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.

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.

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.











Those 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.

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.