` and united around the slogan `Us here and them there,` whose physical manifest is the wall known as `the security fence,` built to conceal the Palestinians and erase them from awareness…

The process of mental disengagement is a continual one, but there is no doubt that the emergence of suicide bombers has hastened it. There could not be any intimate regard for a culture that nurtures such a monstrous phenomenon, and the Palestinians were thereby complicit in bringing about the divorce imposed upon them. Racist right-wing circles exploit the situation and turn diffuse emotions into a practical plan for `transfer` (i.e., expulsion) and denial of civil rights; human rights activists beg for resistance to the injustices and meet with indifference; political movements thrive on erasing the Arabs from Israeli awareness; and those who caution that it is all an illusion, that millions of human beings cannot be erased, are treated with hostility. Other conflicts have shown that after the erasure comes reconciliation, then appeals for forgiveness. But a preliminary stage in dealing with this problem that will not disappear is to expunge outmoded code words from the dictionary and deal bravely with the reality created by forty years of Israeli control over the entirety of Israel/Palestine. This land has witnessed the emergence of a geography, an economy and demographic, and social processes that no longer enable a division into two separate sovereignties. The alternatives are simple and cruel: Either one people controls the other, dooming them both to eternal violence, or else a way must be found to live in a partnership based on shared sovereignty.

Please read more at http://www.thenation.com/docprem.mhtml?i=20070618&s=benvenisti or http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=20330

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The Nation
For a Secular Democratic State
Saree Makdisi
18 June 2007

This month marks the fortieth anniversary of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Four decades of control established and maintained by force of arms--in defiance of international law, countless UN Security Council resolutions and, most recently, the 2004 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice in The Hague--have enabled Israel to impose its will on the occupied territories and, in effect, to remake them in its own image.

The result is a continuous political space now encompassing all of historic Palestine, albeit a space as sharply divided as the colonial world ("a world cut in two") famously described by Frantz Fanon in The Wretched of the Earth. Indeed, Fanon's 1961 classic still enables an analysis of Israel and the occupied territories as fresh, insightful and relevant in 2007 as the readings of Cape Town or Algiers that it made available when it was first published…

Although some people claim there are fundamental differences between the disposition of the territories Israel captured in 1967 and the territories it captured during its creation in 1948--or even that there are important moral and political differences between Israel pre- and post-1967--such sentiments of entitlement, and the use of force that necessarily accompanies them, reveal the seamless continuity of the Zionist project in Palestine from 1948 to our own time. "There are circumstances in history that justify ethnic cleansing," argues Israeli historian Benny Morris, with reference to the creation of Israel. "A Jewish state would not have come into being without the uprooting of 700,000 Palestinians. Therefore it was necessary to uproot them. There was no choice but to expel that population. It was necessary to cleanse the hinterland and cleanse the border areas and cleanse the main roads. It was necessary to cleanse the villages from which our convoys and our settlements were fired on."

Israel's post-1967 occupation policies are demonstrably driven by the same dispossessive logic. If hundreds of thousands have not literally been forced into flight, their existence has been reduced to penury. Just as Israel could have come into being in 1948 only by sweeping aside hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, Israel's ongoing colonization of Palestinian territory--its imposition of itself and its desires on the land's indigenous population--requires, and will always require, the use of force and the continual brutalization of an entire people.

Indeed, the discriminatory practices in the occupied territories replicate, albeit in a harsher and more direct form, those inside Israel, where the remnant of the Palestinian population that was not driven into flight in 1948--today more than a million people--continues to endure the systematic inequalities built into the laws and institutions of a country that explicitly claims to be the state of the Jewish people rather than that of its own actual citizens, about a fifth of whom are not Jewish. Recognizing the contradiction inherent in such a formulation, various Israeli politicians, including Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman, have explicitly called for the territorial transfer--if not the outright expulsion--of as much as possible of Israel's non-Jewish (that is, Palestinian) minority. Although it would be intended to mark the ultimate triumph of the dispossessing settler over the dispossessed native (Lieberman is an immigrant from Moldova who enjoys rights denied to indigenous Palestinians simply because he happens to be Jewish), such a gesture would actually amount to a last-ditch measure, an attempt to forestall what has become the most likely conclusion to the conflict.

For, having unified all of what used to be Palestine (albeit into one profoundly divided space) without having overcome the Palestinian people's will to resist, Zionism has run its course. And in so doing, it has terminated any possibility of a two-state solution. There remains but one possibility for peace with justice: truth, reconciliation--and a single democratic and secular state, a state in which there will be no "natives" and "settlers" and all will be equal; a state for all its citizens irrespective of their religious affiliation. Such a state has always, by definition, been anathema for Zionism. But for the people of Israel and Palestine, it is the only way out.

Please read more at http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070618/makdisi or http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6994.shtml

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The Nation
The State of Zionism
Brian Klug
18 June 2007

Zionism is not all of a piece. There are Zionists strongly opposed to the settlers and the occupation. But the momentum of the movement has brought it to this pass; the line that began in Basel has led to Nablus. It is time to cut the cord and begin anew. For the sake of everyone concerned, whether there are two states or three states or one, Israel needs to shed the burden of Jewish fears and hopes and become its own state pursuing its own good for its own people--all of them equally.

Jews around the world need Israel to do this too. They certainly do not need the kind of "protection" given by Olmert, who during the Lebanon war last summer said, "I believe that this is a war that is fought by all the Jews." He implicated the whole of Jewry in a military campaign that inflamed the opinion of millions of people around the world. Is this the "solution" to "the Jewish question"? Is this Israel coming to the rescue of Jews in distress?

The Zionist doctrine that the State of Israel must be the "center" of Jewish life, or that "every Jew in the world" (as Olmert said to the World Zionist Congress) must make aliyah, or that Jews are self-hating if they do not show "solidarity" with the Jewish state, or that Jewish identity in the Diaspora is incomplete--all of this prevents a normal conception of life, as a Jew, outside Israel. The very term "diaspora" is misleading. Israel certainly has one: At least 350,000 Israelis living in the New York area are part of it. But I (a British Jew or Jewish Brit), for example, am not.

At the heart of the crisis of Zionism is the axiom that Israel and the Jewish people are central to each other's identity. How do you pry apart a knot as closely knit as this--a Gordian knot that has no ends? Partly by remembering the venerable idea of the Jewish people as centered on a book--the Torah--and not a state; partly by observing how Jewish life, secular and religious, is flourishing in ways that are not focused on Israel; and partly by looking in an unexpected place: The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, where the principle of equality, like a shining light, burns a hole through the middle of the document.

The text proclaims "complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants." If someone wants to say that this is what they mean by Zionism, they are welcome to the word. To adapt a remark of Wittgenstein's: Say what you choose, so long as it does not prevent you from seeing the light. But on the whole, it is better to let go of the word along with the illusion. Jewish ethnic nationalism is no solution to the problems we face today, while the name "Zionism" evokes as much fear and loathing as love and pride. We cannot formulate today's questions in yesterday's language.

It is time to move on. I like to think that forty years from now, under the aegis of full civil equality, Arab and Hebrew cultures will thrive and mingle together in the area currently called Israel and Palestine. It seems like a pipe dream. But a phrase of Herzl's comes to mind: "Wenn ihr vollt, Ist es kein Märchen"--If you will it, it is not a dream. His motto gives us hope.

Please read more at http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070618/klug

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Amnesty International
Israel/OPT: Forty years of occupation -- no security without basic rights
Press Release
4 June 2007

On the eve of the 40th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Amnesty International today called on the Israeli authorities to end the land-grabbing, blockades and other violations of international law carried out under the occupation. These have resulted in widespread human rights abuses and have also failed to bring security to the Israeli and Palestinian civilian populations.

A 45-page report published today, Enduring Occupation: Palestinian under siege in the West Bank, illustrates the devastating impact of four decades of Israeli military occupation. The report documents the relentless expansion of unlawful settlements on occupied land that deprives the Palestinian population of crucial resources and documents a plethora of measures that confine Palestinians to fragmented enclaves and hinder their access to work, health and education facilities. These measures include a 700km fence/wall, more than 500 checkpoints and blockades, and a complicated system of permits.

"Palestinians living in the West Bank are blocked at every turn. This is not simply an inconvenience -- it can be a matter of life or death. It is unacceptable that women in labour, sick children, or victims of accidents on their way to hospital should be forced to take long detours and face delays which can cost them their lives," said Malcolm Smart, Director for Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme.

"International action is urgently needed to address the widespread human rights abuses being committed under the occupation, and which are fuelling resentment and despair among a predominantly young and increasingly radicalized Palestinian population," said Malcolm Smart. "For forty years, the international community has failed adequately to address the Israeli-Palestinian problem; it cannot, must not, wait another forty years to do so"…

Amnesty International is calling on the Israeli authorities to:
· lift the regime of blockades and restrictions on Palestinians in the OPT, which constitute collective punishment, and ensure that restrictions imposed in response to specific security threats only target the individuals concerned -- not entire communities.
· halt the construction of the fence/wall inside the West Bank, and remove the sections already built there;
· cease the construction or expansion of Israeli settlements and related infrastructure in the OPT as a first step towards removing Israeli settlements and "outposts";
· cancel all demolition orders on homes in the OPT, and provide reparation to Palestinians whose homes and properties have already been destroyed.

Please read more at http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGMDE150382007 or http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6992.shtml and for a full copy of the report see http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde150332007

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The Independent
Secret memo shows Israel knew Six Day War was illegal
Donald Macintyre
26 May 2007

A senior legal official who secretly warned the government of Israel after the Six Day War of 1967 that it would be illegal to build Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories has said, for the first time, that he still believes that he was right.

The declaration by Theodor Meron, the Israeli Foreign Ministry's legal adviser at the time and today one of the world's leading international jurists, is a serious blow to Israel's persistent argument that the settlements do not violate international law, particularly as Israel prepares to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the war in June 1967.

The legal opinion, a copy of which has been obtained by The Independent, was marked "Top Secret" and "Extremely Urgent" and reached the unequivocal conclusion, in the words of its author's summary, "that civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention."

Judge Meron, president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia until 2005, said that, after 40 years of Jewish settlement growth in the West Bank - one of the main problems to be solved in any peace deal: "I believe that I would have given the same opinion today."

Please read more at http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/

article2584164.ece

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The Independent
The Six-Day War: Forty years on
Donald Macintyre
26 May 2007

Forty years ago, Israel launched what is known as the Six-Day war. The fighting was short, sharp and bloody. But its poisonous legacy has lasted far longer. For this special report, Donald Macintyre visits the heart of the conflict

Less than a kilometre past the hillside olive groves of the sprawling Palestinian village of Sinjil, Dror Etkes turns left off route 60 as it dips and winds north through the terraced West Bank hills halfway between Ramallah and Nablus. He drives his white Mazda pick-up at alarming speed up a bumpy dirt road to the panoramic summit of what has been known for centuries in Arabic as Jebel Betin Halaweh but which is designated by the Israeli military the clinical name of Hill 804. A slight figure in his blue shirt, dark grey jeans, sunglasses and sandals, he parks the vehicle by the Army antenna, breathes in and announces with all the emphasis of the tour guide he once was: "We are now really in the heart of the ideological, religious, settlement movement."

It's easy to see what he means. We are in occupied Palestinian territory 21 kilometres east of the green line, which until the Six-Day War exactly 40 years ago denoted Israel's eastern border and in international law still does. On the windswept hilltops along a wide three-quarter circle to the west, north and east, the ridges are dominated by four Jewish settlements, the houses easily distinguishable from those in Palestinian villages by their red roofs, and eight of the satellite outposts, mainly consisting of up to 20 grey and functional container/caravans. Due west is Ma'ale Levona; to the north is Eli; to the east, just across Route 60, Shilo; and beyond it Shevut Rahel, founded in 1991 and named after a woman shot by Palestinian militants. And just south in the Shilo Valley is the open "industrial zone" with not a single factory on it, which along with the large municipal "jurisdictions" under their control mean that settlement-controlled land (including land previously cultivated by Palestinians) now accounts for 40 per cent of the West Bank.

Please read more at http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/

article2582180.ece

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AMIN
40 Year of Occupation and 60 Years of Wars: Enough
Mazin Qumsiyeh
2 June 2007

Those who planned the 1967 "six day war" (Al-Naksa in Arabic) 40 years ago and we the people who lived there could not foresee its ramifications on lives of Israelis and Palestinians let alone Americans and Iraqis today. I was a 10-year old kid growing up in the Shepherd's field at the time the occupation began and my memories of the initial onslaught are vivid. After I immigrated to the US in 1979, I still go almost every year and still maintain residency there. I saw it get worse and worse every year from 1967 (and I dread my trip this summer). What can be said after 40 years of illegal occupation, after over 250,000 Israeli Jewish colonial settlers in the West Bank, after over 18,000 of our homes demolished, after causing massive economic dislocation (unemployment is at twice what it was for Americans during the Great depression), after over 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners now in Israeli jails, after over 10,000 fellow Palestinian civilians killed? What can be said after the remaining Palestinians are squeezed into shrinking ghettos after much of their best lands was confiscated? Should we focus on the price the occupiers also paid (especially since the introduction of the phenomenon of suicide bombings 10 years ago). Should we focus on the price the world has paid including the unfolding tragedy in Iraq (and now the Israel lobby is pushing for a war on Iran)? How about the over $1 trillion that Israel cost the US in these 40 years?

Please read more at http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=13768&CategoryId=5 or http://www.amin.org/look/amin/en.tpl?IdPublication=7&NrIssue=1&NrSection=3&NrArticle=

40756&IdLanguage=1style=text-decoration:

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